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1/144 Zvezda Boeing B777-300ER - Cathay Pacific


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My scale model airliner build portfolio basically serves as a Cathay Pacific advertisement at this point, and this one is no exception lol

 

Subject - Cathay Pacific Boeing B777-300ER (B-KQY)

 

The Boeing B777 was designed as a widebody long-haul aircraft designed as a replacement to aging B747s. Having been the first airliner fully designed with CAD, as well as Boeing’s first airliner to fully use fly-by-wire controls, it represented a quantum leap in airliner efficiency.

Cathay Pacific Airways is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, offering passenger and cargo flights to international destinations around the world. It is considered one of the world’s largest and most prestigious airlines. The airline was heavily involved in the development of the B777, even becoming the recipient of the first prototype and the launch customer of the -300 variant. Cathay Pacific continues to use the type heavily in medium and long-haul routes, and is one of its largest operators.

 

The aircraft depicted is B-KQY, one of CX's newer 777s that I was on twice, one from an FCO-HKG flight and on another in an HKG-MNL flight. The fact that I've built this same aircraft multiple times before made it easier to make the decals and copy the window layouts. B-KQY now seems to reside in storage along with other CX aircraft at Alice Springs, Australia for obvious pandemic-related reasons. 

 

Build

I was originally planning to build this as an Emirates bird but a few days into the project made me decide that the CX livery was too good to pass up. I actually built Cathay 777s in the same livery before, one in 1/144 (B-KPK) and one in 1/200 (also B-KQY) but neither project really left me satisfied with the end result. Years after, and having accumulated what I hoped was enough modelling experience, I decided to tackle the 777 again one more time, partly as a gauge for how much I've improved. 

 

This was painted with mostly Armored Komodo lacquer paints and the paint mixtures were eyeballed with various so unfortunately I don't have a proper formula to give. Gloss was with GX112 polished with Tamiya and Novus polishing compounds and micromesh. Decals were a combination of 26Decals from the Emirates decal sheet I bought for the initial Emirates livery I wanted to do and Cathay Pacific decals designed and printed by myself with inkjet decal paper. Everything else is out of the box, short of the wi-fi dome I 3d printed.

 

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Kit - Zvezda 1/144 Boeing B777-300ER

 

Going into it, I was expecting to be met with fit issues and seams given my experience with the similarly tooled Revell kit, so I was pleasantly surprised that the Zvezda kit went together easily and without too much fuss.

 

If I had to talk about anything that could have been done better, the breakdown of the fuselage and wings makes it so that the belly is attached to the wing assembly. This makes it difficult to assemble and do polishing work on the wings, and also means that if you wanted to leave the wings off until after painting and decaling, you would have to sand, fill and repaint at the seam. I really liked Revell's engineering approach to their A350 and A380 wings wherein the wings can be left off until the end, and it would be nice if Zvezda did the same.

 

It isn't really relevant in my case because 26decals included almost all the decals necessary for a 777, but Zvezda's inclusion of decals in this kit is very lackluster and misses out on a lot of big details. If you are buying an aftermarket set of decals for this kit, better to make sure that the set you buy includes 777 stencils or buy those separately. 

 

Decals

 

This is the first time I've used 26decals, and although I had to pay a huge premium for the Emirates decals that I never used anyway, the other decals went down really well and the borders are practically invisible once applied. They're very thin though so extra care needs to be taken in applying them as it is easy to rip or fold them accidentally. 

 

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Overall, this build turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting, and I'm happy to be able to do justice to this aircraft once and for all, with the end result being a Cathay 777 that I can feel satisfied with. Thanks for looking, feedback and comments are appreciated! 

Edited by Columbia20713
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  • Columbia20713 changed the title to 1/144 Zvezda Boeing B777-300ER - Cathay Pacific

A superb tribute to an iconic aircraft.

Paintwork and decals are top notch.

 

I flew a few times on Cathay's 777s as well as other airlines and all were very smooth rides.

I just love that aircraft.

 

Thanks for sharing

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Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate it! 

 

On 1/19/2022 at 2:55 AM, Back in the Saddle said:

Very nice!

 

I’ve always wanted to do a Cathay model in the new livery, but with the dark green fuselage - I think that was only used on ‘promotional’ liveries…?

 

Yep, IIRC on 777s the dark green liveries were B-KPF in the "Asia's world city" scheme and B-KPB in "The Spirit of Hong Kong" livery, but I'm not sure if they're still around. It would be amazing to see that livery brought to life in a model, but it also looks like a very daunting task. 

 

On 1/19/2022 at 5:01 AM, Alex1978 said:

A superb tribute to an iconic aircraft.

Paintwork and decals are top notch.

 

I flew a few times on Cathay's 777s as well as other airlines and all were very smooth rides.

I just love that aircraft.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Agreed, some of my most fond memories on smooth aircraft rides were on 777s. Personally prefer the comfort of later planes like the A350, but nothing beats the graceful lines of a 777.

 

On 1/19/2022 at 4:08 AM, foxhandybread said:

I'm almost certain that I have flown on this aircraft! Spectacular job you have done, B777 looks great in this livery

 

Same here, I've been on them more than a few times! I feel like I could fly anywhere in the world on Cathay 777s alone, they certainly were a very common sight for me at airports no matter what part of the world I was in.

 

On 1/19/2022 at 5:06 PM, Vince1159 said:

Beautiful job,i love their 'Brushstroke' livey...

 

Thanks, I also can't get enough of this livery that I keep getting attracted to building it every time I want to do an airliner lol. Even the older brushwing/brushstroke livery that's being replaced now still doesn't seem to age.

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That's a very smart looking 777!

 

I love the subtle weathering too, especially the jet bridge marks around the doors.  

 

I tried this effect on an Il-86, but I completely overdid it...

 

 

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You've achieved a great finish on this model with some subtle weathering.

 

Interesting to read your comments re the wing / belly.  I've got a Revell 772 conversion waiting to be painted and was wondering about not gluing the wings to fuselage to aid storage,  the fit is very good and needs slight pressure to push in place.

 

The fuselage didn't have a positive fit and needed quite a bit of work on the seams.  Also the cross section was more oval than cylindrical, not too noticeable once built but very obvious on the removed sections.  My Zvezda version looks much better on a dry fit.

 

Mike

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That’s a lovely build, brings back lots of good memories taking these all over the place sat at the pointy end……in the before times. Hopefully again soon. 
 

On 1/21/2022 at 3:58 AM, Columbia20713 said:

Yep, IIRC on 777s the dark green liveries were B-KPF in the "Asia's world city" scheme and B-KPB in "The Spirit of Hong Kong" livery, but I'm not sure if they're still around. It would be amazing to see that livery brought to life in a model, but it also looks like a very daunting task. 


Yes KPB left us some time ago unfortunately. This picture was taken a few years ago in San Fran. The ramp controller requested if we could do a push back and a long tow forward so he could get a picture….we agreed as long as he sent us a copy! Good times 😁

 

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