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Which 1/144 747-400?


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I'm looking at possibly building a 1/144 scale model of a Virgin Atlantic 747-400.

Which are the best models in terms of accuracy and on particularly build-ability?  I'm not particularly bothered if I have to get aftermarket decals.  

 

Thanks

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Hi Michael,

 

The Revell kit will, out of the box, get you a 747-400 but it's an old mould now, not very accurate and commands a high price in ebay.

 

Authentic Airliners produce the most accurate -400, available with the correct engines, but is resin and expensive, 150EUR. But easy to build.

 

If you like converting kits the Zvezda can be converted to a -400 fairly easily but you will need to source the correct engines and scratch build the winglets. I have recently completed this conversion.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235084013-1144-zvezda-qantas-747-8-to-747-400-conversion/&tab=comments#comment-3901043

 

The correct engines are available from Hannants

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/BZ4015

 

Virgin Atlantic decals are around but depending on which livery you want to model you may have to wait until a set pops up on ebay.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers,

Ian

 

 

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8 hours ago, Michael Morris said:

Thanks.  What about the offerings from Hasegawa or Dragon?

 

 

Hasegawa's Boeing 744 is 1/200 scale, not /144.  I don't build 1/200 but Hasegawa's airliners are generally well-regarded.  I've never seen the Dragon kit but this review might help.

 

Dave G

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47 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

Hasegawa's Boeing 744 is 1/200 scale, not /144.  I don't build 1/200 but Hasegawa's airliners are generally well-regarded.  I've never seen the Dragon kit but this review might help.

 

Dave G

Scalemates shows both Hasegawa and indeed Trumpeter making 1/144 scale 747-400s in the past.

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1 hour ago, Michael Morris said:

Scalemates shows both Hasegawa and indeed Trumpeter making 1/144 scale 747-400s in the past.

With a couple of exceptions (e.g. YS-11 and Embraer 170) anything 1/144 with a Hasegawa label on it will almost certainly be a re-box of someone else's plastic. I have been building model airliners for over 30 years and I can assure you that Hasegawa have never produced an "original" 1/144 B744.

 

You didn't ask about Trumpeter in your previous post but this article on Airliner Cafe tells you all you need to know. Don't even think about it!

 

While I'm posting, @Turbofan describes the Revell kit as not very accurate. The nose shape is off but fixable. However the biggest problem is that the wing incidence is wrong which affects the sit of the engines. These hang far too low and the model just looks weird. It takes major surgery on the wing roots to fix this, do-able but a lot of work and probably more difficult than converting a 747-8.

 

Dave G

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Market is crying out for Zvezda or someone else to tool a new 747-400 or to do a conversion set to help with backdating the 8i. Technically the wing flap and aerofoil isn't accurate doing such but I doubt  the eye would notice the difference in 1/144 scale between an accurate 400 wing and the 8 wing, and Turbofan build shows the 8 conversion looks the part.

 

I

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This one is built of Dragon kit

IMG-3015.jpg


IMG-3016.jpg


IMG-3017.jpg


IMG-3018.jpg


IMG-3019.jpg

 

Shape wise is better than Revell but missing details. This is supposed to be a snap-on kit with visible interiour that adds to its price. I only bought it because I bought it cheap
 

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1 hour ago, Michael Morris said:

Scalemates shows both Hasegawa and indeed Trumpeter making 1/144 scale 747-400s in the past.

one should be careful with info from ScaleMates. It is community based and the information is often inaccurate.

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I hope Michael does not mind if I ask a related question here, as the discussion is about 747-400 kits. 

 

I have the Dragon 747-400P kit but I cannot find any info on the 400P version.  Can anyone advise me what was different from other 747s?   Also, who else operated the 747-400P, where there any British operators? 

spacer.png

 

I bought this for my Birmingham Airport diorama but I'm not even sure that this type routed into Birmingham.

 

cheers,
Mike

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400P is "Presidential", VIP flight. Visually there may be some extra (or missing) antennae but structurally it is the same 747-400

Evidently there are no British operators

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53 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

With a couple of exceptions (e.g. YS-11 and Embraer 170) anything 1/144 with a Hasegawa label on it will almost certainly be a re-box of someone else's plastic. I have been building model airliners for over 30 years and I can assure you that Hasegawa have never produced an "original" 1/144 B744.

 

You didn't ask about Trumpeter in your previous post but this article on Airliner Cafe tells you all you need to know. Don't even think about it!

 

While I'm posting, @Turbofan describes the Revell kit as not very accurate. The nose shape is off but fixable. However the biggest problem is that the wing incidence is wrong which affects the sit of the engines. These hang far too low and the model just looks weird. It takes major surgery on the wing roots to fix this, do-able but a lot of work and probably more difficult than converting a 747-8.

 

Dave G

Hi Dave

Thanks for the info and the link to the review of the Trumpeter kit on Airliner Cafe.  From what I've learned so far, it seems like no-one makes an easy to build, accurate and relatively inexpensive kit of the 747 -400. 😟

 

As an aside, I was thinking of subscribing to Airliner Cafe, but after reading the incredibly sexist, mesogonistic and downright creepy comments about female flight attendants later on in the thread you linked to that the site owners have allowed on the site, I think I'll give it a miss!

 

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3 hours ago, Michael Morris said:

...

As an aside, I was thinking of subscribing to Airliner Cafe, but after reading the incredibly sexist, mesogonistic and downright creepy comments about female flight attendants later on in the thread you linked to that the site owners have allowed on the site, I think I'll give it a miss!

 

Far be it from me to bad-mouth another site but I left Airliner Cafe a year or so ago after a spat with a member who thought it was clever to sneer at another poster's poor spelling and punctuation. I prefer to hang out with the grown ups on Britmodeller although I do still lurk on Airliner Cafe from time to time.

 

One odd (and good) thing about Airliner Cafe is that you can access most of the content without actually signing up.

 

4 hours ago, bootneck said:

I hope Michael does not mind if I ask a related question here, as the discussion is about 747-400 kits. 

 

I have the Dragon 747-400P kit but I cannot find any info on the 400P version.  Can anyone advise me what was different from other 747s?   Also, who else operated the 747-400P, where there any British operators? 

 

I bought this for my Birmingham Airport diorama but I'm not even sure that this type routed into Birmingham.

 

cheers,
Mike

Mike, I have Peter Gilchrist's book on the Boeing 747-400 and it lists the model of every aircraft produced to the date of publication (1998). There is no mention of a -400P. Given that the English in Japanese kit instructions is frequently weird, I wonder if it could be a mistake for -400D which was a high-density variant produced for the Japanese domestic market although as far as I'm aware never operated by Air China? Alternatively it might just be an indication that the kit is of the passenger version rather than the -400F. Who knows? The ways of Japanese kit manufacturers can be strange at times.

 

Dave G

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1 hour ago, Michael Morris said:

As an aside, I was thinking of subscribing to Airliner Cafe, but after reading the incredibly sexist, mesogonistic and downright creepy comments about female flight attendants later on in the thread you linked to that the site owners have allowed on the site, I think I'll give it a miss!

I would agree with you

Mike

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I am stooopiid enuff to have 7 (yes seven, and planning#8) 747s on the go and I agree with @Skodadriverthat the old Revell 744 is a pig's ear, although some very very talented members here achieve amazing results with it. I recommend following @Turbofan's advice and get a Zvezda 748 plus Bra.Z engines while I check for spare parts I can spare (before I go mad and buy another 748, that's if I don't live up to my name and abandon a project).

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  • 1 year later...

Just saw this one year old post but……

 

I just got hold of a probably 20 year old Hasegawa 1/1200 B747-400. It’s kind of difficult to get a B747-400 now’s a day and it’s even harder to get a Singapore Airlines plane. 
 

Here the plan, I will need to replace the RR engines with resin PW4000 and get the only available SQ decal of a 50th anniversary marking.

 

This old Hasegawa kit came with raised panel lines. I wonder do you guys sand away the lines or leave it?

I supposed the lines will not be highlighted black since such planes are always cleaned. Do you guys highlight the lines?
I always see cleaners polishing the SQ B747 whenever I walked in the hangar during my trainee’s day

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4 hours ago, Cklasse said:

Just saw this one year old post but……

 

I just got hold of a probably 20 year old Hasegawa 1/1200 B747-400. It’s kind of difficult to get a B747-400 now’s a day and it’s even harder to get a Singapore Airlines plane. 
 

Here the plan, I will need to replace the RR engines with resin PW4000 and get the only available SQ decal of a 50th anniversary marking.

 

This old Hasegawa kit came with raised panel lines. I wonder do you guys sand away the lines or leave it?

I supposed the lines will not be highlighted black since such planes are always cleaned. Do you guys highlight the lines?
I always see cleaners polishing the SQ B747 whenever I walked in the hangar during my trainee’s day

Check out the following;

 

https://www.v1decals.com/decal/v1d0485/singapore-airlines/boeing-747-400

 

These decals are also offered in different scales,just choose the one suited for your model.The quality is great.

 

Rescribing the panel lines depends on ones wish and skill ,I usually leave those raised lines,in 1/200 they are not so noticeable anyway.

SQ aircraft were indeed quite clean,so maybe highlighting some lines with a sharp pencil should do the trick here.

 

Getting resin replacement engines for Hasegawa airliners could be a bit difficult,as the scale is not very common nowadays.

I might have a set of matching Hasegawa engines in my spares,I will check if thats the case and get back to you.

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Thanks Alex for the suggestions. I had placed order from Joydecals for the 50th anniversary SQ marking and a 1/144 stormtroopers marking for a B777-300ER. 
With the purchase of decal, I have no choice but to buy the plane from Amazon. 😬
 

3G4A0126-SCEL_LATAM_B777_PT-MUA_StarWars

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