1/144 Revell ANA Star Wars Boeing 787-900 (JA873A)

Gallery Article by David C S Teo on Aug 9 2016

Singapore National Day

 

      

Hi Everyone,

The Force is strong from tropical Singapore...

I had initially thought of purchasing the ready made ABS plastic ones in 1:200 scale on sale on eBay and from Japan but they are just way too expensive!! Hence, I decided to put my modelling skills and experience to the test to built this colorful and immensely popular Star Wars R2-D2 jet after a 4 year hiatus from scale modelling. 

Click on images below to see larger images

Started with the base kit from Revell 787-800 kit which I purchased before both Revell and Zveda have already recently launched their 787-900 kits on the market.. :-(  The Revell kit, as usual, is well detailed with good decal sheet for the Boeing demo version.  Did some research on the net and followed instructions on installing the plugs (sourced from a local hardware shop selling plastic pipes) on to the fuselage of the kit which had to cut into 2 sections. I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble if I had waited for Revell to release their 787-900 kit :-(

Once everything was assembled, Gunze Surfacer 1000 primer was sprayed on and the Gloss white overcoat sprayed on with Tamiya Gloss White. The 787 jet from ANA is basically all white, so it was relatively fast and easy to complete the painting with hardly any masking required. 

The time consuming part is the decaling. Decals used were 8A decals from Mexico for the Star Wars R2-D2 logo jet (.
http://www.8adecs.com/v2/site/index.shtml). Its detailed enough to decal the jet but would have to make some corrections and minor additions to it to make it accurate like the real jet. I had to decal each section carefully and slowly to ensure that the placement was accurate with lots of cross referencing with pictures of the jet. Moreover, I had to mask and spray on the blue nose and had to match the color with the decals from 8A. 

A Big Thank you to Mr. Edmund of Six Scales Singapore (URL:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Six-Scales-Model-Maker/471482476322604) for allowing me to utilize his spray booth, which tremendously helped in completing the model. For modelling fans in Singapore and in ASEAN, do drop by his hobby workshop to admire his models and kits at good value prices :-) ! 

Hope you enjoy my artwork and the pics and May the Force be with you should you attempt to build it!

Best Regards,

David C S Teo

Click on images below to see larger images

 

Photos and text © by David C S Teo