Welcome back to the hobby. I'll try to help as I can:

1. Not sure what you mean by "screw the top half of the wing to the fuselage first." I'd recommend putting the wing section together and then joining the whole assembly to the fuselage. Run a length of tape from each wingtip to over the top of the fuselage, which will help close that gap a bit and improve wing dihedral. When the dihedral looks right and is even on both sides, use super glue to bond the wing at the roots and along the belly. Eliminate the rest of the gap with epoxy putty, which you can sculpt with a wet fingertip or cotton swab. Done properly this will eliminate the gap without much effort.
2. I've never found that a problem on the Heller kit, but I'll defer to others on this question.
3. Never had a problem with the hobby-oriented CA I use leaving a film. Try either the Zap brand or the Bob Smith stuff a lot of hobby shops sell as a house brand.
4a. Very definitely use an airbrush or rattle cans. If you brush-paint the Heller 707 you'll never get it finished. It's a lot of surface area.
4b. Some folks like the Plasti-kote automotive primers, which are available in gray or white (T-235 and T-237), and those larger cans may be more economical for this project. Dust on the first coats so you don't etch the plastic. I tend to use the Tamiya spray primers, but they're expensive.
4c. My personal sequence: do the bodywork, lay down an initial coat of primer, then fix any flaws and hit it with another coat of primer to even things out (this will especially help you deal with the Heller kit's slightly pebbly texture). Sand that with 1000 grit or similar to knock down any remaining surface flaws, then do the finish coats. Once all finish coats are done, clear-coat with Future so the decals have a glossy surface to lay down on. When decals are set use whatever topcoat is called for (on airliners, usually a semi-gloss like the Testors Acryl Semi-Gloss clear).
4d. I may be in the minority here, but I generally think foil looks overdone and out-of-scale unless it's very, very skillfully done. It's also the devil itself to work with unless you have a ton of time and patience. I prefer Alclad or any of the metallic paints that are out there, which are much easier to work with and take less time. Anything that you want looking really, really shiny can be polished up with polishing powder, like the SnJ powder. So far as the engines go, a friend of mine who built the Heller 707 many years ago found it best to paint the engines before installing them on the wing. He filled the gaps and did finish work, then painted everything else. Since the engines were already painted the nooks and crannies were already dealt with.

Hope this will help. Good luck.

Quote

---

LH707 :5. For hand-painted parts like the engines, gear, etc., should I prime them all first or just grab a brush and go to the races?

---

Appropriate primer will help hand painting flow better. At least it does for me.

Hmmm. I'd never thought of screwing the wing to the fuselage at the root like that. My concern would be that unless you reinforced it a lot, over time if the wings sagged it'd split the seam at the top of the fuselage. I think you'd be better served to close the seam with super glue and epoxy once you have the proper dihedral.

The Future I speak of is the same stuff you use on vinyl and acrylic floors, available at most grocery stores, home improvement stores, etc. It's now marketed as something like "Pledge with Future Shine" or something like that. I apply it with an airbrush, but it can also be brushed if need be, or I also use a cotton swab for spot application (if I need some to help a decal settle in, for instance). A bottle of it will cost you about $6 and will last for many, many models.

If the Tamiya spray clear warns you against using it over decals, play it safe and don't do it. Future is generally kind to decals unless you flood it on.

Using toothpaste to polish over the Tamiya aluminum will give a car model effect - you'll polish the top coat on it and get the surface flaws out, but you won't increase the metallic shine of it. For that you will need aluminum buffing powder. Using metallic powder you can get a pretty nice shine.

On priming small parts, it depends on where it will be and what the final color will be. I generally prime those that will be painted light colors, or that need to match other parts that were primed before top coat. For parts that will be darker colors, I tend to not bother.

BTW, if you plan to build models, don't be shy about investing in a good airbrush and compressor. I bought my compressor online for about $100, and you can get a decent airbrush for $100 or less. If you plan to build more models, it's inevitable you will want an airbrush. Think of it as a tool you're investing in, same as if you were buying a bandsaw or a drill press for a wood shop. There's an initial outlay but over time it pays for itself.

Quote

---

NX28388 :
For that you will need aluminum buffing powder. Using metallic powder you can get a pretty nice shine.

---

Where do I find this stuff? Hobby store?

As far as investing in an airbrush, I doubt I'll build too many models after this, because my apartment is small and I lack the space to put them all. What I will do is go get some future though, sounds like good stuff.

Quote

---

LH707 :
Would using a sponge brush get a smooth finish with Future, or would I need to get a hold of an airbrush for that?

---

You'll get better results from spraying it. Even the little $20 or so Testors spray setup that runs off propellant cans, the kind most hobby shops carry, will likely give you better results than brushing it-plus you can use it for paint as well as Future.

BTW, after spraying Future through a spray gun or airbrush, spray Windex or isopropyl alcohol through the airbrush afterward to clean it out.

As for polishing powders, here's one source - he's temporarily suspended orders for now, but this is the stuff I use:
http://www.hawkeyeshobbies.com/nmf-polishing-powders.htm

Yes, paint the white and mask what needs to stay white, then spray the black and then the Alclad.

Can I paint other enamel colors and Future over alclad? I'm thinking of giving the whole underside and engines the aluminum look and then changing details for the inlet, turbocompressor exhausts, and the core exhaust.

Also, what's the best way of masking the windows for painting? Should I use a brush-on masking film for that and leave it in place until the paint is done? Do I spray Future over the windows?

Thanks, I think I'll go grab some masking fluid, because I think tape would be too clunky.

Also, can one brush on small bits of alclad (e.g. chrome inlets), or is that a bad idea?

For the windows, what's the best way of making sure paint doesn't seep in around them? Should one put glue in the seams, or is there a window-filler stuff that works better?

Ok, I'll go with the future-dipped windows on that one. For the cockpit canopy, is regular plastic cement the best way to go? It seems like the seam will be far enough away from the actual window piece that there won't be a glue bead across it.

Another question, should I get some sort of decal set solution to paint on the to-be-decaled areas, or just dip them in water and put them on between clear coats?

I'm using the Testors stuff that comes out of a tube with one of the needle-shaped applicators. Ought I use a thinner one?

Hi,

out of curiosity, why do you want to sand between the vortex generators? Isn't there a smooth surface between/under them?

747-400, I mostly want to sand right up next to them without sanding them down too much, and wondered what the best technique is for that. I guess a sanding stick will do the trick.

I've noticed that the window pieces do not fully fill out the holes, so I'm considering using a different filler. Would something like Microscale Krystal Klear do the trick? I noticed that smaller kits tend not to have window pieces, is the idea to fill them with such a product?

Next, once the paint coat is on and polished, is it better to go future>micro-set>decals>micro-sol>future, or is there a better order? Also, with the cheat line decal, should I cut out the bit that will be over the window, or is the film clear enough that I can leave it as one panel and not worry about it? Will micro-set damage windows?

Thanks again for answering all these questions.

i forgot about the size and shape of the Heller 707 windows; Jennings is correct. Your best bet would be to find some 1/72 window decals for this kit. Then you can just cement the windows in place, putty, and sand until you have a nice smooth surface on which to apply the window decals.

if you are using Micro Set and Micro Sol, it is not necessary to apply Future first, especially if you have a nice, smooth paint finish. After the paint is dry and smoothed/polished to your satisfaction, apply the decals and allow them to thoroughly dry. Then use a moistened cotton swab or soft cloth (one of the new microfiber cloths, for example) to gently wash the model and remove any residue from the Micro products. Once it is dry, then apply Future or another gloss medium.

As far as cheat lines are concerned, I usually cut them into smaller pieces myself. They are easier to apply that way. But I usually apply the cheat line first then apply the window decals on top.

Flight deck


Main gear leg

Thanks for that site, I'll go scope it out later this week when I have some time. I will also need to find a set of the PW eagle logos somewhere.

As I was test fitting the port outboard wing sections, I noticed they had a wavy warp to them just outside the number 1 engine mount. Will this go away if I glue it and let it cure on a flat surface, or should I insert an outboard spar like a chicken skewer to stiffen and straighten it?

Good call on the straight-edge, I'll have to test-fit that to see if it works. The warping is a wave about 2-3 mm deflection from straight right around the #1 pylon, and then extra outboard dihedral. I ordered some 1.8 mm carbon rods to use as spars, locally these will keep it straight while hopefully allowing enough droop. I've read a couple posts about the Heller kit having too much droop due to the architecture (center wing bottom ends at inboard engines, then outboard bottom section), so hopefully these spars will get it bang on.

Also, I highly recommend the Krystal Klear to anybody making this kit, it greatly simplifies the window install process.

Before I spend huge amounts of time sanding, what grit do you suggest I get surfaces to before priming? I'm thinking of going to 1000, is it worth going up to 1500 before this, or will the paint fill those little gaps anyway?

Also, on the topic of masking, should I remove the mask in between coats to prevent peeling and little seams as the paint dries, or can I just leave it on for all of the black/alclad cycle and remove it at the end? Will Scotch 3M blue painter's tape work, or should I avoid this?

Another question: engines. I would ideally like to paint and decal these separately and then attach them, but I'd like to avoid the seam on the top side where the pylon and wing meet. Should I test fit, paint, glue, and then sand/touch-up the area?

Last one: some of the 707s had a grayish color on the wing/body fairing, does anybody know where under the wing this extended to?