Changing Fuselage Lengths on Airliners
 
Adding or subtracting length from model airliners is relatively easy.  You will need the following materials:

1.  Razor Saw: buy one with at least a 3/4" (2.0cm) wide blade.
2.  Mitre Box: X-Acto and Excell both sell small cast-aluminum mitre boxes, that are useful for cutting plugs.
3.  Dymo tape, or any thick, stiff tape used to make embossed labels.
4.  Hobby knife.
5.  Engineer's scale or ruler with the smallest demarcations possible.
6.  400 grit sandpaper.
7.  Home-made triangle (made from a corner of a sheet of 5 thousandths brass).  (METHOD #2 only).

Before beginning, determine how much you need to cut out of your fuselage for the variant you're building.  If you're trying to stretch your aircraft from the length given in the box, you will need a second fuselage to provide the plug material.    At the bottom of this page is a link to aircraft lengths for selected subjects; use that and your references as a guide for the aircraft you wish to model.

On stretched or shortened fuselage, exact alignment of the window openings is critical.  If you are trying this technique for the first time, you may want to fill in the windows using your favorite method and use decals for the cabin windows; this is more forgiving, and makes the conversion go easier.

Regardless of whether you're stretching or shortening your fuselage, the methods are the same.  There are several methods for cutting plugs, which I will describe here.

METHOD #1

In this method, cuts are made on the fuselage before the halves are assembled; the mitre box is used as a guide for straight cuts.

1.  Remove all locator pins and molded-on antennas from the fuselage halves; these interfere with exact placement of the fuselage half in the mitre box.
2.  Using a ruler, mark the centerpoint between two windows; this will be your cut line.
3.  Place the fuselage half in the mitre box.
4.  Place the saw in the mitre box.  Adjust the fuselage so that your marked centerpoint line is directly below the saw.
5.  Holding the fuselage firmly in place, carefully saw the fuselage apart.
6.  Repeat steps (2) through (5) for all cuts that need to be made.
7.  Carefully glue all fuselage sections together.
8.  Lightly rub the gluing surfaces of the fuselage sections on 400 grit sandpaper to create a good gluing surface.
9.  Test fit sections together.  To check for straightness, use a steel ruler or draftsman's triangle held against the top and sides of the fuselage.  Lightly sand the gluing surfaces, if needed, to ensure a straight fit.
10..  Glue sections together.  A slow-setting glue such as epoxy is ideal; this allows time to check alignment.
 

METHOD #2

This is the method I use.

1.  Assemble fuselage halves normally.
2.  Using a ruler, mark the centerpoint between two windows; this will be your cut line.   Do this on both sides of the fuselage.
3.  Using label-making tape, encircle the fuselage.  Use the home-made brass triangle to check that the tape is perpendicular to the fuselage seam.
4.  Carefully scribe into fuselage along the tape border.  Start lightly at first, then scribe a little more deeply as the line gets established.
5.  Remove the tape.
6.  Carefully saw around the entire fuselage until the sections seperate.
7.  Repeat steps (2) through (6) for all cuts that need to be made.
8.  Sand all gluing surfaces on fuselage sections by rubbing them lightly on a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper.
9.  Test fit sections together.  To check for straightness, use a steel ruler or draftsman's triangle held against the top and sides of the fuselage.  Lightly sand the gluing surfaces, if needed, to ensure a straight fit.
10..  Glue sections together.  A slow-setting glue such as epoxy is ideal; this allows time to check alignment.
 

Which method is the best?  Method #1 works extremely well on smaller models, such as the 1/200 narrowbodies from Hasegawa.  The larger models usually don't fit inside an X-acto mitrebox, so Method #2 becomes necessary there.
 


Need to know how much to remove (or add)?  Go to the Plug Cutting Guide!
 

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