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

[TommyP]

The wings are now complete!

Plenty of sanding has resulted in the following...

Outboard pylons are now blended nicely to the wing:

Here's an underside shot of the starboard wing:

Some top shots:

And finally, a size comparison along side my trusty 1/72nd Spitfire:

I'm pleased with the way these have come out, there are a couple of minor blemishes to rectify and then it's on to the stabilisers.

More updates will follow...

Tom

[tnuag]

Very interesting, and most impressive. Let me know when you are close to doing the landing gear as we are currently updating the wheels.

Neil Gaunt

[TommyP]

Very interesting, and most impressive. Let me know when you are close to doing the landing gear as we are currently updating the wheels.

Neil Gaunt

Thanks Neil, will do. I must take my hat off to you for producing kits like this, it can't be easy. I must say I'm absolutely loving every minute of it. Are you planning to do a re-vamp of the -300? I would be tempted with the -100/200 but Hannants had sold out when I was there. The resin in the -100/200 looked excellent when I had the chance to view one.

Can I tempt/plead/beg you to do an Airbus A330/340 in 1/72nd? I know someone who'd be a willing customer! (And you'd have the bonus of being able to do a tanker version of the A330 - so you could please civil and military builders alike!)

Tom

[streetstream]

Thanks Neil, will do. I must take my hat off to you for producing kits like this, it can't be easy. I must say I'm absolutely loving every minute of it. Are you planning to do a re-vamp of the -300? I would be tempted with the -100/200 but Hannants had sold out when I was there. The resin in the -100/200 looked excellent when I had the chance to view one.

Can I tempt/plead/beg you to do an Airbus A330/340 in 1/72nd? I know someone who'd be a willing customer! (And you'd have the bonus of being able to do a tanker version of the A330 - so you could please civil and military builders alike!)

Tom

A 1/72 A330 would have a second buyer. Me!

Edited November 23, 2011 by streetstream

[tnuag]

We now have all the large Transport Wings kits back in production, so we are looking at new subjects - the A330 does seem a possibility.

Neil

[TommyP]

Now the wings are finished, I've been slowly plodding on with the stabilisers...

Here they are before work commenced. There is some surface detail scribed onto the upper surfaces, but none on the lower. For the record, they are just over a foot in span!

First job was to thin the trailing edes... the areas highlighted in red needed to be removed:

And here is the trailing edge after the sanding process:

When stuck together and the filling done, I scribed the upper sufaces:

And then the lower:

Now all flying surfaces are complete...

...and work can commence on the fuselage.

I'll post more pics as I progress.

Tom

[TommyP]

New decals arrived today...

It's one of the biggest decal sheets I've seen!

There's nothing wrong with the AIM sheet, but this gives me the option of building any of KLM 747-206SUDs and 747-306s. Haven't decided which to go for yet... but it's likely to be one of the 'true' -306 combis.

[TommyP]

I've taken a few shots of the fuselage before any major work begins to show you what I'm starting with.

Here is an overall shot of the two halves and the central keel:

Here is the line molded on the fuselage which I have to sand to.... again it looks like it's going to be a mammoth session:

The tail will need some serious thinning too:

This area will need removing on both halves to allow the stabilsers to be inserted:

As I progress I'll add more pics...

Tom

[TommyP]

I have managed to sand the fuselages down over the weekend, and get them somewhere near where they need to be in terms of diameter. The sanding process was surprisingly quick actually, and along with some careful trimming with a sharp scalpel blade each half took no more than 2 hours.

Here are the two halves with the keel being test fitted. As can be seen, the fit is pretty good and only minor trimming of the keel should be needed:

I've also removed the apertures for the stabilisers, and here they are being test fitted. Thankfully the apertures are the same height each side meaning that the stabilsers are perfectly level:

I've also been marking out where the wheel bays are. Here they are ready for removal when I've double checked the measurements using the Revell 1/144th scale 747-200 as a guide:

And I've also made a start on the various intakes and outlets which are found on the airframe. Here are the small air intakes on the fairing in front of the wing. There are two on the port side and one on the starboard. I need to do the intake for the APU, the APU exhaust itself as well as various other vents around the fuselage:

I'm hoping to get more done this week so I'll add some more pictures as I continue with the fuselage.

Tom

[DavidGreer]

Not a KL 743, but when i saw this pic i thought you might get some inspiartion.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cathay-Pacific-Airways/Boeing-747-412%28BCF%29/2026634/M/

I hope it helps , if only a little bit.

Keep up the good work.

David

[TommyP]

Not a KL 743, but when i saw this pic i thought you might get some inspiartion.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cathay-Pacific-Airways/Boeing-747-412%28BCF%29/2026634/M/

I hope it helps , if only a little bit.

Keep up the good work.

David

Thanks again David.

The wheel bay colour is most interesting... I was planning to do mine grey... shows how much I know!

Tom

Edited December 7, 2011 by TommyP

[HowardM]

You might also find my WA of a Dreamlifter useful for the gear bays and other details that have not been converted.

See http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason3/747_lcf/

Howard Mason

[TommyP]

You might also find my WA of a Dreamlifter useful for the gear bays and other details that have not been converted.

See http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason3/747_lcf/

Howard Mason

Wow, fantastic shots. They will be most useful. Many thanks!

[TommyP]

Over the last few evenings I've scratch-built the wheel bays, added the keel and attached further reinforcing strips where the fuselage halves will join:

In the inner side of the keel there is a wealth of lead, added to keep the model on its wheels.

I haven't followed the exact plans for the main gear bays, as the AIM instruction sheet suggests building the main body gear bays and the wing bays as an integral unit. However, because I've done the wing bays already, I've just modified the plans and built the body bays which have been iserted below and securely attached to the keel for strength. The nose gear bay was constructed from the plans and fitted perfectly. I am yet to add any internal details to the bays, this will be done when the main construction is complete.

I'm hoping to get this beast together over the weekend.

Tom

[viper494]

Tom

i have to say this is bloody massive and impressive cant wait for more looking great mate.

Clive

[TommyP]

A very productive last couple of days...

The fuselage is now stuck together. Lots of polystyrene cement and super glue were added along the joins on a section by section basis, being held together with masking tape as I went. Due to the sheer size of the model this was the best way of proceeding, and it allowed me to get the joins lined up correctly and check alinement as I went.

The super glue meant everything was held in place very quickly, and then the poly cement guaranteed a strong join.

The stabilsers fitted well as can be seen from this picture. You can also see the APU intake which was stratch-built from plasticard and Evergreen strip:

On the underside I had to remove the small section of fuselage between the body landing gear bays to get the bays to line up properly; this was then replaced with spare plastic supplied with the kit:

This was the top of the fuselage when the glue was dry. As you can see the join isn't too bad at all:

And with some sanding completed was better still:

Next up I added plenty of filler. The underside needs levelling up so I have added extra here. It may look like a sanding nightmare, but the car-body filler I use dries quickly and sands very easily so hopefully it won't take too long to get everything smoothed out. It also acts as extra re-inforcement of the join which will be needed once the wings are attached:

The next few pictures show the joined fuselage all filled and ready for everything to harden up before I commence with the sanding:

When all the joins are good I'll post some more pictures.

Tom

[TommyP]

Tom

i have to say this is bloody massive and impressive cant wait for more looking great mate.

Clive

Cheers Clive, much appreciated!

Tom

[TommyP]

I've made a start at sanding everything in this evening. I've only got as far as the wing fairing on the lower fuselage, but you can see how the filler has levelled everything up:

So far so good... later in the week I'll continue and hopefully get the remainder of the fuselage sanded.

[TommyP]

After sanding the entire fuselage I wasn't completely happy with the join... and so begins round two!

The join had a slight ridge in places where the keel has caused a bulge in the fuselage from the inside, and this needed rectifying - note I've built the filler up next to rather than on top of the join. This will then also help avoid any flat spots due to excessive sanding.

Hopefully with a second round of filler this problem will be eliminated... fingers crossed.

[TommyP]

Lots more sanding today and a couple of minor blemishes aside the fuselage join is now at a standard I'm happy with:

Stabilsers are all blended in nicely too:

Here is the Revell 1/144th scale 747-400 as a size comparison:

And now for a well earned bottle of the good stuff - I feel I've earned it!

Next up is a mammoth scribing session and the addition of some of the external details such as cargo bay doors, rain gutters and the APU area. I've also got to scribe in and add the strengthening strips to the side cargo door as I've settled on a -300 combi.

More pictures will follow...

Tom

[TommyP]

I've had a spare couple of hours today and have made a start on the scribing of the fuselage.

I've started on the left rear, as I wanted to get the side cargo door in place and add the strengthening strips and hinges:

I've also added the rain gutters for the rear two left hand doors, and have currently reached the rear of the wing root fairing. These will need sanding to reduce them slightly, but they do stand proud on the real thing so I've got to be very careful here! I used both the Revell 1/144th scale 747-200 and -400 to guide me, simply by doubling the dimensions.

I'm now on my Xmas hols (the joy of being a teacher!) so I'm hoping to make some serious progress over the next few days.

I'll keep you updated!

Tom

[viper494]

Tommy this is a mahusive thing I do miss working on these big jets as there are not so many of them where im at now.But this model is looking the biz matey ,have a great xmas im working it for another year thats eight years running now but next year im taking it as leave.Be good fella.

Clive

[Commander Botha]

Hi Tom,

I've been following your build with great interest. I certainly take my hat off to you and see that this is a truly enormous undertaking!!! This is by no means a criticism but I noticed you puttied the gap between the tail plane and fuselage. I believe you will find the whole tailplane is movable along with the elevators, allbeit with tight gap tolerances between the tailplane and fuselage. A quick scribe around the edge would do the trick. Cheers, and keep up the great work.

Jarrod

[TommyP]

Hi Tom,

I've been following your build with great interest. I certainly take my hat off to you and see that this is a truly enormous undertaking!!! This is by no means a criticism but I noticed you puttied the gap between the tail plane and fuselage. I believe you will find the whole tailplane is movable along with the elevators, allbeit with tight gap tolerances between the tailplane and fuselage. A quick scribe around the edge would do the trick. Cheers, and keep up the great work.

Jarrod

Hi Jarrod,

Yes a rescibe of this area is my plan, and thanks for the heads up. The join couldn't be left as it was so I had to add some filler, but fear not I'll sharpen it all up where the stabiliser meets the fuselage.

Tom

[TommyP]

Oh how I love being on holiday!

Very productive last couple of days. I've finished scribing the fuselage and have continued to add external detail from Evergreen Strip etc. Here is the tail cone with the APU exhaust cut out and some raised detail added:

They are a bit too raised for my liking at the moment, but will be sanded down at a later date. The exhaust itself will be added later too. A massive thank you to Glen for pictures of the real aircraft which helped enormously.

With the fuselage complete (or as far as needs to be for the moment) it was time to add the wings. I got so carried away that I forgot to take pictures, but the long and short of it was I made some spars from the spare 2mm plastic supplied in the kit, one near the widest pint of the wingroot, another that the main gear bays slotted next to and another was made from brass tubing and was used near to the trailing edge. Then the wing slotted over them, with trimming and sanding of the plastic spars needed to get the correct dihedral. As with the fuselage join, the area was flooded with polystyrene cement and then some super glue was added. This gave me just enough time to get the wings level before the super glue cured, and hopefully as the poly cement sets it'll provide plenty of strength.

The left wing was a good fit, with only minimal trimming of the wingroot needed:

However, the right wing didn't go as smoothly. I couldn't fathom why the wings looked level from the front, but not from the back. It turned out that the wingroot aperture on the fuselage was about 4mm too high at the trailing edge, so the whole thing had to be lowered. You can see in the following picture where the join has been filled with spare plastic card to plug this gap:

And now... here we are!

The underside:

And finally, my 1/72nd Spitfire to give you some idea of the span of this thing:

I'm glad I attached the aerials on the wing-tips securely, they've had quite a beating already on the wall/desk!

I'm now going to give this a day or two to harden up and the glue to cure before I re-inforce the joins with car body filler. Now the wings are on the size of this model is truly apparent, I'm not looking forward to the missus getting home and seeing this on our dining room table... but I suppose the wings are big enough to eat off of tonight