Airliner Group Build 2014-2015

So how did the 787 go together?  Was the fit pretty good?

Finally got some work done on the 787.  In the photos, I've dry-fit the horizontal stabilizers and the engines.  The United tail logo is just a photo copy that I have scaled to fit and taped in place to see how it would look.  I've got a little more sanding and priming to do on the nose and engines.  Below are a couple more shots.

I've assembled the engines.  The molded vortex generators looked terrible so I cut them off and made my own replacements out of thin styrene.  Below you can see that I've sanded off the vortex generators from one engine:

Then I attached the scratch built generators:

I've also painted the compressor fan steel and masked it off so that I can paint the inside of the intake and the spinner:

The next step will be to attach the engines to the wings and use Mr Surfacer to fill in the seams where they join the wing.

Here's a little update with the DC-10.  Since its a -10 it doesn't use the center main landing gear.  So  I installed the part that covers the opening and filled in the panel lines:

This ends up working out really well because one of the wheels came out of the mold with some major distortion and wasn't useable.

SubarooMike

Okay, gents!           

        Tonight I laid the final coat a white on my MD-87. I sprayed Testers flat white so to gloss it up I will clear with Future. 

        Tonight I ALSO got to try out my new spray booth!     I must say that I am IMPRESSED!    For a $13 fan unit, it did the job -- and quite well at that!   If you have the money, it would not hurt to buy a more powerful fan; however, for the casual sprayer, this fan seems to do the trick    Tonight I set up my paint ship on the kitchen tabled covered with an old sheet (venting the booth out of a window with an insert I made out of foam board).  I sprayed a whole cup of enamel white.  When I was ifnished spraying, there was NO odor in the kitchen at all. No smog cloud lingering over me.       Tomorrow I will roll up a piece of paper , light it on fire, and blow it out. I will video the smoke so you can see how it will suck the smoke right down the fan. 

   NOTE:   I did remove the fan cover as suggested by another member to help improve the air flow (if needed).  Since my fan it on the lower end of the fan spectrum I removed it.   I also caulked around the fan unit to aid in efficiency. 

Okay, gents!           

        Tonight I laid the final coat a white on my MD-87. I sprayed Testers flat white so to gloss it up I will clear with Future. 

        Tonight I ALSO got to try out my new spray booth!     I must say that I am IMPRESSED!    For a $13 fan unit, it did the job -- and quite well at that!   If you have the money, it would not hurt to buy a more powerful fan; however, for the casual sprayer, this fan seems to do the trick    Tonight I set up my paint ship on the kitchen tabled covered with an old sheet (venting the booth out of a window with an insert I made out of foam board).  I sprayed a whole cup of enamel white.  When I was ifnished spraying, there was NO odor in the kitchen at all. No smog cloud lingering over me.       Tomorrow I will roll up a piece of paper , light it on fire, and blow it out. I will video the smoke so you can see how it will suck the smoke right down the fan. 

   NOTE:   I did remove the fan cover as suggested by another member to help improve the air flow (if needed).  Since my fan it on the lower end of the fan spectrum I removed it.   I also caulked around the fan unit to aid in efficiency. 

Nitto is a Japanese company.  Don't know if they are still around.  I'll post the box art soon.  I'm running the Weekend Madness GB at the moment, and have some previous commitments before I can start this.

lewbud

Could I join up?  Nitto 1/144 747.  Livery undecided.  I may convert it to a 747SP.

Could I join up?  Nitto 1/144 747.  Livery undecided.  I may convert it to a 747SP.

Fly-n-hi

Yeah, great booth Mike.  I'll be interested to know how it works out, too.  I need to do something like that.

I will definitely fill you guys in!    It looks like we will find out tomorrow evening

Yeah, great booth Mike.  I'll be interested to know how it works out, too.  I need to do something like that.

Thanks B1!            

Steve,  I definitely will do.    I hope the fan is powerful enough -- if not, I can upgrade it eventually

thats a pretty sweet booth !

That's the exact same idea I had Mike. Let me know how it works for you.

Okay, my MD-87 is ready for another batch of white.  But before I airbrush again I needed a spray booth but due to school I don't have much modeling funds.      

Here is what I came up with.    Not pictured is the switch, cord, and filter

Plastic tub: $5.97

Bathroom fan: $13.99

Brackets (2): 1.50

12 nuts and bolts (all used): $1.50

Flexible tubing: $8.00 (Victoria bought that for me)

Extension cord:  Already owned.

Switch: $1.97.

Fly-n-hi

Wow Mike, the Mosquito cockpit looks really great!  I also like the nav lights.  They look very convincing!

Thanks a lot!  Its a fantastic kit -- well engineered. 

Just wanted to shout out to let everyone know I was still alive.  It's been a crazy past couple of weeks around 'mi casa'.  I'm just waiting on my decals to arrive from 26decals.  I've got the body of the 787 primed and sanded, had a few ghost seams to take care of as well.  I want to wait until I get the decals before I start painting the colors so I can make a copy of the decals and get the paint lines right.  I'm going to be using Model Master Bright White and Gloss Light Grey for the main areas.  I will be using Alclad for the leading edges, engine components and the ring around the front of the engines.  I may paint the gold strip with metallic gold instead of the decal gold stripe.

Wow Mike, the Mosquito cockpit looks really great!  I also like the nav lights.  They look very convincing!

B_one, that 737 looks fantastic!  I really like the Delta Widget scheme.  They should go back to that.  Nicely done!

Looks great B 1 fixer!   Excellent edition to the group build for sure

   Until my PPP arrives tomorrow, I can't work on either of my airliners as of now.  Yesterday I did spray the interior (or lack there of) on the Vega and I sprayed the engine. I also drilled out the cowling in preparation for exhaust stacks. 

   I hope this does not break any rules and upset anyone but since I couldn't work on my airliners tonight, I brought out my Tamiya Mossie to tinker with -- so I decided to post of few pictures of her so far for your viewing pleasure.  Tomorrow she will be ready to close up.   I bought her at an RC airplane swap meet last March for $5 still sealed!     Sorry for the bad quality pictures. So much of the detail and color is lost in them. 

  Scratched harnesses in my PT-17. I thought they turned out nice 

Fly-n-hi

Mike, I start out with those wet/dry sanding sticks from Squadron.  I Use the course grit for the tough areas and then use the medium grit to soften those areas afterwards.  If I can use the medium grit stick in the first place I'll do that instead.

After everything is filled and sanded I'll use a polishing kit that has the 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12,000 sheets to get it really smooth.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks MC, Trying to nail the glossy finish was alot more difficult compared to the usual military aircraft I build. but when I do build another airliner it will be a much more enjoyable affair from the lessons learned from this one 

Wow, beu-t-ful B! 

I wouldn't have guessed it's been 20 years since you last airliner. I looks like that's your usual subject

Nice seam work Fly!

Well here is my entry. I have not built an airliner in over 20 years, so it was a eye opener and I learned alot for the next time I build another airliner.

I forgot to mention that I've cut off the nose gear doors.  The bare metal area on the lower part of the fuselage starts right behind the nose gear so I figure it will be much easier to mask if the doors aren't there.  Also, the doors are very thick...way out of scale.  So I will thin them out a bit before I re attach them.

Mike, I start out with those wet/dry sanding sticks from Squadron.  I Use the course grit for the tough areas and then use the medium grit to soften those areas afterwards.  If I can use the medium grit stick in the first place I'll do that instead.

After everything is filled and sanded I'll use a polishing kit that has the 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12,000 sheets to get it really smooth.

Looking good, Fly!   What grit sandpaper do you start off with normally?

Not much going on today, gents. I started and finished scribing the floats.  It only took 1.5 or so hours but it came out beautifully!   I had to primer the floats before scribing.  I sat down a few nights ago to scribe but its turned out with the plastic being white, I could not see a darn thing I was doing!     The picture does not do it justice -- it looks great in person. Nice and straight despite what the picture depicts!

Until my PPP arrives, I cant really do anything else on the MD87 or Vega :(

Here's an update on the DC-10.  I've attached the wings and the #2 engine/vertical stabilizer:

I used Tamiya White Putty and Mr Surfacer 1000 to fill in the fairly noticeable gaps.

You can see that I used some Mr Surfacer to fill in some ghost seams on the fuselage, too.

I re scribed the gear door outlines, as well.  I even re scribed the middle landing gear doors which was a waste of time since this is a -10.  I will just fill them in with Tamiya putty.

Hey guys, check out page 1 again.  I've added the box art to the roster.  That's what I meant to to in the first place and I just forgot!