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Revell 1:144 Airbus A320 - 26 Decals 'British Caledonian'.


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Revell 1:144 Airbus A320.

26 Decals 'British Caledonian'.

 

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This is the venerable Revell kit from the 'Eidelweiss' boxing, finished with 26 Decals laser printed British Caledonian Decals.I was motivated to do it when I ordered my BCAL Viscount decals from Ray, and saw this also on his website.

 

The A320 almost made it into service wearing this livery and was undergoing flight testing in it. Unfortunately BCAL were taken over by British Airways before it was delivered, so was repainted in the BA livery before it left the factory. A sort of 'What if' that actually happened. Story here.

They were early 100 series A320's that didn't have the wingtip fences, or the strakes on the engine cowlings. British Airways were so impressed with them that they broke from their dominant ordering of Boeing 737's and purchased their own fleet of A319, A320, and A321 aircraft, many of which are still in service.

 

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With something else. It had to be the Viscount that started this BCAL theme off.

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One tip when using laser printed decals is that they often do not contain any white printing. This scheme requires a fine white line under the yellow part of the cheatline. Rather than try and mask & paint it before decal application, I photocopied the decal sheet. Then I Placed the copy over some solid white decal sheet and cut along the bottom edge of the yellow cheatline to give me oversized white areas. These went on the model first, then the cheatlines went of top. Both were applied at the same time and could be moved relative to each other. I just eased the white parts into position with the tip of a blunt knife. I only did one side at a time, letting the first one dry completely before doing the other side the next day.

 

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only the bottom edge of the white needs to be crisply cut.

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Thanks for looking,

 

John

 

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Hi John,

The A320 looks great in the BCal livery. Anything looks good in the BCal livery come to think of it! It's a beautifully finished model, as usual!

Thanks for the tip about the thin white line, it might come in handy in the near future.

Did you have any trouble with the tail decal John? I'm always wary of full tail decals like this scheme, preferring to paint the whole tail and apply a logo. Very difficult with this livery though.

If I had another DC10 or 1-11 I'd be digging out my 26 BCal sheets and making a start. Are you planning any more BCal models?

 

Cheers,

Ian

 

 

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Lovely job as always John.  Thanks for posting one of the great "might have beens".  

 

I share Ian's mistrust of full tail decals but in my experience Two Six's usually work OK and yours looks perfect.

 

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Great job John! :goodjob: 

 

And thanks for the tip on backing the yellow with white, that will come in handy. Presuming you just painted the whole thing Airbus Grey, including under the blue areas? 

 

Darren

 

PS You've well and truly beaten me to the BCAL theme, my plan is for the A320, BAC 1-11, and an A310. 

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Maintaining your extraordinarily high standards there John, with a top tip on the thin white line.

 

:thumbsup2::thumbsup2:

 

I really need to stop looking at what others are building and make an effort to finish something of my own !

 

mike

 

 

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Wonderful builds.
 The A320 looks very neat in BCAL livery.Sadly it never made it into service that way.

The Viscount is beautiful too.

And thank you for the info about the decal application.Might come in handy some day:goodjob:

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Excellent detail work, as usual! The finish on your airliners continues to amaze me. And thanks for that tip regarding the white decal underlay... I'm going to try that with a few schemes I have pending.

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On 3/26/2017 at 9:21 PM, Turbofan said:

Did you have any trouble with the tail decal John? I'm always wary of full tail decals like this scheme, preferring to paint the whole tail and apply a logo.

 

Hi ian, I know what you mean, I'd rather paint the tail as well. However this one was ok, I made 3 or 4 5mm slits in the lower leading edge curve to help it confom, and it seemed to work ok.I do one side at a time, let it dry out and then trim any excess overlap with a sharp blade. Inevitably you have to patch up with paint along the leading & traling edges.

 

Thanks all for the comments,

 

Cheers

 

John

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