Alex1978

A blast from the past. The very rare Plasticart Caravelle in approx. 1/100. Probably first released in the early 1960s,it is very simplistic in detail. But as I have a soft spot for those Plasticart kits,I have almost all their airliners in my collection,I had to add this as well. As with all my Plasticart builds,I try to stick as close as possible to the kit design and usually do not change much or anything at all to keep their classic character. The only thing I added are the engine exhausts,because the plastic around there was rather brittle and resulted in not really round outlets. The rest is as it comes from the box,including the decals. What always amazes me with those kits,is the fact that almost all decals are still in good and usable condition. I had only one kit so far where the decals had been beyond salvation. The fit is ok for its age with surprisingly little use of putty required. Thanks for looking Alex

The very old Airfix 707 kit has lots of problems being it the more or less terrible fit or the too pointy nose and the rather simple engines. I tried to adress these problem zones as good as possible. - replacing the cockpit section with a DACO canopy - creating new inlet rings with Evergreen plastic - sanding the engines a bit thinner. After all these corrections had been done and half a tube of fille used to have everything in place and shape,one of the most tedious and time consuming masking marathons started. The Air India livery is striking but getting there when the whole kit has to be assambled to look right, before one drop of paint can be spent is a nerve shredding task. Thats why this kit sat on the shelf unfinished for a long time. Well...now here we are,the Airfix 707 is finished ( 2 more on the go...) The most striking part of this issue is the superb decal sheet which provides full Air India and the classic BOAC markings. Paints are all Gunze and Testors. Metallics are from the Gunze Super Metallics range. Thanks for looking Alex

The ancient Revell 727,first issued back in 1964 is in my opinion a pretty nice kit. Its a bit on the heavy side with all its rivets but I like it more than the Airfix offering. I replaced the cockpit section with a DACO canopy.Its actually designed for their 737 kits but it can be used on Revells 707,727,Airfix 707,727,737 and on Minicrafts 707 with little to no adjustments. The rather simple wheels from the Revell kit were replaced by resin wheels from Brengun, the decals for the JAL delivery scheme comes from 8A decals Mexico and are very well made. Paints are my usual mix of Gunze and Revell. Metallics are all Gunze. The 60s JAL livery is amongst my favourite liveries and suits the 727 very well. Thanks for looking Alex The Brengun wheels make a huge difference

In the past years I had built some of the Airfix 727 kits.The early -100 as well as their 1982 offering of the -200. Not too bad kits but not without some problems. One of the most annoying issues,that seems only to plague the 727 for unknown reasons,is that the left wing tends to bend with time downwards. For these builds I tried out someting new. Before glueing the wing halves together,I smeared liquid plastic on the insides of each halves and added thin wire to further strengthen it. Then I left the wings for a few weeks to fully cure and harden. After that,all raised lines on the wings were engraved,the fences installed at the correct places and the build completed. The wings are now rock solid. For the cockpit I used a replacement DACO windshield canopy to correct the look. On the engines I created new in/ and outlets with evergreen plastic to have seamless and round openings. The front wheel doors were replaced with new ones made from evergreen plastic. For the Tunis Air version I used a Runway 30 decal set.It was very old but still usable.It had a bit yellowd around the edges but nothing too distracting. The Nigeria Airways decals come from Classic Airliners by Nick Webb and are nicely printed. The Air Canada livery is from the Airfix kit and is also superb. All in all,a lot of work on those 727 but well worth the efforts. All paints are by Gunze,Revell and Tamyia. Thanks for looking Alex

Another Revell -800 with the usual corrections. The funny special livery of South African charter airline KULULA comes from PAS decals. When I first saw that livery in a airliner magazine,I knew I had to add this to my collection. As a base coat for the green I used Gunze white primer 1500,then 3 thin layers of Tamiya mustard yellow. Thanks for looking Alex

This was one of the first releases by Revell of their 737-800 kit. It had no winglets added back then. The provided KLM markings are very nice and provide almost everything necessary. Painted with Revell enamels,sky blue 52 with a few drops white 04 for the upper fuselage,grey 374 for the rest. The corogard panels are decals provided with the kit. The usual conversions were made to the engines.Otherwise straight from the box. Thanks for looking Alex

These 2 kits are the Revell offerings of the Boeing 737-800. Revell were the first to offer the -800 Series,first release in 1999. Its a nice kit that goes together easily but suffers from some errors. Too low cabin windows,wrong shaped engines ( more of the -300 to -500 types) and on later releases,completely off shaped winglets. I tried to adress these issues on my Revell 737s as good as possible. What was not possible to be corrected on those 2 were the cabin windows,because of the design of the decals.Otherwise they wouldnt fit.But its not so noticeable,so i oversee that matter. What I spent the most work on were the engines. I found a very helpful guide here on BM regarding the Revell 737s flaws. So the engines were mostly corrected by the ways described in that BM thread. The winglets were cut and sanded to shape. TUI FLY is well known for their many different Logo Jets and the Haribo liveries are among the most popular. Revell issued both of those liveries in 2010 with superb decal sets by NAZCA. I planned to go with the open window option but as no silver frames were included in those sets,the windows tended to disappear,esp. on the blue one. So in the end I used the provided cabin window decals. All painted with Revell enamels. The blue one with Revell blue 54 and the golden one with Revell copper as the gold paint was way too bright. Thanks for looking Alex

These are 2 of the great DACO 737 kits. Beside the -300 also the -400/-500 series were offered,but sadly they are now sold out. I found those for a bargain at a aviaition fair,one without markings,the other included the TEA decal set from Liveries Unlimited I guess. As I wanted to do a TEA 737,this came in handy. Back in 1990,when I went to Kenya with my grand parents,I saw a TEA 737-300 landing as well in Mombasa. I was surprised to see them there with that kind of aircraft. Later I found out that TEA Switzerland not only flew from Zurich via Luxor to Mombasa,they also offered flights to Malindi as the only international airline. TEA Switzerland ordered factory fresh 737-300s from Boeing in 1989,fitted with additional fueltanks to be able to use them on long haul routes. As a reminder of those childhood memories,this 737 has a special place in my collection. TEA Switzerland was incorporated in Easy Jet and flies nowadays as Easy Jet Switzerland using a fleet of A320CEOs and A320NEOs The other one comes in the beautiful livery of Air New Zealand in their all green "Holliday," livery. As a base coat for the green,I used Gunze white primer 1500,then 3 thin layers of Tamyia mustard yellow. The decal set comes from PAS decal and is nice to work with. The build of the kits was mostly straight forward,just the wing to fuselage fit proved a bit problematic. Otherwise really beautifully designed kits. Thanks for looking Alex

Revell's 747-100/-200 kit had been around almost as long as the original. The first kit came out in 1974 and was since the constantly on offer by Revell in many markings. The last one came out in 2019 in demonstrator markings,celebrating the 50th anniversary of the queen of the skies. The moulds were really worn out and it was probably a good decision to take the 747-100 out of their program. My build of the first KLM 747 is a earlier release,which is very nice to build. The decals are from a much later reissue and so their quality was very good as well. Paints are Revell blue 52 with a few drops white 04 for the fuselage top. Wing grey is Gunze 315 which is a close match for Boeing grey. Corogard is Tamiya metallic grey mixed with Tamiya neutral grey. Some weathering was done as well with Humbrol graphite powder as pictures showed the KLM Jumbos quite dirty at times. Another 747 for my ever growing fleet of Jumbo Jets. Thanks for looking Alex

This is my first build of the new Revell A320NEO kit. To my surprise,the A320NEO is not in the same league qualitywise as their A321NEO kit. The fitting is not as good and the kit already showed some flash and excess plastic. The decals for the colourful Air Seychelles livery are from PAS decals and are of great quality. All other decals are from the kit. The fuselage was painted with Gunze white primer 1500,the rest are Testors,Revell and Gunze paints. One of my next NEOs will be a Zvezda kit,hopefully a better quality than the Revell offering. Thanks for looking Alex

The Air Belgium livery is another of my favourites. Authentic Airliners offers the decal set for it,so I went for it. In 2018 I saw one of those on approach to Rhodes airport and I knew I had to add this to my collection. The paintjob is straight forward,all white fuselage,painted with Gunze white primer 1500. The black stripe had to be painted,masks for it are provided with the decals. The fit of the decals is a bit iffy,I guess they are designed for the AA resin kit,which showed some errors probably on the Revell kit. So a few adjustments had to be done to get everything in place as good as possible. The build of the kit went fairly well,just the usual conversions on the engines had to be done. Thanks for looking Alex

Brussels Airlines introduced around half a dozen special liveries on their A320 fleet,all representing Belgium arts. In this case the Smurfs. I assume everybody remembers the cartoons with those blue dwarfs and their enemy Gargamel... PAS decals offers almost all of those liveries,but I guess some of them are just too difficult to reproduce in decal and kit form. The smurf design has its fair share of difficulties as well but it can be done. The decals are very nicely printed and of excellent quality. The most tricky part is the paint and masking job. Lots of photo reference was needed and I also made a copy of the decals that went over the windows to line out the demarcation between the blue and white. For the blue I used Revell blue 52 which I found a good match. The fading black to blue on the fin was achieved with a piece of paper holding in front of the blue.A few trials were needed to get it right. Its a funny livery and a real eye catcher in my cabinet. Thanks for looking Alex

To celebrate its 50th birthday,Lufthabsa painted one of their A321s in this very attractive retro livery. Revell was of course to the service and provided a reissue of their A321 kit with the retro decal set. They even served both modelling fractions,those who want window decals and those who like open windows,by providing 2 sets of cheatlines. I went for the open window version,I only had to use a decal for the cockpit as I cracked the clear part while installing it. The build is straight forward,everything fits nicely. For the paints,a mix of Revell enamels,Testors and Gunze was used. The underbelly is a mix of Revell aluminium with Revell grey 374. Its a bit tricky to get it right. Revell tells you to paint it entirely aluminium but as the Airbus is more compisite material than metal,its completely wrong. The decals fit very well,only around the nose a few touch ups are required. Another airliner with a special livery can ve added to the collection.😊 Thanks for looking Alex

Another great release from Revell is the A321 in the special livery of Austrian Airlines,celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the Austrian republic in 1996. The A321 wears the faces of the most iconic persons of Austria from the past to present (1996) The kit is well known and needs no further introduction. The highlight of the kit is clearly the decal set,which is top quality and fits on the kit like a treat. Painting is straight forward,all white fuselage (Gunze primer 1500) The wings are painted with Testors aircraft grey mixed with white,corogard panels are Revell 374 grey mixed with a few drops aluminium. The cockpit window is a decal from a PAS decal set,the cabin windows and all the rest are from the kit. Thanks for looking Alex

Another one of Revell's "Special Liveries". The Wiener Philharmoniker A340-300. Its a real eye catcher and the kit was frequently reviewed upon its release but its hardly seen built. I wonder why... The most difficult part of the build is the paintjob,esp. the blue belly and the bright blue on the engines. To find the correct demarcation line on the belly is a bit iffy. The instructions are absolutely no help,so intense research on the net is required. The light blue for the engines need to be mixed. I used Revell white 04 and skyblue 52 . The belly blue needs to be mixed as well skyblue 52 with a few drops white 04,here one can use the decal set as a matching pattern. Once this is achieved,the most complicated part is done. The decals are superbly printed and fit wonderful. The only downside to them are that there are no windowholes or windows printed on. I decided to have clear windows,so after application and clear coating,every window was cut out with a new sharp blade.To find all of the windows was time consuming. Then from another decal set,the silver frames were applied and clear coated as,well. The end result is one of the most spectacular liveries ever worn by a A340. As with the other A340s,I also corrected and enhanced the engines. Thanks for looking Alex

Revell's first release of their A330-300 was back in 1993 with the Demonstrator markings. I still had them in my stash since childhood.As I had 4 A330s ,I decided to use that set on one of them since they still looked usable. I should be proven otherwise.... They were very stiff,brittle and showed no response to any decal softener.Applying them was a real pain in the a... After clear coating them 3 times with Future,they finally stayed on the model but I was not too happy with the result. In the end,I painstakingly hand brushed the blue on each decal with Revell 54 blue to enhance the shine and overall quality,then clear coated it again with Future. It looks a lot better than before. The white is Gunze primer 1500. Thanks for looking Alex

This is the original Revell boxing with the colourful Aer Lingus decals. The kit is now quite hard to find and on some well known sites sold for astronomic prices. I had it in my stash for many years but cant remember where I got it from. As I went through my A330/A340 serial build,this was build simultaneously with the others. Despite its age,the kit is very nicely detailed and the decal set is superb as well. Lots of details and very nicely printed.If I remember correctly,it was done by NAZCA. The top of the fuselage was painted with Revell emerald green,unfortunately the pictures show it much darker as it really is. The white is my well proven Gunze primer 1500. Aer Lingus has/had obe of the most attractive liveries,so this is a nice addition to my Airbus fleet. Thanks for looking Alex

Another conversion,this time a A330-200 in LTU livery. I had the LTU issue of the Revell A330-300 in my stash but I wanted to do the -200. Some years ago I bought the BRAZ resin fin and tailplanes for the A330-200 so while I was already hacking up the A340 I made the conversion on the A330 as well. Same procedure as with the A340,both types have the same measurements. Paints are Gunze white primer 1500 for the white parts and Revell red 31. Instead of using the red stripe provided on the Revell decal,I airbrushed everything,which gives better results and saves cutting down the decals.Only the letters and logos,doors and letters for the registration are from the decal set.The rest comes from the spares box and other Airbus A330/340 kits. While researching the type,I came across a pic with one of those Airbuses having a white radome.Hence I took that up as well. Thanks for looking Alex

A bit later than expected,more of my finished builds since 2022. I had a rather busy schedule in modelling,so a large number of kits got finished.Most of them are now ready to be shown here,some others are still missing a few parts. On we go with the Revell A340. Back in november 1992,Lufthansa presented their first A340-200 in Zurich. I was on there and also was able to take some pics. My camera back then was not the best,I was still a kid,so my parents didnt spend too much on a camera.Hence the pics are not that good,but I still have them. I played with the idea for a long time,shortening the Revell A340-300 down to a -200 and build the first LH A340. The decal set from Revell even has the correct registration for the type. Lack of skill stopped me from doing such a task for many years but last year I thought I was ready for it and gave it a go. While at it,I also took the opportunity to improve the kits engines by adding the vortex generators and rework the inner engines,so they sit higher.The engine mounts of the kit are too large,so if not corrected,they will hang too low. Shortening the fuselage was not that difficult.Some diagrams and pictures found on the www ,showed where to make the cuts. After all was set and ready,reassambly began. Some filling and sanding was required at the fuselage but nothing too distracting,so the paintjob could start. Painted with Gunze and Revell enamels. The grey for the belly and the wings is a mix of Revell 374 with a few drops Revell white 04. The white for the fuselage is Gunze Primer 1500,clear coated with Future. The decals come from the original Lufthansa boxing.Luckily I had a few decal sets ,so I could use bits and parts from the other sheets as one of them was quite yellow and brittle. Some details come from the spares box and other Revell A330/340 kits. It took 30+ years from the idea to the finished product,so I am very happy to finally have this Airbus in my collection. Thanks for looking Alex

Very nice build of the good old Saab. Crossair of Switzerland was a main operator of the Saab 340 and the Saab 2000. They were buzzing in and out of our local airport at Basel during the mid 80s and 90s. I had the pleasure of doing 3 flights with it and was very pleased with the aircraft. Everytime after touch down,the pilot(s) stepped on the breaks like crazy ( on a 3900 meter runway...) They would have been able to land on a carrier deck I suppose,the way they stopped the plane 😂 Thanks for sharing Alex

Never heard of that airline before. Smart livery and superb build. Alex

Superb build of a not often seen unusual subject. Top work on the paint job👍 Thanks for sharing Alex

Top work on the good old Airfix 727 Einar. Always a pleasure to see your airliners. Not the easiest ones to build,you did a cracking job. I have currently 3 of those under construction,one almost finished,one awaiting the last parts and one in the paintshop. Interesting to see that the wings are straight,on my previous builds some years ago,the left side wing started to bend down after a while. This time i reinforced the insides of the wing halves with liquid plastic and thin metal wires.Might have worked.... Thanks for sharing Alex

Despite your mentioned troubles,you achieved a great result. Very nice E-190. Surprised to read about your rather bad experience with 8A decals. I used a few sets of them and was always happy with those. I guess its kind of an isolated incident and hopefully not becomes a frequent problem. I still have many sets of them waiting to be used. Thanks for sharing Alex

Nice to see a finished Airfix 707.They are though. I have 3 built,partially primed ,waiting for completion since 2+ years...haven't had the nerves pressing on with them😊 Thanks for sharing Alex