Airfix 1:144 Caravelle, Two Six 'Scandinavian' decals

[Viking]

This one is really a joint effort. I bought the decals to add to my collection of SAS machines, thinking it wouldn't be too difficult to track down an Airfix Caravelle to put them on.

.......well it was.

Happily the Britmodeller site came to my rescue in the form of Martin Hale who generously donated his Caravelle project to me. Martin had assembled the fuselage and wings, and done some rescribing but not yet attached them together or put any paint on.

I completed the assembly, extended the engines instead of using the kit supplied exhauasts, and filled in the cabin windows with cyano. I kept the clear cockpit glass. Lots of sanding and smoothing and she was ready for priming & painting. All this was done before Christmas 2012, when I put the Alclad on the lower fuselage. Guess what, it looked like it had been pebble dashed around the main undercarriage area Drat!.

I then stripped the whole thing back to bare plastic and started again, which is why it has taken until now. I had a number of irritating minor problems along the way, such as pulling the cockpit glass out when removing masking tape, and making replacement main gear doors from plasticard, painting them and then losing one. You know the sort of thing.

I thought the kit wheels looked a bit too skinny so Britmodeller to the rescue again, Mr Stringbag kindly donated a set of plastic wheels from his Tu-134 kit as it also contained resin replacements. They matched the Airfix wheel diameters perfectly, but have a bit more body.

Decals from Two Six were superb as usual, a real pleasure to use. I chose LN-KLI 'Einar Viking' as I have an uncle called Einar!

Anyway trials & tribulations over, she is finished.

Special thanks to Martin for his generousity in making this project possible

I can never resist a two ship pairing;

Thanks for looking

John

[raguk]

Cracking Build!!

This kit had to be one of the first I ever built myself as a youngster back in the mid 70's

Thanks for posting

Rick G

[Natter]

I think you have done Martin and Stringbag proud with that one. Classic.

[Mike]

I think uncle Einar would be very pleased - lovely job

[Buzby061]

A fabulous job on a really graceful aircraft.

Pete

[Guest]

Nice!

[woody37]

That's gorgeous John, you're knocking them out left, right and centre at the moment, every one a master piece !

Definitely the best Caravelle I've seen yet

[Viking]

Thnak you chaps, I'm having a good go at purging a lot of projects that have been on the go for a while now. Too many 'nearly finished' things lying around, I need to clear them as I want to get started on the WNW Sopwith Snipe. The Caravelle was 95% finished weeks ago, and pretty much completed during this week.

Sods law says I now notice that a pair of windows below the registration on one side have moved out of line. Funny I only spotted it after pasting up the photos this afternoon, I'll see if I can loosen them and put them back in line.

Cheers

John

(Tip - never take photos of your models, it always reveals flaws you hadn't noticed!)

[Julien]

Very nice

Julien

[stringbag]

I didn't realize this one was so far advanced John.

Lovely job too.

Chris.

[KLP Publishing]

That is gorgeous! Great build.

Kev

[Roof Rat]

Sweet, cracking build from a classic

RR

[jimbuna]

Very nice indeed.

[Graeme H]

Lovely job on the Caravelle

I'll see if I can loosen them and put them back in line.

Cheers

John

(Tip - never take photos of your models, it always reveals flaws you hadn't noticed!)

Better use your best Sargeant Majors voice then

The tip I always thought was taking photos of oneself

[upnorth]

That's truly gorgeous.

I envy anyone who can get an airliner model done that well, I've never been able to get them looking that good no matter how Many times I've tried.

[mekon]

Beautiful

[airdaniel]

Really nice Viking! Many grats. for Her. Thanks a lot John!

[mitchem]

can never resist a two ship pairing;

Thanks for looking

John

Thanks for posting John - Excellent stuff as usual

[Darren Rhodes]

Beautiful model of a beautiful aeroplane.

And nice to see a wonderful example of BM collaborating to make the sum better than the parts.

[robvulcan]

one of my favourite airliners and what a splendid job you have done. looks a treat

[madaboutmodels]

fantastic

[Mark]

John, they both look fantastic! The Caravelle surely was a pretty airliner, wasn't she?