Hello everyone,
We are finally in December and I wanted to share some more progress done on the B787 project.
It is being a race against the clock as my objective is to release these sets around Christmas time. I am however taking safe steps and not rushing things because this project involves many things and techniques.
Fortunately, most of what I bring today are good news and a couple things I still need to work on, but these are no big problem at all.
Good news:
– I will also be releasing a stand alone version of the AFT galley to fit on the Revell/Zvezda kits, that means that there will be a cockpit/forward galley set, a forward cargo hold set, aft cargo hold set and an aft galley set, all stand alone products (without needing to buy the full fuselage with the improvements) and fitable on Revell’s/Zvezda’s 787-8 and 787-9.
– There will be a -9 extension option for the set of the new fuselage on release. A -10 version will be developed after release for both, my fuselage set and Revell/Zvezda’s.
– First parts have already started to be printed/casted and so far everything looks very well.
– The new forward section of the fuselage was done and it fits perfectly now. This however took a big bite on my shcedule as it took me two weeks to remake the part and produce the moulding.
– The original kit’s plastic windows were test fitted and I tested a technique I never used before that I will be using from now onwards on my projects, that is, to insert the windows as per the kit instructions, sand them down a bit from the outside to level them to the fuselage, apply putty on them to fill the gaps, sand them down again and finally, apply polishing compounds (after wet sanding) to get back the transparency of the plastic. I thought they would look a bit thick, but to my surprise they look very smooth and it feels they are a part of the fuselage.
– For this reason, I will also be making a set of window masks which can be purchased separately as well.
– The fuselage will be provided in white resin, which hopefully will make things easier on the painting stage (but not for me on the photos so far as details on the doors do not stand out in this color yet).
– Least but a very important point, I finally solved the issue I had with the cockpit to make the clear windshield. Still to do a test, I am positive it will come out successfully, I hope this will not delay things.
What is the current stage of the project?
At the moment I am test fitting the galleys (finally) and I am readjusting them to ensure a proper fit, after that, I will begin the production of these parts. All components that are 3D printed are tested and production of these has begun. The molding I initially made for the cargo holds did not come out as planned, so that will need to be redone.
Steps that are going to take me several days of work are: The moldings of the -9 fuselage extensions, the molding of the fuselage sections and aft section for the cargo holds (Revell/Zvezda) the new molds of the cargo holds (both my fuselage and Revell’s/Zvezda) as well as the main parts; galley walls, floors, nose cone and tail cone and then the clear parts; cockpit and passenger doors.
A bit before release I will launch a series of “Let’s build” videos where I will show how do I assembly these sets, I expect to release an early video during the next days of the first stages and the work with the windows, these new videos will substitute the current uploaded ones over Youtube (after the fuselage method change).
I would like to remind that the full set will have it’s options, in which case if a galley or hold is not purchased, the door plug for these will be provided.
The photos of the progress so far:
It saddens me feeling unable to make more stock of items for the shop at the moment as this work is taking all my energies (as well as time and materials), but I plan a restock of items after the 787 release. That new restock will come with a couple new 1/144 GSE releases as well as the clear cabins for the trucks. I will however, try to make stock of the cargo loader as well as LD3 containers for the 787 release, but this will depend on how things go with the 787.
On the release time of the 787 I also plan to release a couple new 1/72 items, those will be published on a separate update soon.
Work continues, I am doing my very best on this one and I can’t wait to assembly the first one, so far all is fitting well and if there are no further issues, releasing this on Christmas is still my objective.
Best wishes,
Guillem