1/144 Airfix DH Comet 4B

[Ventora3300]

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

You’ve done a great job so far Mike with what appears to be a nicely shaped kit. The Comet really was a pioneer in all sorts of ways and it’s a shame it’s remembered for more tragic events. Something tells me that Airfix are reluctant to step into the 1/144 Airliner market again, which is a shame as there is a host of excellent subjects that could invigorate the market. 

 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

Thanks for that, Dave. Hopefully the repairs and touch-ups will bring it up to a more pristine finish - the build has been a bit 'warts and all' but it's time to stop moaning and enjoy the final result. There is indeed a very interesting history behind the investigations into the early Comet 1 crashes, the development of crash investigation techniques and the better understanding of metal fatigue. It is no co-incidence that I picked a picture of a Comet 4 as my 'profile picture' for this Forum as I was reading up on it at the time I joined. I believe you work at an Airport in Aus - any visits from a Comet (DH106 rather than the DH88) in the past?

[Rabbit Leader]

No Australia airline operated the Comet, however I believe that our government was trying to push some of our airlines to tow the line and ‘Buy British’. If I remember correctly, Qantas sensibly chose the 707 over the Comet 4C which ultimately proved to be a wise choice. I’m pretty sure BOAC flew their later Comets down under or perhaps as part of a dual gauge Kangaroo route service with a change of aircraft between Qantas and BOAC somewhere in Asia. It’s been a while since I’ve read about any of this stuff so I’m a bit rusty! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[stevehnz]

A nice job on that Mike, I like the look of this, I've a couple in stock, one to do in classic BOAC scheme with blue tail, I'll need to add wing spur tanks & tip extensions for that one, the other will be a red tailed Dan-Air. Neither will get any photo etch aerials after reading this build.

Steve.

[Ventora3300]

1 hour ago, stevehnz said:

A nice job on that Mike, I like the look of this, I've a couple in stock, one to do in classic BOAC scheme with blue tail, I'll need to add wing spur tanks & tip extensions for that one, the other will be a red tailed Dan-Air. Neither will get any photo etch aerials after reading this build.

Steve.

Thanks, Steve. For the BOAC scheme on a Comet 4B, my story is that it was painted up in BOAC colours in error before this 4B ended up with BEA.  Quote from BEA Plans 6 Nov 1959, 'B.E.A. are due to take delivery of their first jet airliner, de Havilland Comet 4B G-APMB, the first of a fleet of seven. Like B.O.A.C.'s Comet 4s, deliveries are ahead of the contract schedule; original 4B delivery date was January 1, 1960' So I had planned a little forgery to change G-APMF into G-APMB. 

 

At the end of the day, the aerials do provide a bit of interesting detail on the otherwise smooth surfaces top and bottom  - the drilling of a tiny hole to glue them into made a big difference but you need better skills than I have at holding them in tweezers and not losing them - I'm sure you will make a better job. Also, I think there should be a double run of aerials along the top of the fuselage to the tail. I've still to fit the actual cables between the aerial posts along the top so still a chance to ping off what is left! Best of luck with your builds. Cheers. Mike

 

 

[Ventora3300]

Last touch-ups are done on the Comet and I also got round to picking out the 'skylights' on the top of the fuselage and putting in a representation of the reverse thrust outlets on the top of the outboard engines. I also dotted a bit of black on the fronts of the intake 'bumps' on top of the engines to give them a bit of depth. 

I used a very fine '00' brush to try to repair the registration numbers on the wings and 'amend' the no. to G-APMB so as to provide a cover story for the BOAC livery - you need steady hands for that sort of painting!  I can't say this went too well and I ended up counter-painting some silver again to try to tidy things up. All good practice, I suppose.

 

I used a sharp pencil to pick out the control surfaces on the upper and lower wings and the engine contours on the wing roots. The passenger stairs also got a bit of 'weathering' on the treads

 

 

Gave the Comet some gloss cote as a final seal. Aerial cable to put on then I'll post some pictures in the Gallery and move on!

 

 

Edited August 31, 2018 by Ventora3300
Additional Pictures.

[Lawzer]

Superb!!!! 👍

[zebra]

That looks lovely. Great to see an old Airfix airliner finished.

[nimrod54]

That's a great looking Comet, it looks fantastic in the early BOAC scheme. 

[BIG X]

Beautiful - I only remember seeing Dan-Air Comets 'in the flesh' at Manchester Airport.  She is 'a thing of beauty'

[Rabbit Leader]

+1 from me as well Mike. I really like what you've done here and it might even tempt me to grab one of these should the opportunity present itself. This GB has really made me stop and take a second look at some of these classic kits, not exactly a good thing for thinning out ones stash now is it? 

 

Cheers and well modelled... Dave 

[stevehnz]

I'm liking, classic elegance personified.

Steve.

[AdrianMF]

Very elegant - I love the BOAC scheme too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Graeme H]

On ‎21‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 18:50, Rabbit Leader said:

No Australia airline operated the Comet, however I believe that our government was trying to push some of our airlines to tow the line and ‘Buy British’. If I remember correctly, Qantas sensibly chose the 707 over the Comet 4C which ultimately proved to be a wise choice. I’m pretty sure BOAC flew their later Comets down under or perhaps as part of a dual gauge Kangaroo route service with a change of aircraft between Qantas and BOAC somewhere in Asia. It’s been a while since I’ve read about any of this stuff so I’m a bit rusty! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

Not 100% correct there Dave, Qantas did wet lease 6 Comets during the late '50's early '60's only put on the Qantas name kept the UK reg 

 

http://www.aussieairliners.org/dh comet/g-apdl/gapdl.html

 

and Hawkeye even do the decal for it

 

CDS142

http://hawkeyemodels.com.au/wp-content/themes/hawkeyemodels/contents/Site.htm

[Rabbit Leader]

Well that's got be stumped Graeme! I've only just received my 30 year service pin (with said company) and was not aware of these Comets being leased to Qantas. To think that an aftermarket decal sheet also exists has me somewhat embarrassed. I'll admit, most of the staff I work with have no idea of the airlines history, but I would have placed myself at the higher end of this nerdy aerogeek pack. I must go and do a little research to scrub up on this particular period, let's just hope it doesn't take me on another web search in the hot pursuit of an Airfix Comet!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave  

[zebra]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Well that's got be stumped Graeme! I've only just received my 30 year service pin (with said company) and was not aware of these Comets being leased to Qantas. To think that an aftermarket decal sheet also exists has me somewhat embarrassed. I'll admit, most of the staff I work with have no idea of the airlines history, but I would have placed myself at the higher end of this nerdy aerogeek pack. I must go and do a little research to scrub up on this particular period, let's just hope it doesn't take me on a another web search in the hot pursuit of an Airfix Comet!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave  

Even with 30 years' service you can safely say the Comets were before your time! Funnily enough I came across a reference to Qantas Comets earlier today in a thread on the aviation history forum on Pprune. There was also some discussion about Qantas chartering Britannias, including a photo of a BOAC Britannia with an 'on charter to Qantas' decal applied. The thread is here: https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/610616-boac-london-melbourne-1960-a.html

 

Sorry for the thread drift @Ventora3300. Thanks to your lovely model and the Qantas Comet discussion I want to build a Qantas Comet now.

[Ventora3300]

6 hours ago, Graeme H said:

Qantas did wet lease 6 Comets during the late '50's early '60's only put on the Qantas name kept the UK reg 

 

http://www.aussieairliners.org/dh comet/g-apdl/gapdl.html

 

and Hawkeye even do the decal for it

 

CDS142

http://hawkeyemodels.com.au/wp-content/themes/hawkeyemodels/contents/Site.htm

 

3 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Well that's got be stumped Graeme! I've only just received my 30 year service pin (with said company) and was not aware of these Comets being leased to Qantas. To think that an aftermarket decal sheet also exists has me somewhat embarrassed. I'll admit, most of the staff I work with have no idea of the airlines history, but I would have placed myself at the higher end of this nerdy aerogeek pack. I must go and do a little research to scrub up on this particular period, let's just hope it doesn't take me on another web search in the hot pursuit of an Airfix Comet!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave  

That's an excellent piece on information Graeme H (not thread drift by any means) but bad news for you, Rabbit Leader, as this historic connection between the Comet and Quantas will work on you until you have a kit finished and on display. At least you'll be able to make a better job of the 1/144 PE now that you've seen it in action. (I'm reminded that I am already down for a Brittania for your 'In the Year I Was Born' GB so if I go for a 'leased' version then there is a chance I could get some new decals to work with rather than these old exploding ones)😀. 

[Ventora3300]

21 hours ago, Lawzer said:

Superb!!!! 👍

Thanks, Ian. You are too kind as I know where all the rough spots are on this model. Anyway, all good modelling fun!

16 hours ago, zebra said:

That looks lovely. Great to see an old Airfix airliner finished.

Thanks Zebra. It is a simple but great kit after all and a wheels up version on a stand would also look good - maybe on a flight to Aus??

15 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

That's a great looking Comet, it looks fantastic in the early BOAC scheme. 

Much appreciated, John. Yes, the early BOAC scheme came from the US boxing and you don't see many of those around. I actually got the decals sent over from the US as well.

14 hours ago, BIG X said:

Beautiful - I only remember seeing Dan-Air Comets 'in the flesh' at Manchester Airport.  She is 'a thing of beauty'

Thank you, Steve. Lovely lines on the Comet and nice and noisy when taxiing I seem to remember. I'm still looking for a b/w photo I took of one at Edinburgh Airport last century.

13 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

+1 from me as well Mike. I really like what you've done here and it might even tempt me to grab one of these should the opportunity present itself. This GB has really made me stop and take a second look at some of these classic kits, not exactly a good thing for thinning out ones stash now is it? 

 

Cheers and well modelled... Dave 

Many thanks Dave and you will definitely be tempted after getting those links from Graeme H. I am coming round to the view that the early kits were all about getting a (quickly) finished article that looked good to the eye for discerning kids and something that could then be worked up to the level of detail that suited the individual. Laser accurate detail was not on the agenda! With all these kits about, there is no way but up for the stash! 

12 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I'm liking, classic elegance personified.

Steve.

Many thanks, Steve. The sweep of the cheatline under the nose was one of the surprising high points for me!

9 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Very elegant - I love the BOAC scheme too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers, Adrian. It is pushing me to get out the Airfix 707 and 747 as they are both in BOAC colours but I can't cope with any more exploding antique decals just at the moment!