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Dan-Air Comet conundrum


stevehnz

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I've long had a soft spot for aircraft in Dan-Air colours & after seeing Paul J's neat thread on Old Airliners, & taking into account my new found enthusiasm for 1/144 airliners, I though a Dan Air Comet would be nice. I had dim memories of the Airfix one coming in these markings but then found the markings were a bit suspect. No probs, I thought, I'll buy a newer one & get some 26decals to do the scheme I want except they appear to be OOP, I'm now  only seeing the early scheme or later 4C scheme where the cheat line sweeps up to the tali colour on their website & being perverse, I want the red tail with the cheat line ending under the horizontal stabilisers. I know that Amodel do a 4C with the swept up rear cheat line but they're more expensive for something not quite what I want.

Do any of the airliner experts on here know of any options that will do this for me? I don't mind building a Airfix kit as opposed to an Amodel 4B, I can live with some lack of/not quite right detail & afaik, the Airfix kit is fairly accurate size wise. Any suggestions for alternative decal sources or work arounds welcome.

Steve.

 

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Hi Steve!

 

As an ex-Dan-Air employee I look forward to you finding these and building it. I remember the Comets fondly, having taken many flight deck trips on them in my time to, at least, Marseilles (a Comet 4 G-APDK), Gran Canaria, Bodo, Rome Ciampino, Catania Fontanarossa and Clermont Ferrand. 

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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Steve, why don’t you check with Ray at 26 in case he is planning a reprint?  He tends to let a silk-screen production run sell out and if there’s enough demand he may do a second run. I know he recently re-stocked the BEA Airtours B707 for example. Alternatively he might be prepared to do you a laser print. Ray is great to deal with and he’ll help you if he can.

 

Dave G

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I have both the Airfix and Amodel Comet kits - the Amodel fuselage is shorter than the Airfix - it is actually a 4 and not a 4B or 4C!

Edited by Scott Garard
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1 hour ago, Skodadriver said:

Steve, why don’t you check with Ray at 26 in case he is planning a reprint?  He tends to let a silk-screen production run sell out and if there’s enough demand he may do a second run. I know he recently re-stocked the BEA Airtours B707 for example. Alternatively he might be prepared to do you a laser print. Ray is great to deal with and he’ll help you if he can.

 

Dave G

Thanks Dave, good idea, i did wonder if that was a possibility so I will email Ray, I bought a Redcoat Britannia off him later last year & enjoyed the experience

16 minutes ago, Scott Garard said:

I have both the Airfix and Amodel Comet kits - the Amodel fuselage is shorter than the Airfix - it is actually a 4 and not a 4B or 4C!

Thanks for the heads up on that Scott, I'm guessing it would be similar to the one behind the 4B in this photo, but the decals in the kit would be wrong for it in that case? & still not the style I want.

Steve. 

Edited by stevehnz
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I built the Airfix Comet recently. It is definitely a very old kit (1960 or so) and the moulds are showing their age. However, once the plastic has been cleaned up and all the flash removed, it goes together fairly well. The main area that looks wrong (to me) are the jet exhaust which are solid and contain no detail - at all.

 

Airfix did indeed release the kit in Dan Air markings (in the late 1970s) and I built one of them back then. The cheatline came in two halves for each side. I found that that when the two halves were matched up on the fuselage, they were actually of unequal width - which was pretty rubbish.

 

If you have one of the newer red box releases, you will find that Airfix has amended the moulds to get rid of the passenger window apertures. I prefer this as I like using window decals on airliner kits.

The BEA Airtours and Olympic sheets found in the current boxing are very nice - except for the way in which the flight deck windows are depicted. They only provide the framing as Airfix expects you to use the kit transparencies for the flight deck. I didn't want to do that as I don't think the flight deck clear pieces are accurate or fit very well. My preference was to glue the windows in place, fill and sand them into shape and blend them into the fuselage. I had to paint a dark grey flight deck window outline and then hope that the flight deck framing on the decal matched the window shape I had painted. It did, just.

 

I posted up some pictures of the completed Airfix kit back in July 2017 - 

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235024435-airfix-1144-de-haviland-comet-4b/

 

 

 

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Hi Eric, thanks for that in sight into the Airfix Comet kit, I think I could cope with that. I've just been & had a squizzey at your Airtours job, nicely done & something I'd be happy to emulate. If I can come by some 26decals for the scheme I'm keen on I think they include the cockpit windows but in anycase, your method sounds very workable. :)

Steve.

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I emailed Ray at 26decals & he has said he intends to issue a revised sheet for the Dan-Air Comets in 3-4 months. I've asked for clarification of whether the new sheet will be sized for the Airfix or Amodel Comet kits, I believe the Amodel is fractionally underscale but wouldn't let that bother me too much, then it'll be time to go shopping for whatever kit will fit. :)

Steve.

Ray has confirmed they will be sized for the Airfix kit still, before I had posted this but I hadn't checked my emails for a bit.

Edited by stevehnz
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On ‎06‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 09:19, stevehnz said:

Hi Eric, thanks for that in sight into the Airfix Comet kit, I think I could cope with that. I've just been & had a squizzey at your Airtours job, nicely done & something I'd be happy to emulate. If I can come by some 26decals for the scheme I'm keen on I think they include the cockpit windows but in anycase, your method sounds very workable. :)

Steve.

I forgot that I actually has some aftermarket BEA Airtous decals which, in hindsight, I should really have used . I can't remember off hand if the aftermarket set is 2-6 or Classic Airliners. 

 

 

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It still came up pretty good. When I said i'd be happy to emulate your Airtours build, I meant the standard of modelling, not that I wanted to do an Airtours machine, so sorry if I created a misunderstanding there, I;m still after doing a red tailed Dan-Air job.

Steve.

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Quote

the red tail with the cheat line ending under the horizontal stabilisers.

 

D'you mean this one, Steve?

 

24704058527_ea8a25840b_b.jpgG-BDIX small

Comet 4C G-BDIX at East Fortune in Scotland. I'll give you a hint; I spent a lot of time at East Fortune, when I lived in Scotland.

Edited by nuuumannn
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I guessing you got to know it well Grant. It has the later scheme like 26decals do now & I think like Amodels do on their  purported -4C, which has been pointed out is short enough to be a -4. Not wanting to be seen as an ungrateful git but that is the scheme where the cheat line sweeps up around the horizontal stabs to meet the tail colour, the scheme I fancy has the cheat line ending in a tapered point under the horizontal stabs & no black around the cockpit windows, which makes them appear a bit thuggish to my jaundiced view. :) I know its hard to imagine something as sublimely beautiful as a Comet being thuggish but hey, it takes all sorts. :D

Steve.

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Steve, FWIW I have build the Airfix comet using the 26 Decals. I think the wheels in the kit are too thin, so built mine wheels up.

I think it looks so much better 'in flight' , showing off that beautiful streamlined shape without the u/c hanging down.

 

More in RFI Here

 

comet18.jpg

 

Cheers

 

John

 

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Utterly brilliant John, I do like that. definitely the scheme I'm after &  the one Ray intends re-releasing. I had seen Vulcancity's thread but unfortunately it has been photobolloxed so that photo of yours with the wings in preparation was really useful. That looks very doable, though whether I do it for a Dan-Air one or maybe a -4 in a BOAC scheme as well is an idea slipping into the thought stream. Thanks for sharing that.

Steve.

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2 hours ago, Viking said:

Steve, FWIW I have build the Airfix comet using the 26 Decals. I think the wheels in the kit are too thin, so built mine wheels up.

I think it looks so much better 'in flight' , showing off that beautiful streamlined shape without the u/c hanging down.

 

More in RFI Here

 

comet18.jpg

 

Cheers

 

John

 

How did you shorten the fuse length, and where did you make the cuts?

 

Thomo.

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1 hour ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

How did you shorten the fuse length, and where did you make the cuts?

 

Thomo.

 

Hi Thomo, there was no need. The Airfix kit is a 4B, and to make a 4C all that is needed is extended wings and a pair of pinion tanks.

The 26 Decals sheet covers both the 4B & 4C, so if you don't fancy doing the conversion you can use the decals on an Airfix kit 'straight from the box'.

 

Not that the upper one is a 4B without the wing tanks, while the lower is s 4C, with them. Fuselages are the same.

decals1.jpg

 

Cheers

 

John

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And don't forget Ray at 26 Decals does a nice set if resin wing extensions/pinion tanks if you want a 4C but don't feel like scratchbuilding the mods.

Comet 4C wings

I've not used them myself as they weren't available when I did my 4C, but they like an easy way of doing it.

 

Cheers

 

John

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20 hours ago, Viking said:

 

Hi Thomo, there was no need. The Airfix kit is a 4B, and to make a 4C all that is needed is extended wings and a pair of pinion tanks.

The 26 Decals sheet covers both the 4B & 4C, so if you don't fancy doing the conversion you can use the decals on an Airfix kit 'straight from the box'.

 

Not that the upper one is a 4B without the wing tanks, while the lower is s 4C, with them. Fuselages are the same.

decals1.jpg

 

Cheers

 

John

Doh!

 

It was the BOAC 4 that I had in mind, which I converted an epoch ago that I had in mind. Soz!

 

The pinion tanks and resin wing extensions were available were originally available from the Aviation Hobby Shop. I don't know if these are the same as Ray's parts.

 

Thomo.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Viking said:

And don't forget Ray at 26 Decals does a nice set if resin wing extensions/pinion tanks if you want a 4C but don't feel like scratchbuilding the mods.

Hi John,

I've just had a look at those resin extensions but it is not obvious which kit it is for.  Being a 4C upgrade, I would assume it is for the Airfix kit, could you confirm that?

 

Mike

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Hi Mike.

I know you addressed the question to John, so hope you don't mind if I chime in to confirm that the Airfix kit is the one you would need for those wing extensions.

I'm sure John won't mind if I answer on his behalf.

 

 

All the best

 

Chris.

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1 hour ago, Viking said:

And don't forget Ray at 26 Decals does a nice set if resin wing extensions/pinion tanks if you want a 4C but don't feel like scratchbuilding the mods.

Comet 4C wings

I've not used them myself as they weren't available when I did my 4C, but they like an easy way of doing it.

 

Cheers

 

John

They do look nice John, but unless Ray has had them re-mastered recently you get pinion tanks moulded onto the same size outer wing panels, not the extended panels that the 4C should have. IIRC the pinion tank is a tad undersized as well.

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1 hour ago, stringbag said:

Hi Mike.

I know you addressed the question to John, so hope you don't mind if I chime in to confirm that the Airfix kit is the one you would need for those wing extensions.

Thanks Chris, I have an Airfix Comet hence my query here.  I flew in a Comet 4C on my first posting to the Far East,  waaaayyyy back when, and am watching this thread for build guidance notes.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

B737-800?  :smirk:

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