Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER for my Bro - DONE!

Modeling Subjects Airliners and Civil Aircraft
1

Hello!

This is the first time I start a thread in this forum!

It’s all because of my little bro - he liked the model I gave him for Christmas a year ago (1:48 HH-1N) so much, now he wants a model for hir birthday. While I doubt it’s going to be ready on time, here we go.

Well, he got a 1:144 Boeing from Zvezda, and I provided decals for it, in KLM colours, bought from DRAW decals.

The Zvezda kit is surprisingly nice and I recommend it for all people who want a Boeing 777 in this scale. Among the nice features it has are:

  • Rotating turbines
  • Windows with inserts
  • Nice landing gear
  • Nice parts split, reducing the sanding necessary
  • Detailed undercarriage
  • Flap rails under the wings moulded separately for better detail

I started the build with the turbines. As they are nicely detailed and funcional, I decided to give them some extra cere with painting. And here’s what I have:

1:144 Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

I also test-fitted the engine nacelle:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

The fit is very nice. There are also two rings - one at the front of the fan, the other at the jet nozzle - the fit is so good, that they can be painted separately and installed later for easier painting.

Here are the flap rails that go under the wing:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

I also started to build the front gear bay. It will be installed in order to close up the hull. The strut is only dry fitted, but has a nice, positivefit even without glue. I also started putting lead wishing wights there, to get the CG right. The model needs 10-11 grams of weight in the nose:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

I also glued the window inserts. They are made of a plastic that’s a bit funny to the touch, but doesn’t craze in contact with modelling glue. The fit was OK, but I decided to fill in the windows anyhow, to have a smooth surface to put the decals with windows on:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

And that’s all I have for now. Thanks for looking - I hope you liked it, have a nice day

Paweł

2

I am really impressed with Zvezda since they moved to their new molding technology. They have long been a good value, and now are even better.

3

Yours is going together nicely. I really like Zvezda as well. The 787 was awesome and I have since added their A320, Tu-154 and today a 747-8i arrives. Planning to grab the 777-300ER as well so I’ll be following your build.

4

I have 2 of their 747-8i models. They are simply stunning in fit and finish. My only thing is the single livery decal sheet. Had to order a Lufthansa set for one of them and will probably make my own based off the Lufthansa set for a what-if Olympic Airways 747-8i.

So if your decals get cooched, let me know, I have 2 sheets in my decal box.

5

My decals are good. I’m ordering a set of Pan Am decals from Draw Decal. Their Flights of Fancy sets are awesome. Currently doing an A380 in Pan Am livery as well.

6

I’ll be watching with interest. Haven’t done an airliner yet but have been going over the kits available for different jets, trying to find good reviews to decide which one is best.

Ever since American came out with the new livery I thought it looked really nice. I finally got to take an AA flight to New Orleans last week so while I was at the gate waiting I watched many taxi past. I MUST HAVE ONE! Nazca-Decals makes some nice looking markings.

7

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Don - indeed, Zvezda seems to be grat value for the money these days.

kg4kpg - That’s an impressive fleet!

Teddz - that’s true, but I suppose they count on people buying their own decals - there are so many liveries to chose from!

wing_nut - I can compare this one with Revell airliners I did before and this one is definitely better. But you might also think about Hasegawa 1:200 heavies - thay are also very nice, but smaller and so they are easier to build.

I for myself have made some progress. I glued the wings together - they are made so that the seam on the trailing edge is moved to the bottom surface. I’ve already filled and sanded it. Had some problems with the primer - I used Motip primer first, but that didn’t work so well - it didn’t adhere well in places and made some places filled with CA “pop up”. I switched to Tamiya primer and it made a huge difference. There are still some places to touch up, but the wing looks like that:

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

I also glued the fuselage together - nothing special here, just a long seam to smooth. I have put ten grams of lead in the nose and poured CA glue over it:

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

I suspect my brother will be inclined to hang the aircraft by the wings to display it, so I didn’t want the thing to happen, that I once had on a Revell Boeing 747 - the flexing wings loaded the fuselage seam and caused it to crack. To avoid this I additionally reinforced the fuselage with a thick styrene plate:

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

Now I’m ready to glue the wings to the fuselage.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

8

Hello!

I’ve been working on the engines. I’ve found two paints - Revell 371 for the almost white grey of the fuselage and Humbrol 147 light grey to represent the Boeing grey for the wings and horizontal stabilizers (and also the engine pylons).

I have painted the engines in parts - they were taped to ice-cream sticks that acted as holders for painting:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

The contrast between the pylons and the fan ducts is not very strong, but visible.

Next, I have glued the pylons to the ducts:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

I’ve also painted the details on the pylons. I had to smooth the joint on the upper side of the ducts, where they connect to the pylon a little. I did this with a little Surfacer 500. After the smoothing the joint has to be painted over.

I’m going to complete the engines, together with clear coat and decals - that’s my next step now. Thanks for looking - I hope you liked it - and have a nice day

Paweł

9

Looking good Pawel.

10

Thanks a lot for your kind words, Marc!

Paweł

11

Hello!

Fillin’ and sandin’ that fuselage was some work, but I wanted to let you know the work here is still goin’ on, so here are some pictures of the model - sanded and primed in white. I used Tamiya spray primer - white over gray and Mr Surfacer 500:

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

There was a lot to rescribe here - in front of and behind the wing - or should I say I had to scribe it anew, because the surface was blank. But now it looks like that:

1/144 Zvezda Boeing 777 by Pawel

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

12

Hello!

I have put some paint on the 'liner. I painted the leading edges of the stabilizers, using Gunze “Stainless” paint. I have also put two first colours on. The underside of the fuselage is Revell 371 light gray. In the tin it looks almost white, on the photos it turned out a bit darker. The top of the fuselage had to be matched to the decals I have (KLM) - this turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I finally settled for Gunze H45 light blue. Here’s how it looks like for now:

1:144 Zvezda B777-300ER by Pawel

1:144 Zvezda B777-300ER by Pawel

As you can see, the wings are still in white primer. They will be painted Humbrol H147 light gray.

1:144 Zvezda B777-300ER by Pawel

Thanks for lookin’ and have a nice day

Paweł

13

Hello!

I got into some trouble recently. I’ve painted the wings and the problem is that the contrast between the off-white Revell 371 and light gray Humbrol 147 is actually non-existent:

1:144 Zvezda Boeing 777-300ER by Pawel

As usual, the photo doesn’t convey all the fine details, but I have sufficient contrast between the engine pylon and the engine itselt, but no contrast between the wing and the belly. The difference was that while painting the engine I had the engine primed in white and the pylon primed in gray, while both the wing and the belly were primed in white.

Now I’m contemplating adding some darker gray to the Humbrol 147 to darken it and spraying again.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

14

I have been looking at images on the web of KLM B777s and can’t really tell if there is a difference in colour between the wings and engine cowls. Do the decaling/paint instructions mention if different colours should be used?

15

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comment!

I know what you mean, finding a good photo showing this isn’t that easy. But I was motivated to do it, because yes, the instructions from DRAW decals state that: “…with a very light gray (almost white) lower half [of the hull] and engine nacelles. Vertical stabilizer is white. Wings and horizontal stabilizers are Boeing Gray with no corogard center sections.” I’ve found some photos showing it. Here’s one of them:

Boeing 777 - different colours on wings and hull

And here’s another one:

Boeing 777 - different colour on engine pylon and fan shroud

The difference in colours between the pylon and the fan shroud is subtle, that’s for sure, but you can see it when you look at it - so I try to show it in my model.

I just put on a layer of Humbrol 147 with some Humbrol 64 added - that gave me the colour I was lookin’ for - pictures comin’ soon, so please stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

16

OK , I see the difference now. Boy those colours are very close! Thanks for the clarification Pawel

17

I went on Google and looked at KLM 777’s . the engine cowlings look white comparing them to the belly of the plane to tail .

your build is comming along nicely

18

There’s nothing like a nicely built airliner model.

Looking very good.

19

Aussie747 - with pleasure! They sure are!

crown r n7 - the papers say only the vertical stabilizer should be white, belly and the engines should be very light gray - and that’s how I painted them.

modelcrazy - thanks a lot!

Thank you very much for your comments and have a nice day

Paweł

20

thats fine I worked with color printers for 10 years and I always told the end user that you cant trust the color through the user interface. (screen) its all good but your plane is comming along nicely