747-8F / 747-400F – Working with the cargo holds (1) – Neo engines release date

Hello all,

After starting to make the first units of the LEAP-1A and A350 sharklets I was able to continue working on the B747-8F/-400F project.

I made the three basic parts that are inside the tail cone, these parts will be assembled directly inside the kit’s tail, so the rear wall, the ceiling and the floor are both glued together but not attached to the cone.

I also started the cargo holds, the aft hold. Everything is very tight, it really was luck that the thickness of the deck matched the ceiling of the cago hold (although I did an approximate calculation based on the cargo door), thus allowing the cargo containers to fit right in. There is still a lot of work to do on the cargo holds, the most difficult will be to match both cargo hold sides, this is something that I am already doing on the other half of the fuselage.

I’ve been taking a look at how many containers does fit in the real aircraft, and I am afraid that because of the belly design of the Revell kit and the way I separated the three sections of the deck, there will not be as much space as the real aircraft, however, there is no space to see further than the current walls when viewing from outside anyway.
The model is not intended to be a cutaway model, so there are some things that I do not mind since my goal is to make the cargo set for a complete build, fully (or mostly) open but with the “outside view” idea.

Hope you guys see it promising, everything done so far is just pure base, plastic work and main structure design, there are no details yet, but I am really looking forward to start working on these.

Taking this chance with the update, I announce that the LEAP-1A engines, the A350 new sharklets and the new liveries will be available from May 10th, I need these ten days to finish a few things, make sure the instructions are correct, double check them, make the PE, print the decals etc.

Will give an update the next weekend with more info on this matter and with more progress on the cargo. I keep in mind the B737 cockpit, and I also keep in mind the new FMC15i cargo loader for which I keep designing its parts, but I just can’t do so much stuff simultaneously and I prefer to focus on current things at the moment 🙂

Wish you all a happy week!

Best wishes,
Guillem