- This topic has 17 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 1 week ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hey folks, here I am again after years of being offline. Life does strange things sometimes 😉
Currently associated w/Golden Era Aviation here in Palmer, Alaska, overseeing an 87 year old DC-3 in Ozark colors (and this weekend risking my 55 years being kicked out of an old North Central bird over a glacier. No comments needed on my underwear situation 🙂
Some here may remember me from years ago; I’m working on building a vintage aviation business, and most important right now scratchbuilding a 1:72 747SP. More on that to follow…
I have a dear love for Alaskan aviation, and am building models from 1933 to today; ask me anything you’d like, I’m here for everything from terror-ridden floatplane flights to firebombers to the world’s 3rd busiest air cargo port.
Best to all who are still here, and I hope to make many new connections sooner rather than later.
Build on, and love your birds!!!
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Rob, welcome back! Looking to hear more about the aviation business and the scratchbuilt 747 thread! Sounds like some fun flying stories you got there.
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hey Merlin- Thanks for the kind words! I threw in the IT towel a couple years ago and moved on to my real love (no, not falling to the ground 😉 when I was driving past PAAQ and saw that green yellow and white bird sitting on the ramp. Welcome to love at third sight 🙂
The SP is slowly coming together, with a second (my reputation appears to have followed me) USAF Aggressor F-16 from Eielson for another retiree.
Hoping to be back @ KSEA/KBFI in January, with lots to follow. And in the meantime if you’re jonesing for your fave plane, I have no less than 9 707s waiting conversion or outright builds, which I’ll gladly share 🙂
Keep the blue side up…
R
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Welcome back Rob. Wasn’t your byline “Must convert kits” ? Scratchbuilding a 1/72 scale 747SP? That project will certainly keep one busy 🙂
Ken
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Welcome back Rob. Good to have you back. 🙂
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFO
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hi Ken!
Yep, that was me, along with “North of You” and “Where the heck is Livengood???” 🙃<!–more–>
As for the SP, after no less than 4 tries and the help of Jennings and Boeing I seem to have made a lot of friends with my masters of the Platz 1:200 47 shorty…Since I have the space, time, and cash on hand (and folks at the local Kinko’s who are convinced I’m insane when they just point me at the large copier) I thought “Well heck, why not???” and dove in.
The F-16 is about 1/3 done, next up is my holy grail of a 1:10 L-188 built around the old Monogram D513 engine kit that made me an Alaskan in about 10 minutes…And a lot of now illegal things we won’t discuss online, ‘cept to say it was in a previous millenium.
It’s good to come home. My HpH 1:32 DC-3 *and* C-47 will soon enough wear my new found kinda/sorta retired “You’ve got one life, go live it!” colors…And you may well see me at another IPMS show with my showbirds and Beatles’ 1964 PA 707 in their full glory.
And if you come up, let me show you what a 1:9 Boeing wind tunnel model looks like. The airport said it was too big to pay for, so it’s in the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, and yes, it really can fly 🙃
Build on!
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Thanks Ahmed! It’s been far too long, but true love never goes away. I still remember that awesome post you made years ago about flying on an Ariana 720.
And forever thanks from another weird guy who takes pictures over a fence from a step ladder in the back of his truck 😁
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hey Merlin-
Man, do we have a long weekend in KSEA coming. It’s going to be a big one, so check your crosswinds & hold on 😁
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Sounds good, keep me posted on timing and I’ll try to adjust my schedule. I’ve got a few 707 projects coming up, still need to take a whack at the old 707-700 that I put on ice a decade back.
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Merlin-
Oh man, that “707-720CFM” bird?? I think I might even have a spare set of CFMs I can hand over if you need them…
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Yep, that’s the one! I think I’ve got everything I need kit wise, I’m going to attempt it in 144. The decals will have to be thoroughly DIY, though….
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Merlin-
Yep that’s the one…My only parts are in 1:72 but I think we can make things work. Somewhere I even have the decal art (scavenger hunt, yay!!!) so we can make it happen one way or another…
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Cool…..An “oddball” 707. Could you start a separate thread about them? I would love to see some decals. Down the rabbit hole guess I didn’t realize that Boeing did make CFM-56 powered 737’s. There are sixteen E-6 Mercury in Navy service.
The first one entered service in 1989 so I guess one could say that Boeing did get their R+D money back from the the 707-700 even though it wasn’t developed as a commercial plane.
Ken
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
The dreaded editing time-out…..
I meant to type “I didn’t realize that Boeing did make CFM-56 powered 707’s”
Ken
Down the rabbit hole guess I didn’t realize that Boeing did make CFM-56 powered 737’s
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hi All-
I’ll be happy to dive into a new 707 thread, so watch this space…Meantime, IIRC the “700” series 07s were an outgrowth of the KC-135 re-engine designs, right down to the pylons & all, excepting the lack of reversers on the -135 frames. Which brings things back full circle (again) given the 07s origins…
Sifting through my Indiana Jones archive for the art in 1:72…Will post more when I find it 🙂
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
Man the CFM56 engine is worthy of its own thread as well. The most successful commercial engine ever with 33000+ sold. Around 100 DC8 and over 400 KC135 conversions completed. Cammacorp would have been a company to invest in. During the test program both a Caravelle and the YC14 flew with a CFM56.
Ken
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
At some point, I think I’ll write a full article about it. I’ve been sitting on some good content for the past decade and have not gotten round to publishing it yet.
The 700 was envisioned by Boeing as both a new-build and a re-engine to keep the 320B/C flying longer in the face of upcoming noise regs. Based on contemporaneous documentation, they did seem serious about it. I suspect a big part of the business case not closing was USAF buying a bunch of the 707s for spares as they converted their J57 (JT3C) airplanes to the TF-33 (JT3D), so that drove up the retail price and made conversions less appealing.
Boeing later reused the engineering on the KC-135 and military 707 derivatives, namely the E-8, E-3, and maybe a few others I’m forgetting about. Interestingly, the pylon shape did differ somewhat.
@raa188 let’s compare notes on the decals. I’ve got a way to achieve it, but it might not be the most elegant solution. Are you planning to do one in 1:72 with the Heller kit?
Edit your Profile to get a forum signature.
Posts: 439Location: Someplace north...Call it PAAQ to start.Occupation: Work wood, 38 years keeping phones working and flying all over with my best friend in the ordo aurorae septentrionalis, Order of the Northern Dawn.Hey Merlin & All-
Yeah, I had my timeline & conversion dates backwards…The x-135 conversions came after the -700 first flew. *self smack to forehead* 🙂
Regardless, I do have the artwork (found it in a storage unit here in PAAQ, go figure…Lots of relics in this state) & think we can make it work since it’s all in Corel vector format. No scaling issues I can see, tho it’ll take some tweaking to fit which kit its all going on to. Nothing new there 🙂
Still looking @ being in KSEA in January, just fitting it in w/my now upcoming 4th surgery on my left shoulder (don’t ask…) & being ready to go.
More as it happens in a new thread…
Rob in AK
Shoot for the stars, reach your new flight level and fly true.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.