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Revell 1/144 747 SCA with Enterprise


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After a few challenging builds I was looking for something a bit easier. With the recent shuttle retirement I thought I would build the old Revell 1/144 747 SCA with Enterprise.

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I picked one up off Ebay pretty cheap which was advertised as factory sealed and when it arrived it indeed was in great shape and factory sealed and I barely noticed the tiny hole in the bottom of the box. Not sure what critter got in there, but it sure liked paper… I’m sure glad it didn’t eat plastic!!

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I started off with the shuttle kit and found it to be typical of early Revell kits, fit was fair and details were basic, but decent enough. Oddly, they molded the kit with payload bay vents on one side only, so these were engraved on the other side. Also, they only give a blue decal for the nose RCS so those were engraved as well.

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Position of the nose boom was also off so that needed to be moved and new one located since the kit supplied boom was nearly a half an inch too short, then came the tailcone. It needed some internal mods to get it to fit, but eventually I got it on there.

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Enterprise had no clear upper windows so those were filled, engraved and painted over as well. The payload bay doors leave a significant gap when closed, so strip styrene was used to fill the gap and a line was scribed down the center. With new, corrected mounting struts being used on the SCA, the kits holes were filled and new ones drilled in the correct place. RCS ports in the OMS pods were drilled out as well.

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Painting was pretty straightforward, the tailcone was painted gloss white while the orbiter was given a drop of yellow. The simulated TPS on Enterprise had a slightly yellow tint originally, this was corrected when it was repainted prior to going to the Paris Airshow. The panel along the upper aft portion of the wing was painted titanium and a decal with silver highlights was created to give the details.

New markings were created in Illustrator and printed on the Alps since the kits decals aren’t all that close. Since the Alps doesn’t print gray all that well, the NASA is actually two separate layers of white decal over black. That gives a very effective medium gray. With markings done, the kit was given a coat of clear flat with a touch of semigloss. The tailcone remained gloss white.

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Now, it’s on to the 747 SCA….

Tony

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Very nice build so far! Very clean and nice subtle color variation in the whites. I look forward to seeing your 747. How ya planning on doing the faded "AMERICAN" or are you? Something about the older scheme, I just liked it.

keep them coming!

Bill

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Now, for the SCA.....

Having built this kit many years back, I knew it lacked in a few details, but never realized just how many until this time around. Having the actual SCA’s at my disposal sure helped answer a lot of questions as the build progressed.

I started by filling in some of the windows that are covered on the actual aircraft and assembly moved along well. The right side horizontal stab was horribly deformed and beyond hope so I put that aside and worked on other things. A good look at the shuttle mounting struts supplied in the kit and I knew progress was going to be slow. The kit-supplied parts are a bit of a joke, so new ones would have to be made.

About this time I picked up the later Columbia/747 release of this kit at a model show for $15 so I decided to double my frustration and build both SCA’s, 905 in the original ‘American’ scheme with Enterprise and 911 in it’s current scheme without a shuttle. The new kit gave me a good right horizontal stab and with the help of my good friend David Newman of Muroc Models, I had a resin replacement for my first kit now.

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A bit of research turned up the major differences in the original fairings on the shuttle mounts and the later ones found on the aircraft today. Time was spent creating both versions and the master parts were loaned to Muroc Models who will soon produce a 747 SCA conversion set which includes the new mounts and the corrected and scribed rear stabs and support struts.

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While creating the instructions and templates for those new parts, I realized that Revell has the upper deck windows in the wrong place. Since I plan to have see-through windows on 905, the old ones were filled and new ones were carefully cut out.

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For 911, the main windscreen fit was so bad, it was filled and sanded to blend in and a decal was used as a replacement. With the fuselage done, it’s onto the engines… The kits engines are basic, but workable. The raised panel lines are a bit heavy so these were softened up a bit. Filling the seam on the inside of the intakes was the biggest challenge. The engine face was larger than the intake so no way to install the engines after assembly. So, I cut the aft exhaust rings from the pylons and installed those on the engines.

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I loosely installed each engine into the nacelle, filled/sanded the inside seam, painted the interior, then installed the engine in place. It was only a little extra work, but the results were worth it. With assembly complete, it was into the paint shop....

Tony

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I knew the kit decals weren’t going to work for 905, so the red, white and blue stripes were painted on. Followed by the gray panels on the upper fuselage, the multi-color wings and stabs then finally the silver fuselage. New markings were created and printed with the Alps. The 'American' on the fuselage is a silver printed Alps decal.

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For SCA 911, I gave the white paint a drop or two of blue since the current scheme has a slight blueish tint (the official Boeing color is Blue Tone White). I really wanted to use the corrected DRAW Decals sheet, which are very nice to work with and the revised sheet is absolutely spot on for color, unfortunately my lack of experience with airliners came through. I should have filled all the cabin windows prior to painting which I didn’t do, so I ended up painting the blue stripe. Except for the cabin door outlines, which were done on the Alps, the rest of the decals for 911 came from the Draw Decals sheet.

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With paint and markings complete, Enterprise was fitted to 905 and both SCA’s were placed on their respective stands.

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Sitting side by side, these models make for an impressive display.

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Tony

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Please tell me this is a build retrospective and you didn't just build this sucker in 1 1/2 days!!! :woot.gif:

Awesome job on both of these. I hope to one day try to tackle this kit and I will definately keep this bookmarked for reference.

Thanks for posting,

Bill

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It's very much a retrospective. This took a little over 2 months to complete. I lost track of how many hours were spent on research, scratch building, creating all the masks and markings, masking and painting. Not to mention the rolls of Tamiya tape sacrificed for all those stripes and panels. I waited until the end so I wouldn't be one of those that start a thread and then move on to other things without finishing up.

Tony

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ummm....I errr.....yeah that would be ME. :whistle:

Bill

Ditto for me too! Although I've had some obstacles like a broken compressor and a few other personal things come up. But it's still no excuse. :(

BTW, These 2 SCA builds look incredible! I can't wait to see the second one finished. :thumbsup:

Mike.

Edited by crowe-t
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I am glad to hear that Muroc plans to do the struts as those are the biggest shortcoming to the SCA kits IMHO. It sounds like Dragon is doing a 747 SCA in 1/144 as well, but I am not going to hold out hope that they are doing to do a perfect set of struts either for their 747. As such, I see a big market for these pieces.

Wish I had found this thread yesterday. I LOVE the looks of a clean ALT era Enterprise.

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  • 1 month later...

When is Muroc going to produce those parts?

Hello,

I finally had enough spare time to get these out. As of today, they are available.

There are two different sets for the SCA. One has the struts for the early ALT flights, while the second has the current strut configuration. Both have the new stabilizers and plans. They are each $12 plus shipping.

I can be emailed at newmanispwest@. I am a bit of a yahoo.

David

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Those are excellent builds Tony.

They and the detailsets (I hopefully will get those when I can afford them.) are inspiration for me to get on with my SCA projects. No I have not abandoned them, but deciding on how to do the interior of 911, has definitely been a brake.

Oups, Tony knows about my projects, but I better tell the rest of you about them also.

Both in 1/144

SCA 905 with Enterprise in flight just before the release on ALT freeflight 5. Revell Orbiter and 747

Cutaway SCA 911 with Atlantis after the ferryflight to her second OMDP in 1997. Tailcone, landinggear down, dummy OMS and FRCS pods. Revell Orbiter and cutaway 747, scratchbuild interior.

Do any of you know if the Vandenberg liftingdevice had been moved to Palmdale at this time? If it was then I would like to scratchbuild that as well.

The cutaway 747 can be seen here:

http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/custom-made-models/60187-building-boeing-747-200-1-144-scale.html

My modelbuilding has been sidetracked, by planing and building of tools for modelbuilding. Currently I am working on a homebuilt lathe, that I need for one of my other Space Shuttle projects, but that and the other tools are for another thread.

I have decided on and acquired the materials and techniques, that I hope to use for the stringers and frames, now I just have to find the time to test them. It involves some thin wire and some even thinner wire and future.

At this time there are at least 2 places, where I am at a loss.

The first is, where does the floor of the topdeck/ceiling of the maindeck ends, and how does it look from the maindeck in the bare section?

The second is, what is behind the door in the wall behind the reinforcement bulkhead on the topdeck? I have only seen a video where the door was opened, but not what was behind it. The cutout in the model extent behind that wall, so it would be very nice if I could get to know and do it right.

Tony, I have begun reuploading the highres Shuttle and SCA pics that I got from you on a DVD back in 2009, starting with the SCA pics.

More about that in another thread.

Happy Spacebuilding

DanTDBV (The Droid Building Viking)

Dan Nielsen

Frederikssund

Denmark

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  • 2 months later...

I have gotten the ALT and current detailsets for the SCA's from Muroc today.

They look great. 2 parts are not fully cast, but replacement parts is included. I think this is is a nice touch and great service. David you clearly understand how modelers think. :thumbsup:

I am very satisfied.

Now I have to find the time to do something about the projects, I am running out of excuses. :blush:

Thank you very much Tony and David, it is great work. :worship:

Have a very nice weekend

Dan

DanTDBV (The Droid Building Viking)

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Super nice models. Did you build or buy the display stands?

Jonah

They look like the standard display stands that come with the Revell 1/144 747s to me. They are just built and painted well (and adding some weight to the bases to keep the model from potentially flipping over is not a bad idea).

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Hello,

I finally had enough spare time to get these out. As of today, they are available.

There are two different sets for the SCA. One has the struts for the early ALT flights, while the second has the current strut configuration. Both have the new stabilizers and plans. They are each $12 plus shipping.

I can be emailed at newmanispwest@. I am a bit of a yahoo.

David

Hello David. Are the SCA replacement struts still available? If so I would like to get a set!

Mike

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I knew the kit decals weren’t going to work for 905, so the red, white and blue stripes were painted on. Followed by the gray panels on the upper fuselage, the multi-color wings and stabs then finally the silver fuselage. New markings were created and printed with the Alps. The 'American' on the fuselage is a silver printed Alps decal.

For SCA 911, I gave the white paint a drop or two of blue since the current scheme has a slight blueish tint (the official Boeing color is Blue Tone White). I really wanted to use the corrected DRAW Decals sheet, which are very nice to work with and the revised sheet is absolutely spot on for color, unfortunately my lack of experience with airliners came through. I should have filled all the cabin windows prior to painting which I didn’t do, so I ended up painting the blue stripe. Except for the cabin door outlines, which were done on the Alps, the rest of the decals for 911 came from the Draw Decals sheet.

With paint and markings complete, Enterprise was fitted to 905 and both SCA’s were placed on their respective stands.

19.jpg

20.jpg

20a.jpg

Sitting side by side, these models make for an impressive display.

21.jpg

Tony

I think those are 2 of the most beautifull 747's I have seen. The last time I watched SCA 905 she still wore the American Airlines stripes like on Jack's fantastic Revell Boxart. I think I like the white much better! I ordered the Draw 1/144 SCA decals and you have inspired me to make one for myself.

Fantastic builds! Absolutely Beautifull!

Mike

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  • 2 months later...

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