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Aircraft in Miniature 1/72nd scale Boeing 747-300 KLM


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After a recent trip to Hannant's warehouse at Oulton Broad, I couldn't resist when I stumbled upon Aircraft in Miniature's 1/72nd scale Boeing 747-300.

The earlier version of this kit (747-100/200) has been improved upon and re-released, but when I visited was out of stock. From reading reviews it's been re-released with resin flap-tracks and a host of other improvements on the original. I also am led to believe that resin engines are now available.

However, it seems they haven't yet got around to updating the 747-300, as the flap tracks are molded as part of the wing and the engines are vacformed, but have resin intakes and exhaust cones. The rest of the model is pre-cut vacform in 2mm plastic - nice and sturdy as this is a HUGE model. There is no surface detail so I'll have to sribe all the panel detail on using various plans and perhaps the Revell 1/144th 747-400 as a guide.

After managing to smuggle this huge (over 3ft) box past 'her indoors', I had a chance to have a good look at the 'beast'.

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As you can see the model is in the colours of KLM, and has General Electric CF6 engines.

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Above is a general view of the parts.

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Here are the resin intakes and exhaust cones for the engines. They are cast well and will certainly be welcome editions to the vacform engines.

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White metal landing gear and wheels are provided - again well cast and look capable of supporting this mammoth kit's weight!

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The very thorough instruction booklet provides plenty of detail on building the model, as well as plans for the wheel bays. The etched brass set provides extra details for the gear and external details. Two extra sheets of 2mm plasticard are also provided for scratch-building work.

Tools of the trade - I have the feeling I'll need plenty of this!

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Plenty of research material at hand too:

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This final picture shows the size of this model. The 'small' fuselage is the Revell 1/144th scale 747-200:

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I am planning to make a start on this as soon as time permits. I'm going to tackle each section as a 'mini-kit' in itself, and when all the parts such as engines, wings and fuselage are assembled I'll bring it all together. Hopefully that will keep the spare room as livable as possible before the missus gives either me or the Jumbo the boot! :D

Edited by tomprobert
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lol, think you'll be needing an extension to keep it in. Just showed the missus and she said 'my god that's a big un'. First time she's said that to me :(

Ha ha! My missus said the same... but slightly less politely! :D

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Nice!

I was waiting for my flight from Amsterdam to Prague lastnight and passed the time watching the comings and goings of the ground crew working on a KLM 747 parked at one of the nearby gates.

Will you be doing yours in KLM markings?

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very nice indeed Tom, looking forward to seeing it finished

I dare you to buy one and then we can have another race!!! ;)

Nice!

I was waiting for my flight from Amsterdam to Prague lastnight and passed the time watching the comings and goings of the ground crew working on a KLM 747 parked at one of the nearby gates.

Will you be doing yours in KLM markings?

Yes I'll be doing the 'wide stripe' scheme... the -300s were retired before the current scheme. I personally think the older scheme is the finest KLM have had so far.

So who fancies building it as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in conjunction with the 1/72 Orbiter?

I'd need the -100/200 kit for that... but one day... maybe...

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I dare you to buy one and then we can have another race!!! ;)

RACE, we never race lol it's like watching vettle and Hamilton, you win hands down all the time. But you do have more time than me lol. But I was thinking about one!

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But I was thinking about one!

They are a lot of money, but the amount of work ahead of me and the time it'll take to build makes me think it'll be pretty good value for money.

I'm thinking of timing how long it takes and then I can work out how much it costs per hour over the entire build. Will be interesting to compare to a Trumpeter kit for example. :hmmm:

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Tom......

I once asked you where the mansion you live in is as it must be one of the biggest houses in Kent...

you said you didnt live in a mansion....

yeah.....riiiiiight......where are you going to put this when it's done? A 1/72 scale 747 is HUGE.....and....

you cant possibly build this and not put extra detail on it and in it....cockpit, open doors, interiors, no decal windows anywhere, etc.....go on...I dare you......

and dont forget the working lights either :wicked:

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Tom......

I once asked you where the mansion you live in is as it must be one of the biggest houses in Kent...

you said you didnt live in a mansion....

yeah.....riiiiiight......where are you going to put this when it's done? A 1/72 scale 747 is HUGE.....and....

you cant possibly build this and not put extra detail on it and in it....cockpit, open doors, interiors, no decal windows anywhere, etc.....go on...I dare you......

and dont forget the working lights either :wicked:

Well I'm planning of having a bit of a clearout of old models; I'm going to give them to the kids at the modelling club I run at my school. That will create quite a bit of shelf space... but no doubt this one's backside will be hanging off the shelf rather precariously!

As for the interior... well the model requires a large thick keel to be fitted down the entire length of the fuselage for strength, so opening things up (particularly the cockpit windows) will be rather problematic as it will weaken the structure considerably. However, I do plan to add as much external detail as possible, such as all the intakes and vents etc.

And as for drilling out God knows how many windows, and keeping them all the same size and in perfect line and register... well... erm... maybe decals will be cheat's way out! ;)

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.....as it will weaken the structure considerably.

.....cheat....

why dont you do what Boeing did then and insteand if a long keel, build several hundred formers to go inside it......and it will help with the windows....

and save you cheating......

:P

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As has been mentioned, I've been building the SCA 747-100 for the last 6 months. I've managed to assemble the horizontal tail and scribe in the detail, I've also removed the vertical tail and reshaped it as it was slightly off, and I've got the fuselage halves together. I'm really taking a long time over mine so I'm sure I have the strongest joints possible because of the shuttle that's going on its back. One thing I did find on mine was one half of the fuselage has shorter than the other, so I had to cut the shorter half in two, get it in the right position front and back and then add a fill peice in later.

Mark

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As has been mentioned, I've been building the SCA 747-100 for the last 6 months. I've managed to assemble the horizontal tail and scribe in the detail, I've also removed the vertical tail and reshaped it as it was slightly off, and I've got the fuselage halves together. I'm really taking a long time over mine so I'm sure I have the strongest joints possible because of the shuttle that's going on its back. One thing I did find on mine was one half of the fuselage has shorter than the other, so I had to cut the shorter half in two, get it in the right position front and back and then add a fill peice in later.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Yes I've been doing a bit of research on this kit and came across your build. Any more pictures of recent progress? It's certainly looking good from what I've seen so far - will it be NMF or the later white scheme because I don't envy you doing a NMF on that monster! Do you have resin engines or are they still vacformed in your kit?

On inspection the fuselage halves seem ok on mine, but then again it will be a different mould as it's got the extended upper deck.

I'm planning to start with the engines as I think these will need a lot of work to bring up to scratch, then get the wings done and build spars into them before mating them to the fuselage. That's the plan anyway!

Thanks for the input.

Tom

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I've not got any recent pictures, but I'm taking it along to Telford just to prove I am building it still lol! It will be in the original NMF scheme with the "American" typeface on the fuselage. It's going to be based on the 5th Shuttle Approach Snd Landing test because on that test the shuttle didn't wear it's cover over the engines so I won't have to find/scratch build one

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I've not got any recent pictures, but I'm taking it along to Telford just to prove I am building it still lol! It will be in the original NMF scheme with the "American" typeface on the fuselage. It's going to be based on the 5th Shuttle Approach Snd Landing test because on that test the shuttle didn't wear it's cover over the engines so I won't have to find/scratch build one

Fantastic... I look forward to seeing it progress. I may be getting in touch to pick your brains on this!

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