Here is my
build of Dragon's 1/144 Boeing 747-400 in the Qantas Wunala Dreaming
livery. This is Dragon's first 1/144 airliner kit and features a full
interior and clear panels on the left side of the fuselage, the left wing,
horizontal stabilizer and engines. I decided to build a closed version.
Some of the parts come pre-painted, such as the gray belly for the Air
China livery supplied, as well as the corrogard sections on the wings. I
had little trouble when stripping the paint before assembly.
Assembly was
relatively straightforward but the gaps between clear panels and
solid sections took a lot of filling and sanding. In many ways, this
kit is a scaled-up version of the 1/200 Hasegawa 747-400. I used a set of
engine fans from the Revell 747-400 as the fans provided in the kit are
far from realistic. The shape of the wing gear doors are incorrect, just
as in the Hasegawa kit, and the APU "hump" on the right rear
fuselage is also carried over from the Hasegawa kit. The nose gear doors
are assembled in the same manner as the Dragon 1/400 die-cast
models and are far too tall. I removed around 2.5 mm in height to make
them look more to scale. There are also no panel lines on the fuselage,
but with all the filling and sanding required, it really doesn't make a
difference. The panel lines on the wings, in particular the underside, are
also incorrect and the flap tracks look too big.
The kit does
build into a very solid model and part fit is good overall, and there is
plenty of opportunities to add more detail.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The model was sprayed with Mr. Hobby and Tamiya spray
cans.
I used a set of Brasil decals for the main graphics,
supplemented by Qantas decals from Aviagraphics, corrogard from
Scaleliners, engine spinners from Daco, plus other left over decals. I had
a lot of problems when applying the kangaroo graphics as the Brasil decals
simply don't conform to the curved fuselage. I had to cut each graphic
into smaller pieces and a large amount of Johnsons Klear was used to set
the decals. None of my usual setting solutions had any effect on these
decals. Some paint was mixed for touch-ups while the white kangaroo on the
right side of the tail was mostly hand painted after the decal broke up
when dipped in water. The decals were sealed with Klear, followed by some
polishing with Tamiya compound.
The
Wunala Dreaming livery was launched in 1994 and has been worn by two
different Qantas 747-400s. It has become one of the most recognized
special liveries ever applied to a 747. Sadly Wunala Dreaming has now
disappeared from the skies after VH-OEJ, as depicted by my model, was
repainted into the standard Qantas livery at the beginning of 2012.
I really enjoyed this build,
which took around three and a half months. Thanks for looking!
Dennis
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