Best Of Detailing the Micro-Trains BNSF Fuselage Set

[Mark W]

I'm from Nebraska, but my best friend moved out to South Jordan a while ago, and I've been to the area several times.

We we're unable to make it out to Portland 2015, but will be attending both SLC shows; and since it's very central between all the major groups, hoping to make at least one of them the biggest Free-moN gathering yet! 

[orionfield]

Just looking at the 757 parts and the early 737 fuselages, makes we want to make some of those as well!

[atsf3751]

They are making more . . .

Probably misjudged how much interest this set has generated.

[heyrob]

Well guys for all the effort in making such nicely detailed and (nicely attempted) accurate models, I have just discovered some disappointing information. Here is a table of the length of fuselages transported by model (pre-737 Max)...

Model      Length
-600         88' 8"
-700         96' 6"  (& BBJ)
-800        115' 8" (& Freighter, BBJ2 & P-8)
-900        124' 4" (& BBJ3)

The Micro-Trains Fuselage is 7.75" or just 103' 4".  Oh well, I'm going to still make one of the two new ones I plan to acquire from the next release into a P-8 I'll be making lots of trips to Balmer Yard north of Seattle trying to find one before it's delivered, as no photography is allowed on Company without special permission, something no usually given for non-business purposes. I've seen one so far but didn't make the effort to get detail shots for modeling.

[peteski]

Well guys for all the effort in making such nicely detailed and (nicely attempted) accurate models, I have just discovered some disappointing information. Here is a table of the length of fuselages transported by model (pre-737 Max)...

Model      Length
-600         88' 8"
-700         96' 6"  (& BBJ)
-800        115' 8" (& Freighter, BBJ2 & P-8)
-900        124' 4" (& BBJ3)

The Micro-Trains Fuselage is 7.75" or just 103' 4".  Oh well, I'm going to still make one of the two new ones I plan to acquire from the next release into a P-8 I'll be making lots of trips to Balmer Yard north of Seattle trying to find one before it's delivered, as no photography is allowed on Company without special permission, something no usually given for non-business purposes. I've seen one so far but didn't make the effort to get detail shots for modeling.

Rob, are the dimensions you found for a finished aircraft or for the fuselage being transported?  I say that because the fuselage being transported is missing the radome and tail cone.

[Mark W]

I'm wondering the same as Pete. 

I measure the Micro-Trains fuselage at 7.70", darn close to the 102ft 4inches of the -600 overall length.  Perhaps either the MT forgot to account for the nose and tail of the -600 or the the -700 minus nose and tail come in around 102-103feet?

edit: Rob is listing the -600 as 88' 8" vs everywhere I see online has 102' 4", so I'll have to assume 88,8 is the fuselage minus nose/tail.  Looks more likely that MT intended to make the -600 but forgot about subtracting the nose/tail parts.

On the plus side, this means we can chop it down by 11 or 26mm for a proper -600 or -700 respectively.


..You guys are going to make me do this now, aren't you. 

[heyrob]

Rob, are the dimensions you found for a finished aircraft or for the fuselage being transported?  I say that because the fuselage being transported is missing the radome and tail cone.

Those dimensions are as mounted on the flat car, here are the final dimensions as complete aircraft...

Model      Length
-600            98' 0"
-700          105' 7"
-800        124' 11"
-900          133' 5"

[heyrob]

I'm wondering the same as Pete. 
I measure the Micro-Trains fuselage at 7.70", darn close to the 102ft 4inches of the -600 overall length.  Perhaps either the MT forgot to account for the nose and tail of the -600 or the the -700 minus nose and tail come in around 102-103feet?

edit: Rob is listing the -600 as 88' 8" vs everywhere I see online has 102' 4", so I'll have to assume 88,8 is the fuselage minus nose/tail.  Looks more likely that MT intended to make the -600 but forgot about subtracting the nose/tail parts.

On the plus side, this means we can chop it down by 11 or 26mm for a proper -600 or -700 respectively.

..You guys are going to make me do this now, aren't you. 

You're right Mark, I got the 7.75" with a tape measure and without taking it out of the box, taking it out I agree it's 7.70"

Where are you finding specs for the -600 as 102' 4", that's longer than a complete -600, or even the -700 as shipped.

It's been quite some time since I made the 737 spec sheet that I just dug up, but I'm pretty sure I got my data from the Boeing internal web. Personally I'm not going to worry too much that the fuselages are a little too short, they are 100% better than any option I had considered before. I'll live with the shorter fuselages as 99.99% of viewers will not know the difference, I wouldn't bother chopping them down. It would be nice if MTL would make the fuselages available as spare parts too, as I would consider buying two to make a nice long -900, which would be about 9.325" long.

[pmpexpress]

Well guys for all the effort in making such nicely detailed and (nicely attempted) accurate models, I have just discovered some disappointing information. Here is a table of the length of fuselages transported by model (pre-737 Max)...

Model      Length
-600         88' 8"
-700         96' 6"  (& BBJ)
-800        115' 8" (& Freighter, BBJ2 & P-8)
-900        124' 4" (& BBJ3)

The Micro-Trains Fuselage is 7.75" or just 103' 4".

Pete,

Are the dimensions on the pair of Wolfbone models any closer to the prototype measurements that Rob has so kindly provided?

[pmpexpress]

Rob,

Are the flatcar decks aluminum, or light gray in color?

They appear to be the same color as the brush guards, which leads me to believe that all of the contemporary flatcars are aluminum decked.

[peteski]

Pete,

Are the dimensions on the pair of Wolfbone models any closer to the prototype measurements that Rob has so kindly provided?

I only have the -600 (PLA-printed) version handy at the moment.  It is 6.1" long or 81" 4" long. I assume the FUD version will be the same.  But these also have some issues. The wing fairing area comes up too high on the fuselage, and the details aren't quite accurate. Also the shape of both ends is wrong (way too narrow).  But when they first came out they were the only close to 1:160 scale 737 fuselages out there and much better than my decade-old attempt using a Hasegawa 1:200 scale model shown below.

[pmpexpress]

I only have the -600 (PLA-printed) version handy at the moment.  It is 6.1" long or 81" 4" long. I assume the FUD version will be the same.  But these also have some issues. The wing fairing area comes up too high on the fuselage, and the details aren't quite accurate. Also the shape of both ends is wrong (way too narrow).  But when they first came out they were the only close to 1:160 scale 737 fuselages out there and much better than my decade-old attempt using a Hasegawa 1:200 scale model shown below.

Thanks for your insight.

Was wondering if using the Micro-Trains fuselage together with the -800 from Wolfbone would work in the same consist.

Sounds like they are visually incompatible.

Not particularly happy with the Micro-Train component box details and the brush guards, I am contemplating substituting the aforementioned parts with Shapeways equivalents (i.e., N Airplane Parts Skybox V5 Tailcar and N 737 Transport Detail Kit) from  Baldylox Designs.

The Baldylox box appears to have most of the missing details (i.e., the missing front and side doors) and the included flatcar lacks the converted flatcar deck frame and hitch details and has the lower box support uprights cast directly into it.

Along with two different sizes of brush guards, the Baldylox transport detail kit has the wing mount braces that are seen in some of the prototype images.

Although it is a BETA design that is relatively pricey, Baldylox also has one of the well-car style skybox cars listed.

Not really sure if FUD or FED is the best material choice for the replacement parts.

Like the Micro-Trains parts, apparently, FED parts are shipped on the molding support frame???

Thought I read that FED parts are better detailed, but more brittle than FUD.

While both materials are brittle, not sure which is more prone to warpage.

Also read that FED does not require a Bestine bath like FUD does.

Your thoughts on any of the parts substitutions and Shapeways material choices would be greatly appreciated.

[heyrob]

Rob,

Are the flatcar decks aluminum, or light gray in color?

They appear to be the same color as the brush guards, which leads me to believe that all of the contemporary flatcars are aluminum decked.

I haven't seen any up close & personal in over a year, but the last ones I saw at Balmer yard in north Seattle, where the view from the street starts out elevated above the tracks before dropping to track level, there were a couple of idler flats with fresh paint and the decks appeared to be painted with a gray anti slip textured paint. I didn't get the impression that the decks were aluminum. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[heyrob]

While hunting for the last photo, I found my shots of the P-8 fuselage I saw at Balmer awhile back.
The first shot shows the overall windowless fuselage, the second shows the cover over the "bomb bay" immediately behind the wing box, and the oval behind that is the location of the right side sonobouy launch tubes. The third shot shows the full fuselage, with the APY 10 Radar mounting protrusions on the nose. and finally a closer view of those.

The other photos I've seen of those show the the bottom protrusion is actually two separate posts, just covered by a single covering here.

[orionfield]

That P-8 was a great catch! That would make a unique subject to model for sure.