747 SOC Restoration Part 5

Now that the model was whole again, I sanded off all the old decals and livery. A light coat of primer was used again to check for cracks and general smoothness of the model.

Decals sanded away and grey primer sprayed on.

747 SOC restoration part 4

With the wings no longer looking like a two-year old had been playing with them, it was time to take on the tail.

The balsa wood stabilizer kept breaking off when I handled the plane, so I decided to replicate it with styrene plastic instead. Styrene was actually a better solution as it is stronger and smoother. Wood would have to have its grain filled and sanded. More work than was necessary.

Cloned vertical stab.

747 SOC restoration part 3

Getting a smooth finish took a few cycles of filling - sanding - filler - and sanding some more. For filler, I used super glue (medium CA) and baking soda. This makes a good mechanical bond and sands fairly well with small files and wet sand paper.

Super glue and baking soda used as gap filler.

747 SOC restoration part 2

When I received the model from my partner in crime. The wings had been neatly glued back on and the missing vertical stabilizer was replaced with a balsa wood version.

747 Space Shuttle Carrier desk model restoration project

747 desk model after wing tips glued back on.

A friend of mine who worked at a NASA facility came to me and asked if I would be interested in fixing up an old desk model of the Space Shuttle carrier. After mulling it over for a few seconds I decided it could be a neat project, so I answered in the affirmative.

What he gave me was in pretty sorry shape. The space shuttle part wasn't too bad, but the 747 below it had seen much better days. Both wing tips were broken off and the tail was missing one of the stabilizers. The model obviously had been dropped multiple times and was in need of some serious love.