Bigkevs Work in Progress No.4 Boeing 737-800 Kuluala airlines

[Bigkev]

Hi All,

Back in the modelling saddle again. My next project is going to be the very lurid Green Boeing 737 of Kuluala Airlines in1/144th.

So far I have the fuselage together and also the wings, next I will start on the engines.

Pictures to follow,

Bigkev

[Bigkev]

Hi Guys,

A bit of a blip occurred whilst trying to upload images, so hopefully Mike will have sorted them and you should be able to see them now.

As can be seen the fuselage, wings are together , and filled and sanded where neccessary. The fuselage windows are filled with Milliput from inside, pushed through the openings, then excess skimmed off. when dry sanded, then, refilled from outside with Green Stuff and re-sanded to make smooth.

The winglets are not yet attached as they are oversize in the kit and need some thinning and reshaping. In one of the pictures you can see by how much they need to be altered.

Hope this keeps you up to date with the kits progress,

Bigkev



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[zak]

  Looking good so far, like you I tried to upload some pictures but all I got was a server error, will try again.
Dave

[Bigkev]

Hi All,

Sorry been a long time before adding the next bit in the build saga. As you can see I have done a bit more work on the undercarriage bays, and a little bit of fine adjusting on the fuselage seam.

The wing to fuselage join was a bit troublesome with a tendancy for the wing section to sink beneath the fuselage line. I rectified this by adding some card shims to pack it out and to give it a better 'key' . Still needed some filler though (quite a bit!) but it all ended okay and should not look out of place when painted.

Engines are in process of painting but that will be in the next bit, I promise!

Bigkev

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[Bigkev]

Hi All,

As promised the engines are now done, painted and assembled.

I began by masking off the insides of the cowlingswhere I didnt want any paint to go. Then I mounted all the parts for Starborad and Port on to pieces of balsa to save any fit issues. I then sprayed the front insidesPale Grey and the rest of the parts Gloss Black ready for alclading.

Once the gloss black was dry I airbrushed Aluminium onto all parts, then using various shades tinted the 'hot' areas until I was satisfied. Most won't be seen, but I know its there. The engine faces were edged in pale grey and when dry a dark wash added to the fan fronts to highlight fan detail. I then picked out the fan hub in black

Once dried glued all parts together, and then when dry used filler to make good any seams. I used Green stuff first and once sanded, undercoated and then added Mr. Surfacer 1000 to finally cover any remaining blemishes, sanded again, and then undercoated.

Next Stop:- Painting the Airframe...................

Bigkev

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[Bigkev]

Hi All,

Long time since I posted the progress of this project, so here goes. I started by painting the entire airframe white in preparation for the colour scheme, this further highlighted any remaining flaws in the joins etc.

For my undercoat I like to use a mix of Revell 'Whites' namely 04 and 05, one being gloss the other being matt. I start with a mix of 3 matt to 1 gloss, and thin the mixture down with equal amounts of white spirit and celloluse ( 50% paint to 50% thinners). This is then misted onto the model in several fine coats until happy with the coverage. Then I allow at least 48 hours to dry and harden. The Cellulose helps the paint to spray through the airbrush but evaporates quicker and speeds up the drying process. Once done, any remedial work was attended to. Then I repeated the paint mix as above. My reason is the mix provides an initial smooth undercoat. I then paint another coat of White mix but this time equal Matt and Gloss and altered the ratio of thinners to 2 to 1 in favour of White Spirit. This is allowed to dry and once done provides a very silky finish on which to add colours.

Next I masked off the wings, tailplanes and engine pylons and painted a pale grey onto them I used a mix of White Ensign and Humbrol Pale greys to get something I was looking for. Two fine coats was all thatwas needed, with a little rubbing with 8000 micromesh in between. Once allhad dried for a few days it was time to mask up the wings,etc and paint the fuselage and engine pods. Following Draw Decals guidance Ipainted the fuselage/pods Revell Gloss Yellow 12, in three thin coats, making sure to mist the each coat on allow to dry and a gentle rub down between the next coat. The Yellow apparentley will make the 'Green' more intense, we will see....................... 

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[Bigkev]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd post some pictures of the 'Green Effect' of this project. As you can see it has now been sprayed with Three thin coats of Humbrol No. 38 Gloss Green, Thinned with equal amounts of White Spirit and Cellulose Thinners.

I was a little concerned about coverage but my fears were alayed after coat no.2 when a uniform finish started to appear. The paint was warmed, prior to spraying in a pot of hot water, which improves its spraying consistancy I find. It is nearly finished with the green, I am going to give it a final rub down with some 8000 micromesh and some water to act as lubricant before a final thin coat of paint and white spirit only as I want a high gloss finish for the decalling process (oops! transfers to those at the club!). Using Cellulose in the spraying does affect the shine of the paint slightly.

Once done I will leave well alone for a few days for the paint to fully cure, then I can remove the masks, tidy up any flaws, and begin to get the project on its way to conclusion.

Hope the pictures show what I mean.

Bigkev

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[Bigkev]

You know when you get one of those days!

Hi All,

As you can see from the attached pictures a small lift in the masking has allowed a small amount of the Green to bleed through onto the Grey of the wings, Grrrrrrr!!!
And a very small amount of lifting of the grey by the fuselage centre section, Double Grrrrr!!
 
After a few choice words muttered under my breath, I looked at remedying the problem as best I could. I found that a few cotton buds moistened in white spirit and rubbed over the offending bleed removed nearly all of the green paint a left a very pale amount of staining, which will be easy to cover with a quick blast of thinned grey paint. Also the lifting could be easily touched in when the paint was out with a fine brush.

Note to self:- Make sure masking is properly stuck down at each time of spraying!!

No major disaster, just a bit more work that could have been avoided.

The end of the project is now in sight.

Bigkev

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[bridlufc]

Hi Kev, yes I've had a few of those GRRRRR!! moments as well with the trials of masking, but these things are sent to try us. Looking forward to seeing the airliner at the club meet.

Regards Tony

[driffowl]

excellent model kev,love the colour scheme and that small glitch in the painting/masking is par for the course for us mere mortals of the modelling world lol,im sure with your superb skills you will soon put that right and having it look immaculate

[Bigkev]

Hi All,
Well I've had a warning from the site stating it is 120 days since I did some work on this item. It is still work in progress so here goes.
Tonight I took the Boeing from its hibernation place to the bathroom sink were I revived it by giving a nice warm soapy bath to remove the decal solvent and fixing solutions. So here for your pleasure is the beast now decaled and awaiting a final push to bring it all together. I will try over the next couple of weeks to complete, but it may take a little longer, so please bear with me.
Hope these show the project at its current stage.
Bigkev

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[zak]

 
Looking really good.

[Kiteman]

Wow!

[Bigkev]

Hi Kiteman,

 Thankyou for the 'wow'. It has got me going again, and to finish this project once and all.

I had to overcome a major problem with the wing transfers, on the wing leading edges, which had not bedded down properly, with air bubbles and creases in the transfers.

So to overcome the problem, I took a sanding stick and removed the offending area's. I then made sure that I put three or four coats of Kleer over the paintwork to seal in what was there. I then masked off the areas in question, and applied an initial coat of Alclad II 'Aluminium, followed by a final coat of 'Polished Aluminium' .

Once dry, masking removed, revealed an acceptable finish on the leading edges. Then I attached the engines, and landing gear/doors. The model now looks like a 737 proper.

The join between engine pod and wing is not brilliant, but using Rocket Water based filler proved ideal, applied then excess wiped off with a damp brush/cloth. This left just filler in the gap as can be seen in the photo.

I still have to add the wheels, which still need to be painted and finished, also the Ariel's, and minor detailing such as navigation lights.

Until then, I have attached some photo's of my current progress as described. 

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[Bigkev]

More Pics of Progress...........

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