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Revell A319 Frontier Jaguar Scheme *COMPLETE*


Mike N

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This is my entry for this GB, the Revell 1/144 Airbus A319 done in a Frontier Airlines scheme. Some pics from the internet:

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And here's the kit I'll be using:

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The kit looks very nicely done, with fine recessed panel lines, and with only a handful of parts and no interior I’m hoping this will be a quick build.

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I bought the decals at a show a couple of years ago. I had seen some of the Frontier planes in the US and the tail art is superb, so I was glad to see some of it in model form.

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This will be my first small scale airliner and I intend to do it straight from the box with only the satellite tv antenna bulge needing to be added.

Mike

Edited by Mike N
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Thanks Antony.

Made a start last weekend. As the Frontier text decals include the cabin windows, I filled the open ports with Milliput. I did this by applying a used piece of masking tape on the outside and then pressed the Milliput from the inside. Once the tape bulged I lightly pressed it back to ensure a good 'fit'.

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And with the tape removed when dry:

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When dry they were easily sanded down:

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After painting the forward area black inside and adding nose weight the fuselage was closed up.

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Moving on to the wings... The moulds are common for the A321 which has double flaps and associated fairings. The instructions show the latter need to be removed but not to fill the hinge lines.

Left side is after the fairings have been removed:

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The outer hinge lines disappeared after sanding, the inner ones will be filled later.

Although generally well moulded, the kit does have some flaws. Here can be seen an ejector pin mark that has gone through the outer surface, plus the sink marks on the main flap track fairings

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The sink marks had to go... before:

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As they are quite shallow, I glued slivers of sprue into them (not very clear I appreciate!):

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And after sanding:

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Finally on the wings, the tip lights weren't a good fit. Rather than try to fettle them (they are tiny!) I painted the rebate and then superglued them on:

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They were then sanded and polished and look built-in:

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That's all for now folks, thanks for looking.

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been plodding away with the A319, to be honest it's not quite the easy swift build I'd expected...

The only part I've had to scratchbuild on the model is the bump for the satellite tv antenna on top of the fuselage.

I started by very roughly scoring a circle on plasticard using a template:

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This was then sanded to give the rounded edges needed:

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To get it to conform to the fuselage shape I clamped it and left it overnight to get used to its new shape:

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Once glued on it needed filler to blend it in. I can see it'll need some more attention once the primer has gone on, but it is rather tricky to get looking smooth and blended in!

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On to the engines. These are nicely done but require more time than I'd expected. First there's an ejector pin mark inside the front of each cowl that needed hiding. There's also quite a few painting steps along the way as stuff gets assembled.

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They go together quite nicely though, albeit needing filler on the internal seams.

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Trial-fitting the engines to the wing revealed a poor fit:

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If doing another I'd try gluing the engine to the wing before the upper wing surface is attached so I could push the wing onto the pylon and get a better fit.

I decided to spray the engines green before installing them as access would be awkward.

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Then yet more masking...

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With the wing on...

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I superglued the engines on.

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The sprue taped to the underside is to protect the blade aerial moulded to the fuselage. Why Revell chose to do this when the other, arguably less vulnerable aerials are separate parts I don't know!

Filler next...

Cheers for looking,

Mike

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In the photo of the engine being held onto the wing, that is the one for the other wing, the top section of the pylon is handed, so they only fit on the one wing.

Nice progress though.

Antony

Nope, that's the correct side. I'd seen they were handed. To prove it, you can see in the second pic of the painted engines that there is a small rebate at the front of the mating surface, it's just possible to make out that this is on the outboard side of each pylon, and that's how I have it in the test fit picture.

If I can't get that right I may as well give up now!

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a quick update to show progress.

The fit of the windscreen left a bit to be desired so after masking and installation, Milliput was applied around the part.

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Then it was sprayed with Halfords white primer... forgetting about those tip lights I'd installed, what a numpty! :doh:

After a light sanding (and masking the lights) I applied 2 coats of Appliance White. This gave a really nice smooth finish, perfect for the decals.

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Next it was time for the wings to get their greys. The fuse was masked with tape near the root, but just scrap paper away from there; quick, cheap and easy!

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The Frontier decal instructions give no guidance on the colour, and the Revell ones only call out their own paint range (in bizarre mixtures often!), so I judged it from photos. First, main colour top and bottom, shown here masked for the darker wingbox grey:

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And voila!

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Before seeing the contrast I thought it wasn't dark enough, but now it looks maybe a shade too dark. Oh well, close enough.

It's now had a couple of coats of Klear on the matt greys ready for decals - the fun part!

Mike

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Thanks for the interest and kind comments :)

After removing the engine masking I made a horrible discovery:

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Some of the white had bled under around the engine pylons, argh! Not wanting (or having time) to re-mask and spray the green I touched it up by brush, not perfect but good enough from a distance.

Anyway, I'm now on with the decals. The majority of the stencils are on (from the Revell sheet), mainly underneath, and the Frontier ones are in progress:

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The tail decal I've applied so far (just visible in the above shot - terrible lighting angle, sorry!) is extremely reluctant to conform to the fin, despite numerous washes of Micro Sol.

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I'll see how it is tomorrow, but if no better I might have to try something stronger on it, and hope for the best!

Mike

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When all else fails, use just-boiled water. Dip a soft cloth or fine sponge in the water, then press straight down on the decal without any side-to side motion. Press and hold for 20 seconds or so to encourage the decal to conform to the underlying detail, then lift the cloth straight off.

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When all else fails, use just-boiled water. Dip a soft cloth or fine sponge in the water, then press straight down on the decal without any side-to side motion. Press and hold for 20 seconds or so to encourage the decal to conform to the underlying detail, then lift the cloth straight off.

Nice one Jessica! It worked a treat :)

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I used a piece of kitchen roll dipped in recently boiled water and held it onto the decal for a bit. It also helped it sink into the panel lines. There was no damage to the decal whatsoever.

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I have found a problem with the FRONTIER text along the fuselage though...

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I don't think it's related to the temperature as I'm sure I didn't use the hot water treatment on all these pieces (no need). It looks like either severe and widespread silvering or that the colour has been lost to some of the text. Any ideas anyone?

One thing I'd recommend to anyone doing a scheme with the door frames as part of the decals is to fill the recessed lines for these on the plastic. As you can see above there is a mismatch between the decal and the kit, I'm not convinced I've got it right or wrong, but the text is already down to the wing and the decal door is way up.

I've also just noticed that I forgot to fill the upper wing A321 split flap line :doh:

Apart from the above shock, the decaling is nearing completion. Only the cabin windows and one or two other stencils to add (wings have since been done).

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All set to complete this week, ahead of the deadline (just!) :)

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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All done!

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It wasn't the quick 'n' easy build I was expecting, and it's not turned out as well as I'd expected to be honest. Having said that, it'll look fine in the display cabinet and is my only small scale airliner, plus the scheme is lovely :)

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More pics in the gallery.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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Well done Mike, looks very pretty. Glad to see you overcame the decal problems, does look like silvering on the Frontier lettering - could you get any Klear behind the decals, maybe start where the panel lines are and lift the decal slightly? I've managed to do that a few times but you need to be very careful not to split the decal.

Now this distraction is finished just one word - Comet! Had a look at my Welsh Comet the other day but it went back to the stash, I need to see yours finished to give me a push to do the same.

Steve

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Thanks Steve!

I'm still puzzled by the silvering, but agree that's probably what it is. I doubt I'll be able to lift the decals, they are pretty much glued on (no complaints on that front!). I might try some remedial work but I think it's probably going to be fruitless. From normal viewing distance it's not that visible though thankfully.

And yes, now it's back to the Comet, I want to get it done before the Helo GB starts!

Mike

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I've just been doing exactly that on an Amodel Antonov 24 and managed to lift all of the affected decals.

Wet a large brush with Klear and push the bristles towards the edge of the decal. If there is a panel line under the decal, start there as your're more likely to get the liquid underneath. Gently work the brush under the decal until the silvered area has been wetted again. Remove the excess Klear with kitchen roll and hopefully the silvering has gone.

I understand you not wanting to wreck your 'Bus so it might be worth trying it out with some spare decals first, but I've had a good success rate with this even after decals have been applied for a while.

Steve

Edited by BritJet
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