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FINISHED! Revell Airbus A330-300 KLM 1:144


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Right, my first WIP topic. Normally I'm only active in the Dutch ModelBrouwers forum, but I was persuaded to post a WIP here as well :).

 

I usually build vintage civil aircraft (i.e. VC-10, Trident, 707, etc.) and I'm especially a fan of Soviet build civil aircraft, but from time to time I build more modern aircraft as well (as stated before, my goal is to have at least one model of every type of civil aircraft that has room for at least 12 passengers and has a closed cockpit). As for the liveries, I try to build them in Dutch colours (KLM, Martinair, Transavia, Air Holland, etc.). If none of the Dutch companies has flown in it I just choose what I like or is available.

 

Since a few years ago I have made a rule for myself to only start a new build when an old one is finished. That has worked very well for me as I now actually finish models! There are still a few unfinished models from a few years ago though and the A330-300 is one of them. As such, I figured it's now time to finished it! I flew in the A330-300 in December 2011 to New York, albeit an A330 operated by Delta.

 

All right, let’s get started!

 

I’m pretty sure the A330 is well known amongst civil aviation enthousiasts, so I’m not going to write too much about the aircraft itself. It has been developed in conjunction with the A340 and in the A330-300 version there is room for 436 passengers. The two main versions are the -200 and -300 and the latest version will be the NEO. KLM operates both the -200 and -300.

 

The kit is from Revell. I'm not going to spend too much time to make it as accurate as possible (its an OK kit alread). I’m aware of the fact that the nose isn’t entirely correct and the winglets are a bit too straight. It doesn’t bother me too much, so I will leave it as it is in this case.

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The kit comes with PW engines, but KLM uses the GE engines. At first I was contemplating scratch building the GE engines, but luckily 26 decals supplies a resin GE set, so I bought those instead

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This was the state I left the model in 5 years ago. At the time I always left the windows open. I never leave them open now, so I will close them with putty. Normally I close windows outside in, but obviously that's not possible now anymore :p.

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The decals that come with the kit are excellent. Designed by Gaston Roca from Nazca Decals and printed by Cartograf.

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The KLM decals are from DRAW. I have used them before on my MD-11 and they are very good as well.

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The Corogard is from 8A decs.

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The window and cockpit decals are from Authentic Airliners

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The first thing I did was fill up the windows with filler. I used mostly Revell putty for this. I masked it with tape, so you don't get too much putty on the model.

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I did the same with the rest of the fuselage.

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The result after the first sanding session. It's been a while since I last did a widebody so my arm is aching from all that sanding!

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The first round of primer. I used Vallejo primer, which I generally use.

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As always, there are some seams left, so a second round of putty is necessary. In this case I use filler for cars, as you can sand it really smooth.

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The result after the second round of sanding....

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...and the result after the second round of primer. I'm happy actually with the result so far, apart from some small seams. That will be corrected in the third round of sanding/priming.

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And that's where I'm at. Plenty of work ahead of me. To be continued!

 

Regards,

Martijn

 

Edited by Malair
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Hi Martijn,

Looking good already!

 

Pity you're not going to correct the nose area as the Bra.Z replacement is excellent and I feel massively improves the look of the finished model.

 

I wish I could just work on one model at a time like you. I currently have 9 on, or near, my bench at various stages of completion! 

 

Will you be using the xtracolor KLM blue or do you have your own choice?

 

Looking forward to watching this progress.

Cheers,

Ian

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Hi Ian,

 

Thanks! Don't tempt me with the Bra.z nose :P, I might get it. the point is I think the nose from the Revell kit looks fine from the side, just not so much from the top. As I will mostly look at it from the side I figured it isn't worth the trouble. That being said, when I get around building the A340 (in the far future) I will probably use the Bra.z nose.

 

I will indeed be using the xtracolor KLM blue. I used it on the MD-11 as well and I thought it was a good match. I don't like the xtracolor KLM gray though. Too yellowish in my perspective. I will be using standard white with a tiny amount of black mixed in it.

Edited by Malair
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Nice to see another airliner modeller in our midst, welcome Martijn.

 

I like your priming and filling technique. I might give it a go if I can find a similar filler that you use to finish it. The KLM scheme is a nice one.

 

Watching with interest :popcorn:

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I'll follow this with interest, this model is one of a few that have been tempting me to build one plane of each type in the current QANTAS fleet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bank holidays in The Netherlands and as per usual for me that means modelling time!

 

Firstly I started doing the underside of the fuselage. The fit isn't too good, as you can seen by the putty leftovers.

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After the third primer round there still was a small crack visible. So more putty was needed (it took me a long time to get rid of that crack!)

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The vertical stabilizer and underside were good enough however, so they can be masked for airbrushing. I always use Tamiya tape for masking, which works really well for me.

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After the final round of sanding and priming, the small crack on top of the fuselage is finally gone.

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I also took care of the wings. Lots of putty and sanding necessary for the winglets and trailing edges!

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At any rate it's airbrushing time! (at least for the top of the fuselage). As with the MD-11, I'm going to use the Xtra Color X302 KLM light blue.

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And here the result. The model is slowly starting to look like something.

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As the engine cowlings have the same colour as the underside of the fuselage, they need to be taken care of before I can continue airbrushing.

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I first removed the surplus casting resin with a Dremel (while wearing a dust mask with sufficient ventilation! Resin dust is quite nasty.) and wet sanded the backsides. I then glued the halves together with superglue. The fit wasn't great as the two halves don't have exactly the correct shape (the back of the front halve is slightly bigger than the the front of the back halve). But we're modellers after all, so plenty of putty, sanding materials and musscle work will take care of that!

 

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In the end, I'm pleased with the result. Here you can see the engines in the resin primer (I use Mr. Resin Primer for that). On the second picture you can see nicely the difference with the PW engine.s.

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I have bad experiences with airbrushing directly on resin primer, so I now always put normal primer on top of the resin primer, which gives me trouble-free airbrushing results afterwards.

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Lastly (for now) it's time to airbrush the vertical stabilizer.

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And here we have the current status.

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I'm not too happy with the tightness of the paint at the white/blue border of the vertical stabilizer, so that will be corrected when I continue

 

To be continued!

Edited by Malair
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Looking good Martijn!

You certainly seem to have got lots done, it's a pity we don't all have more Bank Holidays!

Let's hope those seams don't reappear. :fraidnot:

Which colour do you use for the KLM grey on the engines and underside of the fuselage?

Not long until decal time:yahoo:

Cheers,

Ian

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Thanks Ian! Lack of time is indeed one of a modeller's greatest frustrations!

 

Can't wait for decaling and weathering myself. Usually my favourite part of the build. 

 

As for the colour of the underside and the engines,  I will use pure gloss white with a pinch of black (around 5 percent). That gives a very good result. I don't like the xtra color KLM light grey. Too yellow IMHO. The wings and engine pylons will be ModelMasters Canadian Voodoo grey.

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  • 1 month later...

Back from holidays and it's finally starting to be less warm in The Netherlands which means I'm finally able to return to the model.

 

The top of the fuselage can be masked as I'm now happy with the vertical stabilizer and top of the fuselage.

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The wings can now finally be attached. The gaps between the wings and fuselage are rather big, so they have to be taken care of with putty and sanding. Also, the wings have to be masked when airbrushing the underside of the fuselage.

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Adding the putty....

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...and the result after sanding.

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Once more the wings in the primer. For once, it was right the first time, so no second round of putty and sanding necessary. That means the wings can now be masked

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I use sandwich bags to cover the biggest parts of the wings. This saves on expensive masking tape.

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The fuselage has been airbrushed! I use ModelMasters Gloss white, with a smidgen of gun metal (I used the same combination on my MD-11). This gives the desired colour. I also airbrushed the engine cowlings.

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As the model is drying, I have the time to work on the landing gear. 

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I like the landing gear dirty, so I use this stuff to weather it. It is water-based and works quite well IMHO.

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After the fuselage had dried, it's time to masked the fuselage to airbrush the wings. Not easy with all those curves, but luckily Tamiya curved tape works wonders.

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I use ModelMasters Canadiaan Vodoo Gray for the wings and stabilizers.

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And then the present may be unpacked! It's starting to look like something.

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As per usual, the engines are a project in themselves. I used the weathering set from Tamiya to rust-colour the exhausts. The metal colour on the pylon is a home-made decal.

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She stands on her feet! I added the decal before attaching the stabilizers. I've also given the tail a weathering.

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The engines are done and have been attached to the wings. Normal super glue works best for this.

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I've painted the leading edges and added a light weathering to the wings and stabilizers. They will be weathered a bit more later on.

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As stated, the corogard is a decal. It looks nice, but a bit too dark for an aircraft on the ground IMHO

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Finally, decaling can commence! Draw's decals are excellent (those from Revell too by the way).

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The folks over at ModelBrouwers pointed out the KLM decal on the vertical stabilizer was to high. They were right (3mm too high) so I've corrected this. I also added the internet dome from Bra.Z.

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And this is where I'm at! Almost done, just a few more decals, weather and antenna's to attach before I can take the end result pictures. Hopefully this weekend.

 

Regards,

Martijn

Edited by Malair
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Terrific work Martijn.

This must be one of the few Revell airliner kits that I haven't got although having seen this build of yours I may have to address that problem.

 

Chris

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Thanks guys!

 

Had a little spare time so I finished the model! The pictures:

 

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Fun model to make and I didn't have too much trouble with it. The only thing I'm not so happy about is the Internet dome. The version from Bra.Z is tear drop shaped, while KLM's is more of a rectangle. I should have sanded it. Ow well, I hope it isn't too noticeable.

 

Next up is the DC-9-30 from Authentic Airliners in the colours of (of course) KLM.

 

See you next time!

 

Martijn

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Wow!  Superb job Martijn.  :clap2: I love the subtle weathering on the fuselage and the excellent photos.

 

The Revell A330 is a pretty decent kit and in the right hands it can turn into a masterpiece as you've shown.  

 

I look forward to the DC-9-30.  Are you planning another WIP? I don't ever remember seeing one built and it would be great to see how it's done.

 

Dave G

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Another stunner Martijn! Like Dave:cat: said I love the subtle weathering especially the dirt streaks under the windows.

(You shouldn't have mentioned the internet dome nobody would have noticed!)

 

I often see these high over my house on their way to and from North America and wonder if I should make one.

 

I'd better get a move on with my AA KLM DC-9, can't have you beating me to it as I've been working on mine for at least a couple of years. Are you finishing it in the white tail livery or the striped tail?

 

Cheers,

Ian

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Thanks guys, much appreciated!

 

Yes, I will be doing a WIP of the DC-9.

 

Let's see if I can beat you to it Ian :p. From first glance the kit doesn't look too difficult and as I will be doing the blue top, white tail livery not a too difficult paint scheme either. The metallic engines will take up most of the time I'll wager, but we'll see. Looking forward to your results as well, Ian.

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  • 2 years later...

Fantastic looking A330 Martijn👍 great job. Just had a quick question as I am currently working on CS-TOF, TAP's A330-200. Can anyone advise on what I need to do/take off on the winglets as they look shocking to me 🙄 thank you 👍

Edited by LPMA RWY05
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