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I've had in the collection for some years the Mach 2 Vickers Viscount 700 kit - a manufacturer who produces some rather interesting subjects (ie Mach 2). This is one of their better efforts in my view with nice detail, generally accurate lines (but see below) and the opportunity for some great colour schemes. The usual research has been done before starting - including build reviews etc from other modellers. A number of reviewers/builders have commented that there is something that is 'not quite right' with the finished model and I have formed a view as to what that might be. For a hint - check out the wing root shape on the fuselage halves. Notice anything weird? Particularly if you know what makes aeroplanes fly (apart from engines)... So let's turn to Exhibit A - the wings.... Bizarre as it might sounds - I believe the wings have been moulded 'up side down'. The wheel wheels and lower wing surface details have been moulded engraved on the TOP WING - and the engine nacelles/top wing details are moulded/engraved on the bottom. Even the top view of the top wing below sort of looks vaguely deflated? OR is it me? Check out the detail pics below, showing the kit, the Viscount 'official-ish' wing profile (NACA 63-???[modified]), and early stages of my replacement : So you've probably guessed correctly. Some cosmetic surgery means scratchbuilding some new wings for the Viscount - including a cut and shut of the Mach 2 wheel wells and engine nacelles/fairings. ie what is on the Mach 2 top wing will end up on the bottom wing and vice versa. Simples eh? Oh - and a bit of scribing. Thought it'd be worth showing the progress and end result and see if it looks round about right when I'm finished?? Here's where I am up to. Basic replacement wing shape has been formed up - currently overlength and rough markings showing where the Mach 2 wheel wells and fairings are going to go....

Good evening Fellow Modellers Aged 11 this was the first aircraft I flew, all the way from Newcastle to Belfast Aldergrove, back in 1975 for my first day at school. I was on my own but accompanied by my own stewardess so felt suitably important. This is the beautiful resin kit from Authentic Airliners with their window decals and markings from 26 decals. Local flying around the UK was often by Viscount in those days and I remember with fondness watching the world go by from those huge windows The Mammoth Major refueller and Sherpa van are from the excellent Ray Rimes Designs (3-D printed) Does it bring back any memories for some of you? Regards Andrew

Here's my Eastern Express 1/144 Viscount 700 finished in Air Inter colours using decals from F-DCAL, which I've just finished in the French Fancy group build. Build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

Commercial aircraft are not my usual fayre, but a change is as good as a rest (and the horrors of Eastern Express's original Boing 737 have faded from memory). There must be literally thousands of S and M's Viscount 800 in circulation, and whilst crude in places, they are easily improved and offer a nice canvas for the multitude of aftermarket decals available. This one is adorned with Classic-Airlines offering, a personal nice reminder of 1970s departures from East Midlands Airport for holidays in the Channel Islands and slightly more exotic locations. Nose reshaped with Milliput, over a cruciform plastic card former, which proved far easier to accomplish than I had predicted. Cockpit 'bulge' rounded a little - almost certainly not enough, and wing trailing edges thinned considerably. Other than that, a very straightforward build, everything fitted rather well, though I do worry about the wing to fuselage joints, but there's little that can be done to hide them. The main undercarriage doors are primitive, and were replaced with plastic card version, with their shape being corrected at the same time. The decals were very well behaved, and put up little resistance. However they are very translucent, which meant the division between the natural metal and white had to be accurately defined at the lower edge of the cheat line. They aren't quite right, I think they are slightly too deep, and the lower part of the rear entrance doors isn't quite correct. Still, quite pleased with the overall effect. Jonathan

Mach 2 is to release new boxing from its 1/72nd Vickers Viscount 700 kit (link) - ref. GP101 - Vickers Viscount 700 "United" Sources: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MACHGP101 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mach-2-gp101-vickers-viscount-700--1200036 - ref. GP102 - Vickers Viscount 700 "British Airways" Sources: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MACHGP102 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mach-2-gp102-vickers-viscount-700--1200037 - ref. GP103 - Vickers Viscount 700 "Air Inter" Sources: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MACHGP103 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mach-2-gp103-vickers-viscount-700--1200038 - ref. GP104 - Vickers Viscount 700 "BEA" Sources: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MACHGP104 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mach-2-gp104-vickers-viscount-700--1200035 V.P.

Hello All Here is my promised Glencoe Viscount . It will be finished as VH-TVH of Trans Australia Airlines. Here are the in the box pics . This will be OOB mostly . Comments always welcome. thanks for looking Martin H

Vickers Viscount. Type 806 (Registration G-APIM named Viscount Stephen Piercey) on display in British Air Ferries colours at Brooklands Museum, Surrey, England. Pics thanks to Frank.

Vickers Viscount 701. Early BEA Scheme. Converted from 1:144 S&M Models Viscount 800. 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. 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'. 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. 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. 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! Thanks for looking, John <Edit>18 Dec 2017</> 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; Easily applied; Thanks Ian!

S&M Viscount. 1:144 26 Decals 'British Caledonian Commuter'. I have a few of these kits and decided to attempt some simple improvements to it. Mainly, the nose is too blunt, the cockpit 'bulge; a little too 'square' and the trailing edges could do with thinning down as could the props. All is detailed in this Work in Progress thread I also used the Viscount detail set from 26 decals, which provides all the panel lines, intake, etc, and makes a huge difference to the model. It is essential if you are building one of these. I think the British Caledonian livery is one of the all time best ever carried by an airline, really classy. They only had 1 Viscount, which was operated on their behalf by British Air Ferreies, and did not last long in this scheme before it was modified and lost that lovely Scottish lion on the fin. With something else. A Welsh Models vac form Viscount in BEA Red square. Thanks for looking John

Vickers Viscount 800 S&M Models I've got a few of these kits in the stash and decided to have a go at building one. It has been criticised for being 'clunky' with heavy trailing edges and too blunt a nose among other things, so some improvements are in order. It actaully fits together quite well, and so for I've concluded that it isn't as a bad a little kit as has sometimes been made out. Starting point was Skippies valauable post on this site, for which I acknowledge his useful contribution and all round knowldge of airliners of this period. First thing to do was sand down the wing halves of their inner surfaces to get finer trailing edges. It took about 20 minutes per part and was very easy to do, likewise the trailing edge of the rudder and fin on the fuselage halves. The tailpalnes are single mouldings per side, and have to be scraped with a blade and sanded.Basic and standard modelling skilss really. Next up was the nose, which is too blunt. It would be awkward to just slap Milliput on and expect it to stay, so I razor sawed a cross cut into it, and glued in some strips of plasticard to give the milliput something to grab on to. Left for 24 hours, I then very approximately shaped the strips. I'm afraid I only have very poor photos, but you can see what I mean. It was then packed with Milliput and sanded to a better shape, using the reference photos linked in Skippies post. Unmodified kit on top, modified on lower. The cockpit 'bulge' is also too square and was rehaped to a more rounded profile by sanding. Props were also scraped thinner and reshaped . And now in primer. I'll stop posting now because photobucket is running at a snails pace and getting very frustrarting Thanks for looking John

Authentic-Airliners (http://www.authentic-airliners.de/epages/64205758.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64205758) has announced a 1/72nd Vickers Viscount 800 resin kit at the SMW2016. Source: http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Ausstellungen/Telford2016/VH/44.html V.P.

Hi guys Here is my S&M Models 1:144th Vickers Viscount that I was given at my club West Middlesex for a six month challenge competition. I have used Two Six Decals BEA Red Square scheme and BlurProps. This was a simple little build that I worked on and off this year recently completing and winning the club competition. The picture in the frame is a vintage postcard of G-AOYN that I found on evilbay. Finished in Tamiya, Vallejo and Halfords appliance white rattle can. I am not totally happy with the pictures but I have limited time these days so they will have to do. I hope you all enjoy. DSC_6607 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6615 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6617 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6623 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6625 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6627 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6629 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6634 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6635 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6641 by Mark Inman, on Flickr DSC_6643 by Mark Inman, on Flickr

I have been trying to complete a number of long standing builds and this has been on the back burner for quite a while. I finally completed it a couple of days ago. It's the S&M Models kit and I have used Two-Six decals. I hope that you like it, next up will be the Airfix MiG-15 which I will be working on between my MiG-21 builds for the STGB.

New issues: Shorts Stirling 75(NZ) Sqn WWII 1/48, 72 and 144 Percival Mew Gull G-AEXF final scheme 1/48 and 72 Percival Vega Gull RNZAF and RAF (24 Sqn) WWII 1/72 BN Islander – Milford Sound – 1/72 and 144 BN Islander – 13 schemes - 1/144 Fletcher Fu24 – Skydive Abel Tasman 1/72 Re-issued as Digital Decals All Embraer Bandierante and SW Metroliner schemes in 1/72 and 1/144 All GAF Nomad, BN Islander, Piper Chieftain, Piper Navajo, Cessna 402, Cessna 406, and Fletcher Fu24-950 schemes in 1/72 All F27 Friendship and Vickers Viscount 800 schemes in 1/96 Cairo Aviation Tu204-10C in 1/144 Tranzair Beech 99 in 1/144 Motueka Aero Club Cessna 172 in 1/48, 72 and 87 News: At last the conversion to Digital format is essentially complete. The remaining inkjet schemes – namely the BAe146, Saab 340 and RNZAF Devon will be re-worked and re-issued with new schemes in the coming months along with a backlog of new issues. These decals are available through my website www.oldmodelsdecals.com and, for NZ customers, TradeMe. John Oldmodels Decals

Oldmodels Decals has released the following decals in Digital format: 1/144 Viscounts – all four NAC schemes and SkyBus 1/48 Raytheon B200 Super King air – RNZAF 1/32 T/A-4K Skyhawk – RNZAF – SEA, Euro1 and Final schemes. All subjects are a re-work of existing inkjet decals (still available) except the B200 which is a new scale for the Red Wings kit. When releasing the first tranche I forgot to mention the A4 last scheme and Macchi decals have been upgraded by the addition of the white formation strips. These are the first batch of tranche 2, others in the tranche which includes some A320, B737, ATR72, F27, C130H, P-3B, B757 and all my Vampire schemes will be issued progressively over the next two weeks as time permits. I have also updated my website to give updated information about the Digital Decals (see page About Digital Decals) and a new page Digital or Inkjet? to aid decision making about which to buy – it is definitely a horses for courses trade-off like everything else in today’s world. Of interest to some may be the statement that the colours and white are solid – even on gloss black – I have tested this. The decal ink also contains a UV protection built into it – no need to hide your model in dark corners to prevent decal fade from sunlight. These are available from my website, www.oldmodelsdecals.com and within New Zealand through TradeMe. John Oldmodels Decals