Just when you thought I had abandoned my side view airliner template project all together, I present to you all these detailed illustrations of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 (aka 737-8). It’s been nearly three months since I posted my drawings of the A340-300 and I was fully committed at the time to finish out that series with the -500, -600, and -200 variants.

Unfortunately, life got in the way and here I am three months later and none of them have been finished yet. But the good news is that I have the wireframe line drawings completed for each one of those, so now it’s just a matter of creating the fully shaded white versions. Soon!

Based on the number of requests I have been getting for the next-generation 737 variants, I decided to focus on those first before I go back and finish out the A340 series. I know that many of you have been patiently waiting for the 737-8 MAX (like, foreeeeeever!), and I am really sorry that it has taken so long.

I will mention, however, that part of the reason for the delay was the lack of good reference material available for this aircraft. There are only a few frames built at the moment, and not very many detailed pictures which show all the changes very well. But I pieced together what I could and I think I’ve recreated this 737-8 fairly accurately. “I think” are the key words here – so please do let me know if you spot any errors in these drawings.

737 MAX 8 side view
2d side profile illustration of an all white Boeing 737-8 MAX with and without the landing gears deployed over a plain white background
737 MAX 8 line drawing blueprint
Technical side profile line drawing of a Boeing 737-8 MAX
buy source file 737 MAX 8 airliner template

The MAX is pretty much identical to the previous generation aircraft, except for a few bigger component upgrades: new (larger) engines, taller landing gear, a new tail cone, and a new wing with a beautiful new split scimitar winglet design. Other than that, I was able to leverage my existing 737-800 template for the fuselage and vertical stabilizer parts, along with a slew of little details that carry over to the MAX. And to be honest – once I finished out this template and stepped back to have a look, I was really amazed at how similar it is to the old 737-800.

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Only hardcore aviation nerds will be able to spot the differences between the MAX and previous generation 737’s, and I think Boeing missed an opportunity here to differentiate the design a bit more (which would amplify the “new and improved / cutting edge tech” aspect a bit). Of course larger changes would have meant a longer development time, so the practical side of me understands fully why they did what they did.

Next up will be templates of the 737 MAX 7 (737-7). As far as I can tell it’s just a shortened version of the 737-8 so I don’t expect it will take very long for me to put those together. I promise!

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9 Comments

  1. Hi scott
    When I saw in the reply on the A340-300 page you said “And too bad about the Ladybug theme – the airline industry needs more creative liveries like that!” I told myself let’s start this project. And after a few hours on photoshop, it was finished. I chose the Boeing 777-300ER because it’s length. But I kinda got to admit that it was a wrong decision. There is a window like every two pixels. but anyway, when put the first pixel on an image, for me it’s too late to abort it. So here it is:
    (–)
    http://www.mediafire.com/view/6hkh8o2hal6xgg9/Custom+Livery-777-300ER.jpg

    1. Yes, sometimes it’s difficult to understand how complex a project is going to be until we start. Haha! But yes, that turned out great! These kinds of liveries are so much better than the standard all-white fuselage and solid color tail that most airlines are doing these days. Creativity will get you far in this business!

  2. Here in this 737-Max8 template is a little Mistake at the Back of the airplane 🙂
    There is missing the Hood at the bottom like in your 737-900ER.
    If your looking on current pictures of the Max8 on Boeings Website you can see the Hood at the bottom of the airplanes Back.

    1. Thanks Dirk! I’ll check it out. Yeah, this is the problem with creating templates for pre-production aircraft…there are always little details like this that change!

    1. I’m still working on my entire 737 series at the moment, and I’m going to try to do the -9 Right after I finish my ERJ-135.

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