Boeing 747-8 Zvezda 1/144

Great news! Huge airliner model kit and it's newly tooled. Zvezda continues to use Boeing's licence and releases the latest civilian jet produced by US manufacturer - the future Jumbo, Boeing 747-8.
Those of you already having seven-four-seven in 1/144 scale from Revell or Airfix are aware of its size. The box is really big, has to house over 150 parts to build 53cm long model.

As it's seen on many kits produced recently, parts surface is not that smooth. Surfacer shot with some sanding/polishing will help it to get rid of grainy look.

Great thing about wing parts is in trailing edge joint which is moulded as single piece on upper part. That provides it being beautifully sharp and thin.

"Small" parts are nicely molded, unfortunately lot of details are missing, for example antennas, drain masts, pitots etc. The main landing gear legs should be a bit stronger.  

Good news for modellers that prefers "real" cabin windows. I would like to see decal windows alternative as well.

Simple fitting test reveals the biggest advantage of the kit. There are no issues expected during the build itself.

Wing root fairing is unfortunately not captured correctly by Zvezda. The shape in front and its end is wrong and there are several panel lines above the wing missing on the fuselage. Check following great pics to see the real thing, especially wing-body fairing area: http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t84/heavyd_72/747-8/?start=all

One more dent visible here, some puttying would fix it.