History
Boeing's 777 was Hyped as the”21st Century Jet” during its development. The first commercial aircraft to be designed in CAD/CAM environment, the 777 was a major departure from Boeing's prior practises. Introduced into service in 1994, the 777 was and still remains the world's largest twin-eingined airliner. The 777-300 also had the distinction of being the world's longest aircraft until the introduction of the Airbus A340-600. Seating up to 400 passengers, the -300ER can fly more than 13 000 Km. Many airlines have chosen to replace their 747s with 777-300ER aircraft.


First impressions
Crisp and clean. Very little flash, few sink marks. Fine scribed lines that are out of scale for 1/144 but will still look good under a coat of paint. Panel lines match up very nicely. The plastic has Zvezda's trademark slightly pebbly texture which can be polished out, but which will disappear under the primer paint. Zvezda first issued this kit in late 2015. Revell issued it in 2016. The new style instruction booklet is a huge improvement over Revell Germany's previous "newsprint" style.


Fuselage
The fuselage is two halves from nose to tail. The cabin windows are open, with clear parts provided for them. The cockpit windows are the old-fashioned Airfix style strip, which makes getting them to fit properly without either breaking or falling into the fuselage something of a challenge. There is no cockpit detail provided, merely a rear bulkhead which at least blanks off the fuselage. The panel lines are nicely engraved and match up well. The APU exhaust is merely a dimple in the left fuselage half. It may be opened up and filled with a small blocked off piece of tube to make it look deeper. If the windows are left open, the interior should be painted black to prevent the model from looking toy-like. The nose gear well must be inserted before the fuselage is closed but the gear leg itself may be left off until after painting, a move which helps prevent damage. There are two intake inserts which fit into the lower fuselage just in front of the wing roots. Build reports on the internet indicate that the kit's only fit trouble happens here, and a bit of dry fitting and tweaking is in order to make them fit flush with the fuselage surface. The characteristic 777 “forehead” shape is present, but possibly not as prominent as it is on the real aircraft.

Wings
The wings have a one piece lower half with two uppers. The trailing edge of the flaps is moulded into the upper wing halves. They will need a little work to ensure that there is not a step in the surface of the flaps. The flap hinge fairings are moulded in halves and must be fitted separately. There is some detail in the wheel wells.

Empennage
The tailplanes are two piece mouldings that have two very small stubs as mounting surfaces. They may benefit from drilling out and replacing them with pins. Leave them off until final assembly to facilitate decalling. The elevator is moulded into the upper surface which leaves a bit of a gap to be filled. A separate rudder is provided, which makes for a nice sharp trailing edge. The 3 hinge fairings on the left surface could do with a bit of refining. As designed, the rudder can only be assembled in the neutral position, but given that the majority of 777s have their control surfaces in neutral when parked makes this a small issue. It could be posed deflected with a little work.

Engines
The engines are beautiful little models in their own right. They have a two piece interlocking fan section with extremely delicate blades that mounts into a duct which is trapped between the cowl halves. The hot section is equally nicely detailed, then the cold section and fan mounts onto the front of the hot section, and the nose ring finishes everything off. These engines will look stunning when completed.

Landing gear
The landing gear struts and wheels are finely moulded and nicely detailed. The main struts have brake drum detail which mounts onto the struts before the wheels are installed. The nose strut has separate shimmy dampers and landing lights. They could use some brake lines and whatever else the modeller likes, but will look good without. The wheels themselves are properly thick and the detail moulded into the hubs is very good.There is an option for raised gear, but no stand is provided. One will have to be sourced separately. As with all 1/144 kits, the gear doors are overly thick and may be replaced if the modeller wishes although Zvezda made an effort to get the edges thin.

Accuracy
I don't compare models to drawings or published measurements. When assembled it looks like a 777

Decals and markings
The decal sheet is in Revell's traditional glossy finish, designed by DACO and printed by Cartograf. There is one option for the Boeing prototype in the “Dreamliner” scheme. All of the fine white pinstriping is provided for the Boeing scheme, as are masking templates for the blue on the lower fuselage. No window decals are provided, although the silver frames are. There are several different aftermarket sheets available to provide the airline scheme of your choice.

The kit may be cut back to the original 777-200 length, however aftermarket engines may be required depending upon the version and airline livery chosen. Replacement engines are currently available from Bra.Z for all 3 variants currently operated on 777s.