Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER for my Bro - DONE!

I am really impressed with Zvezda since they moved to their new molding technology.  They have long been a good value, and now are even better.

Yours is going together nicely. I really like Zvezda as well. The 787 was awesome and I have since added their A320, Tu-154 and today a 747-8i arrives. Planning to grab the 777-300ER as well so I'll be following your build.

I have 2 of their 747-8i models. They are simply stunning in fit and finish. My only thing is the single livery decal sheet. Had to order a Lufthansa set for one of them and will probably make my own based off the Lufthansa set for a what-if Olympic Airways 747-8i.

So if your decals get cooched, let me know, I have 2 sheets in my decal box.

My decals are good. I'm ordering a set of Pan Am decals from Draw Decal. Their Flights of Fancy sets are awesome. Currently doing an A380 in Pan Am livery as well.

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Don - indeed, Zvezda seems to be grat value for the money these days.

kg4kpg - That's an impressive fleet!

Teddz - that's true, but I suppose they count on people buying their own decals - there are so many liveries to chose from!

wing_nut - I can compare this one with Revell airliners I did before and this one is definitely better. But you might also think about Hasegawa 1:200 heavies - thay are also very nice, but smaller and so they are easier to build.

I for myself have made some progress. I glued the wings together - they are made so that the seam on the trailing edge is moved to the bottom surface. I've already filled and sanded it. Had some problems with the primer - I used Motip primer first, but that didn't work so well - it didn't adhere well in places and made some places filled with CA "pop up". I switched to Tamiya primer and it made a huge difference. There are still some places to touch up, but the wing looks like that:

I also glued the fuselage together - nothing special here, just a long seam to smooth. I have put ten grams of lead in the nose and poured CA glue over it:

I suspect my brother will be inclined to hang the aircraft by the wings to display it, so I didn't want the thing to happen, that I once had on a Revell Boeing 747 - the flexing wings loaded the fuselage seam and caused it to crack. To avoid this I additionally reinforced the fuselage with a thick styrene plate:

Now I'm ready to glue the wings to the fuselage.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

I've been working on the engines. I've found two paints - Revell 371 for the almost white grey of the fuselage and Humbrol 147 light grey to represent the Boeing grey for the wings and horizontal stabilizers (and also the engine pylons).

I have painted the engines in parts - they were taped to ice-cream sticks that acted as holders for painting:

The contrast between the pylons and the fan ducts is not very strong, but visible.

Next, I have glued the pylons to the ducts:

I've also painted the details on the pylons. I had to smooth the joint on the upper side of the ducts, where they connect to the pylon a little. I did this with a little Surfacer 500. After the smoothing the joint has to be painted over.

I'm going to complete the engines, together with clear coat and decals - that's my next step now. Thanks for looking - I hope you liked it - and have a nice day

Paweł

Looking good Pawel.

Thanks a lot for your kind words, Marc!

Paweł

Hello!

Fillin' and sandin' that fuselage was some work, but I wanted to let you know the work here is still goin' on, so here are some pictures of the model - sanded and primed in white. I used Tamiya spray primer - white over gray and Mr Surfacer 500:

There was a lot to rescribe here - in front of and behind the wing - or should I say I had to scribe it anew, because the surface was blank. But now it looks like that:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

I have put some paint on the 'liner. I painted the leading edges of the stabilizers, using Gunze "Stainless" paint. I have also put two first colours on. The underside of the fuselage is Revell 371 light gray. In the tin it looks almost white, on the photos it turned out a bit darker. The top of the fuselage had to be matched to the decals I have (KLM) - this turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I finally settled for Gunze H45 light blue. Here's how it looks like for now:

As you can see, the wings are still in white primer. They will be painted Humbrol H147 light gray.

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

I got into some trouble recently. I've painted the wings and the problem is that the contrast between the off-white Revell 371 and light gray Humbrol 147 is actually non-existent:

As usual, the photo doesn't convey all the fine details, but I have sufficient contrast between the engine pylon  and the engine itselt, but no contrast between the wing and the belly. The difference was that while painting the engine I had the engine primed in white and the pylon primed in gray, while both the wing and the belly were primed in white.

Now I'm contemplating adding some darker gray to the Humbrol 147 to darken it and spraying again.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

I have been looking at images on the web of KLM B777s and can't really tell if there is a difference in colour between the wings and engine cowls. Do the decaling/paint instructions mention if different colours should be used?

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comment!

I know what you mean, finding a good photo showing this isn't that easy. But I was motivated to do it, because yes, the instructions from DRAW decals state that: "...with a very light gray (almost white) lower half [of the hull] and engine nacelles. Vertical stabilizer is white. Wings and horizontal stabilizers are Boeing Gray with no corogard center sections." I've found some photos showing it. Here's one of them:

And here's another one:

The difference in colours between the pylon and the fan shroud is subtle, that's for sure, but you can see it when you look at it - so I try to show it in my model.

I just put on a layer of Humbrol 147 with some Humbrol 64 added - that gave me the colour I was lookin' for - pictures comin' soon, so please stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

I went on Google and looked at KLM 777's . the engine cowlings look white comparing them to the belly of the plane to tail .

your build is comming along nicely 

There's nothing like a nicely built airliner model.

Looking very good. 

Aussie747 - with pleasure! They sure are!

crown r n7 - the papers say only the vertical stabilizer should be white, belly and the engines should be very light gray - and that's how I painted them.

modelcrazy - thanks a lot!

Thank you very much for your comments and have a nice day

Paweł

thats fine I worked with color printers for 10 years and I always told the end user that you cant trust the color through the user interface. (screen) its all good but your plane is comming along nicely

Hello!

crown r n7 - that's right - everybody sees things a little different, and the way machines see and show colours is a different thing altogether. And sometimes it's easier to see things when you know they are there.. That's when it starts getting weird...

And thanks a lot for your kind words!

I finally painted the wings again, this time adding like 30% of Humbrol 64 gray to the mix. The result is better, this time giving subtle contrast, but it is definitely there:

I also painted the leading edge of the wings using Gunze Stainless paint. I have sealed the whole aircraft with future and now I can start putting on the decals, let's see how this tuns out. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Now that the paint is on, I could start putting on the decals:

We're talking about DRAWDecal 44s-777-18 set - the KLM 777-300ERs. On first look the set looks very nice, with lots of fine details and comprehensive instructions. When I started putting them on, I noticed that the carrier film (that's on the whole surface of the sheet) dissolves very nicely with MicroSet/Sol. Then I put on the two large side groups, that have the dark blue stripe, the windows and two big white KLM logos. That was no more so easy. Exactly like stated in the instructions the "heavy" colours dont react to Set/Sol as readily. Even Solvaset merely touches them. They require some coercing to get into the tight corners. Also, the decal set is older than the Zvezda kit, so it doesn't fit 100% - the distances between the windows and doors are a little off, so I had to cut those large groups in smaller portions and adjust for the doors. I was also very glad, that I have filled and sanded the windows, so that they didn't get in the way. On the Zvezda kit the front luggage hatch is much wider than the rear one - and the decal set gives you two wide hatches, so I still have to figure out what to do with that. I also want to add two details on my own - red turbine stripes on the engines and red rectangles on the underside of the wings on the edge of the slats.

As a conclusion I'd like to recommend the DRAWDecal set - it's a pleasure to work with if you take your time and plan ahead.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Most of the decaling is now done. Here's how it looks like:

On the photo above you can see the decal I made myself - the metallic patch, where the horizontal stabilizer is going to be. I have painted a piece of clear decal film (you get a lot of that with the DrawDecal set) with Gunze Stainless paint and then I have cut out the desired shape. Applies like a regular decal.

Now I'm movin' on to work on the landing gear. Thanks for looking, have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, your 777 is looking really pretty! Must have been hard putting all those decals on.

Hello Allan!

Thanks a lot for your comment. Nah, it was just a little hard to putthe sides on - they are supposed to come in two large groups each side. It's best to cut them up - doors separately, stripes and windows separately - makes applying them easier. Like I wrote, DrawDecals are generally a pleasure to work with. When the chemistry works as advertised, I actually enjoy putting the decals on. Thanks for your kind words and have a nice day

Paweł

Your finish is very nice, Pawel.

Thanks a lot for your kind words, John! Have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

It took some time, but it's finished at last.

Since the last time I posted I have put up the landing gear, clear coated the whole thing with Mr Hobby Top Coat - Gloss - it's a nice stuff, btw - Mounted the engines and added small details like the tail skid, lights and antennae. So now it's finished, and my model looks like this:

Well I hope you like it, bro - and happy birthday once again :-)

Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

Nicely done!!