Challenge Build 737-268C - AIR SAUDIA -

[Ansett A330]

I definitely would like the AA engines in this case. I wasn't aware of them! A link or point in the right direction to where I would be able to purchase them if you have it handy.

Here you go :

https://www.authentic-airliners.de/JT-8 ... 0-advanced

... but as you can see they "may" be out of Stock at the moment (worth checking with them or like you did with the Etch ask around) which "could" still present you with an opportunity.

The PE set... I know a gentleman who resides in the UK that has been building and collecting for over 50 years, feller by the name of Kit. "Pr-19kit". Paul probably knows him from the "what if modellers" forum we're both at. I kept ruminating and mentioning how I was wanting the set and he had a look and Eureka.. there it was... It'll be on its way across the Atlantic in a day or two! Goes to show that if you can't find it at a dedicated place that sells supplies, that asking around and seeking out individuals can net some positive results!

I used to e-mail with Kit in the early days of the Internet but lost contact. I lurk over on WiF as I tried to sign up but didn't seem to work. Graeme says the reason may be my WiF interests are probably too weird even for them!

As far as the build goes, I have been working more on it. I've been getting the wings painted. The tailplanes are now finished and I'm working my way through the main wings. The corogard stuff is on, the boeing grey portions are on, the little odd colored patch outboard is on, and they have been matte cleared. Next up I will mask again to paint the NMF stuff. After that, I'll paint on the navigation and landing lights. I'll probably stop right there... I'm doing my best to make this a nice model but at the end of the day, I'm not very skilled and am just trying to reach the finish line. With the added workload of etch and upgraded engines and all that I have my hands full. There's probably all kinds of modifications to the actual kit itself that I need to do to make it correct but I'll either get to that or not at some point in the future. I realize I should have addressed this long ago but I hadn't really planned on doing any mods at all... it was only after I got into the build that I realized I was dealing with something other than a "plain" 737. Now that I've decided to add all this extra "stuff" it almost seems like I should stop, "go back", and do any other modifications necessary as well to the fuselage. I'll have to sleep on and think about this conundrum...

Well like I said in mine when I "switched" kits and said no plan survives first contact with the enemy the opportunity could be to start another one and plan it out as to what you want to do with it. Still some months left (depending on shipping time of course). Authentic Engines (or another alternative) may become available again in the mean time.

[Ansett A330]

Oh and if you are rolling in Euro money there is also this :

https://www.authentic-airliners.de/737- ... SCALE-1/72

Waay too expensive for poor Pacific Paeso Peasants!

[TheChronicOne]

Ha! Funny you mention that set, I actually have plans to buy the BPK T-43A and build it up. USAF 737 in 1/72 sounds cool to me... and I get to build a "civil" aircraft in my military scale.


Thanks for the links and advice and such. If I DO decide to go all-in on a 737, (by the way, I hadn't thought of simply switching this one out for a new one to start... brilliant... simple solution to that problem and I have 3-4 of these now) what needs to be done to the model to make it correct? I hadn't really looked into it. I just got out of doing all this type of thing on my BAC-111 and I have to say I was looking forward to skipping it on this one.



EDIT: I wasn't even trying to find this (I'm looking for engines) but came across it:

For the most part the Airfix 737 is a good representation of the real aircraft. The kit's tooling is not much younger than the first-generation 737 itself (Scalemates has the initial Lufthansa issue as 1969). Happily, like its DC-9 the 737 is one of Airfix's better airliner kits and has held up reasonably well, and it's still an easy build. There have also been a ton of decals released for this kit over the years.

The radome and windscreen shape aren't the best they could be, but there are fixes (on my Boeing narrowbody kits with goofy cockpit issues I like to cast copies of the Minicraft 737 cockpit cab and replace the troubling areas with that). The main gear well is molded with a false bottom that has a plate that fits over it to give the illusion of a well, but it isn't hard to cut the false bottom out, build in a proper well with bulkheads, and then glue the plate with the wheel openings over it, and you're done. Some people have noted issues with the engine shape but for most applications it hasn't been sufficient to put me off the kit.

The Airfix 737 isn't an Authentic Airliners kit in terms of accuracy, but so far as "major goofs" I'm hard-pressed think of any. It's easier for me to think of all the really nice builds I've seen from this kit over the years. If you can fix the nose and the soft cockpit cab, and fix the gear well issue if that bothers you, application of modeling skill should take you the rest of the way.

Jodie Peeler

[hrtpaul]

The radome and windscreen shape aren't the best they could be, but there are fixes (on my Boeing narrowbody kits with goofy cockpit issues I like to cast copies of the Minicraft 737 cockpit cab and replace the troubling areas with that).

Now I do like that idea. Especially with my new found resin casting experience. Considering there are 2 more 737's and 7 x 727's in the stash, it would be a cheap fix. I wonder if Jodie copies the whole nose/cockpit section of the Minicraft 737 or just the cockpit window section.

[Ansett A330]

Given that Jodie says "Cockpit cab" I'd bet that it's a cast of the clear part viz :



and cuts the Airfix kit like the Minicraft Fuselage to accept (most likely widening it as well because the Airfix kit is skinny) :



Whereas Viking over on Britmodeller used the Daco/Skyline Clear part which you can buy separately.

Then there is this Bloke over on Hyperscale who chopped the Minicraft Nose off and grafted it on to the (40 thou widened) Airfix Fuselage :



As the saying goes "Yer pays yer money and ya makes ya choice!". (Then there are those Idiots - or is it just Idiot - that just spend ages of time profiling and bogging and filing and bogging and sanding ad nauseum to try and fix it up!)

[TheChronicOne]

Well there's at least two of us.


I still haven't made up my mind how to proceed. I'm just going to keep working on the wings and stuff and stop and re-evaluate at that point. I would even be open to the idea of purchasing an AA 737-200 complete kit ..... were they in stock. I sit here and think to myself... would it be worth spending an extra $20-30 or whatever to save 20 hours of time??? Why hell yes it's worth it. I try to pose things in terms that make sense and usually people can grasp hours and money because who hasn't worked a job at some point?? I look at it this way.... the option exists to do it myself, but if I could somehow get out of hours and hours of work for $20, would I? This is how I justify the prices of pre-cut masks and stuff... So the mask costs $10 but saves me 3-4 hours... well, is 4 hours of free time worth $10?? Yes!! If I could somehow buy additional hours of the day at that price I'd do it all the time!

But enough bloviating and ruminating. I'll get back to work on this at some point and make up my mind eventually. But hell, as far as all this goes, is there anyting stopping me from cutting down a Minicraft 400 fuselage to 200 length? Wouldn't have to widen anything then and would seem to save other work as well as far as re-shaping the nose area.

Just thinking "out loud" here....

[Ansett A330]

... is there anyting stopping me from cutting down a Minicraft 400 fuselage to 200 length? Wouldn't have to widen anything then and would seem to save other work as well as far as re-shaping the nose area.

Just thinking "out loud" here....

Well that's basically what one Bloke did (or does as I think he made a couple and still makes a -200 that way) except he used/uses the Skyline kit. You'd have to lose a bit from the wing area though unless of course you use the Airfix wings but with a great Fuselage like the Skyline kit you'd want to go to town on the wings.

(On a similar but bigger - much bigger - note there was that other Bloke on Britmodeller who made a 747-200 from a Revell or Zvezda 747-800 so anything is possible.)

Here's a different Modeller that did the same thing to a Daco kit with AA Engines :

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/ind ... nt-2434778

[TheChronicOne]

Yikes! Sounds like a glutton for punishment! I entertained converting -something- into a 747SP but almos just as quickly dismissed that idea.... I'm praying Zvesda will put one out some day.

I forgot about the Skyline kit. Sad thing is I let one slip through my fingers about a month ago. It didn't have decals but it went for just over $20 if memory serves, opposed to the normal rate which is quite pricey. I ran out of money, what can I say. That's how it goes in the winter time for me. Good news is I got a bit of a raise today thanks to adding Target to an existing contract. I pick up garbage out of the parking lot at a shopping center and Target was one of a the few places that used someone else, up until about a month and a half ago that is!

I think I just made up my mind here, however; I'm going to press on with what I already have because this is supposed to be an Airfix build and if I use the majority of the parts from some other source, then I just shit the bed and missed the whole point of the challenge!

[Ansett A330]

Yikes! Sounds like a glutton for punishment! I entertained converting -something- into a 747SP but almos just as quickly dismissed that idea.... I'm praying Zvesda will put one out some day.

Funny you say that about the SP as it was the Article in an old FSM where someone cut down the Revell kit I think it was to an SP that got me reinterested in Airliners long after I had built some when I was at Primary School.

Well here's the latest comparison :



Worth it? Definitely but need to find a quicker way to do it next time. Daco/Skyline Cockpit transparency definitely the way to go methinks.

[Ansett A330]

As the saying goes "Yer pays yer money and ya makes ya choice!".

How to misquote! Of course it's from these guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG2jj-aIl-A