1/144 Minicraft Boeing 777-222

United Airlines

by Dmitriy Shapiro

--------------------

 

History:
    The Boeing 777 was originally planned as a stretched version of the 767 by United Airlines, but Boeing decided to create a whole new design. This was the first aircraft to be designed entirely on computer, with a unique fuselage cross section, the first fly-by-wire system to be applied on an aircraft, large scale use of composite materials, and new extremely powerful engines. The 777 was also originally thought of as a 747 without the top deck and only 2 engines. The creation of the Boeing 777 was launched in October of 1990, with Boeing and United Airlines working closely together. The aircraft was offered in 2 versions, the 777-200, which was initially A-market, and the 777-200IGW (Increased Gross Weight), which was initially B-market, and now knows at the 777-200ER. The first 777-200 flew on June 12, 1994 and was given full certification on April 19, 1995. The first customer delivery was to United Airlines in May 1995. The first 777-200IGW/ER was delivered to British Airways in February 1997. The 777-100X was a proposed shortened long range version, but the program was dropped in favor of the new -200LR, which Boeing claims is currently the longest ranging airliner in the world, being able to fly non stop from London to Sydney. The Boeing 777-222 uses Pratt & Whitney PW4704 turbofans, which have a diameter as big as a 737-800 fuselage.

Click on images below to see larger images

The Kit:

The kit comes molded in plain white plastic, with the usual pieces that make up an airliner. The wings have an interlocking system to hold together. It comes with beautifully molded PW4704 engines. There is not much detail on the landing gear, and the panel lines on the aircraft have minimal detail too, but what would you expect from Minicraft? The windscreen comes as a typical large glass piece that Minicraft always offers. The decals are printed beautifully as well.

Construction:
    The construction began with the joining of the fuselage halves. First, I put about 10 pennies in the nose. I made sure the seams were good by covering them with putty and sanding it all down. I then attached the windscreen, which was really a hassle because the seams were so horrible that I had to fill and sand about 5 times to get at least get some holes away. The wings have an interlocking system that connects in the center of the fuselage so that they can be positioned straight. There was a problem with the flap jack fairings on the wings that someone mentioned to me. They are a bit too square, so I had to sand down their edges to give them that curve. Not a lot of putty was needed for the joints, which made me very happy. The stabilizers also had minimal filling, but there was a lot of work that needed to be done at the front of the joints to make it blend in with the aircraft. I then rescribed all the areas that needed to be rescribed, and primed the aircraft for painting.
 
    The engines were fairly easy to do. They were made of two main pieces, two covers, a fan, the exhaust, and the front cover. I don't know if it was my poor assembly work, but I needed to sand down a lot on the engine covers and the two main pieces. I then too primed the two wonderful engines.
 
    I also decided to add some detail to the landing gear bays. For the front, I used styrene sheet to cut make boxes that held electronics. I also used electrical wire to simulate real wires. In the main landing gear, there were no walls, so I constructed those out of styrene sheet. I also used the same technique for the boxes and wires. I also used the styrene sheet to build the internal structure, as you can see in the photos.

Click on images below to see larger images

Painting:
    I began the painting process by painting the majority of the fuselage with Tamiya Light Grey. I then masked the top half using pictures from Airliners. net and estimation using Tamiya Masking Tape. Then, I sprayed the bottom of the aircraft and the engines with Dark Blue. I also sprayed the edges of the tail with Dark Blue just in case the decal wouldn't cover some areas. I then took the masking tape off, and began masking the wings and stabilizers, which was a crazy situation, since the wings have a certain curve in them, and I have to make it look straight. I sprayed the whole wing with a mix of Sky Grey and white. I then masked the front flaps of the wings and stabilizers and brush painted them with silver. The bottom of the wings also needed coroguard, which was masked and painted with a very dark gray. The bottom of the fuselage had a straight wide line going down from the front landing gear to the tail, which I also masked and painted with the same color I used for the overall wings. I then sealed the finished paint job with a coat of Future.
 
    The engine fans were painted with a mix of 85% Black and 15% Silver. The exhaust system had different areas that were painted burnt steel, silver, smoked silver, and other forms of silver. The tail also has a strip of silver on it. I then sealed the finished paint job with a coat of Future.
Markings:
    The first time I opened the box, I was amazed by how beautifully the markings were done. I first applied the cockpit window decals, which handled very well. Then I began with the orange/red stripe on the fuselage. This also handled well, but it was connected to the window decals, which I had the real trouble with. The window decals went over a lot curves, and many wrinkles began to show up that wouldn't go away with SolvaSet. Eventually they dried up, but were still a little visible. It was also hard to connect the orange/red strips over the wing, because you had to place them at the right right level, which never worked out because of the bends. The huge tail decal was also very easy to apply, but it left some air bubbles and wrinkles. I then applied the small stuff, like registration, and Pratt & Whitney logos on the engines. I made sure the decals stayed on nicely by covering them with SolvaSet. When the job was dry, I covered the areas with decals with a coat of Future.

Click on images below to see larger images

Weathering:
    Using the pictures I gathered on airliners.net, I decided to heavily weather the wings, stabilizers, and tail of the aircraft. Most people think airliners are clean, but most of them spend more time in the air than military aircraft, so usually they get dirtier. I decided to go with a pastel chalk mixture on this one. I applied it to all panel lines on the wings, stabilizers, tail area, engines, and landing gear bays. I then took the excess off, and made sure there were very visible streaks of dirt on some areas on the wings and stabilizers, just like on the real aircraft. I also left some dirt in the corners of the landing gear bays to simulate their dirtiness. I then sealed the whole aircraft with a mixture of Future and Tamiya Flat Base to give the aircraft a shiny, but still realistic look.
 
Final Construction:
    I added some detail to the landing gear using styrene sheet and electrical wires. I then primed them, and painted the landing gear white and used a dull knife to apply the colors of the wires. I also brushed the gear with some Tamiya Smoke. Gluing on the gear was complicated, because the part that holds the wheels was separate from the gear itself. I had to put the aircraft on the ground right away after gluing this part, so it would stand straight. Otherwise, the structure of the landing gear is very good and holds very well. I then attached the landing gear doors and engines. When this was all dry, I coated all the parts that weren't coated before with the Future and Flat Base mix.
Remarks:
    This was one of the biggest projects I have ever done, since this is currently the largest model on my shelf. I'm very proud of this one, and my dream of having a model with the greatest livery on the greatest airliner ever made has come true. This model won 2nd place at the 2005 Tri-City IPMS Region 9 Convention.  This model couldn't have been made possible without the help of everyone on the ARC Discussion Boards, and the encouragement of fellow modelers. I hope everyone with a 777 in their stash out there finds this review useful!
 
Dmitriy

Photos and text © by Dmitriy Shapiro