Shipbucket

Hi all!

About a month ago, after completing the DC-10s and 777s I moved back to ships with the intent of resuming work on the Kaibokans. Still, somewhat I lost steam quite quickly and diced to go back to airplanes, where it seems I feel more proficent lately. (for you IJN lovers, fret not, I will be back on ships)
While I had a roughly halfway-done 727 to work on I opted to hold that work for now (possibly because of the recent Aerosucre crash?) and move to something else I felt more motivated about: a major update of my all-time favourite airliner, the Boeing 747.

Clonecommander did an excellent job on crafting all 747 variants from Guillermo/ALVAMA/Eswube original 747-400, but there was something that felt off to me (maybe the latent perfectionist/nitpicker in me is growing too much?), especially regarding the engines and other details. And with all due respect, the SP was more wrong than right.
I initially planned a deadline around Christmas/new year's eve to do them all but obviously fell behind schedule, so for now I present only Pratt&Whitney powered versions from 747-100 through 747-300 and General Electric powered versions from 747-400 on. The other P&W and GE planes will follow, while Rolls-Royce ones might take more time (RR powered 747-400s had a completely different engine pylon assembly for example).
(Thus my earlier 747-100 post is basically an outdated appetizer. Because we all do mistakes, and I'm not less guilty in that.)


Boeing 747-100

The first widebody, which entered service with Pan-Am nearly 47 years ago, featuring the Pratt&Whitney JT9D-3A engines, the first high-bypass turbofan engines to equip a civilian plane (and the second ones ever after the GE-TF39 powering the military cargo Lockheed C-5 Galaxy). It's distinctive feature was (compared to later models) the shorter nacelle with forward clamshell doors, which opened on takeoff (here a Pan-am 747 leaving Frankfurt in the early 70s), possibly to allow more inflow.
Compared to the original I've modified the engine position and engine pylons. The wing leading edge and landing gear doors had been refined as well. Modification were done also to the wing root fairings, which the drawing previously showed having more in common with the 747-400 than the actual early 747s. I also added that strange smaller hump behind the upper deck that -other than the three-window upper deck- was a unique feature of the 747-100s (of wich I absolutely ignore it's purpose).

Boeing 747-200

Second version of the 747 which followed in 1971 and specifically designed for intercontinetal flights (Northwest, KLM and Swissair were among the first operators), powered by the improved JT9D-7. The short-range 747SR (and SBR) and high-payload -100B looked identical externally.

Boeing 747-200C

Convertible version. It could be quickly outifitted as full passenger, combi or full cargo configurations as the airline necessities dictated

Boeing 747-200F (JT9D-7)

First full-cargo version of the 747, it entered service with Lufthansa in 1972.

Boeing 747-200F (JT9D-70A)

An almost unknown version of a 747 powered by different engines. The Pratt&Whitney JT9D-70A was basically a modification of the existing JT9D-59A designed for JAL DC-10-40s in an attempt to limit the market of the newly developed General electric CF6-50. Overall, the move did not met the expected success: airlines already operating P&W engned 747 preferred to stick with the smaller JT9D-7, the others still went for the CF6-50. Probably no more than 10 planes were fitted with said engines, 4 for Seaboard World Cargo, 2 for Cargolux, possibly 4 for SAS...

Boeing 747-SP

The shortened 747 developed during the early 70s to fill the extra-long-range market and as a low-expense developement to fill the gap between the 727 and the 747 in order to compete against the DC-10 and L-1011. The airframe was shortened by over 14 meters and tail surfaces (both horizontal and vertical) were enlarged. Other modifications included single slotted flaps instead of the standard triple slotted ones of the other 747s, modified engine pylons, removal on one door on each side and redesigned wing root fairings. The -SP entered service in 1976 with Pan AM, but eventually failed to catch it's expected market share. Only 45 -SPs were built (out of 47 orders, after Pan am canceled its last two on backlog) out of the 200 Boeing hoped to build.
Compared to the original drawing I completely redid the wing root fairings and enlarged both the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. I also removed the flap track fairings which were much smaller and did not protruded aft of the wings. The fuselage was also slighly shorter than it should -roughly by one frame- and the tapering of the upper fuselage where the vertical stabilizer comes in was too sharp.

Boeing 747-300

the first 747 featuring a stretched upper deck, the -300 was a distant child of the SP developement, having the same reshaped engine pylons and the aforementioned upper deck ending over the wingbox instead of ahead of it. This variant entered service in 1983 with Swissair but was soon superseeded by the launch of the more advanced -400. Ultimately 81 300s were built. The short-range -300SR and mixed passenger-cargo -300M looked identical externally (the latter as long as we don't draw the left side as well). Boeing also offered the option to convert some older 747s to -300 standard with the SUD (stretched upper deck) option: KLM and UTA converted 10 and 2 airframes each, while JAL ordered two -100BSR to be built fromt he ground up with the SUD configuration.

Boeing 747-400

The major redesign and most succesful model of the 747 family, the -400 featured engine, aerodinamic and technological improvements over all previous models. Adopting a glass cockpit the flight crew was reduced to two dispensing the flight engineer. Newer engines as the Pratt&Whitney PW4052, General electric CF6-80-C2 and Rolls-Royce RB211-524G were offered and each wing was etended by 1.8meters and fitted with winglets, increasing the overall wingspan by 4.8 meters, revised wing root fairings further improved areodynamics. The-400 entered service in early 1989 with Northwest Airlines. Further variants were the mixed passenger-cargo -400M introduced by KLM in late 1989 and the long-range -400ER launched by sole customer Qantas in 2002.
Other than the usual engine and pylon assembly fix the only other major modification over the original drawing involves the forward wing root fairing, with a few more needed details added and a revision of it's overall shape.

Boeing 747-400D

A short-ranged version of the -400 specifically designed for the Japanese domestic market. Unlike all other -400s it lacks the winglest, whose benefits on fuel consumption short routes were negated -and actually reversed- by their own weight. The upper deck had three extra rows of seats and windows in place of the useless -on short flight- galley, increasing overall capacity. It entered service in 1991 with JAL and was also operated by rival airline ANA. 19 were built.

Boeing 747-400F

The all-cargo version featured all improvements of the passenger versions but lacked the stretched upper deck as a weight-saving measure. The -400F entered service in 1993 with Cargolux and was further developed into the longer range -400ERF in 2002. The last -400 overall, an ERF, was delivered in 2009 to Kalitta air.

Boeing 747-400BCF

Conversion of former 747 passegner airframes into cargo configuration by sealing off doors and windows and by adding a side cargo door on the left side of the aft fuselage. Compared to purpose built 747 freighters, the BCFs lack the forward nose door. The first converted airframe was re-delivered to Cathay Pacific in 2005.

Boeing 747-8F

Last developement of the 747 family, the -8F features a fueselage stretch of 5,6m and raked wingtip extensions (instead of the -400 winglets) which increased the wingspam to over 68 meters. The wings themselves while maintaining sweep and internal structure have a redesigned airfoil to further increase performance and aerodynamics. the triple-slotted flaps of the -400 were replaced by double-slotted inboard annd single-slotted outboard ones. The -8F is also the first 747 since the -100 to be offered with a single engine installation, the General electric GEnx-2B, a variant of the GEnx-1B powering the 787, which also fetured exhaust chevrons for noise reduction. Once again, Cargolux was the launch customer and introduced the -8F into service in late 2011.
Major revisions compared to the original drawing were made to the engines and pylons (originally a siple kitbash of the 787 ones from Eswube drawing, which actually featured Rolls-Royce engines, not GEs (!!), wing root fairings and raked wingtips.

Boeing 747-8Intercontinental

Passenger version of the -8F, it features all improvement of its cargo counterpart plus a further stretched upper deck. The -8I entered service in 2012 with Lufthansa.


That's all folks. For now....

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Amazing pictures! Also, the -SP is pretty funny because of how stupid it looks.

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Really cool stuff. I now know more about 747s than I ever thought possible!

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Wow, that's a big post of big Boeings. Making those changes to get these absolutely correct has been worth it I think.

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EXCELLENT work BB

Thank you my old matey. That was a HUGE undertaking and extremely well carried out..... WELL DONE

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Hi BB1987

Marvellous, chapeau!!!

Love the SP in particular. I regularly saw South African ones at Frankfurt in my childhood, and big as they were, I always thought they looked cute, toylike - unlike the normal 747, whose appearance I never liked. I even had an Airfix 1/144 scale 747SP of the long defunct Braniff Airways, painted all orange. If there's a livery that fits that plane like a glove, this is the one (hint, hint).

Greetings
GD

Exellent work on those 747's BB

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Aart.

Projects:

The Kingdom of Rochfort in FD

Fantastic work!

@BB1987
If You're - if I understood correctly - planning to do a comprehensive update of all 747's, then maybe it would be more practical to put each major variant on (very) large sheets (all -100's on one, all -200's on another), with only the bottom-most one with "wheels down"?
Fewer files, less duplication etc.


On a different note.
Some of You may remember that once I expressed intent to have Polish Wings completed around the end of the year (this year, that is ). Unfortunately, due to many reasons, I am far from reaching this goal.
One of these reasons is that when I was about the post the newest entry, I felt that some of the older drawings, when compared to new ones (style-wise) no longer look as good as they used to, so I embarked on a mission to update them...
And it went waaay over the top in the end (not only more up-to-date blanks, but also many more paint schemes). One of those "to be modified" is the DC-1/DC-2/DC-3/L2D/Li-2 family, with which I'm struggling since October (latest entry to PolWings was already with updated ones), and am still far from the end... (but since I started then I'll finish... I mean, am I getting OCD or something? )

So a small (resized) appetizer (and that's just a fraction of what will eventually be)

That's indeed an option I was contemplating for when I would have completed them all, but I also worried about the fact that every different engine installation showed a bit more or a bit less of the main landing gear door setup, so that every different engined 747 was also unique in a some sort even in wheels down configuration. It was something I surely planned to discuss about once the time had come (and it seems it is).

Those DC/Li family looks like another top tier and massive project from you, just take your time and it will be awesome, our wait will be definitely worth it.
(might we got the blanks as a present before the others? )

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

Maybe add to each sheet a "window" showing that particular fragment of the aircraft with wheels down, but with outer wing and engines "cut off"?
(by "window" I understand something like next to 3rd plane from top: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/vsk ... _pol2a.png )

If You or someone else would need to use blanks for AU, then I can send them on PM, but otherwise I'd prefer to post "official blanks sheets" together with completed series.