1:144 Airfix 737-200 Challenge Build - Ansett 737-277

[tor lives]

Very friggen impressive!!!
TOR

[RayS]

Rob, even the 'normal' brand oven cleaner eats filler. On the numerous re-strips of my attempt, I have had to refill after each stripping attempt.

Good to see some progress on your 737.

[Ansett A330]

Very friggen impressive!!!
TOR

Thanks Boss I'll try to keep plodding along with it.

BTW when I was searching the 'Net the other night for photos I came across this :

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/aussiem ... 9-s10.html

Could this be the original Thread where "TOR" was coined?

[Ansett A330]

Rob, even the 'normal' brand oven cleaner eats filler. On the numerous re-strips of my attempt, I have had to refill after each stripping attempt.

Good to see some progress on your 737.

Yes it probably surprised me a little as I think in the old days I used Automotive Filler and another Industrial Filler (whose name escapes me at the moment) a lot instead of Model Filler (probably hence the unopened prehistoric tube of "Mr.Putty" which never got used) both of which probably weren't as susceptible to demolition by Caustic action as Model Filler obviously is. Also the "Mr Muscle" in the old days was probably waaaaay different to what is in the can nowadays (if you can find it that is - thanks to the Supermarket duopoly it's not on either's shelves - must check the IGA in Emerald next week to see if they have it although as just said it is probably waaaaay different to what it was).

I've just rubbed the Fuselage down again and I probably have to Oven Cleaner it again as there are still little bits of paint on it in some nooks and crannies unfortunately and they also seem to stop the Model Filler from doing it's job in some places and also other places the Tamiya Filler just didn't bog and bond as intended so as usual back to square one.

BTW did your Decal Sheet arrive safely? Which Gunship are you going to do first?

[TheChronicOne]

Hellllll yeah!! I love it... seeing new life being breathed to an old bird is something I'm always down for. There's just something a little bit sad about busted old builds left to sit, or things that find their way to the shelf of doom to be stuck in purgatory for who knows how long... Looks like some nutty work goin on too which I always enjoy to see.

[Ansett A330]

OK Today's posting of last Night's "efforts".

So now where was I? Well thought I'd look at the Cockpit area and see what options were there seeing it's going to take a bit of time to order a Daco transparency and then mould it for any future ones (not that that is looking likely if I have to do all this again!).

So on a whim (must eliminate those!) I decided to cut out the Nose Wheel Bay and when slicing through suspected that Plasticene has been used in the forward Fuselage to weigh it down. Sure enough just as I confirmed that there was a bit of a rattle and a bit of it dropped out.

So on another whim I thought I'd saw down the centre line a bit - as it needed to take the 40 thou strip at some stage anyway - and as I didn't want to pry it open any more with risking it suddenly breaking. So next thing the Razor Saw is going through Plastic and Plasticene and I'm picking bits of Plasticene out of the forward Fuselage bigger than boogers from the Giant's Nose in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Anyway I then thought (yeah I know "What with") maybe I should have a go a fixing up the Cockpit and Windscreen myself. What an Idiot!

So thought I had some 737 Nose Station Diagrams somewhere and sure enough I did but they were in "tiff" format which didn't print so well. So Plan B was to go trawling on the 'Net and sure enough I found these :





They printed fairly well so I reduced them to (hopefully) 1:144 and they looked like this :





So then it was a matter of cutting this outline (minus a Wheel well) onto a sheet of 40 thou like this :





Trimming it up and continually comparing it to the Plans and then slotting it between the Fuselage halves to get this :





Arrrgggghhhhh! What the? Is the Airfix Nose that far out? Or have I got the wrong Drawings? All correspondence gratefully received as to which is which. Here I was thinking there would be a little bit of filler but that is going to be a lot if that Profile is correct!

Thus endth the Night's play as I couldn't be bothered to stay up for the USGP FP3.



P.S. By the way I don't believe I'm a "Rivet Counter" - Train Spotter maybe - but I think if something doesn't look right then I should have a go a fixing it up and of course I believe the opposite is true - "if it ain't broke - don't f**k with it!".

[Ansett A330]

After sifting through the comments on the Airfix 737-200 Nose and the mountains of suggestions I've decided to push on with building up my own Nose (this Airfix Kit that is not not my Nose - it's big enough already!) with the idea that if I stuff it up the back-up Plan ("Plan C" for Cockpit?) is to cut it out anyway and put in a Daco Cockpit Transparency. So hopefully no harm done if I'm not successful just time wasted using skills I don't have.

[TheChronicOne]

Oddly enough, I was putting my Airfix 200 together yesterday when I got to the same area and my first thought was... "this doesn't seem right" and even looking at the plastic it seems a bit short-shot in that area and a bit collapsed and the roof area over the windscreens take a downward turn. I'm just going to roll with it on mine. After all the stuff I did on the BAC 111 I've resolved to make the 737 OOB 100%.

[Ansett A330]

OK small update owing to wasting the day sorting out Laptops and Printers using different Operating Systems.

So basically after deciding to bog a new Nose and Cockpit I was trying to figure out how to do it and stumbled across the Decals I was going to use for the Cockpit and Windows and "Of course!" use the Decal of the Cockpit Window Frames as Templates! So measuring them out, cutting them out of 40 thou, and then trimming and sanding to fit the Decal hopefully I've got the basis of the Cockpit Windscreen.

Also added a "Floor" to the 40 thou middle "Nose Profile" and - after fishing out hopefully the last of the Plasticene - literally went fishing for a Sinker to saw up to weigh down the Nose.





Also managed to insert one main Wheel Well Floor "Plank" after much trouble - don't know how I'm going to get the other three or four "Planks" in. It's not going to be great anyway as it's probably a bit deeper than it should be. Maybe a whole heap of fine stretched sprue and some cylindrical "Accumulators" and the like will cover the Planks up and make it look a bit busy in there. Need to find some reference photos.

Also sanded and rebogged the Engines. They are going to need a fair few rounds of that to try and capture their "look".

[Ansett A330]

OK another small update.

After epoxying the cut off Sinkers in place it was time to get serious about trying to close this thing up before I "accidentally" break it so a bit more of an attempt at "planking" the Main Wheel Well fairly badly and boxing in the Nose Wheel Well even more roughly it was getting close. While "underneath" and after having looked at some photos I decided to extend the neat little fairings that Airfix had from the back of the Wing Body Fairing to the Oleo Doors further along the Fuselage to in front of the Oleo Doors by some very small "triangles" cut from 20 thou Card. Now that I have done that I'll obviously have to temporarily put the Oleo Doors in place and bog the thing up and sand it to shape at some stage.

Anyway then took the plunge and glued it up. The widening fairly obvious from the size of the gaps that now need to be filled. Also obviously not serious yet about it being "buttoned" up as only liquid cemented it and didn't "Zap-A-Gap" it with CA.

Anyway to the photos as if there aren't any it didn't happen!









Next step - Ooo! Arrr! the dreaded Windscreen. Or maybe bog out the Cockpit and Nose a bit first - yet to decide. I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure I am. (Or maybe that was that bloke Greg?)