747-100, *FINISHED!!!!*: Jan. 27th

Thanks Cassie, Aaron, and Gene,   

Here's a couple more pictures I made this morning....

Thanks again and take care,
Frank

Thanks for the links.  No, I haven't seen any of those.  Actually, the first flights were from the Boeing Seattle factory, and my only exposure to it was at Edwards.  I don't remember what my Dad worked on at Edwards, but I don't think it was anything on the 747 (they used mostly Boeing test pilots) or the C5A (probably used Lockheed test pilots with AF test pilots serving to check things off).  My Dad usually tested flight systems.  The last one I remember him working on was an auto-landing system at Wright Patterson in the T-39.  He may have been working on that at Edwards, too, I don't know. 

The main road in from Lancaster to Edwards provided you a hillside view of the lakebed where they took off and landed a lot of aircraft.  One thing that really amazed me was watching the C5 take off.  After what seemed like a takeoff roll about two airplane lengths, the thing rotated and left the ground. 

Your B747 looks awesome!  The mounting on a mirror is pretty neat. 

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Very nice as always Frank!

Sometimes, I think picking up an old project is more satifying than starting a new one.  You get the feeling of tying up loose ends.

I saw a couple pics of Pegasus rockets being launched and was working out in my head how to recreate that.  This would be ideal for it and the like.

The link will be up as quick as I can.  Thanks for letting me.

Thank you Cassie, I appreciate it!

My next project is actually a continuation of one started a couple years ago, which is a 1/200th KLM 747-400 skimming Maho Beach at St. Maarten.     The flap job and painting are done, but must do the decals, landing gear, trimming, and build the scene.

Space vehicles would be an excellent subject for the MID technique!

Yes, you may add my link; thanks!

Take care,

Frank

Beauuuuutiiiiiful.  Not that that is a surprise.  I do like those markings.  Odd to see a Boeing house plane in red.

A couple of questions:

What are you doing next?

How do you think it would do for rockets or the shuttle?

and Can I add a link to your site from the census' links page?

Thanks John...

It's been 46 days coming, and at 12:30 today I scooted my chair back and called it complete! Enjoy!










It's good to see N7470 back in the air, aye?

Thanks all!
Frank

Looking good, Frank, and nice drawings as usual.

The stain on the wood is STILL too tacky to handle, so instead of making you all wait, I thought I'd show how it's now sitting in my shop, waiting, like me!

(no, I didn't forget the nose gear; I like to wait until the plane's mounted on the mirror before attaching it... lesson learned from past MIDs)

Take care,
Frank

The wood stain on the N7470 display is taking it's time curing (still really tacky), so the display probably won't be completed today.... frustrating I know, but the barometer isn't cooperating, so I'm going to give the plane another coat of Future and do some more buffing while it's mobile.

While I'm waiting, I thought I'd post a couple additional techniques used
during this construction...





I didn't have any window frame decals that would fit, so I took about an hour and made my own....


I placed a strip of clear tape inside over the window openings, and a strip of clear decal material over the outside, which created a beautiful double-pained effect.

Take care,
Frank

Thanks Aaron!

With a little rounding of the nose and lifting of the cockpit ceiling, the profile of the old Revell improves dramatically.

Brien Wygle and half of Jesse Wallick are in their seats now, waiting for the fuselage to be mounted against the mirror (this weekend) so Jesse's other half and Jack Waddell can take their places.


Just some minor detailing left to do on the plane and she'll be ready to fly; I will post photos when it's finished.

Take care,
Frank

Nice work, Frank!

The BOAC build should move along quicker than this one thanks to lessons learned and the other half of fabricated parts, such as the windshield/cockpit top I thermoformed today, after realizing it would be easier to do that than try to form a frame from putty. Also had to sand the nose down a bit as it was too pointed.


It was a full days work, but did manage to get the repositioned horizintal stab attached also, so I'm that much further along.

Take care,
Frank

Thanks "9" and Jonas,

Certainly understand about being caught up with life things delaying building, Jonas, but look forward to continued progress when you get things in order.

As for my progress, I cleaned up the cheatline and tail flash as well as painted the door frames and radome. I also built up the area over the cockpit with putty to correct the shape issue there and waiting for it to cure now.

 Reduced: 79% of original size [ 1024 x 768 ] - Click to view full image

... and on we go...
Frank

Awesome work Frank! I'm taking a break from my project. I have a few papers to write for my A&P school and my college. Also trying to get an MD-11 finished up, that I painted for my flight college, since most other colleges with an aviation program, have a former airliner for use as a systems trainer.

What makes the models grow?! GLUE, GLUE, GLUE!

Wow Frank that looks really good!

Just peeled away the cheatline masking and took a couple pictures of the results....

It hasn't been cleaned up yet because I'm going to let the paint settle more, but as you can see it's taking on more of it's personality now. 

Churning along....
Frank

Very nice to meet you, Gene!      Yes, this is the test bird, which will be built in it's original configuration.     You were indeed fortunate to have walked around on board N7470, and have a Father who could tell you the tales of such a great job!       Yes, I have detected the skid pad on the aft lower fuselage; an excellent point of detail, thank you!       From what I've read and from personal accounts, there were many skeptics when such a large airplane was introduced, but it sure did live up to the dreams of it's creators!        You've probably already seen these, but if not, here's an excellent two-part video documenting the first flight of N7470.....

Part ONE:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkWK1-0BAPc

Part TWO:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obIxSMnWkQA

Also, a 50 minute documentary on the 747 series with commentary from the projects' PM, the late Mal Stamper.      (you may even see your Dad in there somewhere?)

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/2009/02/movie-monday---february-9---in.html

I decided to do the foil application to the fuselage before the cheatline because rubbing the foil leaves a dark residue on the plastic, and didn't want to take a chance on goofing it up while removing it.     The foiling went well and only required eight pieces.

Next comes the cheatline and then the Stabilizer application.....

Comments & Questions welcome,
Frank

Is that the Boeing test bird?  If so, I've actually been in that plane.  They were flight testing it when my Dad was transferred to Edwards AFB.  They were flight testing it, as well as the C5A at the time.  One thing to note about the flight test 747 is that they did high-speed taxi and over-rotation takeoff tests, and to keep from really messing up the back of the airplane, they have a long piece of what I think was about 12"X10" by about 15-20' long wood (railroad tie?) starting right at the point where the bottom of the fuselage kicked up to the tail section behind the wings.  Of course, all the time spent dragging that wood on the runway did result in a lot of heat being generated, and thus a lot of heat-warped aluminum skin behind the wood skid.  

The passenger deck only had about a dozen seats in it.  The rest of the airplane was just flat decking and instrumentation.  I think there were also a few seats in the 'sky lounge' section, but don't remember.  I do remember our first trip to the base, and Dad drove to the flight test operations building to check in.  The 747 was parked on the ramp, nose to the parking lot.  My Mom asked when they were going to put the rest of the wing on that airplane.  My Dad replied that it had all the wing it was getting.  Mom snapped back that they'd never get her into one of those things then.  ;-)

Keep up the great work.  The detail is awesome!

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

No kidding John, I had no less than four magnifying devices in use for their construction!

It's certainly been a fun build so far; there's a lot to it I've discovered, but taking it one step at a time.

I attached the landing gear to the plane along with the gear doors and associated actuator arms; while that's been drying I finished making the decal master so it will be ready when the time comes. Here it is in .jpg format; the one I'm sending to the Printer is in .tif (higher resolution)



I've modified the area of the fuselage where the Stabilizer goes as it will be in the take-off position instead of cruise as the kit is designed for. Going to apply the red cheatline before attaching it though, so off to the workbench I go!

More to come....
Frank

You are making my eyes and fingers ache just looking at the gear parts, Frank!

Yes, I'm watching your build and enjoying it thoroughly, Jonas!

Spent six hours on the main landing gear for the beast today, using the upper part of the 1971 gear leg and the lower part from the newer 747-400 kit (the one I built the 744SP from), since it was more detailed and taking up space in my spares box.      Extended the Oleo Struts by adding a section of stretched sprue along with various bits & pieces from the spares, and also the wiring was from stretched sprue.

Take care, more to come....
Frank

Some pretty awesome work. Can't wait to see the end result. I updated my 747 build.

    Here is the process of applying Stove Bolt anchors to the fuselage interior....

.... and the beat goes on
Frank

Thanks "9"! :)

    Just to throw in a little *teaser* here before molding the bolts in place.....

Take care,

Frank

Wow Frank that is amazing work.  That will be really nice when finished. 

Finally got the sprue tree separated and attached the fuselage to the work-up board....

Thanks Jonas,

>>>"...filling the holes in the fuselage sides"   What holes?

    I didn't have a camera to record the interior wing process, but done a drawing that basically shows the process, which was accomplished using sheet styrene....

    If I were you, I would go ahead and start a thread on your build, Jonas; would love seeing it and between us we're liable to come up with pretty cool looking 747's!

    I found an up close & personal reference showing the mechanism on the inside of the Kruger Flap after finishing mine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hcyJ2raAA&feature=related  so it's not exactly right, but it will have to do for this one because I'm not going to tear it back off.     The upcoming BOAC build (the other side of this one) will have it accurate though.

    Updates to come...
    Take care,
    Frank

Great work. I'm slowly making progress on mine. Just finished filling the holes in the fuselage sides, and have the flaps cut out of the wing. One question, did you close up the inside of the wing? From the trailing edge, the inside of the wing can be seen, and I was thinking about closing this up. Keep the pics coming, and if you want, I'll post some of my progress.