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

[kitnut617]

He! He! He!, nice to see another that's going be built, I've got two of them in the stash, one will be the Shuttle Carrier with Shuttle (got two of those in the stash too, one on the tank with boosters), the other I'm going to convert it into the Boeing XC-X contender which was the competition to the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. I've got a 1/72 C-5 too, so the plan is to display them together

[tomprobert]

I've made a start on engine number 1 this evening...

They are rather large - the 1/72nd scale Spitfire provides some scale:

Here is the engine as it comes in the kit:

First job was to remove the waste areas at the front for the intake, and the rear for the exhaust cone. Then the engine halves were sanded until the intake fitted perfectly and eveything was nice and round. The rear of the pylon was also thinned as much as possible. I've also opened up the sides of the nacelles where the rear cone emerges from the engine:

I then added some thin plasticard to the inside of the engine to fill it out, and avoid it looking like an empty shell when looking in through the nacelle sides. I've also opened up the small outlet on the right side of the pylon and backed it with card for detailing later. Plastic strip was also added along the main areas where the halves will join. This is very important with vacs as there are no locating pins to keep everything lined up correctly, and also provides extra stregth:

Here is the resin intake and exhaust cone cleaned up and ready for installation:

Finally, I've got the first engine together. It looks a little basic at the moment, but when I've filled and sanded it I'll add lots of extra detail from plasticard etc to enhance the details:

So far I've spent 2hr 30 mins on this build... and I've only half completed one engine. This is going to be quite a project

[Steve2070]

I can't picture how big a 1:72 Spitfire is.

Can you take a photo of that engine next to a coke can or something?

[tomprobert]

I have managed to get the first engine completed today. After a generous helping of P38 car body filler and some careful sanding things began to take shape.

Next, I added various details needed from thin plastic card and Evergreen strip, and I'm pretty pleased with how it looks now.

It'll now just need a polish up with some very fine wet and dry, and then I'll get some primer on to see how it looks.

I spent another 2 hours on this today, so that takes the build total up to 4.5 hours so far. Now I know what is required I should be able to get the remaining three engines completed more easily.

[cuprar]

Loving this already Tom

[tomprobert]

I can't picture how big a 1:72 Spitfire is.

Can you take a photo of that engine next to a coke can or something?

If you look at the last of the pictures you can just see a tin of Humbrol paint propping the engine up if that helps!

Loving this already Tom

Thanks mate - I must confess to loving it so far too! It's early days though...

[Steve2070]

If you look at the last of the pictures you can just see a tin of Humbrol paint propping the engine up if that helps!

Ah yes.

WOW that's massive! I'll be keeping tabs on this thread for sure.

[tomprobert]

He! He! He!, nice to see another that's going be built, I've got two of them in the stash, one will be the Shuttle Carrier with Shuttle (got two of those in the stash too, one on the tank with boosters), the other I'm going to convert it into the Boeing XC-X contender which was the competition to the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. I've got a 1/72 C-5 too, so the plan is to display them together

Sounds as if you're going to have your hands full!

Edited October 30, 2011 by tomprobert

[Kev1n]

I'm starting to think the same...

give it to me then

[tomprobert]

Both outboard engines are now complete (nos. 1 and 4) and are in primer.

Here are the completed engines before priming - a final polish with very fine sandpaper was done before the primer was applied:

These two shots show the completed priming process:

So far so good... final details and additional sanding and scribing will be done once they are on the wing.

Two down... two to go!

[cuprar]

Very nice Tom.

[pperkins]

Wow that's big thought mine was big

This is my doyusha 1/100scale 747

[tomprobert]

Wow that's big thought mine was big

This is my doyusha 1/100scale 747

I've got one of those on the 'to do pile'. I'm planning to build it as PanAm 747-100 for the Group Build next year.

What scheme do you plan to do yours? There are some nice decal sheets for this around; Draw Decal do a few sheets if you're interested.

[tomprobert]

Engines are complete so now it's on with the wings... I won't add more engine shots as they look the same as the last lot!

Here is one before work starts and the comparison in size between Revell's 747-400 wing. The red lines on the Revell wings show roughly where the extensions on the -400 wing are, to give a more accurate comparison:

The wings are very thick and need to be thinned considerably, especially on the trailing edges. The red lines show the area that needs to be sanded away... my arms are going to be like Popeye by the time these monster wings are ready to be glued together!

More pics to follow over the weekend (hopefully!)

Tom

[tomprobert]

Here are the lower wings... after hours of sanding!

First of all the entire wing was thinned with very course, then finer sand paper, with particular attention being paid to the trailing edges:

It is very important when building vacforms to do this thinning of the trailing edges, otherwise they are prone to being too thick and thus the scale effect is spoilt.

Next, the entire wing was scribed using the Revell 1/144th 747-200 as a guide (more to scribe at a later date) and the main wheel wells were cut out in preparation for the scratch-building of the bays:

Here is a 'before and after' comparison:

Next up is the upper wings... lots more sanding and lots more scribing

[cuprar]

Very nice Tom, what tape do you use for rescribing?

Edited November 5, 2011 by cuprar

[tomprobert]

Very nice Tom, what tape do you use for rescribing?

Cheers Chris.

I don't use tape, I have a superb, very thin metal ruler with a rubber back that is very bendy and grips the plastic really well. I still have to hold on pretty tight to stop it slipping, but it's never let me down so far and gets into all sorts of nooks and crannies. If I need to do a complex curve however, I make a guide out of plasticard to follow.

Is your A340-600 finished yet? I've still got my Thai bird on the go - it's nearly done but I have been side-tracked by this instead.

[cuprar]

Cheers Chris.

I don't use tape, I have a superb, very thin metal ruler with a rubber back that is very bendy and grips the plastic really well. I still have to hold on pretty tight to stop it slipping, but it's never let me down so far and gets into all sorts of nooks and crannies. If I need to do a complex curve however, I make a guide out of plasticard to follow.

Is your A340-600 finished yet? I've still got my Thai bird on the go - it's nearly done but I have been side-tracked by this instead.

I'm looking for some scribing tape and don't know what to use that is why I asked lol, as for the A340-600, I've taken of the decals on the rear end cause the White decals started going red so I have repainted the back black again and just waiting for the new decals to come. Then I will finish her. As for your RR trents ( still waiting for them ) not forgot buddy, have you started the 200?

Edited November 5, 2011 by cuprar

[tomprobert]

I've taken of the decals on the rear end cause the White decals started going red so I have repainted the back black again and just waiting for the new decals to come. Then I will finish her. As for your RR trents ( still waiting for them ) not forgot buddy, have you started the 200?

Sounds like you've had your work cut out!

As for the Trents, don't worry I haven't got around to the -200 yet so no rush

[tomprobert]

The upper wings are now done too.

As was the case with the lower wings, some serious thinning of the parts was needed:

Here is a 'before and after' shot. As you can see from this picture, there is some basic panel detail molded on the tops of the wings. This was sanded and rescribed to make it crisper, then the remaining detail was scribed on:

Here now are the wing components finished:

Next up is the scratch-building of the wheel bays and adding other details such as landing lights, trailing edge wing-tip aerials, fuel vents and the top of the flap tracks.

[tomprobert]

The wings have been finished!

First job was to add the landing lights on the leading edges of the wing. I did this by drilling holes and inserting short lengths of plastic tube. The insides were blanked off and when painted will have some small lenses inserted from 'little cars'. I left the tubing proud so they could be sanded to match the leading edges of the wing:

On the trailing edge of the wing-tips on the 747 Classics there the large aerials that needed to be added. An old knitting needle came to the rescue, and was securely super-glued into position:

The flap tracks are hollow on the top so they needed to be blanked off with plasticard:

They were then filled and sanded to shape:

I've also boxed in the main gear bays with plasticard, more detail will be added later with Evergreen strip etc:

Finally, once all filling, anding and priming had been done, the small fuel dump vents were added from an old Revell Contacta glue tube... never throw anything away as you never know when you'll need it for scratch-building!

Some small blemishes and shaping still needs to be done, and then the engines can be mated to the wing. More pictures will follow.

Tom

[tomprobert]

Here are the engines, now attached to the wings.

As you can see, the outboard engines did not fit at all well:

The inboard ones were much better:

The top of the outboard plylons was built up with Milliput:

And the gaps on the underside were also filled with Milliput and partly smoothed off with water and a penknife - this reduces the amount of sanding needed later:

I've added a few ribs to the wheel bays, much more will be added when the wings are attached to the fuselage:

Next up more sanding to smooth everything in.

[cuprar]

You don't hang about lol

[pperkins]

Looking good it's making me think that I should get one need to start to save up I think

[gunpowder17]

Fantastic. I know what a struggle this kit is but i cant wait to see this finished. Im slowly getting into airliners i think!