Hapag-Lloyd Express 737-400 - Big Yellow Taxi *FINISHED*

[stringbag]

Have you polished the yellow paintwork since your last picture Dave?

It looks good from here either way, with just the right amount of sheen. I sometimes think that a high gloss spoils the look of models in this scale, but not in this instance.

 

Chris.

[Skodadriver]

5 minutes ago, stringbag said:

Have you polished the yellow paintwork since your last picture Dave?

It looks good from here either way, with just the right amount of sheen. I sometimes think that a high gloss spoils the look of models in this scale, but not in this instance.

 

Chris.

Yes.  The original Humbrol 99 was matt, one reason why I hesitated about using it.  I gave it a polish with 6000 grade Micromesh then two coats of Klear with more Micromeshing in between and a final buffing up with 12000 grade and lots of water.  I'm reasonably happy with it although I'm not a great fan of varnishes and clear coats generally.

[Turbofan]

I have to agree with Chris on the level of gloss, too much and it looks like a travel agent model. Yours looks spot on Dave.

Really looking forward to the decals!

Cheers,

Ian

[stringbag]

38 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

Yes.  The original Humbrol 99 was matt, one reason why I hesitated about using it.  I gave it a polish with 6000 grade Micromesh then two coats of Klear with more Micromeshing in between and a final buffing up with 12000 grade and lots of water.  I'm reasonably happy with it although I'm not a great fan of varnishes and clear coats generally.

Cheers Dave.  The hard work has certainly paid off for you.

Like Ian, I'm eagerly awaiting the decal process.

 

All the best

Chris.

[Viking]

Nice progress, I always like to see when they stand on their own wheels. I can just visualise it with windows an the checkered strip down the side. Looking forward to seeing it!

[Skodadriver]

Well, it's a start:

 

 

I wasn't too happy when the Drawdecal squares broke up into several segments but that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because applying the squares in sections made it easier to get a straight line.  That's trickier than I anticipated because the curvature of the fuselage creates an optical illusion of the squares slanting up at the nose, an effect also visible on the real aircraft as can be seen in this photograph.

 

Anyway, that's enough decals for tonight.  I'm completely square-eyed and heading to bed.

[Viking]

Oh yes! I like it!

That cockpit decal looks good, AA I take it?

 

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Those folk in there are going to get a bit bored waiting for the engines to be installed!

 

Nice start on the decalling Dave, the windows look very effective

Edited March 21, 2018 by Romeo Alpha Yankee
typo

[Mr B]

Nice scheme and great work thus far

[Skodadriver]

3 hours ago, Viking said:

Oh yes! I like it!

That cockpit decal looks good, AA I take it?

 

 

Of course! 

[stringbag]

Very crisp looking Dave.  Must agree with everyone how well the 3D windows just seem to add so much realism to the already excellent finish.

 

Chris.

[Jabba]

Nice work with decaling so far.

[nimrod54]

Great job on phase one of your decaling sessions Dave. This has to be one of my favourite stages of modelling (Mrs N's too, 'Just boring lumps of plastic' until the decals go on ) when, as if by magic, things really start coming together.  

[Grandboof]

Looking great Looking forward to finish 

Martin H

[halcyonjet]

Hail the taxi !!

 

Dave

[Turbofan]

Looking good Dave. This is my favourite so far, pity you're not doing the billboard scheme though.

With all those squares are you going to be inspired to finish your 'Park Inn' logojet?

Cheers,

Ian

[Skodadriver]

On 3/22/2018 at 9:34 PM, Turbofan said:

Looking good Dave. This is my favourite so far, pity you're not doing the billboard scheme though.

With all those squares are you going to be inspired to finish your 'Park Inn' logojet?

Cheers,

Ian

Thanks Ian.  The 734 never wore the billboard scheme so I'm rather stuck with the older version.

 

Ah yes, "Park Inn". Still very much under way and will hopefully be finished sometime in the next year.  The main hold up has been trying to match the light blue-green and after numerous false starts I've finally come up with a concoction of Tamiya X2, X5 and X14. After the Scottish Nationals at the end of next month I'll get down to some serious work on it.

[Skodadriver]

I’ve managed to apply the checks on one side, an exercise which adds new meaning to the phrase “checked out”.  The checks across the top of the wing had to be applied individually, remembering that they extend on to the top of the wing itself. I used sections of Xtradecal black stripe which is much more flexible and accommodating than the Drawdecal checks used elsewhere. I had to be slightly creative with the spacing over the wing because I couldn’t get both a decent curve at the tail and an exactly correct measurement between the front and rear sections of the main decal.  Hopefully it won’t be noticeable on the finished model.  There are a few little paint touch-ups needed but I’ll wait until everything is thoroughly dry.

 

 

 

 

The worrying thing is that I now have to do it again on the other side …. 

[nimrod54]

Looks great Dave, and it's good to see how the well the cockpit and cabin decals have gone on, having bought a set for my build. Looking back I see that you plan to use the decals for the Corrogard areas, is the fit OK? I did consider painting them but this would save me some awkward masking.

[Skodadriver]

2 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Looks great Dave, and it's good to see how the well the cockpit and cabin decals have gone on, having bought a set for my build. Looking back I see that you plan to use the decals for the Corrogard areas, is the fit OK? I did consider painting them but this would save me some awkward masking.

 

Thanks John.  The fit of the Corrogard decals is very good and I've used them on every Daco 737 I've built.  They might not be absolutely perfect for competition winning standards but they're certainly good enough for me.

 

When I looked again at the middle photo I realised I'd misplaced one of the checks on the yellow band on the wing.  That's now been fixed and I'm very glad I used decal and not black paint!

[Skodadriver]

I’ve rather been neglecting the GB for the last while mainly because my spare time has been limited and such time as I’ve had has been used on my other ongoing builds. Today I finally managed some quality time with D-AHLL and here is an update.  I'm also looking forward to catching up on everyone else's builds.

 

I finished applying the checks over a week ago.  These are a bit rough and ready particularly around the wings but it’s not a job I’m in a hurry to revisit!  

 

I left the engines off to make the checks easier and they have now been attached.  Both engines still need a little filler at the extreme front of the pylons.  

 

As you can see from the photos the basic livery decals are now done. 

 

One of airliner modelling’s great mysteries is why Boeing 737 door outline decals vary so widely between manufacturers.  Everybody seems to have their own ideas of sizes, curvature and so on to the point that you begin to wonder if any of them have ever been near a real aircraft. Neither Drawdecal nor BOA provided doors that properly replicated the real thing.  BOA’s were slightly less awful but they have this weird idea that the doors on the right are larger than those on the left. (I have a couple of their other 737 Classic sheets which are exactly the same).  It’s not such a big deal when the outlines are grey or white but alternative black door outlines aren’t readily available and I was resigning myself to some pain in the a** cutting and splicing when I had a vague memory that buried in my decal stash was an old, partly used Brasil Decals sheet with some HLX stuff on it.  It took a bit of finding but it was worth the effort - a set of decals intended for the -700 but with alternative doors and registrations for the -400. Bingo! The black outlines are maybe a little thin, the silver sills are too prominent and in true Brasil Decals style they threatened to break into bits if you looked at them the wrong way but they turned out a lot better than I could have managed by any other means. I also used the Brasil registrations and “hlx.com” engine logos because the BOA registrations were too spindly and the engine logos were too big.  

 

I’m reasonably pleased with how D-AHLL is looking so far. We’re on the final lap although there is still plenty of scope to screw up!  Detail decals next then fiddly bits and hopefully finish sometime next week.

 

 

[Lex77]

Like the colour scheme. Almost there!

 

[stringbag]

Nice finish Dave.

Are we to expect a Britannia Airways -200 off the Skodadriver production line in the not too distant future?

 

Chris.

[Graeme H]

That has come up a treat

 

[Skodadriver]

8 hours ago, stringbag said:

Nice finish Dave.

Are we to expect a Britannia Airways -200 off the Skodadriver production line in the not too distant future?

 

Chris.

Probably not the very near future but at some point. The decals only arrived yesterday as part of an order from Nick Webb. The order also included the Seaboard and Western/Aer Lingus L1049 which will be started first.