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Alex1978

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Posts posted by Alex1978

    Airbus A320 Aero Smurf Brussels Airlines Special livery

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    On 10/04/2024 at 12:57, kapam said:

    I do love that!
    The decals look like they needed a skilled hand.

    Obviously you do.  Cool scheme - did someone say there is also a Tin Tin scheme?  🤔

    👏👏👌

     

    Thank you very much.

    Some careful planning and reference material was needed.Otherwise the decals were printed and designed well.

    There is a Tin Tin livery available but that is much more complicated to btmring to model form.

    Should I someday have lots of spare time and/or the nerves,I might try that one...☺️😉

    • Like 1

    Airbus A320 Aero Smurf Brussels Airlines Special livery

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    22 hours ago, Viking said:

    I missed this one first time round Alex, glad to have caught up with is now, it's great! I can see that it must have been quite a masking job, but you've done your usual excellent job.

     

    Cheers

     

    John

     

     

    Thank you very much John.

    Yes,it was quite a task but also a fun project

    23 hours ago, Gruntpa said:

    And here I thought the old Braniff International had fun liveries! Wow! 😮

    Thank you very much.

    There are a lot more airlines with fun/special liveries.

    I made some different Star Wars liveries,a Lord of the Rings livery among others.

    They should be around in the RFI 

     

    • Like 1

    Caledonian Boeing 757 - a walk down memory lane

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Ad-4N said:

    I built that exact bird using the Welsh Models 757 vacuform in that same scheme in the mid 1990s.

     

    I never saw the Welsh kit,would be nice to see a pic or two of your build ?😊

    3 hours ago, Viking said:

    I enjoyed the trip down memory lane as well Alex, as Ian says it is much more interesting to build a plane that you have a connection with.

    The 757 looks lovely, I really must get around to building one of mine. The only time I flew on one was the Manchester-Heathrow shuttle, with BA, so I'll maybe start there!

     

    Cheers

     

    John

     

    Thank you very much John

    My pleasure to have enjoyed the trip.

     

    I stay tuned for your BA 757...

    I have currently a few more 757s that I am working on,amongst them is also the BA Landor version

     

    Cheers

    Alex

     

    Caledonian Boeing 757 - a walk down memory lane

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Turbofan said:

    Hi Alex,

    As everyone has said this is a beautiful model!

    I always find modelling an aircraft that has a connection to you so much more enjoyable than just a livery which looks nice.

    I have built a Caledonian 757 using the AHS decals and wasn't completely happy with the results. There was a bit of silvering and the carrier film was just a little too visible, probably because of having to lay the yellow over white decals so I'm glad the 26 sheet is better. I might redo my AA Caledonian 757 in another livery and build one of my Zvezda's as Caledonian.

    I had forgotten about Skylife magazine but you've brought back some memories for me too!

    Cheers,

    Ian

    Thank you very much Ian.

    Thats very true.

    I had a lot of joy building this model and recall all those nice memories.

    I saw your build of the AA kit,and its a very nice one,despite the old AHS decals but I will stay tuned for your second😉😊

     

    Alex

    Caledonian Boeing 757 - a walk down memory lane

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Vince1159 said:

    Lovely looking 757 Alex.....

     

    Thank you very much Vince

    38 minutes ago, michael301757 said:

    Absolutely gorgeous, classic livery, lovely job.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Cheers Michael.

     

    Thank you very much Michael

    • Like 1

    Caledonian Boeing 757 - a walk down memory lane

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, mitchem said:

    Nothing like a nostalgia trip Alex, as I remember building a model of an Alitalia DC-8 some time ago; the first four engine jet that I ever flew on in 1973 

     

    Great to have all of the memorabilia to go with your build  👍👍

     

    mike

     

    Thank you very much Mike.

    Yes,its always nice to build something as a reminder of fond memories

    22 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

    Beautiful model and great story Alex. Thanks for sharing.

     

    Dave G

    Thank you very much Dave

    Caledonian Boeing 757 - a walk down memory lane

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted · Edited by Alex1978

    As a 12 year old,my grand parents took me with them to Kenya for hollidays.

    That was back in september 1990...how the time flies...

    We should have had a flight from Zurich to Mombasa on the Balair DC-10-30,but for some reasons this was changed,and instead Caledonian Airways took us to our destination on a Boeing 757-200.

    Due to the limited range of the 757,we had to make a tank stop in Athens.

     

    I always had a latent interest in airplanes but this flight actually started it all,my passion for airliners and modelling.

    In fact,my very first kit that I bought was a Hasegawa 747 in 1/200 soon after our return.

    But I always wanted to build the aircraft that started it all.

    Unfortunately back then,no 757 kit was available or none that I was aware of nor could I find decals for the Caledonian version,no internet back then,so tracing such items was rather difficult and one had to rely on the local hobbyshops to stock the latest kits.

     

    Anyone remember ?

    spacer.png

     

    Some good 25 years ago I came across the AHS decal set but was still missing a 757 kit...

    Some years later Minicraft released a 757 kit that was average at least.

    I bought some of them but for some reason I never actually built one with the Caledonian decals that I had.Maybe the reason was that the AHS sheet had white parts that needed to be applied first before the yellow decals and also a lack of detail on it.

     

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    Many years later,in 2021 Zvezda released a bew 757 kit which beats the Minicraft version in every aspect.

     

    26decals released also many decals for the new kit,offering countless airlines,amongst them British Airways/Caledonian.

    So finally this year I came around building the very 757 that I had flown on back in 1990.

    The Zvezda kit is superb with almost perfect fit and only a minimum of filler needed.

    I built it straight out of the box

    The windows are open,no decals used,so also a bit of the cockpit can be seen.

    To get the correct windows/doors layout,I had to close 4 windows as Caledonian,as well as many other airlines,have/had an additional door aft of the wings.

    The last row of windows consists of 13 windows,so just need to count from the back forward and then close 4 windows in a row.

    The additional door is provided with the decals.

    The emergency exits on the wings need to be filled and sanded and one window between the former exits added.

     

    Yep,I still have the onboard magazine from that flight...

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    Paints used,Tamyia Royal blue with a few drops black for the belly and engines,Gunze light grey 315 for the upper fuselage,Testors Voodoo grey on the wings,the corogard is a mix of dark grey mixed with aluminium.

    Othe metallic parts are painted with Gunze metallics.

     

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    As mentioned,the decals are from 26 and are absolutely wonderful.

    The fit is perfect and the carrier film is almost invisible.

    The window frames are from the kit decal sheet

     

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    Caledonian Airways was founded in 1988,emerging from British Airtours

     

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    In 1999 it merged with Flying Colours Airlines to become JMC,which went to become Thomas Cook Airlines in 2003.

     

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    Unfortunately,this company went into bankruptcy in 2019.

     

    The Boeing 757 G-BPEA was delivered factory new in march 1989 to British Airways and came to Caledonian in april 1989.

    It was frequently leased out during its service with Caledonian and after being sold in 2001 it remained in service with different airlines until its retirement in may 2018,aged 29.

    Sadly it was scrapped in 2019.

     

    I have still vivid and fond memories of that flight and those wonderful hollidays in Kenya and because of that,this model has a special meaning in my collection.

    Hence the slighly longer than usual thread...

     

    Here some pics from my grand parents photo album,of the 757 upon our arrival in Mombasa

     

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    I hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane

    cheers

    Alex

     

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