Minicraft 1/144 Ansett 737-300 "Sydney Olympics"

[LSP_Kevin]

Yet another airliner build pushed into the build queue, and this time it's Minicraft's 737-300 kit:

 

 

I'll be building this on in the Ansett "Sydney Olympics" livery, courtesy of Hawkeye Models Australia:

 

 

I've done my usual preliminary work, setting it up for what will hopefully be a quick build later:

 

 

The last time I built one of these kits, I scratch-built a main wheel bay assembly, but I'm not sure if I'll bother with this one. It doesn't take long, though, so maybe I will! And perhaps take a resin copy of it this time. Here's that previous build:

 

 

Also Ansett! The result is attractive, but a little plain, so perhaps I do need to put a bit more work into this one.

 

Kev

[LSP_K2]

1 hour ago, LSP_Kevin said:

The result is attractive, but a little plain, so perhaps I do need to put a bit more work into this one.

 

Kev

 

As well as a little plane.

[LSP_Kevin]

1 minute ago, LSP_K2 said:

 

As well as a little plane.

 

Indeed it is! Surprisingly so for a jet airliner, though it's roughly the same size as the "giant" propliners from yesteryear. One of the things that struck me when I'd finished the previous one is that it needed some panel line detail. The only ones that really come with the kit are the passenger doors, and you get decals for those anyway, so I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to do some scribing on this one. Maybe; already I'm veering into too much work territory! But, the point of setting up so many builds is that if one needs more work than I'm willing or able to give it at any point, I can just move on to the next one. I can always return to the more difficult ones when the time is right. I also have a slew of non-airliner kits lined up to serve the same purpose, so I should have plenty of trouble-free modelling projects to keep me going for 2021.

 

Kev

[mpk]

This is great.  All Aussie airways! 

[Derek B]

Nice work Kev. I came across a 1/144 scale A319 build on BM which may be of interest to you:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235074423-easyjet-airbus-a319-1144/

 

It is by a German airline pilot named Sini - he built it for a friend. What is really interesting are the techniques he employs to make the kit accurate and how he finishes it (there is much inspiration here and very useful ideas for any future airliner build). here is the finished product:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235079417-airbus-a-319-easyjet-g-ezam/&tab=comments#comment-3809268

 

Derek

[LSP_Kevin]

That's a very nice build indeed, Derek - thanks for sharing it with me. I'm still not convinced of the value of clear windows on such small models, though he certainly made them look great. I think achieving that level is too much work for too little gain, compared with quality window decals. And to that end, I've ordered some so-called "3D window decals" from Authentic Airliner Decals, so that I can hopefully life this aspect of my builds a little. I've never used them before, so I've only ordered two sets, and will see how they go before trying any more of them.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Well, after more than 5 years, I brought this one down of the Shelf of Doom, kicked it along a little. Since initially starting this thread, I've been able to obtain some resin wheel bay parts from Hectoli, and have installed them now:

 

 

I'm not going to do much more than paint them white and give them a wash, but at least they add some much-needed detail to these otherwise barren areas of the model. Once the fuselage is joined together, this really should be a pretty quick build. Famous last words!

 

Kev

[Lee White]

Now that John Travolta’s QANTAS 707 has arrived in Australia, will you be building one of those in 1/144 to add to the collection?

[LSP_Kevin]

12 minutes ago, Lee White said:

Now that John Travolta’s QANTAS 707 has arrived in Australia, will you be building one of those in 1/144 to add to the collection?

 

Not that specific one, but there are some Qantas 707s planned, plus I need to rebuild and refinish this one:

 

 

It looks OK there (even though I did manage to misalign the windows), but years in a display cabinet exposed to the afternoon sun has left it like this:

 

 

And this is the blind side, which didn't receive any sun:

 

 

Interestingly, only the decals faded, not the red paint (Xtracolor I believe). In any case, this was one of my earliest airliner builds, and I had to swap parts with another modeller to get the exact engine and wing combination required for a Qantas 707-338. So just grabbing another kit isn't really feasible. I've got replacement decals at the ready, and a Two Mikes corrected resin nose. Will probably ditch the landing gear and build it in-flight. I just need to find the time!

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

For the most part, I tend to build my airliner kits almost like diecast models, the main aim of which is to show off the livery, but obviously look less clunky than their pre-built metal cousins. So it's rare for me to do much extra work on them other than what's required to get them built (which is a fair bit when it comes to the vac kits), and it mostly extends to replacement wheels and/or antennas. That said, I feel more inspired these days to do a bit more with them than I have in the past (hence the in-flight stuff), including some planned conversions and the use of a bit more aftermarket where appropriate.

 

I must have had these thoughts for a while now, as somewhere along the way since starting this kit, I've managed to pick up these two items:

 

 

This is obviously in addition to the Hectoli resin landing gear bays. The PE set actually provides for those areas too, but I feel much more comfortable working with resin than PE. Ironically, it also provides replacement antennas, which are much finer than those in the resin set. And since kit wheels are basically OK, I'm thinking I may not use any of those Brengun resin parts at all. We shall see!

 

Speaking of the resin landing gear bays, I painted them white, then gave them a heavy wash of Tamiya Dark Grey panel liner, and joined the fuselage halves:

 

 

 

The nose gear bay is a little short, so I'll have to plug that gap before painting. This will make the PE doors too long for the space, so I probably can't use them. I'll thin and trim the kit parts instead.

 

The main bay looks pretty effective with the cover in place, though I suspect I installed it (the resin bay part) backwards:

 

 

 

With the seams levelled and awaiting some filler, I turned to the wings, which I'd previously mated together right at the beginning. They feature Minicraft's trademark prongs for installation and alignment, and they're generally horrible, as they tend to hinder both:

 

 

When test fitting, I discovered that this was exacerbated by a bit of the resin wheel bay intruding into the wing installation slot - again, probably due to me having installed it backwards. I decided the easiest fix was to simply remove the rearmost prong on each wing:

 

 

This not only allowed them to clear the wheel bay, but also made interlocking them much simpler.

 

 

 

This is quite a simple kit, with only the engines offering any form of complexity, and I'll be attending to those next. The PE set provides a pair of engine fans for them, so that should be interesting.

 

More soon!

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Just a quick update on this one, with the tailplanes on and the airframe in primer:

 

 

 

Still got a couple of untidy bits around the wing roots to take care of, but other than that, it's nearly ready for paint. Haven't touched the engines yet, so probably should get those sorted soon too.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

This particular build seems to have taken the driver's seat in the race towards the finish line, and apart from the engines (see below), there's not a whole lot of work left in it.

 

I've managed to get the first layers of white on the airframe, and since this scheme is basically white all over, there won't even be much masking to do:

 

 

Since taking this photo, I've given it the final coats of white, so it'll just be the silver leading edges to do, and the main paint work will be done!

 

Now, onto those engines. One of the persistent annoyances with many airliner kits in this scale is the ugly seam you get on the inside of the engine nacelles, especially when they're just two basic halves, and don't include a separate one-piece intake ring. This kit is no exception, and the seam is nearly impossible to eliminate from the outside. Normally I just ignore them, but I'm pushing a little harder with this build, so I sawed off the forward section from each engine half in order to be able to address the interior seams:

 

 

Still a work in progress (a couple of nasty ejector pin marks inside each one, too):

 

 

The fan blades come from the Extratech PE set shown earlier:

 

 

I tried twisting them to give them a realistic angle, but they're so flimsy that the entire part just distorts, and it's impossible to do even one, let alone 20+! It's also quite staggering just how thick the kit plastic appears to be.

 

More soon!

 

Kev

[Lee White]

Excellent work on the engines, Kev. One of the model magazines had a feature on the A-3 Skywarrior, the builder tacked the engine seam issue in the exact same way. The result was very convincing.

[LSP_Kevin]

Some more work on the engines for this one, with the internal seams dealt with, and the nacelles all back together:

 

 

 

They're not perfect, but much better than they were. Since taking these photos, I've added the pylons, sprayed them with primer, and added the photo-etched vanes from the Extratech set. Not sure they'll stay attached, however, as the mating surface is tiny! I really should have scribed a line for them to sit in, so if they come off prior to the engines being attached to the wings, I probably will.

 

The main airframe is now fully painted and awaiting decals:

 

 

Leading edges were done with Tamiya LP-11. I painted the entire fin silver, rather than just the leading edge, just in case the tail decals turn out to be slightly translucent. I didn't want a visible colour demarcation showing through them.

 

Decalling is next, and will be tricky, as there are two large tail decals, and each fuselage side is a single decal from front to rear. Fun! Luckily I have spares...

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

OK, all the main decals are on now, and they performed much better than I expected:

 

 

The tails will need some careful trimming and adjusting, and is an object demonstration of why I dislike whole tail decals. I also had to repaint most of the fin in white again, as I discovered that the stars in the tail were printed clear, and relied on having a white background - luckily, this was before I put them on! Sadly, this revealed that my fears about their translucency were valid, as you can clearly see the silver demarcation underneath. Oh well.

 

I also made a rookie mistake in not filling the kit's windscreen and door outlines, as they clash with the positions of those in the decals. It's a shame, but I still think it looks OK.

 

Hoping to finish this one off next week.

Kev