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Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=672002648993308&id=100085507350247 V.P.

X-Scale Models is to release a 1/144th Boeing 737-200 kit - ref. ? Source: https://www.facebook.com/xscalemodelsua/ V.P.

P-3C Orion (X144007) 1:144 X-Scale Developed from the Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop airliner, the Orion was Lockheed’s response to a request from the US Navy for a replacement to their piston-engined Neptune and Marlin Maritime Patrol and Anti-Submarine aircraft, as they were reaching the end of their lifespan. Rather than start with a clean-sheet design, costs were saved by the use of the Electra as a basis on which to work, although that too was still in development. The resultant prototype was shorter in the fuselage, and was outfitted with an opening bomb bay to accommodate buoys and weapons, a ‘stinger’ tail for detection of enemy vessels via an integral MAD boom, a pointed radome, hard-points under the wings and a host of other differences that included an internal fit of equipment and crew space for the operators. Its four Alison turboprops could power it to a top speed of around 480mph that gave it the ability to keep pace with many other types of aircraft in the US fleet. The prototype first flew in 1958, followed three years later by the first production example, entering service the following year in 1962. Initially designated P3V-1 under Naval nomenclature, it was renamed P-3 Orion barely a month later, when cross-service naming was introduced, adding the A suffix to the early airframes. The P-3B used different turboprop engines, while the P-3C was a substantial upgrade to the performance and avionics of the type, becoming the most common variant, covered with additions not seen in the original variants, extending to the window arrangement, sensor and antenna fit, sonobuoy chute stowage, and even an electrically operated crew ladder to ease ingress and egress. There have been copious updates since that include constant updates of the avionics and sensor packages, in addition to variants that have been retrofitted for specific tasks, with a number of highly specialised variants that sometimes extend to only one airframe to carry out key tasks or training roles. Replacement was inevitable, and despite the option of a heavily modernised turboprop P-7 and P-21 being offered, they lost out in a competition in the early 2000s to a jet-engined Boeing P-8 Poseidon that was itself based upon the then-current 737, the first production airframe reaching service in 2012. The Kit This is a new tool in the de facto airliner standard from X-Scale, and it arrives in a medium top-opening box with a painting of an Orion in-flight over the sea, passing nearby a submarine that doesn’t seem concerned by its presence, so would appear to be that of an Ally. Inside the box are eight sprues in grey styrene of varying sizes, a clear sprue, a sheet of pre-cut vinyl masks, large decal sheet and an A5 portrait instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy white paper. Detail is good, with finely engraved panel lines, raised and recessed features, a stock of weapons for the model, a well-detailed cockpit for the scale, and gear bays that have some basic detail, which is excellent for the scale. Construction begins with the cockpit, adding the rear door bulkhead and an equipment bay on the starboard rear, then fixing four crew seats to pedestals, and another equipment cabinet on the port side. The instrument panel is joined to the coaming, and fitted to the front of the cockpit floor along with a centre console, setting it aside while the fuselage halves have their windows installed from outside, painting the cockpit side walls to match the interior. The cockpit, nose gear bay and an un-documented amount of nose weight are trapped between the fuselage halves, dealing with the seams once the glue has fully cured, dealing with the wings in the interim. The lower span is full-width, adding the two uppers after locating inserts for the gear bays into the inner nacelle spaces, fitting all four into position after making each one from two custom halves and a bulkhead for the inner pair, all of which are handed, and will only fix in their intended location over the wings. The nacelles for the inner wings are extended underneath the wings to accommodate the gear bays, and the U-shaped inserts have door-location marks moulded into the sides. Each nacelle has an exhaust with cowling installed at the rear, and again the parts will only fit where they are intended, so keep a note of their part numbers until they are glued in place. The wings are mated with the fuselage from underneath, adding a perforated section of fuselage into the trailing edge under the belly, carefully aligning all the parts to achieve the best fit. The tail fin is made from two halves and fits on two pins on the top of the fuselage rear, joined by two-part elevators that also fit on pins with corresponding holes in the root fairings, siting the two-part stinger in the space at the rear of the fuselage. The kit’s canopy is moulded with a portion of the surrounding fuselage moulded into it for ease of installation, and reduce the risk of marring the clear panels of the windows with gluey fingerprints or hazing. Careful alignment will be key here to reduce clean-up to the minimum, slotting a gaggle of antennae into the roof over the cockpit, and the four props that are made from separate spinners and blades, plus a back-plate with intake lip at the rear, attaching the two together with a carefully glued pin if you wish to leave the props mobile. The main gear legs are made from four parts that include retraction jacks and oleo-scissor links, each having two wheels at each end of the short axle, making them from two halves each. The nose gear lag is similar-looking save for the landing lights moulded into the strut, locating a pair of single-part wheels on the axle tips to complete it, adding them to their respective bays along with a pair of side-opening doors for each one. Two cheek fairings are fitted under the nose on each side of the nose bay, adding more antennae under the tail, and twin pylons on each wing, outboard of the outer engine nacelle. A quartet of AGM-84A Harpoon missiles are included on the sprues, one for each pylon, with separate fins that fit in slots perpendicular to those that are moulded into the missile body. Markings There are five decal options on the included sheet, with a variety of operators and colour schemes. From the box you can build one of the following: Lockheed P-3C Orion (158927), US Navy, VP-16, Malta, September 2010 Lockheed P-3C Orion (160770), US Navy, VP-6, Barbers Point, USA, May 2015 Lockheed P-3C Orion (162656), Australian Air Force, Edinburgh, Australia, July 1987 Lockheed P-3C Orion, Netherlands NAVY, Leiden-Valkenburg, Netherlands, October 2001 Lockheed (Kawasaki) P-3C Orion (165086), Japan NAVY, Atsugi, Japan, June 1995 Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion 1:144 is a great scale for larger aircraft, especially if you’re also prone to the occasional airliner model. This kit brings detail that would be expected from a larger scale kit, and should make for a simple build, assisted by the window masks to keep things clean and spotless. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Douglas EC-24A Electronic Warfare Aircraft (X144006) 1:144 X-Scale The DC-8 airliner on which the EC-24A was based was a first-generation jet passenger aircraft from Douglas, initially in response to a requirement for an airborne refuelling tanker in 1952, losing the contract to competitors Boeing, who went on to supply the Air Force with the KC-135. Douglas took their losing design and reworked it with a view to selling it to civil operators in the burgeoning jet airliner market space. By 1955 they had their first order from Pan Am, with others following, the maiden flight occurring in 1958, and the first commercial flight after certification by a Delta Airlines aircraft late in ’59. Several variants were created for different operators and distances, and using various power plants from Pratt & Witney, plus a Rolls-Royce Conway for the unsuccessful Series 40, that suffered from lack of sales due to the stigma of having foreign engines. The Series 50 was considered the definitive variant of the short-fuselaged DC-8, using four P&W JT3Ds suspended on underwing pylons for power, different variants of the 50 series utilising other engine versions that gave greater power and weight-carrying capability, including those used for cargo transports, which became known as the DC-8 Jet Trader. Douglas took a single former United Airlines Series 54 aircraft and converted it into an Electronic Warfare aircraft that was used by the US Navy as an Electronic Warfare training airframe that remained in service until 1999. It was tasked with acting as an Aggressor in exercises to pose as the enemy to train US Naval crews on how to recognise them and deal effectively with their attempts at disrupting operations. After it was retired, it went into hibernation at a Deep Storage “boneyard” in Arizona, where it remains at time of writing. It was replaced by a third-party contractor providing similar services to the Navy using their own crews and equipment, as is often the case with modern training resources, bringing yet more profit into the National Defence equation. The Kit The origin of this kit stems from a new tooling in 2022 from X-Scale, which has been reboxed and is now offered with new parts to depict this unique airframe. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a handsome painting of the subject matter on the front under a dramatic sky, and inside are nine sprues of grey styrene plus two fuselage halves that have been removed from their sprue on our example in a separate bag, a small clear sprue in its own Ziploc bag, a decal sheet, pre-cut vinyl masks, and an A5 instruction booklet that is printed on glossy white paper in colour. Detail is good, with finely engraved panel lines, fan detail inside the engine nacelles, a cockpit, and basic gear bays into which you could add more detail if you feel the urge. Construction begins with the cockpit, adding a supplementary panel to the coaming of the main instrument panel, mounting it to the front of the cockpit floor that has centre and side consoles added into slots in the floor, a map table in the rear bulkhead, and an engineer panel with table on the starboard rear side, locating five seats on pegs that are moulded into the floor. The nose gear bay is built from a stepped roof plus four sides, which have raised location points for the nose gear moulded-in. In preparation for installation of the cockpit, four L-shaped supports are inserted into corresponding depressions inside the nose, fitting the cockpit and nose bay during closure of the fuselage halves. Once the seams have been dealt with in your preferred manner, two cheek inserts are applied to the nose, adding the belly with moulded-in inner wing lowers after installing main gear bay inserts in shallow recesses around their perimeters. The upper wings have inserts appropriate to the engine used in this boxing inserted into the spaces in the leading edges, gluing the lower wing surface and ailerons in place to complete the basic structure. The elevators are made from two halves each, as is the tail fin, which has an integral rudder, and a large tab for later installation in the fuselage. Each of the four engines are built from cowling halves with fans front and rear, adding an intake lip from a single part that has a small auxiliary intake moulded into it, making the four individual pylons from two parts each, remembering their step numbers for later installation. Eight main wheels are made from halves, making two more for the nose gear wheels, building the main gear struts from a leg that has separate scissor-link, jacks and ancillary parts, fitting four wheels per unit, and making the nose gear from a similar number of parts, adding two wheels and a twin landing-light at the front. Two blade antennae are made with separate flat tops, creating an intake and two pitot probes in anticipation of detailing the airframe later. The fuselage is fitted with a clear canopy that has a portion of the forward fuselage moulded into it to ease blending it with the rest of the fuselage without marring the windscreen panes. A sensor panel is inserted in a raised ring over the cockpit, then the wings are installed over the lower inner panels, slotting the elevators and fin into their receivers in the rear of the fuselage. Flipping the model over, the engines and their pylons are mated with the wings on two pegs each, the engines and pylons slotting together for strength, positioning the pitot probes and their fairings under the tips of the wings. The fuselage is dotted with blade antennas over the following steps, adding the intake to the port side of the fuselage above the wing leading edge, and fitting two gondolas and more antennae under the belly, and a small number at the tail. The main and nose gear legs are installed with the model inverted, adding doors and retraction jacks to complete the build. Markings There was just one airframe of this type, so the decal option is a solitary one, unless you intend to go for an imaginary option of course. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The masks are pre-cut vinyl and will permit the modeller to cut the framing of the windscreen neatly, and the demarcation between the wheels and hubs with ease. Conclusion This unique aircraft quietly served with the US Navy for an extensive period, and X-Scale have done its legacy justice, with fine panel lines, detailed landing gear and a cockpit that will be seen dimly through the clear windows. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here is the X-Scale Trident 1C finished as G-ARPR of BEA circa 1968. On 10 June 1965 Papa Romeo made aviation history by being the first airliner to make a fully automatic landing while carrying fare-paying passengers. I've always thought it a pity she wasn't preserved. Hopefully my model is a fitting tribute to her memory. The model was built for the Made in Ukraine GB and the build thread including my thoughts about the kit (for what these are worth!) can be found here. Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is always welcome. Dave G

An X-Scale Lockheed Electra arrived in the post this week and I reckon I can squeeze it in before the GB deadline. I wasn't particularly interested in this kit when it was released - somehow the Electra never appealed all that much to me, the airliner subjects that most resonate with me seem to be those I've either flown in or that bring back childhood memories of Manchester Airport, and the Electra doesn't tick either box. But one thing I am interested in is the many colourful colour schemes used on Braniff's aircraft. I'm a sucker for a colourful airliner, particularly one with a bit of an old-school feel to it. So when Vintage Flyer decals released Braniff decals for the X-Scale Electra, I snapped them up. Here's the kit: It's pretty typical of many recent Ukrainian kits - clearly short-run but much more crisply moulded than they used to be, and a few more parts than more mainstream manufacturers would use. The clear cockpit part often takes a bit of adjusting and blending in, and it's got the wing join line a few mm forward of the trailing edge on the underside, which results in a nice trailing edge but usually a bit of a step underneath to deal with. Nice looking decals for an early American Airlines scheme, which I won't be using. Not looking forward to attaching 16 individual prop blades! I've made a start. The fuselage is together - didn't use the cockpit parts, I'll be using a windscreen decal. Fit is very good, no locating pins so careful alignment is needed. The clear part actually fits quite well and will just need a little blending in. I've also test-fitted the wings. There's a step on the underside but it's a small one. It won't take much effort with my usual method (aggressively attacking the inside of the lower part with a coarse grit sanding stick at the trailing edge) to eliminate it. more soon Julian

I'm coming on board with the X-Scale Trident 1C which I plan to finish in the classic BEA red square livery. Although the box includes decals for that scheme I will probably use the sheet from Two Six along with Authentic Airliners "photo real" window decals. Box shot: The most elegantly produced and comprehensive instruction booklet I've ever seen in a 1/144 airliner kit. Hopefully it will guide me through a kit I've never built before: Decals: I have a possible second project in mind - Roden's Boeing 720B finished in Air Malta colours - but I'll see how things go with the Trident and the stuff I need to finish for the Asia GB. Dave G

I'm joining in with a Thai DC-8-32. This is the X-Scale kit in 1/144, with 8A decals. The box shot: It's pretty typical of recent Ukrainian short-run kits - nice surface detail, no locating pins, a little flash here and there, probably going to go together ok as long as I'm careful. The decals are laser printed and look nice. I've started with the fuselage. I'm not bothering with the cockpit as I'll use a decal for the windscreen, so only had to add the nose gear well and some nose weight before closing up the fuselage. The fuselage goes together ok, but the clear part will need a little work to blend in. more soon Julian

Hi All. Here is my completed X-Scale Douglas DC-8-32 using my own ONA Bicentennial decals. Kit went together without too many problems, just a bit of fettling here and there (mainly the wing top pylon inserts).

Update - Project taken over by the former Eastern Express ukrainian kit designer under X-Scale label after Russia's unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion from his country. After the L-188 Electra (link) Eastern Express is to release a 1/144th Lockheed P-3C Orion kit - ref. 1441?? Source: https://ee-models.ru/en/ Box art V.P.