Boeing 747SP SOFIA
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
AMP 1:144, Ref. 144-014
The Boeing 747SP (for Special Performance) was Boeing's attempt to give its latest Jumbo Jet ‘longer legs’ and, to kill two birds with one stone, to compete with the wide-body tri-jets from Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas. Carrying ‘only’ 275 passengers over longer distances than the 747-100 on which it is based, the SP is most recognisable for its shortened fuselage and taller, more impressive vertical fin.
Only 45 of these were built, the aircraft falling victim to the oil crises of the 1970s, the arrival of more powerful versions of the Jumbo Jet and competition from other twin-engine (and therefore less expensive) models from Boeing and Airbus. By mid-2024, only two SPs remained in service worldwide. Between 2010 and 2022, one SP was used jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR); the aircraft was modified to incorporate, in the rear of its fuselage, the 2.5 m diameter mirror of a telescope designed to study the Universe in infrared from the stratosphere.
Strangely enough, AMT released this flying observatory before the commercial version of the SP, which nonetheless had a large number of interesting liveries in its 50 years of service. The fuselage of the 747 SP ‘SOFIA’, which features a large hump and large door on its rear section, is included in a separate bag, the rest of the parts being shared with the commercial version. The back sliding door is offered as a separate part; it would be a pity to close it because the inside of the fuselage, at telescope level,
is well detailed with 3D printing and photoetched parts included in a small cardboard cube. Note that the cockpit is also well detailed for this scale; in fact little will be visible at this level once the fuselage halves have been glued together, but that's OK!
The number of parts is quite high for a 1/144 kit, but the vast majority are ‘just’ the landing gear and the engines and their pylons. The level of detail is very good, but as a result the kit includes a large number of small, thin parts for which care will have to be taken when deburring. Indeed, a lot of parts will need to be trimmed because a little flash is visible here and there. With this kit, in fact, we are still dealing with a ‘short-run’ and assembly could remain, if not difficult, at least at least delicate, also due to the lack of placement studs. The engraving on the large parts, such as the wings and half-fuselage, is recessed, but very fine, and if you want to keep it, you'll have tobe careful with the paint!
y aller ‘molo’ avec la peinture !
The decal sheet looks very nice and contains the windows, access doors, windscreen pillars and a number of maintenance ‘stencils’. A second small decal sheet offers two more NASA logos for the vertical stabiliser; I find it hard to see the difference with those offered on the main sheet, but hey, it might be useful...? A small set of masks is also included in the kit; they'll come in handy when painting the wheels/tyres and windscreen. The assembly instructions are in two parts, one for assembly, the other for decoration and fitting the decals; both are in clear, concise colour.
By Dominique Jadoul
In conclusion
It would appear that this Ukrainian producer has come up with a very fine piece of kit. It remains to be seen how easy it will be to assemble! Make sure you have enough room, because even with its shortened fuselage, this Jumbo Jet is around 40cm long and has a 41cm wingspan! Let's hope that ‘commercial’ versions of this SP will be available soon!
