Big Planes Kits 1/72 E-7A Wedgetail kit review
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- After getting the P-8 Poseidon, I just had to get this as I thought it would make great content for the newer modellers to see me build. Fettling, fitting, filling and sanding. Big Planes Kits website is here... bigplaneskits....
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Just to advise that the E-7A Wedgetail is the result of 'Project Wedgetail' (named after Australia's indigenous eagle) and the RAAF are the launch customer, so should be, using 'Nigels Modelling Bench's own philosophy, only built with RAAF markings only. I recommend the one with the actual Wedgetail Eagle nose art commemorating the RAAF's centenary of operation!
Thank you, so, for sure she will be built as an Aussie bird. I learned something today!!
Here's an old man's story for you: when I was in the Air Force in the 60s my sergeant supervisor would go out at least once a day sometimes twice and drive the total length of the runway looking for foreign object debris because the air force is very mindful of what FOD, foreign object debris can do to their very expensive aircraft. So it makes me wonder if the Concorde could have been saved had somebody just inspected the runway for debris.
I guess with planes taking off every 60 seconds or so this would be difficult?
I bought my kit from BPK directly, and a few weeks down the track Aleksey contacted my to say they'd found a part was missing from a batch of the Wedgetail kits, and he'd already put it in the mail to me. Great customer service!
Wedgetail was developed and designed to Australian specifications for the Royal Australian Air Force, with most of the early work being done in Australia. Australia was also the launch customer for the type. Other countries, including the US, decided to buy it as well, after it was already in Australian service. Hell, it's even named after Australia's largest eagle species. You really ought to do the Wedgetail in the RAAF scheme by your stated reasoning. 🙂
For sure, this will be an Aussie bird.
One of my favorite little features on the 737 is a little glass tube that sticks down from the belly near the wheel wells. If a tire blows and is flailing to the point where it will do any damage in the well the tire will break the little glass tube, which dumps the pressure on the landing gear actuator on that side and allows that leg to free fall.
Never blown a tire on the 737 but I blew a nose tire on the CRJ once. Never noticed anything out of the ordinary until we landed.
Never flown anything that had TPMS, only brake temps...
WOW!!! I cannot believe that.. What if you pick up a puncture on take off and suddenly find out you have a flat on touch down?? I guess the exploded tyre had so much wind resistance it stopped spinning? OR.. maybe the tyre was destroyed on landing?
@NigelsModellingBench the tires have a fuse plug in them so if the wheel heats up the fuse plug melts and blows instead of the tire exploding... it's entirely possible that the sound you heard was the fuse plug blowing and then the tire shredded on landing.
@@rileyk99 I certainly felt something, and the captain reported debris in the runway, so I reckon it was an incident?
@NigelsModellingBench good point, I forgot about that part!
Perhaps you hit some debris which blew the tire but it didn't finish shredding until landing
Hi Nigel. Scandinavian is Scandinavian Airlines which is, or at least was, owned by Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In the beginning they had Scandinavian Airlines on the sides of the airplanes, with a kind of stylish viking dragon head also. If you search online for airplanes from the sixties seventies, there should be plenty images of. Love your videos, you waffling amd all the tips you give on how to do things. Cheers from Sweden!
Oh no - another kit I am going to build vicariously through you. I may just buy this and the Poseidon for the stash until I am capable of building them.
Another great review - Thank you 👍
Incidentally I saw the first RAF E-7 ping on ADSB last week at the company who are fitting them out at Birmingham Airport.
Hi Nigel, you seemed (to me) to suggest in your review (around 30:48) that the aircraft was called a Wedgetail due to a change in the tailfin. It is actually named after the wedgetail eagle, Australia's apex flying predator.
Yeah, they got me there... convert the tail by inserting a wedge to shorten it, then call the aircraft a wedgetail, obvious isn't it.. NOT lol.
Hi Nigel, the E-7 AEW&C aircraft is based on the Boeing 737 Next Generation design and is roughly similar to the 737-700ER.
It is actually made out of a used 737-700 NG or built on a new production 737-700 NG I believe. The Aussie serials 001 and 002 have the eyebrows and the other four don't.
Great review Nige
Hi Nigel, that could of been interesting! A little cctv in the undercarriage bay would be easy to fit up perhaps? Nice little review!😉
David R Lentz, Columbus, Ohio, USA (Monday, 12 August, 2024)
Glad to hear you lot are all right-if a bit late!
And a delightful review of the E-7A Aircraft.
Some years past, I had built Heller’s 1:72nd-scale kit of Boeing’s E-3B Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) USAF Aircraft. Also, the Boeing 707-300B TWA Airlines passenger jet (I think a re-boxing of an ESCI model?), from which airframe this military æroplane had derived. The French Air Force (Armée de l’air) had designated their version as the E-3F (the Heller kit has alternate parts, insignia, markings, stencilling, etc., to make one or the other).
A few of them also had become the first USAF executive transport expressly for the official use of the President of the United States of America, who at the time was President John F. Kennedy (“Air Force One” is just the call-sign of ANY aircraft under official USAF ægis aboard which the U.S. President is making passage).
This is a Great Model Nigel, Based on the 737-700 & it's a great Plane to Fly as well.
The other being the P8 Posiedon by the same Model Manufacturer is based on the 737-800 Airframe.
I hope you get the Great Accolades you Deserve...
Yes, the windows are covered over with what they call a window plug. It is a thin aluminum piece placed over the window. These were converted Airliner versions for export. The Nex Gen 737 went out of production. In favor of the 737 Max. These military 737s were built from the airliner fuselage with window cutouts. Boeing did not make these any different from the airliner. The windows are still behind the interior facia.
Thank you
Nigil. I work on the 737 aircraft. If you need detailed photos of the landing gear bay. I can get them. There is 100 miles of plumbing and wiring inside that bay. The model only depicts a few items that are there. Also, flap actuator mechanism runs through there as well
I can see a bayraktar coming to my stash real soon.
Cheers Nigel great review 😊
Any time!
Just like Thunderbirds with Fireflash, Trapped in the Sky episode
Yes its an interesting bit of kit. Sold to the RAAF and then ran into technical troubles which raised the ire of many but once operational they proved their worth in the Middle East and apparently one is in Europe helping NATO monitoring the Ukraine.
Mate, the actual inner workings are AUSTRALIAN DESIGNED.
Have a great build. ✈
Thanks 👍
Hi Nigel, Airborne Early Warning & Control, I live in Oklahoma City where the E3 are stationed, I'm going to hate to see them go as well. Great review, can't wait to see the build.
I forgot to mention, if you like the E3 and E7 you might check out the EC-121. It is based on the Lockheed Constellation and is a beautiful aircraft as well. Have a great day.
That’s one good looking kit!
Hi Nigel, just sent a Request to BAE Australia to confirm colour of the aircraft, I will let you know if and when I hear back
Here's a thing, the wedgetail eagle is Australian.
Maybe BPK can offer the engines for making a better AMT kit as aftermarket options?
This model is based on the 737-700 Next Gen series. The other kit they have is based on the 737-800 Nex Gen series.
So, they built this from the airliners existing fuselage and the Poseidon is a dedicated build? I read in the Poseidon book that the fuselage is actually stronger than that of the airliner.
@NigelsModellingBench The fuselage for the 737s is not made in the Seattle facility. They are sub-contracted out and shipped by rail to the assembly facility . The military requirements were passed down to the subcontractor, and parts were added to the airliner fuselage per Department of Defense specifications. The basic airframe is built in Seattle. Then, the aircraft is test flown and taken to another facility for the military equipment to be installed.
The E7A is an AUSTRALIAN DESIGNED early warning system. The RAF and the USAF are now buying the Wedgetail system. So making this aircraft in Australian markings is correct
the Wedgetail is the biggest eagle in Australia, massive birds..
Ok, OK, no need to shout!! It may well have Australian designed electronics though I'm pretty sure it's all American?, but it's an American Boeing 737, taken off the American production line and powered by French/American engines.
Blimey, great review and cool story.
Glad you enjoyed it
Big
More for my RAAF collection! Just need to buy a bigger apartment!
This one is actually not that big.
@@NigelsModellingBench Noted! Span of a 0/100 or thereabouts. BTW, I holiday near Williamtown at times, but have never seen the Wedgetail flying, but have seen the F35s that are based there. Just outside of the base is the Fighter World museum with an airfield viewing platform, and heaps of great planes. 737s are lovely aircraft, but not on long distance down the back! Give me an A330 from Sydney to Perth (London to Athens), which, since COVID, our airlines have limited to one flight per day. The rest are 737s.
The windows would be sheets of ali it would of been build as normal and blanked for this configuration
You are correct Sully, see the comment here by Michael Koff
Good review and great story ref the tyre. Talk about hairy! Good job you didn't work for Lada.
Lada?
Yeah, or Aldi lol.
-700 indeed but with extra fuel I think ;)
Thanks Riley, I knew you would know. She's a cute little thing!!
@NigelsModellingBench the 700 is the hot rod and the 800 is the caddy!
@@rileyk99 much like a Mustang vs a Camaro then lol.
Is this aircraft the new AWACS or the better version?
Apparently from 2027 this will start to replace AWACS in the US?
Basically yes. The E-3 Sentry didn't fit Australia's requirements, so the RAAF had this built instead. Most of same capabilities as the E-3 Sentry, there's something it doesn't do, so not technically an AWACS, but airborne early warning and control is one of the primary missions of the aircraft so basically the same thing as the older AWACS birds. However, the radar can also be used to track vehicles, etc on the ground, etc like some of the other electronic reconnaissance birds the US has (EC-135 Rivet Joint I think it is). So it's a very capable airborne intelligence gathering platform, as well as the AWACS "flying airborne radar" role. We sent one to Europe at the beginning of the year to watch for threats to convoys passing through Poland bound for Ukraine for example, not something the old AWACS bird could do. Of course it's based on a smaller more efficient airframe than the old Boeing 707 that the Sentries used, and thoroughly modern electronics. The radar is mounted in the fixed surfboard on the back because the radar beam is electronically steered allowing the beam to scan 360 degrees without physically moving the hardware (no big spinning disc required). The Wedgetail entered Australian service in 2012, and the US/UK/NATO continued to operate their Sentries. Fast forward to 2024, and the Sentries have reached the end of their lifespan and urgently need to be replaced but neither country developed a replacement aircraft that would be available before the Sentries went out of service, so both have adopted the Wedgetail. Fun fact, when the UK ordered their Wedgetails, they did a deal with the RAAF to get the Australian software for the aircraft because it was much better than the stock Boeing offering!
New for thr Yanks, old for the US Auatralians considering the Australians designed the Wsdgetail systwm