Yaks Civilian Aircraft GB , Airfix 1/144 Boeing 737-200 Britannia airways

[yak face]

Heres my entry for this GB , the old Airfix Boeing 737 . Ive wanted to do this build for ages but the aftermarket decals were out of print . Luckily Two Six have done another run so i got some , having already picked up an airfix 737 at Cosford for £5. The reason this one is so special is that this build will be of the first aircraft I ever flew on , a Britania Airways 737 -200 circa 1978 on a holiday to Benidorm. As a 13 yr old plane mad kid it was a dream come true (I know , easily pleased! ) and I enjoyed the whole flight experience as much as our first foreign holiday , even the mandatory in flight meal (potato croquettes, sausage and beans ,biscuit and the first time I'd ever seen a lemon scented hand wipe !! all eaten out of a tin tray, it was a whole new world!)heres the kit and the decals , hopefully my mum can find a photo of me on the the steps of this particular aircraft so I might be able to find out the exact serial of the aircraft . cheers tony[ATTACH]284359[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284360[/ATTACH]

[papa 695]

Nice one Tony, and with some nostalgia as well.

[yak face]

Made a start on this today and to say this tooling dates back to 1969 its really very good. Theres a slight mismatch in the fuselage halves , one being a tiny bit bigger top to bottom than the other but with a bit of careful gluing it will be fine.The raised detail on the engines and wings is very nice and will look great once painted. Ive got the engines and wings together and started gluing the fuselage .I'm going to glue the top seam first and let this thoroughly dry before tackling the bottom seam tomorrow, that way i can make sure both fit ok. [ATTACH]284501[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284502[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284503[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284504[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284505[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284506[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284507[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Nice start Tony

[papa 695]

Looking good Tony. You'll soon be back in Benidorm at this rate

[flyjoe180]

so special is that this build will be of the first aircraft I ever flew on , a Britania Airways 737 -200 circa 1978

My first flight was a 737-200 in 1979. Drank so much sugary orange juice and sucked so many hard boiled lollies I was sick all over my Dad's suit and he was meeting his new boss at the other end... 38 years later I'm flying the 737! And not vomiting.

Great work so far, it's an old kit but looking good after all those years. I hope you can trace the rego of your original 737 to match your model. Looking forward to seeing more later. Cheers!

[yak face]

So its a special bird for you too joe , hope i can do it justice, cheers tony

[yak face]

[ATTACH]284827[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284828[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284829[/ATTACH] Bottom of fuselage has now been glued carefully in stages and seems to be fairly level. The engines have also been filled ,sanded and primed and glued to the wings . Ive put quite a bit of lead in the nose to prevent tail sitting and test fitted the windscreen which is a surprisingly decent fit! Im not sure if im going to use the decal windscreen on the aftermarket sheet or leave the clear parts visible and just use the outline.

[papa 695]

Looking good Tony

[flyjoe180]

That's looking good Tony. The old JT8 engines look very sleek.

[yak face]

Cheers Joe , Ian . I managed to find a couple of photos of the aircraft , one complete with 13 year old yours truly coming down the steps (dont laugh at the hair , it was the seventies after all!) and the other with my mum and dad standing in front of it ( not very helpfully obscuring the nosewheel doors which had the last two letters of the serial on , which would have definitely identified the actual aircraft ) Not knowing the serial meant I did a bit of detective work looking at all the pics of britannia 737s. The fact that this aircraft had a distinctive grey band on the nose and incomplete stripe but complete black panel narrowed it down to one picture , a black and white one of G-AVRN taken in 1979 so I reckon its a good chance this was my aircraft. anyway heres the pics [ATTACH]284848[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284849[/ATTACH]

[yak face]

[ATTACH]285036[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]285037[/ATTACH] The fuselage seams have been cleaned up carefully , so as to preserve the raised lines and a couple of sink marks/ sprue points have been filled and sanded. I also had to fill the wheel well section that fits under the centre , it had issues! Saying that though , the wings fitted perfectly , surprising given the age of the tooling. Its all setting now , next job is the elevators and cockpit transparency then its nearly ready for primer.

[flyjoe180]

Looking good Tony, great job. Glad you have identified your 737

[Dave W]

Nice to see another old kit being built. I've worked on these aircraft for years. And I've still got the -200 on my license, although not many of them around these days. Look forward to seeing this one progress.

[rickoshea52]

This website is useful for identifying and researching airliners. Yours passed into a few operators before being stored. You can find the complete list of 737's operated by Britannia too, no less than 71 -200's were operated by them!

http://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b737-19711.htm

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Britannia%20Airways-history-b737.htm