Hello!
This is the first time I start a thread in this forum!
It's all because of my little bro - he liked the model I gave him for Christmas a year ago (1:48 HH-1N) so much, now he wants a model for hir birthday. While I doubt it's going to be ready on time, here we go.
Well, he got a 1:144 Boeing from Zvezda, and I provided decals for it, in KLM colours, bought from DRAW decals.
The Zvezda kit is surprisingly nice and I recommend it for all people who want a Boeing 777 in this scale. Among the nice features it has are:
- Rotating turbines
- Windows with inserts
- Nice landing gear
- Nice parts split, reducing the sanding necessary
- Detailed undercarriage
- Flap rails under the wings moulded separately for better detail
I started the build with the turbines. As they are nicely detailed and funcional, I decided to give them some extra cere with painting. And here's what I have:
![1:144 Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel](http://www.vietnam.net.pl/B777/engine01.jpg)
I also test-fitted the engine nacelle:
![1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel](http://www.vietnam.net.pl/B777/engine02.jpg)
The fit is very nice. There are also two rings - one at the front of the fan, the other at the jet nozzle - the fit is so good, that they can be painted separately and installed later for easier painting.
Here are the flap rails that go under the wing:
![1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel](http://www.vietnam.net.pl/B777/wing01.jpg)
I also started to build the front gear bay. It will be installed in order to close up the hull. The strut is only dry fitted, but has a nice, positivefit even without glue. I also started putting lead wishing wights there, to get the CG right. The model needs 10-11 grams of weight in the nose:
![1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel](http://www.vietnam.net.pl/B777/gear01.jpg)
I also glued the window inserts. They are made of a plastic that's a bit funny to the touch, but doesn't craze in contact with modelling glue. The fit was OK, but I decided to fill in the windows anyhow, to have a smooth surface to put the decals with windows on:
![1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel](http://www.vietnam.net.pl/B777/fuse01.jpg)
And that's all I have for now. Thanks for looking - I hope you liked it, have a nice day
Paweł