And one more....

WOW!!!!!
INCREDIBLE!!!
REAL INCREDIBLE!!!

The bar hath been raised a few notches!!!!

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personally I'd rather they waited until its in service...../quote]

Oh you party pooper :P

In progress:

1/200 A310-300 Swissair
1/48 A-6

As much as I wish the real thing would come out first, I have to admit these engines are the best ideas I have ever seen. It really sets a new standard for models. Is this the first model to have individual fan blades? I just hope revell minicraft and airfix step up their game to bring modelling to a whole new level. Amazing!!

Dan

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TheFlyingDutchman :
Those engines look very cool indeed, but remember the engines of the 787 are relatively big. I guess these engines required quite a lot of engineering for the toolers, so making a 1:144th scale 737 engine this way would be a hell of a job! And, everyone here knows the aircraft modeling part of our hobby is dominated by military planes so I am happy with the airliner kits produced so far. Beggars can't be choosers

greets,
Jelle

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Very true. I think it shows that model technology has advanced a lot so there are elements of model detail that will get better and better. If they can do this sort of thing with fan blades for a 787 in 1/144, imagine what they can do for the various parts of a 1/32 F-16!!!

George

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moerush04 :
I just hope revell minicraft and airfix step up their game to bring modelling to a whole new level.

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Airfix? The last 1/144 airliner kit Airfix did was re-tool their 727-100 into a -200 - in 1982! I think they're pretty much out of the game.

Contrary to popular belief, there's nothing magic about the intricacy of the Zvezda kit. There is no "new technology" in injection molding here. It's a function of how the kit is designed. There's nothing special about the tooling that couldn't have been done 50 years ago, had the design been there. Just like many things, the expectations of customers drive improvements in design. But the basic way a steel tool is made hasn't really changed all that much. It still takes skilled craftsmen to do a really good job on a tool. CAD and computer controlled machines don't take their place.

J

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Jennings :

Airfix? The last 1/144 airliner kit Airfix did was re-tool their 727-100 into a -200 - in 1982! I think they're pretty much out of the game.

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Didn't Airfix release their newly tooled 1-72 Concorde not so long ago?

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Jennings :

Contrary to popular belief, there's nothing magic about the intricacy of the Zvezda kit. There is no "new technology" in injection molding here. It's a function of how the kit is designed. There's nothing special about the tooling that couldn't have been done 50 years ago, had the design been there. Just like many things, the expectations of customers drive improvements in design. But the basic way a steel tool is made hasn't really changed all that much. It still takes skilled craftsmen to do a really good job on a tool. CAD and computer controlled machines don't take their place.

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Maybe so, but IMHO, it seems that airliners have traditionally pulled the short straw on details compared to other 'genres' of models, and by the looks Zvezda have given us something which is nice and refreshing.

G

why should they invest anymore? simply repack zvezda and release it in the US...

I simply love the way they designed those engines, personally i havent build any zvezda model, but i guess that this will be my first attempt, the only thing i noticed was the decal sheet, since im a intermediate modeller, i think that it would be a real challenge to reproduce the dreamliner livery, as far as i see ont heir website they only suplied the white letterings decals.

Guess i would have to work on some other liveries

There is no way to do the first Dreamliner paint scheme with decals. There are soft faded edges to the stripes, etc. It's impossibly complicated. It can be reproduced on things like Hogan models by tampo printing methods, but not with traditional waterslide decals.

J

PS: I can state categorically that Revell are NOT working on an MD-11

In may opinion, Zvezda will be the new leading producer in injected molded airliners. I think, Revell is going another way as there is no more IL-86, B767 in their catalog. maybe zvezda will fullfill all our dreams from MD-11, IL-62, CV-990 and what else is wished.

I will allow me and all of you to dream and hope on

Ralf

seems that the kit it out now. it`s at hannants as "new releases" and in ebay.co.uk 3 times for buy it now

Ralf

Got mine today. This kit is sweet!!!

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Jennings :

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quebecair-flyer :
\i like Boeing cls and one for Air Canada cls.... i hope is coming to Canada soon!!

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I just wish Air Canuck would ditch that putrid mint green color scheme. Yuck! That's got to be the worst color scheme I've ever seen on an airliner. The black-green tail wasn't terrible, but I really liked the old two-tone red.

J

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I agree whit you! but i am working for Air Canada on ramp and after a little while, the colors fade a bit and is looking better... more light blue than a green... but my fav colors for AC is the red stripe whit black beak 60'-70' cls..

Hi boys and girls!

The kit looks great and I ordered mine yesterday.

But how about the decals? Can anyone show us a scan/photo of the decals? Are the decals for the windows coming with the kit?

Greetings from Germany, next to DUS airport
Daniel / 9-12-2009

What a beautiful model.....and what a sub-standard decal sheet!!! I was trying to figure out how they were going to pull off that Boeing house scheme. It appears that they didn't. Oh well. I still ordered one today, and am still trying to figure out what paint scheme to use though. United maybe?

Too bad his web site doesn't work with Safari...

It works fine with Safari on both my Mac & PC

The FlightGlobal website is reporting that the 787-9 wing is now back to the same size as the 787-8, That's good for me, mine is gonna be an Air NZ bird, so it means chopping up Zvezda kits. Although it might be a while I get around to building it, cos is rumour is that Air NZ are coming out with a new livery some time soon.

I think I might just buy loads of 787 kits to do various what-if's...

Would anyone know if the raked winglet thingy is likely to be the same shape on the -9 as the -8?

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gebbw :
Would anyone know if the raked winglet thingy is likely to be the same shape on the -9 as the -8?

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If FlightGlobal is correct and the wing is the same, then I can see no reason why the raked winglet would be any different. That's assuming FlightGlobal is correct on that. At this point only Boeing knows for sure though, and even they might be up in the air until they get closer to, well, I was going to say "to cutting metal", but that's kind of an anachronism nowadays, isn't it?

J

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Contrary to popular belief, there's nothing magic about the intricacy of the Zvezda kit. There is no "new technology" in injection molding here. It's a function of how the kit is designed. There's nothing special about the tooling that couldn't have been done 50 years ago, had the design been there. Just like many things, the expectations of customers drive improvements in design. But the basic way a steel tool is made hasn't really changed all that much. It still takes skilled craftsmen to do a really good job on a tool. CAD and computer controlled machines don't take their place.

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I never said anything about 'new technology'. I am sure they could have done this 50 years ago, but the fact is they didn't. Last time I checked there are no airliner models with engines with individual blades or stators like this one has. What I am saying is maybe this level of detail Zvezda put into their engines will inspire others to step up the detail. Now I am not saying they will because I am sure you know what the exact answer is to this, but I am saying it would be nice if they would. I think this level of detail in the fans is really going to make the finished models look much more realistic and I am excited to see how it looks.

By the way, Merry Christmas everyone!!!

And Happy Holidays!

Dan

here a link with a few pics......http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/

Think ZVEZDA had a very good timing to release the 787 kit just a few days before real one's maiden flight!
Now we have the proof: the 787 flies!
...and ZVEZDA won the race for the Dreamliner kit!

Sven

I just got my kits from Hannant's and they are indeed gorgeous!

Anyway, a few observations (not complaints!)

Yes, the decal sheet is no good really, but I would not go and rush and get an aftermarket sheet yet, as first they are bound to be incomplete (very little details), and the airline may change it's mind and apply a special or new design on it and you would be stuck with that sheet.

The plastic does have a similar "orange-peel" feel to it like the Revell 744 does.

The engraved lines are very finely done, and they'll probably be almost invisible after painting. I don't know how the rudder line is in the 1:1 model, but it seems to me it may not be deep enough on the 1:144 one, but these are all piddly no-big-deal stuff.

I have no idea how accurate it is (said with tongue firmly planted in cheek

I thoroughly recommend getting at least one.

Cheers,
Christos
BHM