My Boeing 767 Project

[F-27pax]

By now you will have realized that I like making sets of models rather than individual ones. Here, for example, is set of three Boeing 767s illustrating the three main versions of this airliner. All are made from the Revell kit which is not available in the shops and is rare in sway and sells, but turns up on ebay often enough.

The first is the 767-200 series which has a shortest fuselage of the three versions. This is achieved simply enough by cutting a slice out of the fuselage fore and aft of the wings. I don't know how others calculate this distance but I usually do it by counting the windows (frames actually as indicated by the windows) from photos of the model subject. It works out okay. The windows and other details come from the Aviagraphics decal sheet and the Ansett decals came from our good ol' friends at Hawkeye.



The next version is the 767-300 which is made more or less straight out the box. The windows and other details come again from an Aviagraphics sheet and the Australian decals come from a Draw Decals sheet. The decal instructions are minimalist, to put it mildly, so I spent a lot of time looking at photos on Airliners.com in the hope of getting it right.



Finally is a 767-400 which is a longer version than the -300. There used to be a kit, Braz Models if I remember correctly, which can be used to upgrade a -300 to a -600 which includes fuselage plugs, new wing tips and perhaps (my memory is hazy on this) appropriate engines. By the time I was interested in making a -400 this conversion kit was long out of production but I finally bought one through ebay at a more or less reasonable price.

As it turned out, the fuselage plugs were useless because they did not fit properly and required so much surgery to get them into a useful state. In the end I threw up my hands in frustration and then discovered that the plugs cut out of the kit to make the -200 version were just the right size to fill the space needed to turn a -300 into a -400. After that the conversion went well. The windows and other details again came from the Aviagraphics sheet and the Delta decals from a Decales de Guido sheet.



I have another 767-300 kit in my Treasure which I'm saving up to make a QF 767-300F using decals that Mr Hawkeye has in production. I bought the Draw Decals sheet for a QF -300F but it represents the aeroplane without the kangaroos on the tail, and I'd prefer to wait to make a model of the original with the kangaroo. I'll put a photo of it here when it is finished, if I remember.

[tor lives]

As usual Leigh, most lovely and captivating model work there.
We retire our final 767s from the Qantas fleet next week so the 767 is really a topical aircraft at the moment.
Your Australian Airlines Mk 2 767 is quiet simply stunning !!!!!
I really enjoy your sets of airliners.....thanks for posting.
TOR

[hrtpaul]

I'd like to do a QF 767 one day. Leigh your models are awesome mate. Very well done

[Graeme H]

Great stuff Leigh, do love the 767,

good find with the fuselage bits from the -200 for the -400, and you are spot on the -200 to -300 to -400 all involve the same amount of 21.1 ft according to Wikipedia
amazing to think the final production version will be the -200 fuselage length in the KC-46A.

[RayS]

Nice collection Leigh.

Were there any other mods to make the -400 other than the plugs and what looks like rake wing tips?

Doesn't the -400 have the 777 main gear or something similar?

I have 3 767 kits in the stash and the notion that I can make a -400 from the leftovers of the -200 is very appealing. Time for some research

[VH-WAL]

Nice ones, I really must build some of my 1/100 jet airliners one of these days..

[F-27pax]

I can't tell you whether or not the 767-400 has the undercarriage of the 777 but, from the look of my model they didn't. This doesn't mean that I am right, I may simply have failed to do due diligence in relation to that part of the model. Wiki says that the undercarriage was redesigned but not that it was 777 equipment. It appears that the only changes I made was the fuselage and wingtips.

[RayS]

Thanks Leigh, a quick look on airliners.net shows a standard looking dual bogie U/C

[scotty100368]

Regarding the 767-400 undercarriage, I found this on the Boeing site:

ROTATION CAPABILITY.
The stretched fuselage significantly reduced the rotation attitude of the airplane during takeoff and landing. The reduced body angles resulted in undesirable effects on takeoff field length and approach speeds.

Boeing resolved this situation by incorporating an all-new landing gear that is 18 in (46 cm) taller than the existing gear. The wheels, tires, and brakes are identical to those on the 777. The new gear features 50-in (127-cm) radial tires, compared to 46-in (117-cm) diameter bias ply tires on the 767-300ER. Fitting this larger rolling stock into the existing wheel well caused relocation of most of the hydraulic lines and a shift in the wing-mounted trunnion of 10 in (25 cm) outboard and 4 in (10 cm) downward. The nose landing gear is basically unchanged except for strengthening to accommodate the increased gross weight of the 767-400ER.

The 3,000-lb (1,361-kg) weight increase of the larger landing gear slowed gear retraction times, reducing payload capacity out of obstacle-limited airports. A new, higher-capacity air drive unit allows gear retraction times that match those of the 767-300ER and adds up to 2,800 lb (1,270 kg) of increased payload capacity.

A shorter, crushable-cartridge tail skid, similar to that used on the 777, has also been added to provide more rotational capability. The higher rotational angle gives operators up to 1,000 lb (455 kg) of additional payload capacity when departing from obstacle-limited airports.

Scott.

[Graeme H]

The -400 also used the windows of the 777, so a different shape, not that anyone, but one of us pendants would notice