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Airbus A320 Etihad - Revell 1:144


Viking

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Airbus A320 Etihad

1:144 Revell

box.jpg


The first of the successful narrow body range from Airbus, the A320 flew commercially for the first time in March 1998, having completed its maiden flight in February of the previous year. Designed to compete for a share of the short to medium range market which at the time, was dominated by Boeing and Douglas with their B737 and DC-9 respectively, a production run of fewer than 1000 aircraft was originally intended. However, the success of the design, and the introduction of the longer A321 and shorter A319 and A318 derivatives has seen the A320 family become the worlds fastest selling airliner. As of April 2016, Airbus has delivered nearly 7000 aircraft, with a further 974 firm orders making this the worlds best-selling, single-generation aircraft programme.

The kit.
The Revell kit has been around for a while now, and has been issued in many different airline liveries such as Lufthansa, Eidelweiss, Air Berlin, and Condor. This latest release offers the rather attractive Etihad livery that has been recently introduced.
The box is in Revell's new 'black' style with a side view painting of an A320 climbing to altitude. The instructions have likewise been revised and are now in full colour on glossy paper.

instr1.jpg

instr2.jpg


The plastic parts are the same as previously issued, and are now beginning to show traces of flash in some areas, but nothing too serious.

The first of the two main sprues holds the fuselage halves and undercarriage components.

sprue1.jpg


The passenger cabin windows are moulded open, so you will need to decide whether to finish them with one of the liquid glazing products such as Micro Krystal Kleer, or fill them in and use decals. Glazing is provided for the cockpit windows, but without any framing on the decal sheet (apart from outlines for the two centre panes), or a 'solid' decal option. I always prefer to retain the clear option and mask it, so this is no problem. Others who like to use decals will need to take one from the spares box.

clear.jpg


The second sprue contains the flying surfaces and the CFM 56 engines, but the V2500 engine option on some previous releases have been deleted here.

sprue2.jpg


The trailing edge flaps on all the Revell A320's need a little modification to remove some of the smaller track fairings, and this is clearly pointed out in the instructions. Note also that the inboard flaps need the 'sub section' engraved oblong filling in.

instr3.jpg

The little 'winglets' on the wingtips are somewhat undersized, but larger replacements are easily fabricated from plasticard if you desire. All my previous builds of this kit have them, and it only takes 15 minutes to make a pair.

Decals.
The decal sheet is probably why most modellers will want to obtain a copy of this kit. Designed by DACO it provides a wealth of stencil detail, wing walks, door outlines, engine and pylon details, as well as the Etihad livery. It is all beautifully printed in sharp register and with excellent colour matching. Being a DACO design they should fit perfectly as well, no small consideration when considering all the decals to go around the rear fuselage and tail.

decals.jpg

dec2.jpg


The fuselage colour is suggested as mix of Revell's own paint, 75% White 04, 20% Orange clear 730, and 5% Aluminium metallic 99. Several other Etihad airliners have been posted on this forum over the last few years, and other suggestions may be available with them if you search. (My own Boeing 777 was done with nail varnish applied by airbrush). Whichever method you use, it is probably wise to mix up a batch and keep it for re-coating and touch ups.

Conclusion.
It is nice to have this kit back in such an attractive livery. The new upgraded box and instructions are also very welcome, and much clearer to read than the old instructions. Many of us will have already built at least one of Revell's A319/320/321 kits, so know that it is a trouble free build. The real 'icing on the cake' here is the beautifully produced decal sheet, and should produce a stunning model.

Recommended.

[EDIT] Under construction now ! Build log here [/EDIT]

Review sample courtesy of logo-revell-2009.gif

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Useful info Les!
I thought it was a but unusual to have removed the V2500's from the sprue. My other Revell A320 kits have both engine options in, so they could be taken from one of those. The A319 and A321 kits also have them as I believe this wing sprue is common to all 3 Kits, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find some if you want to do one of the V2500 equipped machines.

Sprue from the A320 'Eidelweiss' kit, V2500 engines on the right.

sprue2a.jpg

The sprue from the 'Etihad' kit;

sprue2.jpg

Cheers

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Useful info Les!

I thought it was a but unusual to have removed the V2500's from the sprue. My other Revell A320 kits have both engine options in, so they could be taken from one of those. The A319 and A321 kits also have them as I believe this wing sprue is common to all 3 Kits, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find some if you want to do one of the V2500 equipped machines.

Cheers

John

A small word of caution there John, although the wing for the A319 looks the same it isn't, Revell got it retooled to be the more correct wing without the small flaptrack fairings that are only on the double slotted flaps of the A321, the fact that whoever arranged the retooling didn't pass on the message clearly is a bit of a mystery, the A321/320 wings are interchangeable, but the A319 wing will only fir the A319 fuselage.

And you have to remove the small flaptrack fairings from all except the A321.

The Engines can probably be interchanged without any problems though..

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Hi Greame,

Just to clear things up a little here, as it looks like I might have started some confusion.

.. the fact that whoever arranged the retooling didn't pass on the message clearly is a bit of a mystery, the A321/320 wings are interchangeable, but the A319 wing will only fir the A319 fuselage.


I'm not suggesting that you use a complete wing from one kit to another, just that if you have a release with both engines, the 'spare' engines can be used on another kit as I did on my First Choice A321 a few years back, using CFM 56's from the A319 kit. (and have done others too).

A small word of caution there John, although the wing for the A319 looks the same it isn't, Revell got it retooled to be the more correct wing without the small flaptrack fairings


Of the 4 A319 kits I have in the stash (All BA boxings) they all still have the small flaptrack fairings that will need slicing off. Are there other releases that don't have them?

And you have to remove the small flaptrack fairings from all except the A321.


Indeed you do!

The trailing edge flaps on all the Revell A320's need a little modification to remove some of the smaller track fairings, and this is clearly pointed out in the instructions. Note also that the inboard flaps need the 'sub section' engraved oblong filling in.


10. The wings have the extra flap tracks of the A321 version, which need to be removed. A chisel type blade is ideal for this. Shave off most, and finish off by sanding. The engraved split flap lines also need filling in.

eti14.jpg



eti15.jpg


Comments are always welcome, I just wanted to clear up any misunderstanding that may have arisen, ;)
And I would be genuinely interested to know if anyone has got a release of the A319 without the small flaptrack fairings.

Cheers

John

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  • 6 months later...
On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 3:18 PM, Graeme H said:

A small word of caution there John, although the wing for the A319 looks the same it isn't, Revell got it retooled to be the more correct wing without the small flaptrack fairings that are only on the double slotted flaps of the A321, the fact that whoever arranged the retooling didn't pass on the message clearly is a bit of a mystery, the A321/320 wings are interchangeable, but the A319 wing will only fir the A319 fuselage.

And you have to remove the small flaptrack fairings from all except the A321.

The Engines can probably be interchanged without any problems though..

 

On ‎5‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 11:03 AM, Viking said:

Of the 4 A319 kits I have in the stash (All BA boxings) they all still have the small flaptrack fairings that will need slicing off. Are there other releases that don't have them?

 

 

 

I ran across something interesting, and this thread popped into mind.

 

While all the A319/A320/A321 kits do indeed have the small flaptrack fairings unique to the A321, the A319 does actually have a different mold for the wing. Take a look at the wing sprues for the A319 vs. the A320:

 

A319:

http://www.model-making.eu/products/Airbus-A319.html

 

A320:

http://www.model-making.eu/products/Airbus-A320-AirBerlin.html

 

The A319 has the ailerons and outer flaps molded into the top half of the wing, while the A320 bottom and top wing sections are exact halves. While I can't speak for the fit if interchanging wings, this is definitely something to keep in mind!

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