Aer Lingus Boeing 737. Authentic Airliners

[Viking]

Aer Lingus Boeing 737

Authentic Airliners 1:144

This is the Authentic Airliners all resin kit, the most accurate Boeing 737 in any scale. They are pricey kits and I have long wamted to try one, and secured this one via e-Bay for a fair price. There are few parts, all beautifully cast and a small fret of photo etch to go with it. There were no instructions, which was not a problem for the main assembly, but left me wondering where a few of the etched parts were meant to go. This was an early release with a separate clear casting for the cockpit much like the Daco and Minicraft 737's have. Current kits are all-resin fuselages without the clear part, which I think is a better idea.

'With something else' - These 2 could frequently be seen parked near each other at airports in the early 70's. (Welsh Models Vac BEA 1-11 500)

This project did not run smoothly, every now and then I seem to get a 'jinxed' build, and this was certainly one of them! It is a beautiful kit and well worth getting, just try to avoid the errors I made along the way!

Troubles I had;

• Mixed my own Coroguard for the wings, and it looked too dark. Remasked, resprayed with lightened mix.
• Cockpit insert was fine and blended in well, fuselege sprayed with Appliance white. After a couple of weeks the join across the top of the fuselage began to show as a 'ghost'. Re-Milliputted it, blended it back in, reprimed, resprayed, remasked and redid the grey on the fuselage.
• The Appliance white on the fuselage then developed a 'micro-crazed' affect where I had re-filled the cockpit join. Happily this was solved with micromesh polishing cloths.
• I did not get the undercarriage right. the main legs were too 'stilty'. Cut them off, shortened and re-fixed them.

• Decals went wrong, I had to strip them off and buy another set. After the first attempt something did not look right. I realised that the cheat line was too high. The cabin windows needed to be lower, and the cheatline curve upwards to the cockpit window. The white paint under the green cheatline should be half the width of the cheatline itself.

I had to strip it all off, and order a new set of decals. On the second attempt, I lined up the cheatline with the white underneath it, and curved the front 3cm or so up to the cockpit windows. It is a subtle change but makes a huge difference. A picture speaks a thousand words. Upper - first wrong attempt. Lower - second correct attempt.

Another little 'gotcha' I noticed is that one of the Irish flags is upside down on the decal sheet. Simply cut if from the 'Aer Lingus Irish International' titles and rotate it 180 degrees, the green portion of the flag is always on the left.

Top one is ok, lower one needs correcting;

Well there were times when I nearly gave up on this one, but I am glad I persevered. It is a nice kit and a lovely looking livery, so don't be put off by my errors. I've now got an Authentic Airliners Boeing 707 to have a go at!

Thanks for looking

John

[geedubelyer]

Hi John,

I'm not really an airliner fan but I'm glad that folk post their builds as I'm often impressed by the quality of the modelling that goes into these beasties.

This is no exception. Your modelling skills are obvious. A real belter. I wish I was able to finish a model in such a tight, crisp fashion. What gets me is that there is nowhere to hide with these gleaming airframes. Whereas I might disguise my bodges with weathering, you airliner guys have no such luxury.

Maximum respect.

Cheers.

[HOUSTON]

STUNNING

[keefr22]

That is rather lovely John, & a finished model that makes all those trials well worth while!

Personally, I much rather clear cockpit windows and dislike solid resin fuselages - it puts me off F-Rsin kits & is now doing the same with AA's. But it's not that I haven't got anything else to be getting on with!

Superb little 737!

Keith

[Prenton]

That is very nice indeed. Reminds me of flying in these things from Dublin in the 1970's.

Philip

[MikeW]

She is a beauty John. Haven't had the pleasure of an AA kit yet - the 707 is on my 'just after I win the lottery' shopping list. Their detail is legendary.

Getting that cheatline at the correct level is a challenge on each build for me. I usually eyeball the masking, then oops, too low or too high. I let 'close enough' go, but looking at your example above, it is a huge difference on the completed build.

That Welsh 1-11 is none too shabby either!

Cheers,

Mike

[Skodadriver]

Beautiful work as always John. Thanks for sharing

[stringbag]

So glad you managed to overcome the annoying difficulties you have had with this one John.

Looks really good and well worth the effort I'm sure.

Catch you later.

Chris.

[mitchem]

That's another cracker under your belt John.

I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback to read about the "troubles" you had when building the kit - I'm afraid to say that your experiences sound very much like one of my standard builds !

Best Regards

mike

[stevej60]

That,s stunning(they both are) love these older schemes.

[woody37]

John, I don't believe you had any of these difficulties, being the model making machine you are, it just fell off the end of the line in perfect form....or at least that what it looks like!!!

Another lovely build and the first of the AA kits I've seen made up

Cheers

Neil

[michael301757]

what a magnificent result after a challenging build, super job.

[general melchett]

Lovely job John. Personally I much prefer these early schemes to the later gaudy stuff even though most have a challenging cheat line to deal with , (an age thing I suppose having seen all these liveries regularly back in the swinging sixties). It's frustrating when things happen but you've overcome them admirably as ever. Look forward to seeing the 707....

[noelh]

Very nice job. Made me all nostalgic. I'd always fancied making an Aer Lingus 737 in the original scheme.

Good spot on the reversed flag but then I was idly googling a few pictures of Aer Lingus 737s from the era when what do you know at least one had the reversed flag as supplied on the decal set. EI-ASF in fact. Another later picture of the same aircraft showed that it had been corrected. I wonder if Boeing got it wrong when they were delivered? Any other pictures of other 737s show the correct orientation. So if you were modelling ASF at least you could use the decals either way.

I

[Val]

Beautiful model

[Alex1978]

What a lovely 737 and a wonderful livery for it.

A great build

[Red Dot]

Not into airliners but that looks lovely

[Turbofan]

Hi John,

Glad to see another Authentic Airliners 737. My LH 737 started off as an EI 'green top' machine but I couldn't wait for the 26 decals to be released so I stripped it and finished it as the LH one I posted a while back. I love that kit!! I've got another one to build soon and the 26 decals are now available.

Interested to read about your trials with this model, I also have the odd jinxed build every now and then. The last was an Airfix VC-10 which was painted and ready for the decals when I put on one more Future coat, so it was nice and shiny, which went on far too heavy and ran all over the place. I panicked and tried to wipe it off while still wet but it was starting to dry and it looked a total mess. I then couldn't strip the paint off, it was Alclad white primer and nothing I had would touch it. I left it on the shelf of doom until one day I used some paint stripper on the kitchen cupboards and thought I'd give it a go on the VC-10. Lo and behold it worked like a dream and the model is now back on the production line and ready to be primed again. It'll be finished in Gulf Air early scheme sometime soon.

How are you getting on with the 707?

Ian

[KiwiRho]

Awesome baby Boeing. Great story on the decals, albeit a hard one, and good on you for ensuring it has the right look in the end.

Working on a 737-100 conversion of the Airfix 737-200 kit myself at moment (Ansett New Zealand, eventually). Apart from the major chopping and carving up of the poor little thing (left me feeling like John Wayne Bobbit's surgeon must have felt... ), the limitations of the Airfix kit are still all too obvious and thus I am jealous of your Authentic Airliners kit. You have shown it off for what it is is. Beautiful!

Well done, sir! You have inspired.

Edited July 6, 2015 by KiwiRho

[Team Aer Lingus]

Well done that's a Brilliant job of a Classic Lingus jet always nice to see an Irish airliner on here

Just a point regarding the decals there are pictures of the 200s with the Orange leading from the Left in the late 60's

many thanks for posting

Eamonn

[Viking]

Nice to see this one pop up again!

How are you getting on with the 707?

Ian

Sounds like your VC10 was as jinxed as my 737 Ian. There was nothing wrong with kit, just my constant mucking it up.

I have the 3 sections of 707 fuselage together and in primer. Work will resume at some point!

the limitations of the Airfix kit are still all too obvious

Thank you for the kind comments Kiwi. As it happens, I am working on some improvements to the airfix kit.

Lengthen the engines & fatten the pylons;

Scratchbuild a cockpit , wheel wells, and use a Daco clear cockpit glazing section

Some Airwaves galleys and scratch built passenger seats;

The rough idea coming together;

And where we are now. Still in progress but nearing completion.

(apologies for poor quality temp pictures, taken in fading light).

Just a point regarding the decals there are pictures of the 200s with the Orange leading from the Left in the late 60's

Thanks Eamon, that's useful to know. I couldn't find any pictures to confirm it.

Thanks for all the kind comments. I'd better get the AE 737 finished now, especially as I've started doing the same mods to another one!

Cheers

John

[keefr22]

John, you obviously know your 737's, but I seem to recall from an old IPMS Airliner SIG newsletter that the Airfix kit has, I think, one too many rudder hinges. I can't see if you've changed it on that fantastic AE 73? Apologies if this is teaching granny to etc. etc....

That is another stunning example of top airliner modelling!

Keith

[stringbag]

John, you obviously know your 737's,

That is another stunning example of top airliner modelling!

Keith

Go easy Keith !!!!!

Its a pain having to roll out the red carpet each time John calls around for a coffee and my poor back is playing up with all the genuflection.

It is a stunner I'll agree, but don't tell John.

Chris

[keefr22]

Go easy Keith !!!!!

It is a stunner I'll agree, but don't tell John.

Chris

OK Chris, we'll keep it to ourselves!