Boeing KC-787 (or KC-48A for short)

[Spey_Phantom]

been playing with this idea for some time now, and today, i finally got arround to building it.
the basic contruction is already done, the tail has already recieved a first coat of Yellow and the engines are almost finished aswell.

the aircraft will be painted in "New Flanders Air Force" markings, wearing a civilian style color scheme, overall white with black/yellow trim.
the flying boom is scratchbuild from spares and leftover sprue, the wingtip HDU (hose/drogue units) are made from a pair of leftover 1/144 revell F-16A droptanks (the old kit, not the new one).

the basekit im using is the Revell 1/144 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
when i first opened the kit, i was kinda expecting more from Revell, especially with a new mould (even if it was a Zvezda mould).
uppon looking, at first glimps i was surprised of the lack of panellines, kinda makes it look like a mould from the 1980's/early 90's, not from what you expect from a new mould of a new plane.

However, after applying a thin coat on the tail and engine cowlings, it was then that the panel lines started to show a bit better.

another thing i noticed in the instructions was that Revell highlighted some strange modification to be done, including cutting off some of the fairings from under the wings. why, i dont know. but according to photo's ive seen, they dont need removing.

all in all, as for fitting, there is a slight warp in the fuselage halves, but nothing a clamp and a few rubber bends cant handle.
as for the rest, the fit is quite well (up to now), one thing i should note, there was an mistake in the instructions (image 10, wrong cowling part number).


no photo's yet, i will post a few pictures of the build in the morning 

[Spey_Phantom]

this morning i started on painting the grey underside, the negines need another day or 2 to dry (thats why i hate yellow paint, takes to long to dry  )
so i decided to paint it over in a lighter yellow, dries quicker and better result.

as promised, a few pictures  

[PR19_Kit]

Re cutting off the flap track fairings, quite often airliner model manufacturers rush to be first on the market with a new model and end up modelling the prototype. When the production version appears it may well be different to the model, so maybe that happened with the 787? It may be that pics you saw WERE of the prototype and so it would look like the model.

Airfix were very bad at this, the VC10, the BAC 1-11 and the Trident were all modelled on early versions and need numerous changes to make a production version.

[Spey_Phantom]

ok, last update for today 

the first layer of white has been applied, but its going to need another thinner coat (or 2) as the paint was a bit to thick.
as for the first layer of yellow paint, after more then 24 hours, its still not dry (i hate yellow paint  ).
once the yellow on the tail and engines is dry, im gonna apply a brighter shade of yellow then the one on now (using it as a primer).

just moments ago, the wheels were glued on to the landing gear 
if all goes well, the second layer of white and yellow can be painted tomorrownight.
then later in the week, more masking for the yellow/black trim (might tame some time, decided to maint the trim rather then decal it).

here's a pick of the bottom 

[Cobra]

Sweet This has a 'Gerry Anderson' feel with the Paint Scheme! Hope to see more Dan

[Captain Canada]

Good idea and great lookimh model. Yellow might be a pain to work with, but it sure makes a plane stand out !

[Spey_Phantom]

update:

i hit a problem, bit of a Deja Vu i had in a previous build 
namely, the bubbleing and peeling on the second coating, a chemical reaction from 2 different paints.
i commonly have it when using thicker whites and yellows.

the paint on the engines had to be stripped and repainted, the white on the fuselage will also need some modification.
this will delay detailing of the fuselage by a few days, another reason i hate white and yellow , makes boring old grey seem a more attractive alternative.

pics tomorrow 

[Captain Canada]

Don't give up on her now ! Boring old gray would be just that.....

[Spey_Phantom]

Don't give up on her now ! Boring old gray would be just that.....

exactly what i was thinking, i came way to far to go to grey, got enough of that as it is 

anyway, i have an update.

i managed to largly save the paintjob 
after removing the maskingtape, ive seen it held up quite well, my regards to Revell on theyre new masking tape, i will be using it more in the future.
anyways, the engines have been installed, all thats left to do now is to tape off the slats and trim on the fuselage and then i can start on the decals.
i already decaled on the fuel recieving point on the top of the front fuselage, also the decal for the windscreen went on pretty good, i was expecting it to be a pain, but it just fell right into place 

pictures 









and finally, a dry-fit of the boom. perfect fit 

[NARSES2]

Looking good my friend

[pyro-manic]

Sounds like you need to bin your tin of yellow paint! No reason it should take days to dry...

[Captain Canada]

Wow...is she ever looking good ! Airliner from the top, all military from underneath ! Glad you decided to keep her going.

[Spey_Phantom]

update:

final work on the KC-48A has now been done, decals have been applied and sealed.
i decided to leave of the trim under the windows, allong the fuselage, as i am affraid im going to get another crisping reaction as i had on the engines, better to be safe then sorry 

boom was fitted last night, as expected, a perfect fit 

however i have had another setback last night, and one i should mention if your going to build the 787 kit.
the nosewheel on the kit is very fragile, i would suggest extra strenghening.
mine broke while i was painting a patch on the nose, had to use a blob of tubeglue to fix that (dont like using it, to stringy).

also noted that the modle was tail heavy, and the instructions did not specify noseweights.
to, to reduce stress on the underwing landinggear, i sanded off a part on the bottom and pasted a piece of sprue behind it.

pictures of the completed model tomorrow 

[PR19_Kit]

Revell's airliner nosewheels are notoriously fragile.

That goes for all of them bar possibly the A310 that's a bit beefier. To make matters worse most of them are designed so you're meant to install the nosewheel leg BEFORE to add the wings, engines, tail etc. so alll your painting and fuselage decaling is meant to be done with the nosewheel leg sticking down just where it's most likely to get broken.

I re-engineer most of mine so they can be installed after the main build, makes much more sense, and I'd had a number of those tweaks published in the Airliner SIG magazine.

It looks like Revell haven't learnt anything on that front in the last 15-20 yrs or so. 

[Spey_Phantom]

and im finished 

i still need to repaint the patch of grey on the underside (had to sand it down to fit a support part for the tail).