Boeing 777 built out of Manila folders

I think that they went out in the 60's. There are production drawings and plots now.

 

Indeed. Understood.

But if I, for example, were to call Boeing PR and say 'hey, I'm building this model and would love to have the relevant drawings/plots/CAD files, whatever, do you think they'd send them to me?

I'd be very surprised, but as you've noted, this guy seems spot on, and can't have got the detail from other models/ photos.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

Not really that hard to figure out the framework of a 777 to make the level of detail he's doing imo. It's not a 100% exact scale, but close enough. Quick google searches for "777 production images" show a lot of fuselage pics of what it looks like inside and some wing sections. Heck, this image alone would probably be enough for his purposes as the overall dimensions of a 777 are already known: http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/civilaviation1949-2006cutaways/images/82666/boeing-777-300-cutaway-drawing.jpg

Even gives you all the angles of the engine position and air surfaces...

Basically searching any airplane with the word Cutaway after it will show you everything you need to make a model plane with that detail. F22, SR71, space shuttler orbiter, etc, can even be done this way. Commercial aircraft aren't any harder.

 

Yeah, keen observation, incredible skill, and lots of internet resources have probably led to this. I wouldn't be surprised if he forged some friendships along the way and now has some insider information, but the model could easily just be his work without any specialized knowledge from inside Boeing.

 

Being a model builder I know the patients it takes to make complex models out of the box and adding photo etching and other fine details. This however is on another level all together.
The skill just to scale from drawing is laborious enough. To make parts work as they do is quite impressive, and to have to build seat after seat is enough to drive you mad.

My only questions is why build such a fantastic model out of such a fragile material. To put this much time and effort into something that could so easily be damaged makes this project even more amazing. If I were even to contemplate building something like this it would most likely be out of metal, styrene, plastic and basal wood.

The paper modelling world should be rocked by this guy. They do some impressive stuff but this is insane.

 

+777