Buddy Build 2016 Boeing 757

[Vidar710]

Here's a little project on the side I've been working on. My close friend Gil Gregg is building one as well. Mine will be the American Airlines 757 AstroJet, while Gil's will be Trump Force 1.

We've both been taking a break from the 75's because we're trying to get ready will other projects for IPMS Nat's in South Carolina.

Here's mine so far...

Airliner kits are usually engineered very badly. Case-n-point. This Minicraft 757 SUX! Engine pods usually come in halves from front to back. This makes for a nasty seam in the engine intakes that are terrible to fill. This kit is even worse. The skin of the intake doesn't even go all the way back to the N1 fan. All that missing material has to be filled in. My solution, cut everything off forward of the Fan, then glue the halves together and sculpt in the intake surface with Apoxie Sculpt.


Glue everything back on the from of the pod when finished replacing material that had been lost or cut away with a piece of sheet styrene.


Sand and shape until the fan fits snug and centered in the intake.


The back of the re-sculpted intake without the Fan piece. No seams!


Fuselage halves glued together with an "over-gluing" technique I like for such an occasion. The clear cockpit hood is glued and filled.


Wings had a terrible fit.. filling and sanding wasn't enough of a solution.


I used a Dremel tool with a wheel brush to slowly remove plastic to sulpt the fuselage to the shape of the wing.


Bad engine fit. Here the engine pylons force the engine pods in a nose-up attitude.


The pylons need to be reshaped to hang correctly. A knotch is cut in the pylon and strip styrene will be added to give it a new shape.


The pylons don't hang perpendicular to the ground like they're suppose to. Engines do not hang perpendicular to a wing that has a pronounced dihedral.


Apoxie Sculpt was added to the pylon, then pressed into the wing allowing for a new gluing surface to be made that corrects the way the pylon hangs from the wing. It also makes a perfect match for gluing the new pylons profile into the wing. Here the Apoxie Sculpt has not been sanded into shape yet.


Newly formed pylons glued on to the engine pods. You can see the styrene wedge that changes the pitch of the whole engine assembly.


Engines now hang correctly in pitch, and perpendicular to the ground.


Whole model is primed with Alclad Gray micro filler.


Base Aluminum is shot.


Creating the polish aircraft look.
Here, I start to pre-shade with various values of Aluminum using different hair combs as spray templates.
Front.


Aft


Once the pre-shading is done, I dust Chrome over everything to make the polished look pop.


Preping the engines for spraying after the metal work is done.


Boeing Gray goes on...
Alclad is great for masking. That's why I now do my metal work first.


Masks removed.
Front


Port side.


Engine pylons are complete. Found DC-8 decal vents to replace the lost detail re-shaping the pylons.
Side


Front


Gear is done as well. The 757 has 2 sets of duel taxi lights on the nose gear strut. The lower lamps point straight forward, while the 2 above point out about 30 degrees port n starboard.


Decal sheet for American Airlines AstroJet commemorating AA back in the Mid-50's when the Boeing 707 and 727 took to the skies with the AstroJet Lightning bolt Livery.


More to come!

Tracy

[Chief D.D. Maxwell]

I bet the next one will look just as good if not better than your Delta jet. Never got to see any airliners built before, glad you've been sharing your work with us all!

[bg_451]

Another beauty. I have quite a few airliners in the stash.....must get on to some of them....

[Vidar710]

Cleaning up after some of the Excelsior mess in the hobbyroom, I bumped the 757 off the shelf and it hit the floor causing a shadow seem to develop on the bottom of the fuseleage under the tail. I have to fix this before doing anything else. Just glad the paint work I've done didn't get trashed.



Tracy

[Vidar710]

Some subtle work going on the flight control surfaces.











And now its ready to start getting its decals. Here, I've pre-treated the coroguard panels with a flat lacquer coat.







Tracy

[Vidar710]

The AstroJet decals were a big BUST. The morkings that were suppose to conform around the Radome/Nose just would not lay down. I decided to revert back to the old Red, White, and Blue American Cheater Line livery...



Tracy