Revell 1/450 B.747-500

This small scale kit was first issued by Heller in 1974, then reboxed another nine times from Heller itself, Lodella, Blue Ribbon Collectors Series (lovelily marketed bagged, just like old times) and Revell (in two versions, “standalone” and “Model Set”, the latter including paints, glue and a paintbrush). The specific kit is the Revell “standalone” version, bought for a mere $6 from a vendor during a model show/contest that took place in March 2023 in my hometown, Chalkis, Greece.

The kit comes in a small side opening “Revell style” blue box of good quality, carrying a nice box art of the kit subject, which is KLM’s PH-BUB machine. Upon opening the box, I was greeted with 22 white styrene pieces, arranged in two equally sized sprues. Molding is definitely old school, with raised panel lines that are vastly off scale (in fact, given the minuscule 1/450 scale, maybe totally sanding away panel lines may yield a more “correct” look). A good amount of flash is evident and will have to be cleaned off.

Apart from the main parts’ seemingly correct general shapes, there are no other details to speak of. The engines are very simplified, not even featuring a hollowed compressor face. Landing gear is absolutely toy-ish and there are neither wheel bays nor doors. Of course, most of the above “simplifications” can be somehow justified by the kit’s small scale and mold origins.

There are no transparencies whatsoever, all glazing having to be replicated by decals. Instructions come in the form of a double folded A2 paper, featuring a short history of the type, a parts diagram, with the simple construction spread in 6 very clear steps.

Only one, very charming KLM scheme is provided, with two alternate registrations. Colors are given in Revell codes, but also in generic form. Decals are superbly printed, presumably by Cartograf, promising to significantly boost the looks of the completed model.

Instructions want you to first join the fuselage halves, trapping 5 grams of weight in the nose, then assemble and attach the aerodynamic surfaces, engines and wheels, ending a build that could not be simpler.

I started by joining the fuselage halves. Due to the toy-ish landing gear looks, I decided to build it as a desktop model in flying status and this was the reason I did not add any weight in the nose. The wings were then assembled and attached, followed by the horizontal stabilizers, with all aerodynamic surfaces aligned by consulting the handy head-on drawing Revell provides. Once dry, the four engines were assembled and attached, ending the ultra-simple build sequence.

Overall fit was average, with all joints needing some attention, but it was an easy task due to the model’s small size and simplistic layout. The three holes where the landing gear struts were supposed to be attached were filled with styrene pieces.

I decided to completely sand off the vastly off-scale raised detail (in fact, I believe in 1/450 the panel lines would be hardly noticeable) and, after a filling and sanding round, I took the small model to the paint shop!

I first gave the fin a coat of Hu130 Satin White, which dried to an “ivory” shade, reminding me that I have to somehow renew my aging white supplies. After masking it off, I gave the topsides a coat of Hu89 Middle Blue and masked it as well, followed by applying Hu56 Aluminum to all remaining surfaces. I decided not to go for the dual metallic shade observed at the airliners wings, mostly due to my laziness and, maybe, because the effect would not be too noticeable at this scale. A coat of Future prepared the bird for decaling.

I used the kit decals, in order to depict PH-BUB “Donau - The Danube”, as it stood in 1989. The Cartograf decals behaved very well and really brought life to this simplistic model. Making the decals conform to the nose was not as difficult as initially feared, where I used strong decal softener, in order to gradually and carefully make them conform. A coat of Future sealed them, with the inevitable touch ups taking place soon after, including hand painting of the very small, almost barely noticeable, black nose radome.

I could not live with the engines’ bland faces, so I went on and drilled out their openings. The now hollowed innards and the exhausts were painted Testors Burned Metal. Whereas still not realistic, the net result of the engine looks with the now opened intakes was more pleasing and less toy-ish, the lack of internal detailing being not too noticeable at this ultra small scale.

Though tempted, I refrained from replicating the (nonetheless distinctive) teeny tiny HF aerials located at the wingtips, since they would be snapped away at no time from my young sons, eagerly waiting to play with the “blue and white plane". A satin coat gave the bird its final hue.

I modified a leftover base from the now defunct 1:100 "Collection Armour" diecast aircraft series and mounted the model on it. Blobs of red and green clear paint were applied, in order to simulate the wingtip lights, before calling this very charming queen of the skies done!  

Though getting elderly, this is a good small scale kit of the iconic Jumbo Jet. With relevance to the very small scale, general shapes of parts are for the most part correct, with the exception of the engine faces that are bland and the landing gear that is toy-ish. Panel lines are grossly overscale and sanding them off might be the best option, accuracy-wise.

Molding itself is average with quite some flash that will have to be cleaned and fit will require your attention, but nothing too serious, especially for such a small, simple model.

The decal sheet, a most essential aspect for small scale airliners (since it additionally replicates the transparencies and other structural details), is supreme (what we have come to expect from Cartograf), promising to boost the final model looks to a level met at bigger scales.

Presumably, a number of modelers will overlook this kit, due to, among possibly others, its simplicity and small/odd scale, but, truth is that this very cheap and easily found fellow offers a pleasant build and, with some extra attention, can yield a nice result, with the simplicity of construction deeming it a good candidate for introducing a youngster to the magic world of modeling.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

12 June 2023

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