Delta Airlines BPK 1/72nd 737-900ER Conversion

[f5guy]

Hi everyone,

      I know.... you're thinking good Lord he's starting another In Progress thread! Bear with me as I find this helps me to get these bigger projects done if I know people are following along. Well this is sort of a follow on to my ongoing Eastern Airlines 737-800 build. In fact I will refer you to that build link below for the majority of this build, and just highlight the changes made to convert the -800 to a -900. I made a ton of self inflicted problems with the Eastern build, mainly with priming and painting, and now feel comfortable enough with the BPK kit to give it a real go. You know like the first time that you have to do something new it will take you an hour, and the second time takes ten minutes 🤣

     So the idea for this build started when my wife and I decided to take a week vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur, Mexico last year (see pic at the Cabo arch). We booked airline tickets through Delta from Salt Lake City, Ut to Cabo. The aircraft assigned to the flight that day was 737-932ER N811DZ. As I stood in the terminal checking out the aircraft through the glass, I thought to myself "That'd be a pretty cool build!" So during the course of the last year I did my research, and found out that the -900 series is the longest of Next Generation (NG) 737s at 138' 2" in length. This is 8' 6" longer than the 737-800 that the BPK kit represents. The fuselage would need to be stretched, but how? 

     I pondered several idea's on how to do it before deciding to cut the proper sized plugs from a donor -800 kit. Good idea until I remembered that the BPK kits go for about $150 each! However, a little more research revealed that the needed plugs could be cut from the donor -800 kit, and then the donor could then be cut down to a -600 at 102' 6" in length or a -700/C-40A at 110' 4" in length. That will work for me!  I then sourced the needed two kits (pic 2). More in the next post, Fred.

     

 

Edited February 27 by f5guy

[f5guy]

Hi again everyone,

      Continuing on....   With the two BPK -800 kits in hand, and the proper measurements calculated, I got ready to make the cuts. The -900 has a 5' 2" plug added forward of the wing. This translates to 22.2 mm in 1/72nd scale. It also has a 3' 6" plug aft of the wing. This translates to 14.6 mm in 1/72nd scale. I was never able to find out what the actual size of the plugs to be removed for a -700/C-40A are in actual feet, but in 1/72nd scale it comes out to 41.4 mm forward of the wing and 39.6 aft of the wing. So the difference in length between the -700/C-40A and -800 is more than enough to supply the proper sized plugs for the -900 build.

     At first all was going well, but then I found that my measurements were just not adding up. I measured and remeasured a number of times, but it was still off. I was at a loss until I realized that the length measurement for the aircraft goes to the tip of the tail. So if you draw a vertical line from the rear tip of the tail to the ground, then measure the length to the tip of the nose, it comes out perfect. Phew!

     As a side note: BPK has since released a C-40A kit available here https://bigplaneskits.com/shop/big-planes-kits/c-40a-clipper-b/  and also an E-7A Wedgetail kit available  here https://bigplaneskits.com/shop/big-planes-kits/e-7a/  I've already got one of each on the way 👍 Both aircraft are based on the -700, and no doubt BPK will be releasing a -700 kit proper before too long. I may go ahead and finish off my donor kit as a -700/C-40A, or further cut it down to a -600 in the future. We'll see.

     At any rate, here's the kits in their boxes, then with the first cuts made, and then taped together for the final result. As with the Eastern -800 build, I will be using decals for the cabin windows, so it doesn't matter if the clear window inserts line up with the actual window ports as they're going to get painted over anyway, and this greatly simplifies an already challenging build. As you can see, there's quite a bit of difference in length between the -700 (top) and -900 (bottom). All for now. Fred.

 

 

Edited March 27 by f5guy

[f5guy]

Hi all,

     Here's a few pics of the aircraft being built along with the decals. 

 

     The first pic represents the aircraft as it was when we flew on it.

 

     The second pic shows the aircraft as it is today, and how I plan to model it. Note that it has been retrofitted with a large WiFi antenna dome on the spine, and the newer "split scimitar" style winglets. The WiFi antenna will come from Click 2 models, and the winglets will be modified from the kit supplied parts.

 

     The decals come from Draw Decals, who kindly scaled up their 1/144th sheet for me. All for now, Fred.

 

 

[Dutch]

Fred,  Way to go!  Can't wait to see all three, -700/C-40, -800 & -900!  That will make for a very nice comparison display!  K/r, Dutch

[f5guy]

14 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Fred,  Way to go!  Can't wait to see all three, -700/C-40, -800 & -900!  That will make for a very nice comparison display!  K/r, Dutch

 

Thanks for always following along on my rollercoaster style modeling adventures Dutch! I'd have to agree with you.... a set of all four NG 737's lined up in my display case would look mighty fine 👍 Perhaps someone will eventually make kits of the -300 to -500, and maybe even the MAX jets. Now that would be an impressive dispaly! Thanks, Fred.

Edited February 27 by f5guy

[f5guy]

Hi everyone,

     I got a bit more done on this build over the weekend. 

     First up I got the fuselage plugs in placed and glued. I used wide strips on sheet plastic to reinforce every joint (pic 1). In the pic you can see that there is a raised ridge on the fuselage half that will need to be filed off to get a good fit. I recently got in the BPK C-40A/B and E-7A Wedgetail kits in that I ordered several weeks back directly from BPK. Neither of these kits has this ridge, but every -800 kit I own has them. I also had to shim a few joints to get everything to line up straight.

     Also taken care of were the clear window strips. I had to cut extra pieces from the clear strips of the -800 donor kit to fill in the -900. They were glued in with lots of super glue this time because on my Eastern -800 build I used liquid model glue, and had a lot of problems with "ghost" panel lines showing right through the gloss white paint. Hopefully using super glue only will solve that problem. The fuselage doors were also filled in (pic 2). This way if the decals don't line up with kits doors, the decals will represent the doors.

     After that came a LOT of sanding with my coarsest grinder sanding stick. Once that was done, I laid out some sand paper on the flat surface of my metal paint booth. I used rare earth magnets to hold the sand paper in place, and carefully sanded the fuselage halves level just as one would do with a vacu-form kit. This leveled out the fuselage halves quite nicely (pic 3). All for now, Fred.

 

 

Edited March 27 by f5guy

[Dutch]

That is one LONG 737!  

[f5guy]

On 3/8/2024 at 7:09 AM, Dutch said:

That is one LONG 737!  

 

Very much so Dutch! Progress is being made. I just haven't had time to take a few pics yet, but will post soon. Thanks, Fred.

 

[f5guy]

Hi everyone,

   I got the lower wing fuselage section and wings on a few weeks back, and just like my Eastern -800, fit was not too great. It might have actually been worse on this kit. I had to add a length of Evergreen strip plastic at either end of the wing box section to help deal with a decent step(pic 1). Much filling, grinding, and sanding ensued.

  The cockpit was finished off and glued into the fuselage (pic 2). I didn't spend much time on the cockpit, as very little is visible once the canopy is on. Next up is getting the engines going. Stand by... Fred.

 

 

 

    

Edited March 25 by f5guy

[f5guy]

Hi again folks,

     I got the glass on as well as the nose cone. There's about 2 or 3 ounces of weight in the nose. As with my Eastern 737 build, I had to do a bit shimming with plastic card to fill in some of the gaps. One of the shims fell inside and I couldn't get it out. At one point it came to rest against one of the existing shims that I had already put in, so I quickly hit it with liquid glue, and glued it in place. Well at least it won't be rattling around in the fuselage now. It's the white rectangle just behind the rear pilot's window. Once the model is painted, you'll never know it's there!

     I had similar fit issues with my Eastern -800 build and ended up sanding off the lightening strips on the nose. My plan was to glue them back on with small plastic strip. After several tries with that method, is quickly became apparent that I couldn't get them to line up straight for anything, so I just left them off. This time around I decided to draw a straight line to the end of the nose with a sharpie, using label making tape as a guide, so as to have some sort of reference to how they need to line up. We'll see if it works....  More filling, grinding, and sanding is up next, but I'm getting there. Regards, Fred.

 

 

Edited March 27 by f5guy

[southwestforests]

4 hours ago, f5guy said:

Once the model is painted, you'll never know it's there!

Good end result.

 

On 2/26/2024 at 1:19 AM, f5guy said:

I was at a loss until I realized that the length measurement for the aircraft goes to the tip of the tail. So if you draw a vertical line from the rear tip of the tail to the ground, then measure the length to the tip of the nose, it comes out perfect.

Hmm, have to wonder if I would have realized that.

Has been a long time since I've needed or wanted to measure aircraft length for any reason.

And it brings to mind that there are several different length measurements for ships; length between uprights, length at waterline, and some I forget right now.

[Vidar_710]

Nice build... I have a 737 American AstroJet, and the P-8 on the roster to build...

Suggestion to the wing lights. Use Solarez UV curing resin. On my 1/100 707 build in the airliners section, you'll see what I mean. I added railroad lenses in the wing tips and at the taxi lights positions and covered them with Solarez, cured it, then ground, sanded and polished to shaped on the wings. A little Tamiya clear Red and Blue, then buffed in with 2500, and 7000 grit sanding sticks worked great.

 

Railroad lenses glued into place.

 

Solarez glopped on, then cured with a Solarez UV light. (yeah, a bit too much but what-the-heck.

Note: use Solarez's lights. They're tuned specifically to their product.

 

Ground and sanded to the wing's profile.

 

Polished back to crystal clear finish.

 

Same process for the Landing Lights.

 

 

Tamiya clear Red and Blue, or Green - Check your references. 

 

Tamiya clear polished in.

 

No more hunting for clear toothbrush handles! 😉

 

Hope this helps,

 

Tracy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[f5guy]

2 hours ago, Vidar_710 said:

Nice build... I have a 737 American AstroJet, and the P-8 on the roster to build...

Suggestion to the wing lights. Use Solarez UV curing resin. On my 1/100 707 build in the airliners section, you'll see what I mean. I added railroad lenses in the wing tips and at the taxi lights positions and covered them with Solarez, cured it, then ground, sanded and polished to shaped on the wings. A little Tamiya clear Red and Blue, then buffed in with 2500, and 7000 grit sanding sticks worked great.

 

Railroad lenses glued into place.

 

Solarez glopped on, then cured with a Solarez UV light. (yeah, a bit too much but what-the-heck.

Note: use Solarez's lights. They're tuned specifically to their product.

 

Ground and sanded to the wing's profile.

 

Polished back to crystal clear finish.

 

Same process for the Landing Lights.

 

 

Tamiya clear Red and Blue, or Green - Check your references. 

 

Tamiya clear polished in.

 

No more hunting for clear toothbrush handles! 😉

 

Hope this helps,

 

Tracy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Tracy,

     Thanks for the advice! I've toyed around with the idea of trying the UV resin out, but just hadn't gotten that far yet. I will check out the brand you mention, as it certainly has tons of potential uses.

     Have you ever tried it for fuselage windows? I have several business jet types to build, and the thing that always holds me back from starting a kit is having to insert those small windows singly, and strongly enough that they don't pop out and into the sealed fuselage during handling. When I first saw this UV resin, I thought that it might be a good solution for the problem. It if can be sanded out and polished, I don't see why it wouldn't do the trick. Your thoughts? Thanks, Fred.

 

 

[Vidar_710]

Yes, I used it for the windows on my 1/100 Entex 707 project seen in the Airliner section. As a Star Trek modeler, it works great on windows there as well.

 

Tracy

[f5guy]

14 hours ago, Vidar_710 said:

Yes, I used it for the windows on my 1/100 Entex 707 project seen in the Airliner section. As a Star Trek modeler, it works great on windows there as well.

 

Tracy

 

Thanks for the intel Tracy! Your method will come in real handy when it comes time for me to make the wing root lights for my Titan 72nd 757-200 build. Regards, Fred.

 

[f5guy]

Hi everyone,

     Another update. Before I attached the wings I used some sheet plastic to reinforce the flimsy joint under the engine pylons. On my Eastern -800 build, I had the nearly finished model slip off of my bench and into a five gallon waste bucket nose first. It blew the right wing completely off. See pic. The wing fractured right along the pylon joint on the bottom, which prompted me to decided to reinforce it on this build. The process was pretty straight forward, and resulted in a much stronger joint. If you're planning on building any of the BPK 737 kits, I would strongly recommend that you do as I did using my method or your own. Regards, Fred.

 

Edited April 2 by f5guy

[Vidar_710]

I have that 757 kit from Titan as well. I also have the 777-300 since I've been flying them now since last Thanksgiving. Draw was nice enough to do the graphics on the American Airlines Red, White, and Blue cheater line livery for the trip 7. I've since asked him to do the same for the 75 kit.

 

Tracy

[f5guy]

Hi everyone,

     I've finally made a little progress on this project after spending several weeks of upgrading and wiring the electronics on my fishing boat. Fishing season is here, so modeling updates will only be occasionally.

     I got the engines together today, and like everything else with these kits the fit was just okay. This time around though I glued the inner intake ring onto the intake lip part, then filled and sanded it to make one solid piece. On my Eastern -800 build I chose to paint the lip ring chrome, then super glue it to the painted inner ring in an effort to ease painting and masking. I wasn't too happy with how it turned out on that build, so this time I decided to bite the bullet and just mask and paint the intake and lip rings after assembly. This time they came out much better. All for now. Fred.

 

 

      

[f5guy]

Hi again,

     One other thing that I've recently done was to make the "scimitar" style winglet tips. The kit comes with the standard winglets, and the lower scimitar blade, though the instructions make no mention of it whatsoever. See pic 1.

    

     Pic 2 shows the winglet assembled, along with the lower scimitar.

 

     Pic 3 shows the tip of the lower blade attached to the cut down winglet. 

 

     Pic 4 shows the two combined and initial sanding done. I will need the lower blade set that came with this kit, so the donor kit provided the set of scimitars that were chopped up for the winglets.

 

     Now the trick will be to finish the build without busting off those pointy tips! Fred.

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by f5guy