Back in the Saddle

Great start so far!

Thank you! Work on "Colour Down The Side" is progressing well, with the fin and rear fuselage artwork decals applied: Getting the decal to cover the base of the fin is proving difficult, due to the complexity of the shape. However, there is only a slight gap and I'm confident that I can remedy this at a later stage.

Thanks Terry. Capri blue is an excellent match for the current BA blue - I certainly can't see any difference between them! My printer is a standard inkjet, so I cannot print white (unlike the professional guys!). My workaround for this is print onto transparent decal paper then apply the decals to an area which is painted white, so the white shows through: On the above decal sheet, I have tried to match the BA blue, but there is no ink on the white 'NWR' section of the nose gear doors. The gear doors below are still white, ready for this decal: Cheers Tim. Yep, fully type rated on the 787, so more time for hobbies again! Having said that, I've not done much with these for a week due to other projects getting priority...

You've got sharp eyes John...! I have a 'what if’ CDTS A380 on the go too (page 5 on this link) which is slowly coming together - the fin decals are applied and the other bits are now getting added too: It's not been the best decal application, as the base of the fin is a very complex shape - I have a gap which will need some attention... Absolutely! In some respects, the 727's are easier than the A380's - they just have different challenges! Talking of which, I started to apply the decals for the "Emily Ndebele" livery, but this went wrong very quickly: I will re-design this at the top of the fin, so that the green/blue/purple blocks of colour extend further across the top of the fin and intake - I think that will look much better...

Cheers Alan. Comair did have one in a BA tartan livery, but not the same design as this one! I agree that it suits the aircraft rather well. Congratulations! My sim check is next week... but at LHR! Thanks Paul - I was after a challenge and I certainly got one! I'm also designing some tail fins for the A380 and ironically they're the most difficult of all to get right so they fit correctly. I think I'll stick with 747 designs after this, as I've got those down to a fine art now! I now have all three models (almost) ready for decals: The -100 series 727 needs to have the tailplane painted first; on the -200 kits this can be attached afterwards, which is much simpler when decal application begins. Here's the shorter model, with the 'Egypt' design printed on plain paper to check for size and general fit: This was then split into three sections for the final decal - the main fin and the section on the fuselage (shown below, complete with concave curve to fit around the base of the fin) and a final piece to go above the integral tailplane (which is not shown on this picture): Once this was done to my satisfaction, all three sections were laid out on an A4 design ready for printing: There is also a set of 747 fins in the 'Romania' livery and a few other bits I needed for other models - I like to maximise my usage of the decal paper!

That is starting to look very nice! I might have a spare windscreen, I’ll take a look and let you know.

Thanks Alex. I know what you mean...! Cheers Mike, thanks for the kind comment. Hopefully the images will reappear soon! Just a tiny update today, as I've had a minor issue with the nose gear decals. I assumed they included the background blue colour, which is why I didn't paint the nose gear doors. I should have checked first, as the decal background is transparent: Out with Photoshop again, to add the blue to the doors! I also changed the registration letters to "G-BNWR", as this aircraft also had the 'Chelsea Rose' tail and I have flown WR many more times than WB: I might get some decals applied over the weekend if I get some spare time.

This looks good! Low tech would be my preferred option - keep it simple. Good to see somebody else using paper cutouts at the design stage too!

The wings have not progressed at all(!), but I made a start on the undercarriage instead. Here are the components, which are all nicely moulded: As mentioned earlier, one of the boogies was broken. A quick look in my spares box soon found a suitable piece of plastic for the repair, stolen from an A380 undercarriage strut (marked in orange below): This piece was trimmed, drilled and glued into position: Much narrower than the other boogie, but a good starting point. Bit more tweaking will be needed to match the other side. I also noticed a broken axle on the nose gear, which was repaired using a paperclip: These pieces will hopefully come together easily to form the undercarriage - a job for another day. I have also finished painting the fuselages. The white was obviously done first: This was then masked: And the blue applied, using a rattle can of Fiat's 'Capri Blue': They're starting to look like a pair of BA 767's!

The warm day has finally arrived, gloss white was applied and final assembly is underway. First I attached the exhausts, then glued a tailplane into position using my Vulcan as a support to hold the piece at the correct angle: The other tailplane and fin will follow, then it's just airbrakes and undercarriage to finish the build.

Thanks Adam. If it meets with your approval I know it must be along the right lines! Now there's an idea! Unfortunately they're just a couple of 727's which are being used as mules for homemade decals - that thread is here and shows the process of how I make custom decals for my airliner builds. Cheers Johnny. It was not the kit I expected (two new gripes are about to be be unleashed below...) but with some effort it builds into a good looking model. I just didn't expect the amount of effort that was actually required! Thank you John. The time expenditure was certainly higher than I anticipated... And it continues - like you, I hope the Buccaneer is produced to a higher standard. I certainly won't be rushing to buy one, I'll wait to hear what people say about it first! All the flying surfaces are now attached. I would have posted a picture, but I've packed the model away for a few days as there's building work in the house and I thought it would be safer out of the way... Photo next time, I promise! I did keep one sprue out though, as I need something to occupy my spare time and I thought the undercarriage would be a good place to work on next. Here's the sprue: I had a minor worry when I noticed the corner pieces were missing, until I realised they had been built into the wheel bays months ago! Here's some detail showing the quality of the wheels: The hubs are great, with crisp detail. But it's a shame about the huge seam around every single wheel... Another close up of the strut pieces, one of which is short shot: All fixable, but another example of the less than perfect quality of this kit... Maybe I was naive expecting a "shake 'n' bake" model?

I'm really enjoying this build - it's a great concept and your execution of your plan is a pleasure to watch.

A quick word about the process of creating the 'Paithani' design, which can be seen in the above Photoshop screenshot - I'm planning to replicate this design on an A380 build later in the year. This artwork appeared in two different variations, both featuring a woven pattern based upon a gold background. This version was on G-BDXO and the image below is used with the kind permission of the photographer Chris Sheldon: I obtained a 1/400 diecast model of this aircraft and photographed the fin to try to isolate the pattern: This model is not 100% accurate and has a few differences compared with the original, but it's a good starting point. I used a rough copy of this to get the approximate colour and design correct, then printed out the decals excluding the gold sections. This was then cut out, ready to be applied to a spare 727 wing which had already been painted gold: The 727 wing is half the size of the A380 tail fin! Consequently I could only use half of the decal... Once applied I was happy with the general appearance. The gold paint shows through in all the correct places without affecting the colours on the decal. Now I know this technique works, I will refine the design for the decals to make it as accurate as possible.

Thank Alex. Work has resumed...! Thanks very much for the offer but I've only just got to grips with Photoshop - vector graphics might be a step too far at the moment! Thank you! I agree, the satisfaction from making these designs work is high. Talking of design, here is the livery for the third model (apologies for the poor quality): This design represents Egypt and is one of two versions used by BA. The other version will appear in a later build! The design is a single element, repeated and tessellated together. Here's the basic building block for the design: One tidied up and the colours corrected, I joined them together into this formation: As with all my 'what if' designs this one might be tweaked a bit, but this is essentially how I envisage it will look once completed.

Hi Neil. All three are in different BA world tails, and each one is a 'what if' livery - I wanted to do something completely different with them and also improve my skills at designing decals! The link to this project is here if you want to take a look. Concorde will probably wait until the next KUTA GB!