Hello everyone,
I am finally able to write an update, after days of a lot of work, I bring some good and some bad news.
I have been working on the B787 galleys, have been painting them and recording my process and uploading the series over Youtube.
So far everything was going smoothly, however, problems appeared on the rear and final galley.
After many tests, I left the model of the galley fitting properly, however and to my surprise, once I was going to install the final product, it did not go as expected.
I have been having a hard time with several things, and I was very, very close to giving up on this project. I quickly rolled up my sleeves and started taking this personally, so I went ahead and did what I already planned I would do for the A350-900.
After finding the issue with the rear galley, I got so upset that I no longer wanted to use those sets, yes they could work… But I wanted to do something better, something the modeler would enjoy better working with. I had to keep in mind that a modification for the galley floor was needed if using the cargo holds, also the LED wireways had to be sanded on the galley modules, I wanted something more “ready to build”.
And so I designed my own B787-8 fuselage:
I know some of you may be quite disappointed, since we are not just talking about galleys, but of fuselage as well, and some may say why would it be needed having Zvezda and Revell already… The thing is, it is much more complex and frustrating to make parts to fit inside an already non-prepared part than making a fuselage.
Well, this is done so that not the whole fuselage is in the galley set, but just the section needed, that is, the fuselage section will be provided for the especific galley/cargo hold and will be able to join to the rest of the kit’s fuselage.
I took my time to remake things that were not done properly on the Revell/Zvezda models:
– Upper wing to body fairing adjusted, somehow compromised by the connection to the kit’s wing still.
– Cargo doors too short, fixed them according to real size.
– Improved nose radome, the original did not have the same shape and was missing the center lightning diverter strips.
– Added the two vents under the front section of the wing root.
– Improved the rain gutters.
– Cockpit will be a transparent shell, with ease to blend with the fuselage (painting masks will be included).
The complexity will relay on to where to cut the fuselage for the different galleys, maybe someone only wants the forward section for the L1 /R1 galley, so the cargo door opened won’t be necessary, these are things I am studying as well. Maybe someone will still want those fuselage improvements but with just one or two galleys, so perhaps a door plugged version may be made as well, or add the doors to the set to cover the openings.
Bear in mind that this is not fully finished yet, more detail is being added around the cargo door frame.
I am reusing the assets I previously made for the cargo holds and the galleys, the cargo hold walls are new and most surely this will happen for the galleys overall structure, but the components are the same as those I shared all this time.
This is the first print test done and as you can see from the photos, the model is ready to use the original kit’s passenger windows as well as nosegear bay.
I am very happy with this initial test, there are areas that need improvement like the joint with the wings around the landing lights and improve the printing of the master parts, perhaps making the panel lines just a bit wider.
Making the set such as this may also give me the chance to make the -10 version in the future, first the -8 and -9.
Note, the horizontal stabilizer area still needs to be reworked and the original kit’s tail will be used, thus placement fitting will be made as well.
From a modeling point of view, and this is how I tend to see things, it will be far more enjoyable to make a single vertical cut on each fuselage halve and simply join the section for/with the specific galley, knowing that the galley will fit precisely in those new fuselage sections.
I will also finetune the deepth for the passenger windows, they are coming out a bit, which for me is better because I can sand them down to fuselage level (as I did on my tests with the original fuselage), later polishing them until they become transparent again, thus making them one piece with the fuselage. Note the cargo door is empty, there will be a frame around it which wasn’t possible to make in the previous version.
The cockpit shell will be transparent and the nose cone has a better representation than the kit’s original, although I need to improve its fitting.
I was by no means going to release a product I wasn’t 100% happy with, even if that meant increase a bit the final price. To me what matters is make something worth making, trying to provide the best within my capabilities.
This is the way I will go, this will also open the chance that if possible, maybe making a full interior, it may not be seen much from outside, but maybe using LED’s can be a different thing, or for those who wish a cutaway… I will need to think later about it.
This may be a shot in the foot as I can already say goodbye to the molds I previously made, and the hours I spent painting the galleys/holds and recording the work, but everything is done to have a product I can be proud of and 100% sure it will work.
For this reason I am stopping everything, I stopped every project because I needed to step up with this 787, time will come when I will be advancing with the other projects, I just cannot do more than one such large project at the same time particularly at this stage.
This also rests time for me to make more stock… So the situation is not easy, but I know the end result with the 787 will be worth it.
The learning I had with the B747 cargo project, now with this 787, it is the anteroom for a future full airliner kit which is something that has been in the back of my mind for a long time, so perhaps next year… I am trying to figure out towards which direction everything is going, what are the limits and what type of products I will be more focusing on or leaving behind or in less productivity.
That is all for now, I hope to share some more progress very soon.
Best wishes,
Guillem