Iron Maiden's ED FORCE ONE 757

[BlackOps]

I imagine those decals were a bugger and a half to put on. It's lookin' good from here though. I'm anxious to see this one all put together. 

[Brian da Basher]

The livery looks outstanding! Takes a mighty talented and skilled hand to apply dee-cals deckles so flawlessly.

Brian da Basher

P.S. It could be worse. Imagine what it would be like to dee-cal deckle a Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 707...

[PR19_Kit]

There was a 757 in the same scheme at Cosford yesterday, but the guy had used the Welsh Models vacform. We chatted about the pros and cons of the Minicraft kit and both of us hated the cockpit arrangement. It looked pretty impressive when it was finished, a manic idea for that scheme.

[John Howling Mouse]

Yeah, I'm still plugging away at this ball of dung.  I kept test-fitting the wing-joins and reading other people's build reviews.  Essentially, the wings supplied were not made for this kit.  Other builders said to slice off half an inch of the wing-spar "fingers" since they don't overlap each other the way they're supposed to.  But the wings' mating surfaces are simply nowhere near matching the chord or vertical breadth of the fuselage wing roots.  So, this is how bad it looks.  One of the wings is held in place solely by a 2mm thick film of accelerated CA glue and I used CA glue to build up the outer/visible joints a bit, too.  I have no idea how I'm going to pull off this little bit of PSR on already-finished surfaces!












The stabs, on the other hand, seemed just fine.  Well, the first one did.  And I didn't bother to test-fit the opposite stab, thinking that if they got one side right, the other side would have to be just as good, right?  Wrong.  The starboard stab pointed in a distinct anhedral....looked terrible.  I tried to bend the connection tab but it kept springing back.  As I already had glue all over the place, I had to break off the connection tab and do a simple butt-joint.  Again, this stab is held into place with a film of accelerated CA glue.  Nice.

Question:
Do I leave the joints as is or do I risk trying to putty them up and repaint?

[cthulhu77]

ooof.

Mr. Surfacer?

[John Howling Mouse]

ooof.

Mr. Surfacer?

Either that or "Mr. Blowtorch"   

[Ed S]

Personally, in those instances, I find Mr. 10 Pound Sledgehammer much more emotionally satisfying.  But hang in there Barry, I'm sure you can make another beauty out of this one.

Ed

[Brian da Basher]

You're making nice progress on a very challenging kit, Mr Howling Mouse. Before you resort to Mr Blowtorch, I'd suggest going the putty route, using masking tape and some rubbing alcohol to thin the putty. The tape should keep the putty from going where you don't want it and thinning it with rubbing alcohol should prevent the return of our old friend Mr PSR.

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, I cleaned things up as best as I could without going berserk on this stupid kit.  And I'm on to the landing gear:  there is a distinct possibility that Minicraft actually got the main landing gear struts reversed(?)
I cannot imagine how the additional side-brace/link-arm can possibly fit to the main landing gear strut---just doesn't make sense with the angles involved.
Either way, there is no pin hole on the strut anywhere to accept the pin on the link-arm.  And there are two tiny pins sticking out on the main strut that could be used for attaching to the gear door...only they're on the wrong side of the strut to be of any use.  Again, unless Minicraft reversed everything by mistake.  Andrew Forster's build review on MM doesn't mention it and I can't read German well enough to understand that German modeller's build-up of this same kit (and Babelfish just makes a mess out of it).  From detail photos of the real thing, it looks like Minicraft got the retraction link-arm upside down in their instructions but I'm no expert.

Frustrated in Canada....

JHM

German modeller's review:  http://www.modellversium.de/galerie/18-flugzeuge-zivil/3538-boeing-757-23a-minicraft-model-kits.html

A review by a certain Jennings fellow ;-)  http://aravm98.tripod.com/reference/Mini757rev.htm

Some detailed landing gear shots:  http://aravm98.tripod.com/reference/757LGindex.htm

[John Howling Mouse]

Here are the post-Dremel pics of the areas that had been re-sculpted with Lok-Tite(TM) CA glue and accelerant:

[John Howling Mouse]

Here's the runway base I created.  Unlike most photos which hide a multitude of flaws, I can honestly say that this base looks MUCH better than these pics.  I finally nailed the summer concrete look I was going for!  And the foliage looks more realistic in person.





What's this?  A teasing hint of a wing atop the runway diorama?  Could it be?

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, it took about eight months but she's done, done, DONE!  One of the most challenging builds I've ever completed.  Great relief to have it finished, even though far from perfect.  The recipient picked it up tonight and he seemed quite happy with it.  Even his wife seemed to think it was more classy in its diorama case than she expected.

























And this is how Ed Force One looks in its final diorama case:

[Ed S]

Beautiful.  Not only do you demonstate your modeling skills, but you provide a lesson in perseverance for us as well. 



Ed

[Cobra]

Awesome Job This is Too cool,Man!!!! makes me a Bit Jealous because you did so Well!!!!!!!!!! thanks for Posting!!!!!!!!

[NARSES2]

Brilliant