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Minicraft 1/144 707-320


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Most who have delt with this kit know the kit's engineering sux. Particularly the engine pylon fit to the wings. Here the leading edges of the pylons are removed...

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Here excessively large pieces sheet styrene is replaced, and ready to be sculpted down to fit the wing's profile...

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A couple of angles showing the new shape of the pylons.

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The other issue with the pylons is they are way too thick for 1/144 scale. They don't come close to matching the pylon fillets over the top of the leading edge of the wings. The outboard sides of the pylons are in the correct orientation to the wings, so I ground down the inboard surfaces. If I had caught this before gluing, I would have removed the inner halves of the pylons from the inner engine pod halves and ground them down to preserve the inner panel details. 

Below are the roughed-out engines with the first layers of Mr. Surfacer caked on awaiting to be shaped and cleaned up.

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Basic construction with filler applied and sanded. Home mix Coroguard already applied to the tops of the wings. American AstroJet or Golden Tail Continental with meatball... Not sure which yet.

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Edited by Vidar_710
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Thanks for sharing this progress. I never thought about reshaping the pylons, though the intakes themselves are poorly moulded and take a lot of work to make look acceptable. I have built a couple of the 707 kits as well, one more in the stash and will look at the mods you have made when the time comes.

 

I vote Continental 🙂

Edited by Trojan Thunder
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Engines cleaned up and glued into position. No fillers at the joints at this time...

The nacelles hang straight down - not perpendicular to the wing.

 

You can now see how the pylons closely match the detail on the top of the wing's leading edge in both position and width.

 

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Primer next!

 

Tracy

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Great fix for the engine pylons.  I will have to do this when I build mine for the third time.  Other two times model never made it very far as I just hate all the short comings and poor execution on this kit.  Such a significant and important aircraft in civil aviation and not a good kit.  I had considered using the Airfix engine mount areas on the upper wing to spice into the Minecraft wing but of course the 320C has that dog tooth in the leading edge.  You work is impressive on this model.  I look forward to seeing this when completed.

 

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Tracy,  Great work on fixing the engine pylons.  I will have to try this technique on my Minicraft 707 builds as well.  I'm with Ray on this one, I vote Continental! 😎 

Edited by Dutch
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