Welsh Models BAe Jetstream 41 Airlink 1:144

[Malair]

My newest build will be the BAE Jetstream 41. The 41 is a further development of the Jetstream 31, although it's more of a new aircraft then a simple stretch. The 41 is 4,88 meter longer than the 31 and can fit 29 passengers. It is a direct competitor of the EMB-120 and DO-328. 100 aircraft were build of the 41 (compared to 386 of the 31). Production stopped after 5 years in 1997. The 41 is still operational, though in Europe the only operators are Eastern Airways and Sky Express.

 

Anyway this is going to be the build:

 

The kit is from Welsh.

 

 

The parts are from resin and metal. There aren't many parts, so I don't think the build will take a lot of time. I have to say the resin is very well cast, although the engines and wings lack detail. No worries, because with some scratch building, decaling and weathering, one can improve the model quite a bit.

 

Instruction manual

 

The flight deck and window decals are once more made by me. While I was at it, I made the -31 flight deck decals as well (the 31 is also available by Welsh, which I also have in the stash).

 

Allright, let's get started!

 

Firstly I have attached the metal nose and the vertical stabilizer. The fit is really excellent!

 

The flap track fairings have been removed from the base (which went easier than expected (and glued on the wings. 

 

Added putty to the nose and vertical stabilizer.

 

The model will be only 13 cm long. Compare that to my recent A330-300 build!

 

I added a bit of styrene to the engines to give a little bit more detail to them

 

I always find it hard to make the direction finder loop antennae. I usually make them out of styrene, but I find it hard to sand round or oval because they are so small. I decided on a different approach this time. I used small droplets of superglue on the fuselage. I will let them harden and then sand a bit afterwards. I also sanded the nose and vertical stabilizer meanwhile.

 

The first priming round!

 

Little bit of sanding of the direction finder loop antennae and after priming it a second time, it does give me the result I was looking for (although not really visible on the picture)

 

 

I used a small straw to make the engine exhausts

 

The result after priming.

 

And that's the status at the moment! If all goes whel, she should be finished before the end of the year!

 

 

Edited December 19, 2017 by Malair

[Turbofan]

Hi Martijn,

Looking good! This looks like a nice quick build, and a different subject from your mainly Dutch aircraft.

How detailed are the undercarriage and propeller castings?

Love the window decals they'll add a lot to the realism. I know who to ask if I do a J41!

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

You are flying along with this one Martijn

 

I like the simple improvements you are making to add extra detail. 

 

I prefer these commuter size aircraft in 1/72 scale but I don't think anyone has done the J41 in that scale yet.

[Malair]

Happy New Year everyone!

 

My plan was to finish the model in 2017, but alas the flue got me first. Oh well, she will be the first model of 2018 then!

 

A small update:

 

I assembled the wings. The fit is really great! However, when I was sanding the wing fuselage link I accidentally dropped the model with this as the result:

 

Stupid, but of course not too big of a problem. Simply, one more round of glueing, filling and sanding of the nose :p. This is how she lookes after all is said and done:

 

I also started working on painting the propellers. They are very small, so hard to get right. I'm not happy with how I painted the leading edges (too thick), so I will redo those.

 

On 20-12-2017 at 00:03, Turbofan said:

How detailed are the undercarriage and propeller castings?

 

Hi Ian. The undercarriage is surprisingly detailed. Not super, but good enough in this scale. The propellers are not bad, but the leading and trailing edges are a little thick.

 

More updates hopefully soon!

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Malair

[Skodadriver]

Looking great Martijn. Hope you have recovered from the flu.

 

Any chance of a tutorial on the window decals? I’d love to know how you get such wonderful results.

 

Happy New Year from Scotland.

 

Dave G

[Malair]

On 1-1-2018 at 10:16, Skodadriver said:

Any chance of a tutorial on the window decals? I’d love to know how you get such wonderful results.

Hi Dave, that would actually be a Photoshop tutorial and there are plenty of those freely available on the internet. If you can master cutting, pasting cropping, skewing en colour balance, you are a whole lot on your way.

 

Sanding is completed, so the white gloss paint can be applied. It dried very quickly, so I could quickly apply the black for the leading edges of the wings and stabilizers.

 

I also decided to start on the landing gear and applying them to the fuselage. 

 

The forward landing gear is way too thick. On later pictures you will see I tried sanding it down, but it still didn't look right. In the end I decided to scratch a new forward landing gear strut, but you will see that result in the RFI, which I will post later this week.

 

 

Propeller blades attached...

 

 

Windows applied....Wait....that doesn't look right, does it?

 

Of course not, they are way too big! I scaled them wrongly. Luckily that is easily fixed as you can see below.

 

While waiting for the ink to dry I decided to start on the weathering on the wings. I use the following technique for this. First I use black water paint and go through all the grooves.

 

I let it dry for a bit and then use a wet cloth to remove the paint

 

If the cloth is not too wet and the groves not too shallow you get a nice "shadowy" effect and some nice dirt streaks as a bonus.

 

And here she is, almost done. Still some weathering needs to be done as well as various decals. As you can see the forward landing gear still doesn't look right, but has since been corrected.

 

Next up the end result!

 

[Malair]

she's finished! You can find the end result pictures here.

 

Thanks for looking and hopefully see you next time!

[HOUSTON]

EXCELLENT start....

 

 

 

Now off to see it in RFI.

[bootneck]

That really is a beautifully finished model Martijn.

On 19/12/2017 at 12:43, Malair said:

 I made the -31 flight deck decals as well (the 31 is also available by Welsh, which I also have in the stash).

I also have the Jetstream 31 kit and would like to build it as a Royal Naval version.  Does anyone know if I would just add the engine extensions, between the engine mount and the propeller; plus modifiy the nose, to make that early version?

 

Mike