Zvezda

1/144 Boeing 767-300

Kit Number: 7005

Reviewed by  Walt Fink, IPMS# 2447

MSRP: $31.95 Review Sample from Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com This kit is an all-new tool of the Boeing 767-300, and pleasantly surprised a lot of airliner enthusiasts who thought it might be a re-box of the Revell kit. Zvezda's tooling is crisp, with very fine recessed panel lines; I deepened several of them with a scriber during the build, and wish I'd done more---they become pretty faint once the model's painted. Cabin windows are provided on clear strips, but trying to mask them off for painting would be more than I could handle, so I omitted them and filled the cabin window openings with Sobo craft glue after finishing the model. Zvezda provides a clear display stand, and alternate gear doors for modeling the bird with the wheels retracted. If the model's mounted on the stand with the gear extended, the builder will have to do some plastic surgery on the main gear, since the trucks hang down at an angle to the struts. My sample had some serious warpage problems. The vertical tail on both fuselage halves curved over like an Orca's dorsal fin, the upper and lower wings were curved downward pretty severely, and the right fuselage half was bent downward in the tail area. Basic construction of the model took longer than it should've, since my solution was to glue it up an inch at a time, bending things into submission as I went along, and letting the joints set before proceeding to the next inch. The landing gear is beautifully done, probably the best I've seen on any airliner kit, and makes up into three neat little models all on their own. Separate brake assemblies and nice wheel and tire detail are included. The engines have some unique features in their construction---the hot sections are separate from the cowlings and are suspended from them in the center of the pylons. The cowl lips are separate pieces, which eliminate some of the seams in the engine throats, but there's a little mismatch between the ring and the cowling which has to be filled. The engines look great when assembled, but Zvezda omitted the small airflow vanes on the upper inboard portions of the nacelles. I made these from sheet plastic. Two decal options are included---an Aeroflot aircraft in their newer "Delta-ish" colors, and a Boeing Demonstrator in the new "Dreamliner" or "Skyteam" colors of teal and dark blue. The Boeing bird would be pretty, but painting it would be a real exercise in minutia and patience, because the decals for that option are limited to just the Boeing logo, "767" on the fin, and the broad wavy horizontal white stripe, so the vast majority of the complicated scheme would have to be "scratched". I opted for the Aeroflot livery with its aluminized lacquer fuselage, and dark blue belly and tail. To simulate the aluminized lacquer, I sprayed the fuselage Testors' Metalizer "Steel", overcoated with Gunze Sangyo clear gloss acrylic. The rest of the aircraft was done in Gunze acrylic color. The instructions specify Chrome Silver for the inspar portion of the wing and tail, but photos on Airliners.net seem to indicate it to be a dark gray, not chrome. The decals are terrific. They went on without a hitch and snuggled down into the surface detail nicely. The Cyrillic Aeroflot logo for the left side of the aircraft is incorrect, though, having the "wings" under the T---they should be at the front, under the A, with the "Russian Airlines" located under the T. It was a simple fix to separate them from the main logo decal and reverse their positions. I was a little concerned about the warped parts in my kit, so I phoned Aaron Skinner at FineScale Modeler, since he'd reviewed the same kit for the magazine. He told me that his sample was just fine, and while we were talking, opened a second kit he had in his office, finding it to be free of problems as well. I bought another 767 kit last week, and it, too, was nice and straight, so evidently the sample I got for this review was just a quirk. Once the model was painted and the decals applied, I added antennae and other small details using photos on Airliners.net as reference. No antennae are included in the kit, but are easily made from sheet styrene. The windshield's a really tight fit, and care has to be taken not to break it. As I was installing it, I was mildly surprised to see a set of small red legs appear at the cockpit opening, then disappear. A ladybug from the swarms trying to come into our house for warmth apparently decided to take up residence in the fuselage, and no amount of shaking the model would dislodge the critter. I guess she's still in there waiting for the food service truck to load up the galley., and hopefully she doesn't decide to crawl around on the inside of my nice Future'd windshield and leave a present. Once the warpage issues were---no pun intended---ironed out, this kit built up into a beautiful replica of the 767, so don't let my initial bad fortune with this one example deter you from buying one (I didn't!). This sample just appears to be the exception rather than the rule. Thanks, IPMS/USA, Dragon Models USA, and thank you, Zvezda, for the opportunity to build and review this kit. This is the third Zvezda airliner kit I've built, their Il-76 and Tu-154 being the first two. This company has really gotten their act together in this niche market. Nice model and highly recommended.