WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi all, If anyone can help I'd like to know what my options are for a British Airways 747-436 in both 1/72 and 1/44. I know 1/72 for a 747 seems a bit mad, but my other 'Airliners' (VC-10, Sentry, Rivet Joint, Concorde and planned Comet ) are all 1/72. Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 1/144 Authentic Airliners - the best but expensive Dragon - good overall shape but simplistic details Revell - shape problems, old moulds 1/72 I'm only aware of AIM kit for 100/200/300 but not 400 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippiebg Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) In 1/144: - Revell make a 747-400 . You can find an old boxing with RB211s and British Airways Landor (1985-1997) decal. The kit has quite a lot of intractable shape issues. The decal is good; - Zvezda and Revell both make (different) 747-8s. They are much superior in shape to the Revell 747-400, but do need cutting up a bit to shunt the fuselage and wing. They also need aftermarket RB211s, available from Braz, inter alia; - Revell made a 747-100/200. You can find old boxings of it quite readily and cheaply. I seem to recall a British Airways Landor (1985-1997) decal boxing. There was definitely a British Airways Negus (1974-1985) boxing with a very decent decal, indeed; this is now rather old, though. (There was a see-through Revell Anniversary repop of this in the Noughties, with the decal unusable as it ends where the see-through bits begin...) The very old kit's shape is surprisingly good (much better than Revell's 747-400), but needs a new upper deck, wingtips, and engines. Authentic Airliners make an aftermarket upper deck, and Braz make RB211s; - Authentic Airliners used to offer a 747-400. Expensive and heavy, but good. You need afternarket decals. In 1/72, the only game in town is the Transport Wings vacform. This is "pre-cut", which actually doesn't mean an awful lot -- you still need to fiddle around sanding off all the backing. The shape is... well... hmm... Don't want to be unkind, but the 1/144 versions beat it into a cocked hat in terms of detail and shape fidelity. The cost is ruinous. --- pin/Alexey above remind me of Dragon. A wonderful shape, and a 747-400. Sadly, it has holes in it -- it is a cutaway display kit. Some "holes" are no problem -- you paint over them and Bob's yer uncle. Others, you need to cover with plastic... You do still need aftermarket RB211s, however, and an aftermarket decal. pin/Alexey also reminds me that the Transport Wings 1/72 kit is/was also sold under the AIM (Aircraft in Miniature -- or not so miniature, as the case may be...) brand Edited October 8, 2020 by skippiebg 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 @Pin @skippiebg Thanks for the replies I've tried to find builds of the transport wings kit but always come up a bit short. If it's not overly accurate then I'd be included not to bother with it at all. It looks to be then that the best course of action is to cut and shut a Revell or Zvezda 747-800, add aftermarket RB211's and use aftermarket decals. Would there be any major pitfalls with this idea? Edit: Sadly the decals I wanted - BA100 Negus sold out just as I was looking at them on Hannants and they appear to be discontinued! Edit 2: Contacted the manufacturer and they'll be back in stock in 4 weeks. Phew. Now to find the engines as Hannants are out of stock of those too. Cheers, WV908 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 3 hours ago, skippiebg said: Transport Wings 1/72 kit is/was also sold under the AIM (Aircraft in Miniature Not quite that, AIM has several "lines" - "Transport Wings" for big commercial aircraft, "Historic Wings" for oldies, "Rug Rat" for resin kits. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippiebg Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, Pin said: Not quite that, AIM has several "lines" - "Transport Wings" for big commercial aircraft, "Historic Wings" for oldies, "Rug Rat" for resin kits. Ahhaah! Thanks for this :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 That's interesting http://www.aim72.co.uk/page232.html So it is possible to take 300 and convert it to 400 with the set mentioned 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Does anyone have a list of the innacuracies of the AIM kit? A major put off is the only decals I can find for a BA bird in 1/72 are from Draw Decal and are £50! 😭 Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 22 minutes ago, WV908 said: A major put off is the only decals Print your own? Order custom? The problem with Landor is that the coat of arms is silver,. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Another option https://www.anigrand.com/AA9002_VC-25.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 https://www.v1decals.com/decal/v1d0606/british-airways/boeing-747-400 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi @Pin Sadly the Anigrand kit (like their C-5) is ok until you get to the nose which is quite frankly a disaster. The nose is way too stout and although you get a lot of resin for your money it is a lot of money. I could look at printing my own decals but scaling is always the issue. Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 5 hours ago, WV908 said: @Pin @skippiebg Thanks for the replies I've tried to find builds of the transport wings kit but always come up a bit short. If it's not overly accurate then I'd be included not to bother with it at all. It looks to be then that the best course of action is to cut and shut a Revell or Zvezda 747-800, add aftermarket RB211's and use aftermarket decals. Would there be any major pitfalls with this idea? Edit: Sadly the decals I wanted - BA100 Negus sold out just as I was looking at them on Hannants and they appear to be discontinued! Edit 2: Contacted the manufacturer and they'll be back in stock in 4 weeks. Phew. Now to find the engines as Hannants are out of stock of those too. Cheers, WV908 Britmodeller member @Turbofan has done some fantastic work on cutting and shutting the 747-8. It's not a -400 but have a look here to see what can be done. The Revell -400 is best forgotten. Apart from shape issues around the nose, the angle of the wing is wrong which means the engines sit too close to the ground and at a weird angle. This can be fixed but it's a big job which involves cutting the wing roots out of the fuselage and reattaching them at the correct angle. Cutting down the 747-8 is definitely easier. BraZ Models do mail order so if you're willing to pay postage from Italy you can order the RB-211s direct from the manufacturer. Dave G 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 @Skodadriver Thankyou - that thread will be really helpful as my knowledge of 747's is well, lacking to say the least. Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abandoned Project Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 5 hours ago, WV908 said: Now to find the engines I have a set of spare Revell engines if they are of any use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi @Abandoned Project Message sent Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 I note that the wing of the 747-8 is thicker and wider than that of a 400 - is there a noticeable difference between the wings in 1/144? Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) 30 minutes ago, WV908 said: I note that the wing of the 747-8 is thicker and wider than that of a 400 - is there a noticeable difference between the wings in 1/144? This is my issue with the conversion, and not something I've seen described in detail. The fuselage cut and shut is just how Boeing did it, but the wing does have obvious differences, the biggest one to correct being a different aerofoil section. I guess the answer is whether you can put up with that on a 1:144 kit. I am amazed how lacking we are on a decent -400 kit in general, and I think the Revell BA Landor boxing is possibly the only -436 ever kitted? I wish Revell had done a -400 in the style of their lovely -8. Edited October 8, 2020 by 71chally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelldoc Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 The Boeing 747 in 1:72 scale is (to) big. I made my 1:72 only with the significant part. That is from a scrapped AIM kit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/49304892288/in/dateposted/ modelldoc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi @modelldoc The nose shape certainly looks better than the Anigrand kit. Cheers, WV908 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 I built the 1/72nd AIM 747-300 that is pictured on the AIM website. I did it about 10 years ago now and boy was it a challenge! I don’t know if you’ve built any vacforms before, but my advice would be don’t build the 747 as your first. The sheer size of it makes it a challenge in itself - lots of additional bracing needed and it also needs to be fully scribed at there’s no surface detail. Landing gear bays have to be made from scratch, but the white metal kit-supplied landing gear is nice and supports the model well. I have no idea about how accurate is it as that kind of stuff doesn’t bother me too much, but it certainly looks like a 747. The Anigrand kit mentioned is a joke however, and even someone like me who rarely worries about accuracy issues can’t stomach some of the gross errors mentioned. They have moulded the leading edge of the wing straight and have missed the distinctive kink outboard if the outer engines, the landing gear is appalling and the nose is well out as mentioned. The only good thing about it is the engines, which look like a good representation of the later CF6. There were some aftermarket RB211s around for the AIM kit at one point but I’ve not seen anything of them for a while. If you know of someone with some 3D software and a printer, that may be your best bet. I used the KLM decals from DrawDecal for mine - expensive but good quality. In short, if you want a 1/72nd 747-436, you’ve got your work cut out! Tom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 AIM used to have a link to RB211s on their site - about £50 I think. There are some 3D ones on Shapeways for over £400! I’ve had the AIM kit with the 400 conversion for years (and watched Tom’s fantastic build closely) but it’s a non starter until I can get some RB211s at a reasonable price (or scratch build some). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi @tomprobert Thanks for your input on the kit - your rendition certainly looks very accurate and was what initially swayed me to consider the 1/72 kit - the line that kills the idea is that you had to scribe it yourself. I'm more than happy scribing the odd replacement panel line here and there and I'm happy building vacforms, but there is no way I'm going to scribe an entire 747. Abandoned project has kindly offered me the engines I need along with -400 wingtips in 1/144 so that's the way I'm going. As @71chally mentioned, the wing of a -8 is a massive grey area, so I'm not sure which base kit I'll use yet, although I'm inclined to say that with not having overly much knowledge on 747's that I'll be happy with a modded -8 wing. Besides, it is 1/144 so the aerofoil difference in a slightly twisting, swept wing can't be THAT noticeable, surely? Cheers, WV908 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippiebg Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 12 hours ago, WV908 said: I note that the wing of the 747-8 is thicker and wider than that of a 400 - is there a noticeable difference between the wings in 1/144? Cheers, WV908 Nah... nah... nah..! Relax, don't worry, be happy :) The wing is more than essentially identical between a 747-400 and a 747-8. Boeing modified the flap track fairings and fiddled with the nose profiles here and there. And, err... that was it! The thickness is, of course, unchanged, as it has been since 1969. The chord is unchanged from a 400. The span is unchanged from a -400. The flap track fairings aren't that big an issue, but can easily be reverted to -400 shape. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Hi @skippiebg Thanks for the info - I've been offered a set of -400 flap tracks too so all is good it seems Cheers, WV908 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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