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Boeing B377 Stratocruiser

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  • Member since
    August 2014
Boeing B377 Stratocruiser
Posted by Ozmac on Saturday, December 13, 2014 2:20 PM

This was such a simple little kit to build. Only took a few days, and it most of the time was spent waiting for paint to dry. It's 1/144 scale of the Boeing B377 Stratocruiser, in BOAC livery.

There's no interior parts to assemble. All you have to remember to add is some weights in the nose area, to stop it sitting on its tail. The kit suggests 1/2 oz weights, but 1 oz is more like it.

The BOAC liveried kit was the hard one to find on eBay. 

As expected, the decals were old, and the long strips down the side broke up in places, but I managed to assemble them so you can't see where that happened.

I've always like the name "Stratocruiser" and the slightly aggressive look of the plane's nose, and as this is the first BOAC liveried plane I have here in my study, I'm happy with the addition.

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: St louis
Posted by Raualduke on Saturday, December 13, 2014 4:29 PM

That is a very nice looking model.very well done

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: NW Washington
Posted by dirkpitt77 on Saturday, December 13, 2014 4:57 PM

The cockpits of those things are huge. There's a KC-97(military version of the 377) down in Colorado Springs that's been turned into a restaurant. you can sit in the plane and eat, and the cockpit is accessible for you to check out or for your kids to play in. I could almost fit my bedroom in that cockpit if it was stripped to the deck.

 Here's a video on YouTube that shows what I mean:

  www.youtube.com/watch

   Your model looks great.

Chris

    "Some say the alien didn't die in the crash.  It survived and drank whiskey and played poker with the locals 'til the Texas Rangers caught wind of it and shot it dead."

  • Member since
    November 2009
Posted by artworks2 on Saturday, December 13, 2014 6:13 PM

You can sure see where they the super guppy super structures... Great work!!!

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Northern California
Posted by jeaton01 on Saturday, December 13, 2014 7:24 PM

Nicely done.

John

To see build logs for my models:  http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html

 

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: St louis
Posted by Raualduke on Sunday, December 14, 2014 12:53 AM

I flew into Miami  beach boac,couldn't get to bed last night

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Sunday, December 14, 2014 11:15 AM

I am building the same kit, but the Northwest Airlines version.  Unfortunately, the decals shattered when I tried to apply them.  Fortunately I had scanned the decals first, as is my habit these days.  But some of the decals need to be on white decal film and I am out, so I have to order more, and that has caused me to take it off the bench for awhile.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    August 2014
Posted by Ozmac on Sunday, December 14, 2014 1:21 PM

I scanned the BOAC decals for the same reason, Don. My big tip with this build is to add plenty of weight inside the nose area, to avoid the finished model sitting on its tail. The kit recommends 1/2 oz up front extra weight, but that isn't enough. I added almost 1oz and it's still a bit tail happy if it gets bumped.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Monday, December 15, 2014 8:30 AM

That is one problem with many Minicraft kits.  They seem to splurge on the plastic for rear fuselage and tail pieces, so the kits need a ton of weight.  Fortunately I decided to build the 377 as an in-flight model to show off my method of making "turning" propellers.  That eliminates the problem.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Brunswick, Ohio
Posted by Buckeye on Monday, December 15, 2014 11:24 AM

Very nice build!

Mike

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Montana USA
Posted by heepey on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 11:00 AM

Very nice Boeing!

You are so right Don. I am working on 3 Minicraft kits right now and besides being tail heavy they shorted the plastic in the main gear. The gear legs are so thin I don't think they will support even the plane without any weight in the nose.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 9:26 AM

I built their Cessna 172, and barely have enough weight in it- it will rock back on its tail with the slightest draft or vibration of a table. Yet the main gear splays outward when you set it down, and I worry about it breaking!

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, December 18, 2014 1:46 AM

Dad was in flight performance at UAL in 1953 on until he retired in 2008.

They got a bunch of Stratoblasters from Northwest and ended up selling them to BOAC when the Comets fell into the sea. 

We flew to Honolulu in 1959. I was 3.

The first class flight in the Boeing took off at 0900 from SFO

The coach flight in a DC-7 took off at 1100 and landed in the tail wash of the Strat in HNL.

But the big problem was a loss of two flights out to HNL. One was a bombing, the second was mysterious.

and then a flight had to ditch at the meteiorlogical ship half way out.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    November 2014
Posted by BLACKSMITHN on Thursday, December 18, 2014 5:49 AM

LOL. Are you back in the USSR? You don't know how lucky you are, boy...

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