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1:144 Vickers Viscount 701. Converted from S&M Models 800.


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I  think there is a big hole in the after market industry for resin or maybe etched prop blades and spinners, even engines in 144th. When I built the lovely Valom Saro Cloud it contained etched wheel spokes along with a simple press tool to set the shape. It worked very well and set me thinking whether this system could translate to small propellers. Some of you may have come across   this elsewhere, however it was a first for me. The prop assemblies on the Roden Britannia are quite acceptable but are might fiddly to clean up! Maybe their new Vanguard and Viscount series will be a bit less so............:D

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5 hours ago, Britman said:

I  think there is a big hole in the after market industry for resin or maybe etched prop blades and spinners, even engines in 144th. When I built the lovely Valom Saro Cloud it contained etched wheel spokes along with a simple press tool to set the shape. It worked very well and set me thinking whether this system could translate to small propellers. Some of you may have come across   this elsewhere, however it was a first for me. The prop assemblies on the Roden Britannia are quite acceptable but are might fiddly to clean up! Maybe their new Vanguard and Viscount series will be a bit less so............:D

I don't mean to hijack Viking's thread but you can get metal propellors from Welsh Models for many popular propliners. They are normally good quality although the six-bladers (F50, ATP etc) tend to be a bit chunky.  Also availability depends on what Denzil has going spare at the time.  I do wish the full Aeroclub range could be resurrected but that's not likely.

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I

3 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

I don't mean to hijack Viking's thread but you can get metal propellors from Welsh Models for many popular propliners. They are normally good quality although the six-bladers (F50, ATP etc) tend to be a bit chunky.  Also availability depends on what Denzil has going spare at the time.  I do wish the full Aeroclub range could be resurrected but that's not likely.

I have some of those but again they do need some fettling. They do however square tip props suitable for early Britannia"s.

Edited by Britman
Lost word.
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/5/2017 at 9:05 AM, Viking said:

Vickers Viscount 701. Early BEA Scheme.

Converted from 1:144 S&M Models Viscount 800.

 

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The Viscount served BEA very well from 18 April 1953 when series 701 G-AMNY operated the worlds first regular turboprop service, until the last service flown on 28 March 1982 by 806 series aircraft G-APIM. Incidentally, G-APIM is preserved at the Brooklands museum.Such a significant aircraft deserves to be modelled, and when I found this decal sheet at classic-airlines.com, the project was on!
As I had a few of the S&M 1:144 Viscounts in the stash, I decided to try modifying one from an 800 series machine to a 700 series. The major difference was to shorten the forward fuselage by 8mm and try to reduce the bulging of the engine cowlings. I'm not after a competition winner here, just a bit of enjoyment from enhancing a basic kit.

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Cutting out & rejoining the fuselage went remarkably well, and the join vanished under a coat of primer. I also did quite a bit of reshaping of the kits nose area as it is far too blunt as it comes 'out f the box'.

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I reshaped it side to side & top & bottom with Milliput and sanding until I got it to look like it does in photographs. The noseleg was also shortened a touch, and an air intake fashioned from a section of sprue, and glued on the underside near the trailing edge of the wing. Paint on the fuselage & cowlings is Alclad highly polished aluminium, as these aircraft had almost a mirror like polish to them. I did the wings in a duller aluminimium from Vallejo 'Metal Colour' Aluminium to provide some contrast. The white is Halfords appliance white.
The decal sheet does not have any white printed on it, so the white top demarcation with the silver fuselage sides had to be vary carefully masked to give a white pinstripe under the Peony cheatline. Likewise the badges on the nose needed an underlay cut from white decal sheet. The underlay was applied first, then the 'BEA Sir Ernest Shackleton' decal on top.

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Because I had reshaped the nose, the peony trim was a little fiddly to apply, but I did it in sections to leave white stripes in in, and it wasn't too difficult.
The 26 Decals detail sheet was used for the panellines & wing details. It adds hugely to this model and is almost essential.

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I'm reasonably happy how it turned out, I'm trying to use up the 3 S&M kits I got at a bargain price and this seemed like a good way to use one up. With the BCAL 800 that's 2 down and 1 more to go, with a British Midland waiting its turn on the workbench now!

 

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Thanks for looking,

 

John

 

Very nice

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  • 4 weeks later...

A short update... Ian (Turbofan) noticed that this livery had 'BEA' logos on the upper & lower wings, and very kindly produced some decals for me;

vis10.jpg

 

Easily fitted!

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Thanks Ian!

 

John

 

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On Monday, November 06, 2017 at 8:12 AM, Britman said:

Wonderful, I would be so happy with that(those ). I  had an S&M one in the stash but do you think I can find it? Quite keen to take another look now seeing what you have done. Thank you for sharing. 

Found it! Also found an absent ATR 72. Having looked over the Viscount again , I do not think it can be as bad as portrayed and look forward to having a crack at it.

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