Jump to content

Aircraft I've Flown Part I - A Tribute to the Mighty 747-436


Recommended Posts

22 hours ago, keefr22 said:

The world is your lobster now Matt!! :)

 

Who needs aftermarket decals when you can print your own like that?!

 

Great stuff!

Thanks Keith - it's a lot more work, but it's also a lot more accurate! Unfortunately the print quality of these home made decals isn't quite as good as the commercially available decals, but it's still acceptable...

 

7 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Great work there 👍

 

Your home made decal set looks superb

Cheers Alex - I'm pretty pleased with these!

 

7 hours ago, mitchem said:

Making your own decals ?................

 

....there's no going back now !  🤣

Especially with you aiding and abetting me! 😉

 

I sealed the decals earlier today and with much trepidation cut the first one out and applied it:

 

gapd.jpg

 

The shape on the leading edge is out by a tiny bit, so once it has completely set I might fill in the gaps with some slivers of decal... I'll see how it looks.

 

I let this dry and then applied the opposite fin decal, making it as symmetrical as possible. Next I worked on the tail cone area:

 

cl.jpg

 

Not a perfect joint, but it looks OK as long as you are not right on top of it. This decal was deliberately oversized and will need trimming around the APU exhaust. It is also too large on the underside:

 

undsid.jpg

 

The excess was cut off with a new scalpel exactly along the fuselage centreline:

 

cut.jpg

 

I now have to apply the final piece and hopefully get it all to match up! 😀

 

 

 

 

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Chrisj2003 said:

Matt, awesome work with the decals. I admire your patience on this. 

Thanks Chris. I'm not normally known for my patience but I really wanted to get this as accurate as possible.👍

 

 

8 hours ago, keefr22 said:

That's looks really good Matt, excellent job!

Cheers Keith!

 

7 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

That looks superb Matt. Worth the extra effort entirely IMHO.

Thanks Terry - I agree! 😀 If you're going to do a job, you might as well do it to the best of your ability.

 

The final piece went on and was trimmed to size:

 

sm2.jpg

Not perfect, but I'm unlikely to do it any better if I tried again!

 

The fin from another angle:

 

sm1.jpg

 

Those pens were great for touching up any minor tears/gaps in the design!

 

I then masked the windscreen and anti-glare panel before giving the whole fuselage a coat of gloss varnish to seal it:

 

sm3.jpg

 

I now have this pile of parts awaiting final assembly:

 

parts.jpg

 

I've already knocked one pylon off 🙄, so will fix this first before starting to put it all together... The end is nigh!

 

 

  • Like 15
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great thread this Matt, and impressive work on those home-brew decals.  How wonderful to have the 747 in your logbook and this is turning into a mighty fine tribute.

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited by Fritag
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13/05/2021 at 21:56, Fritag said:

Great thread this Matt, and impressive work on those home-brew decals.  How wonderful to have the 747 in your logbook and this is turning into a mighty fine tribute.

Thanks Steve, glad you're enjoying it! 👍

It's not perfect but its as accurate as I can make it...

 

On 14/05/2021 at 00:54, The Spadgent said:

Looking great. Glad the tail decal worked out in the end.  Excellent stuff. 👏👏👏

Cheers Johnny! 🙂

 

I have filled the windows:

 

kk.jpg

 

And have glued the tailplane and one wing into position:

 

rgh.jpg

 

The undercarriage bays clearly need a re-paint! 😆

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

FTFY!

heck.jpg

 

It's a bit precarious, but what could possibly go wrong...? 😆

 

Once this is done, I'm tidying the bench (again!)...😂

Ohh...if not for the "squeezed in"  747,I almost thought I see my workbench in this picture...😂

 

Yet you are very brave for such an adventurous way to fix the model...😉

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

She survived the night:

 

sur.jpg

 

Starting to look the part now. 👍

 

I was also embarrassed into tidying my bench (a bit!) 😆

Awesome,what a beauty already.

 

Bench cleared...on to the next model...😉

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Matt, 

A beautiful model of a graceful old Lady, many happy hours upstairs in Club from 1980 to 2018. 

Thanks to all at BA for the memories! 

 

The only question is " should you add the grime that normally made the point dull and grey" or keep it as she was after the re-paint? 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 07/08/2020 at 11:04, tomprobert said:

On every version I've built, I've found the body gear is too short, and is a good 2mm less in length than the wing gear. I've come to the conclusion that the wing gear is the correct length, so I usually add a plastic card false roof to the body gear bays to lower them and then have all the main gears sitting correctly.

I'm going back to this post from Tom in August 2020, as I'm finally at the undercarriage attachment stage... It doesn't look right and I had a recollection that there was tip regarding this from many months ago - cheers Tom! I will lower the body gear and see if things align more correctly...👍

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I'm going back to this post from Tom in August 2020, as I'm finally at the undercarriage attachment stage... It doesn't look right and I had a recollection that there was tip regarding this from many months ago - cheers Tom! I will lower the body gear and see if things align more correctly...👍

Glad to be of service ;)

 

I haven’t popped in for a while and it’s great to see some very impressive progress - the home-made decals look great!

I need to get my BA 744 finished myself - seeing this has re-inspired me and I think I may just go and dig it out of the attic. 
 

All the best,

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, keefr22 said:

That is just gorgeous Matt....!!! 👍

Cheers Keith. 👍

I must admit, the more I see this model, the more I like it - the tail design is just stunning and this was originally the reason I chose to depict this aircraft over all the other 'Utopia' variants. I have no regrets at all and getting to be on her final flight last September was the icing on the cake - IVP now holds a very special place in my heart.

 

4 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

A beautiful model of a graceful old Lady, many happy hours upstairs in Club from 1980 to 2018. 

Thanks to all at BA for the memories! 

 

The only question is " should you add the grime that normally made the point dull and grey" or keep it as she was after the re-paint? 

Hi Peter. Thanks for the kind comments. G-CIVP was delivered from Boeing's factory in this colour scheme in 1998, so I will show her as she was then - clean and colourful!

 

1 hour ago, tomprobert said:

Glad to be of service ;)

 

I haven’t popped in for a while and it’s great to see some very impressive progress - the home-made decals look great!

I need to get my BA 744 finished myself - seeing this has re-inspired me and I think I may just go and dig it out of the attic. 

Thanks very much for the tip and I'm looking forward to following your build!

 

I glued the wing and nose gear into place tonight but the inboard engines were almost touching the ground - I know the ground clearance on the real aircraft was minimal, but it should be a a bit more than it was on this model... I have now ripped the wing gear off and will re-attach it tomorrow, extending it by 1-2mm. Once that is to my satisfaction I will add the body gear at an appropriate height to match.

 

I have also added a dummy APU exhaust tonight to fill the cavity at the rear of the tail.

 

I will pop some photos up soon.👍

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

IVP now holds a very special place in my heart.

 

I bet she does! :)

 

I always liked the World Tails, thought they brought a real breath of fresh air to airliner liveries - and anything that upset Mrs. Thatcher can't be bad...!! 🤣

 

K

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...