Revell 737-800 KLM & Ryanair

The Aircraft:

In 1985 Ryanair a low price airline based in Ireland began operating with one 15 seater turboprop aircraft between south east Ireland and London. As the airline grew it placed orders for 45 Boeing 737-800s At present Ryanair operate 80 Boeing 737-800s to 93 destinations and 19 european countries. This kit captures the old and new livery for the Ryanair 737-800.

The Kit:

This is one of Revells 737-800 offerings in the RyanAir livery. I decided to build the RyanAir 737-800 after many hours flying the 737-800 on Microsoft Flight Sim. The skill level for the kit is 3, age group 10 years and up. It’s not a difficult kit to build providing you have some patience and a sharp modelling knife for the smaller parts.

The kit is injection moulded in a white plastic with a total of 61 parts and is approximately 27cm (10.8 inches) in length when completed. On opening the box everything is supplied in one big plastic bag including the transparent sprue. Decals and instructions are provided loose in the box.

Instructions:

You get 3 x A3 pieces of paper folded down in the middle to make a six page book in total, no sprue diagram. A total of 23 steps are required to build the kit. All paints quoted are Revell. No paints or brushes are included in the kit.

Construction:

I decided to base coat the model with the correct colour white before assembly. Using a Revell airbrush and compressor the model had two good coats of semi matt white. Once dry I proceeded to start the build. Construction starts off with the main fuselage. Parts are clearly numbered on the sprue and separate well with a sharp knife.

The front wheel well has to be glued into one half of the fuselage first adding in some balance weight in the nose. This is to counteract the imbalance caused by the tail fin and elevators. As I was going to use the greyed out decals for the main windscreen I decided to use plasticine for the nose weight. The instructions provide a guide to the amount of weight you need to add. The two halves of the fuselage fitted well together aligning correctly the pins and holes provided in the moulding. Some light sanding was required to blend the joint lines together but overall the fit and finish is very good and precise.

The next step is to start the construction of the wings. Again this requires the fitment of the main landing gear wheel well first. Due to the narrow wing section and the scale of the model clothes pegs and or masking tape are required to keep the wings together while the glue dries. Again a light sanding of the joints removes any sharp edges and blends the two halves together well.

A word of warning – be careful when you attach the wheel well to the underside of the main wing. It is very easy to locate it 1mm too far aft. I have done this twice now on both the RyanAir and KLM version of the same kit. This is not a major problem and does not detract from the final finished aircraft but will require some surgery with a knife if you get it wrong.

Once the main construction of the wing has been completed it’s time to give wings the final coat of paint. For the RyanAir version this is a light grey colour. I airbrushed the whole assembly in light grey using the colours specified in the instruction sheet.

Next step is to install the tailplanes. Again this is an easy step and the use of some masking tape to fix the tailplanes into position whilst they dry is advisable. Make sure you get the dihedral equal on both sides

Now onto the bit I looked forward to building the engines. They are not complicated for some reason I really looked forward to building them! They have a very distinctive squashed intake at the bottom front of the engine and something that I think is unique amongst civilian aircraft. The squash is designed to increase the clearance from the ground to reduce the pickup of debris whilst taxiing and taking off.

The engines consist of an inner and outer construction with turbine fans and nacelles on the front. Time taken to put these together and painting them correctly will provide some added realism to your model.

Install the engines onto the wings using clothes pegs or small clips to hold them into place. I left these over night to make sure they hardened correctly.

Now you have to decide if you are going to build a wheels up or wheels down version.

I obviously decided to build a wheels down version of the RyanAir kit. The KLM version I am currently building will be wheels up!

The construction of the undercarriage is quite fiddly if you have big fingers like me. Make sure you have a pair of tweezers to handle the small parts and lots of patience. The result is worth the effort. Just make sure you let the glue harden over night before you stand the model up the right way. Otherwise you might end up with collapsed undercart.

The final fit of the clear parts and smaller detail doesn’t take too long. If you are going for the clear cockpit option make sure you use some contacta glue or something similar to stop any fogging as the glue sets. I decided to use the smoked decals for the cockpit windows so I wasn’t too fussed.

All that remains is to paint that gorgeous blue to the underside of the aircraft and the engine bodies. I decided to used thinned paint and a brush which provided an acceptable finish. In future I would mask the plane and use an airbrush.

What helps make this kit is the inclusion of the numerous decals. Revell call these Superdecals. It takes almost as long to apply the decals as it does to make the model. The decals are thick and high quality and rich in colour and time spent applying all of them either in the new or old RyanAir livery is worth it.

Accuracy:

The aircraft compares well with source material. Everything appears to be in the right place. Its certainly a very nice model when completed.

Overall Recommendation:

If you like your civilian aircraft then this is one for you. A most enjoyable kit to build and certainly not difficult if you have time and patience.

Martlesham Models recommends the following for the assembly of this model.

Revell Contacta or Humbrol Precision Poly Glue.
Tamiya tape for masking.
Humbrol enamel or Xtracolor enamel paint for final paint finishes.
Humbrol decalfix solution to prevent decal silvering and to ensure good adhesion.
Alternative decals are available in the shop from our extensive range of Two Six Decals.

Also available are the Hapag-Lloyd and KLM versions of the Boeing 737-800.

Check out the relevant sections in the shop for a range of model making glue, precision glue nozzles, paint and paint brushes from Revell, Humbrol, Xtracolor, Mission Models and Zap.

Full colour conversion charts for all major paint manufacturers can be found in our Humbrol Enamel Conversion Charts section at the bottom of the page.

Martlesham Models

Martlesham Heath, Ipswich.

Web : http://www.martlesham-models.com

Email : sales@martleshammodels.com

Martlesham Models is based at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich and we provide a wide range of model kits and accessories online.