Making a Boeing 737

[mids]

Interesting video showing a 737 being assembled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKnsyYbfC60

[texan]

That's really cool.

[thatone1967]

texan said:

That's really cool.

+1

Airbus's take on the same subject with an A340.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty66nZ2A5Is

Edited by thatone1967 on Saturday 1st May 19:36

[M-J-B]

Both are pretty cool - the 737 has great paintwork, although I'm surprised they simply don't wrap it with printed vinyl to make life easier as I know it's been done before

[Eric Mc]

Paint is more durable and lighter and with computer controlled spray equipment very intricate artwork can be achieved.

[M-J-B]

Eric Mc said:

Paint is more durable and lighter and with computer controlled spray equipment very intricate artwork can be achieved.

Not sure about lighter Eric - we can print onto some very thin vinyls. Not sure exactly how much the paint weighs but I would wager there's not a lot in it. The lifespan of vinyl varies but years of use it by no means out of the question.

[thatone1967]

I remember when I was a kid, my mates dad was a B747 Engineer at Heathrow, gave us a tour (obviously out of the question these days) and he swore blind they painted their aircraft with a roller......

[RizzoTheRat]

M-J-B said:

The lifespan of vinyl varies but years of use it by no means out of the question.

I'd guess vinyl's more easily damaged by bits of crap hitting it at several hundred mph though.

The weight of the paint is pretty significant, American Airlines reckoned they saved something like half a ton by pilishing thier 747s instead of painting them

[mybrainhurts]

Blimey...what a piece of piss

Easy as Airfix.....

[thatone1967]

RizzoTheRat said:

M-J-B said:

American Airlines reckoned they saved something like half a ton by pilishing thier 747s instead of painting them

They were not the only ones....

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

Paint is more durable and lighter and with computer controlled spray equipment very intricate artwork can be achieved.

In that example, the spraying nozzles aren't computer controlled - it's all manual. Practically, it would be impossible to spray a perfectly sharp demarcation line. The masks are CNC cut, applied to the fuselage in layers and the thing is sprayed as normal. The gantries you can see moving about are just access platforms for the paint sprayers. They can also use laser projectors for laying the masks of intiricate patterns - it can project a 2-D CAD image onto a 3-D surface, automatically compensating for all the compound curvatures on an entire aircraft if necessary.

[Flanders.]

thatone1967 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

M-J-B said:

American Airlines reckoned they saved something like half a ton by pilishing thier 747s instead of painting them

They were not the only ones....

She looks really good like that.

I'm off to Airliners.net to have a gander at some more .

[Simpo Two]

Nice video and music. How come YouTube is giving me loads of political st on the right?

[thatone1967]

Flanders. said:

thatone1967 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

M-J-B said:

American Airlines reckoned they saved something like half a ton by pilishing thier 747s instead of painting them

They were not the only ones....

She looks really good like that.

I'm off to Airliners.net to have a gander at some more .

I remember seeing these going into LHR before Fed-Ex brought Tigers out... Happy Days!