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

[Ansett A330]

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2342

Thanks for that Ray.

I thought you had used the Braz Engines but when I just reread it then yep that's exactly what I'm about to do.

[Ansett A330]

OK didn't get around to uploading this the other day - the obligatory parts out of the Box photo :



and had planned to get into it this afternoon so made an early start to the day as had to make a quick (5 hours round trip travel) trip into Town to get some things which took a bit of running around and then this happened :



which normally wouldn't have caused too much of a delay but because of the location and timing of it one thing led to another and before long I'd lost THREE hours sorting out.

So ... only got home at 1930 and way too tired to cut into any styrene let alone fondle any parts.

Maybe tomorrow ...

[Ansett A330]

OK no Plan survives first contact with the Enemy so change of Plan.



In the latest batch of Kits to arrive :





there was a part (well mostly) built Airfix 737-200 :





so seeing I hadn't done any modelling in a fair while as evidenced by the tube of Filler in the box with my old Tools being an unopened tube of Gunze "Mr.PUTTY" (when was the last time that was sold in Australia?) I thought instead of stuffing up a "brand new" Airfix kit by being a rusty hack merchant I might try to slap this one into shape and blow away some cobwebs and if I didn't well at least I didn't stuff up a new kit!

So ...

to the Engines!

Taking a leaf out of that brilliant build on BM the task for tonight was a cut and lengthen exercise to duplicate what was done there viz :





So with much older hands and arthritic fingers on the old tools than when they were previously used I started by having a look at the already assembled engines :





As you might be able to see as found they haven't been fill or sanded and one of the exhausts looked a bit ogival but I figured I would leave any fixing up till later after the surgery with the logic that if the patient didn't survive the surgery then any fix up work undertaken previously would be wasted!

So ... the first cut!





... and the first mistake! Yes I didn't support the engine properly in the mitre box so the cut was on a angle to that intended. But hopefully that might not matter so much down the track ... we'll see I guess.

So the lengthening has to be about 4 mm so in order to get some consistency between the two seeing I only had my Compass and not my Vernier I decided to make a tube within a tube to extend the engine and also hopefully minimise the use of filler. Two suitable diameters of Evergreen tubing was used to make the "reverse dumbell" (Unibell?) "joiner" :





By the looks of it on this first one it may have too much of a "whoop" in it but I suppose we'll see as we go along :





So to the second one and see if the "experiences" of the first one lead to any learnings?





Yeah a little bit better. Maybe if I build a fair few of these Airfix 737-200s I might get it right by about number forty or fifty!

And then of course I got interrupted so that was the end of the day's (night's) play.

Tune in next time (whenever that will be) for the next exciting episode of "The Old Fart Vs The Airfix 737-200" on a Channel near you.

[Ansett A330]

Welcome back to the Second Day's play in the First Test of "The Old Fart Vs The Airfix 737-200".

Today's Task is to try and replicate this :





And after chopping up some 40 thou card to fill the gap at the rear of the fairing some 20 thou card was sliced up to try and fatten the plyons. I'm not going to say how many of these side "plates" were made only to say with my lack of skills the approach was similar to a very big room full of Monkeys hammering away on Typewriters trying to write Shakespear.





and then terribly gluing the buggers on :





Now when I first read that each side "plate" was 20 thou I thought "Wow that's' going to fatten the buggers up!". But now I look at it it doesn't seem much at all.

And then of course I got interrupted thus bringing the Afternoon Session to an early close.

Tune in next time for the next exciting episode.

[Ansett A330]

After thinking about the thickness of the Pylons I had a bit of look around for photos of the various engines on -200s :

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmufPMFc

and certainly going to have to be creative with the filler to capture the "look" of the Pylon particularly where it curves a bit.

[TheChronicOne]

Funny the things that you never really notice until someone points them out to you or you spend and inordinate amount of time scouring a particular subject. In other words, I had no ideas them pylons were so beefy like that. Pretty neat.

Also, good work so far resurrecting this!

[Ansett A330]

OK after dry fitting the Engines to the Wings and bogging up the pylons a fair bit I thought I would turn my attention to the Fuselage to assess what needed to be done there.

So ... again taking a leaf (that tree is going to be very bare taking all of these leaves) out of the BM build the best thing to do to the Cockpit area is widen it by 40 thou and cut it out and replace it with a Daco one viz :



So I got onto my nearest Daco Stockist to see if he had one spare and could mould it and ... yes of course have many but ... no mould or moulding material!

So have to put that on the back burner for a little bit but still split open the Nose and Cockpit to see what a slice of 40 thou does :



The Cockpit glazing or what it had become was colaterial damage by the way.

The next thing I did was cut out the Wheels Wells and then think about how to add a Wheel Well "Roof". Again one for the back burner.

So as I was out of Oven Cleaner at the time having used it for it's intended purpose of cleaning the Oven and not stripping paint off Models I took to the Fuselage with some Wet and Dry to see what needed to be filled and sanded and filled and sanded ad nauseam in the near future :









And as you can see the answer is "Lots".

So now just having got back from picking up the Missus in Emerald and seeing if they had "Mr Muscle" which they didn't I've had to settle for another type of Oven Cleaner so I've just hit it now and see what it does to the poor thing ...

Till next time (if the patient survives that is) ...

[RayS]

The refurb is looking good Rob, I would not fussed about other brand oven cleaners affecting the plastic. I have used plenty of different brands including the Woolies home brand with no ill effects.

Your engine surgery looks fine as well.

[hrtpaul]

Coming along nicely

[Ansett A330]

Thanks Guys for the kind words - still baby steps at the moment though owing to all the rust still encrusting me. Although in the "downtime" (not that there is any) between doing bits on this build I am tempted to make a long awaited start on the prototype A300B - especially making those serious fuselage cuts!

Anyway back to this battle ... and I had bogged up a few areas after the Wet and Dry rub and before hitting it with the "different brand" Oven Cleaner but unfortunately didn't take any photos so no evidence of the extent of bogging but ... after hitting it with the "different brand" Oven Cleaner (which by the way is ENTIRELY useless as an Oven Cleaner!) as you can see from the photos it took everything - paint, filler, etc - off but again I did not take any photos straight away and bogged it up overnight before taking the photos just now so you'll have to take my word for it of what the "different brand" Oven Cleaner stripped off it.











The other "back burner" thing I did do somewhere in between all of the above was insert and glue two pieces of square tube along each side of the fuselage inside the wheel well (yes try doing that with a pair of tweezers!) with the idea being that I can place "planks" between and above these "shelves" to give some sort of a "roof" to the wheel well. Can't wait till I build one of these from an unmade kit and get one of those Mexican Wheel Well castings that Paul put us on to as that has to be a lot easier than doing some boxing in this way!





Till next time ... play Cricket better than the Australian Team!