FINISHED: DesTROYer’s 1/144 Zvezda Boeing 737-800 QANTAS Retro Roo II

Thanks for the quick reply!  She's pretty deep in the card-making and scrapbooking hobby, and just recently updated her Silhouette to the 12" model, and has a subscription with them for the fonts and forms, etc., so she may have the advanced package.  I'll have to ask, though. 

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

G’day Gene, yes. I found the logo I wanted to use on google and imported it into the silhouette software, traced it, spent an hour cleaning up all the lines so only the minimum plot points needed were there and set it to the cutter.  I did get the advanced software package pretty early on, so I can’t remember how much you can do with the free one, but I’m pretty sure you can do most of that with the free version.

DesTROYer

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Got back into it this morning starting off with the display stand.  Using the Silhouette cutter I made up some masks and after spraying a white base on the stand I applied the mask and set to work putting the colours down.

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Nice work!  Did you use the Silhouette-supplied graphics app to make the mask?  My wife has a Silhouette, and I've thought about making masks, but just haven't done so yet.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Very nice. They look great!

Love them both.

fotofrank

Very well done, Troy. I'm considering a 737-500 from Daco/Skyline. Did you have any balance issues putting the airplane on the display stand? Did you have to add weight to the stand to support the model? I have those same stands and I'll use one for the 737 I plan to build.

Thanks. No on both questions. Once the plane was assembled I just found the center of gravity by ballencing it on my finger, then cut the slot For the stand. No weight was needed in the stand.

Oh, that is bloody gorgeous!

Really eye-catching, and the stand is the perfect accent. Well done!

Very well done, Troy. I'm considering a 737-500 from Daco/Skyline. Did you have any balance issues putting the airplane on the display stand? Did you have to add weight to the stand to support the model? I have those same stands and I'll use one for the 737 I plan to build.

Just lovely, mate.

I worked for Qantas for 9 years...near the end they cut the wings off the Roo.   We called it "The Flying Rat".

The classic 707 and the early 747's were the prettiest of them all.  Your models are just awesome!

Nice pair of airliners.  I like the in-flight portrayal.

Hi Kensar, the wingspan is 260mm.

Got back into it this morning starting off with the display stand.  Using the Silhouette cutter I made up some masks and after spraying a white base on the stand I applied the mask and set to work putting the colours down.

Some minor touch ups were required, but it came out just as I had hoped.

Then after a clear coat was applied to both the stand and the model, were were done. So I now present to you my finished Boeing 737-800 Retro Roo II.  Zvezda 1/144 737-800 kit, Hawkeye decals, Tamiya paints. 

Looks pretty good next to its stable mate.

Looks great Troy!

What is the wingspan of the model?

Yesterday and today have been most productive.  Last night after dinner I was able to put down a gloss coat to Tamiya clear, which allowed me this morning to begin decals.

Though made for the Revell 737-800, using the Hawkeye set on the Zvezda kit works pretty well. On this side I started at the rear and worked my way forward.  The length is right and the windows line up pretty well, but where the cutaway for the cockpit windows ends up is a little bit off.In hindsight I should have started there and finished at the rear. A bit of playing around and I got it to work out in the end.

As with the other side, I cut up the long cheat line into inch long pieces, as I found that last time, this time however I did start at the front of the plane and worked my way back and got a much better fit around the windscreen.  The Anti-glare panel decal covers up the join between the two pieces.

Keeping at it with a crappy B-Grade Movie on in the back ground, I managed to get through all of the decals in a couple of hours, even managing to get the engines and tail planes glued in place.

I still need to install the lights in the wings, seal the decals with another gloss coat and paint up a flying Rat logo on the base, but its getting closer to finished.

It already looks pretty good beside Retro Roo James Strong, if I do say so myself.

Coming along - looking forward to the finished livery

OK, Wow.  It's been a while since my last update, but that said it has been a while since I did any work on this Retro Roo too, but as work has stalled on the 1/35 Chinook I'm working on as I wait for a part to arrive before I can start on the painting, I've had the opportunity to get some done. When last we met, I had completed basic assembly of the fuselage and wings.  Well over the last few days I've managed to get some paint down and the engines mostly assembled.

Tamiya fine white prima for the white sections, which I will give a light sanding too before applying a tamiya gloss clear coat.

and Tamiya Sky Grey for the Boeing grey sections.

More to follow in the next couple of days.