How to build the E-170


The assembly of this kit doesn’t require you to be an expert. As with any other injection moulded kit, be patient, take your time and you will see that this kit requires less time to build it than at first sight.

The following tools should be ready for use: a very fine saw, a sharp x-tacto blade, different grades of sanding sticks or papers and epoxy glue or gel type superglue.

The build starts with the preparation of the large parts, which in fact means the removing of the residual resin from the cast. Prepare both fuselage parts and check the fit. In a similar way you can deal with the four parts of the engines. For the vertical stabilizer I would recommend to use the x-tacto Blade. Simply scribe along the lower edge of the fin on both sides 3 times or so, then you can simply brake away the moulding resin block. Then sand smooth and you will see the excellent fit of the stabilizer on the marked area on the rear fuselage. Do the same for the wings and the horizontal stabilizers, but different to the previously described parts you will need to keep the location pins. The fuselage has similar location slots to a normal injection kit into which the wings will snap fit, so you can leave the wings and tail planes off until you have finished the paint job. This will save you a lot time when masking. If you want to know which is the left or right horizontal stabilizer, the underside of each stab has all the maintenance hatches which are engraved on the surface. With the winglets, remove all residual resin and again check the fit to the wings. There is a small sprue with the wheels and the two nose gear doors. Also all the parts for the landing gear are in a small bag which don’t require cleaning and are ready to install. They are very fine and small, so I would recommend removing them only when you need them to avoid losing them in the infinite space of the carpet monster.

The assembly of the kit is straight forward, as many parts are moulded in one piece you have less parts to sand and fit. When gluing use 2 min epoxy or gel type superglue(CA-Glue) so you have the time for proper alignment of the parts. If you have prepared the parts thoroughly you only have to sand the mounting area of the parts. There are six parts for the flap track fairings. As you have noticed, the parts have numbers. The positioning is simple as there are engraved grooves on the underside of the wings. Part 1 is for the most outboard position on the left wing continuing with 2 and 3 working towards the fuselage. On the right wing we start with Number 4 nearest to the fuselage followed by numbers 5 & 6 going towards the tip of the wing. Don’t forget the small inlet mounting located on the right side of the fuselage between the horizontal stab and the fin. The larger opening faces forward. This part is found with the landing gear parts.

I would recommend to leaving off the parts for the gear, antennas, drain masts and wipers until you have finished the paint job, as these small parts can be easily broken off.


The gear is in fact the most complicated part of the build. The nose gear strut is the one shaped like a Y. 3 torque scissor links provided in the kit which are ‘v’ shaped. There are two looking similar and a bigger one. The bigger one is the torque link for nose gear. The front gear leg has the taxi lights moulded on it. The lights are on the right side of the leg facing forward. Glue the bigger torque link on the back of the gear leg. Now glue the small steering jack on the left side under a small box in the small groove. Now you can glue the nose gear into the bay. The nose gear retracts forward, so glue it to rear wall of the bay. The strut is slightly angled forward, check photos to get the alignment right. Now glue on the retracting arm, this is the smaller one with a square and a round end. The round end glues onto the gear leg. The main gear consists of two legs, two torque links and the two retraction arms. You will see that the legs are slightly angled backwards coming from the gear bay. Glue the torque link to the rear of each leg. Now glue the legs into the bays in the wings. I would recommend to do this after the wings have been finally attached to the fuselage to get the correct angle in relation to the ground. Now you can glue the retraction arms onto the legs and the bay. The smaller side of the arms attaches to the leg. Consult photos for proper positioning. The main gear doors each consist of 3 parts. Two are made of etched metal parts and one made from resin. The bigger etched metal part is glued first to the strut followed by the smaller one above and on the outside of the larger door. The resin part goes at the bottom of the large door facing outwards with a 90 degree angle between the flat side and the gear leg. But again, check photos for alignment.
The assembly is finished with all the antennas and drain masts. Check photos of your chosen aircraft for the numbers and exact position. The wipers rest in the vertical position next to the cockpit window frame.

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