A rather "Red" A320- Taylor Swift

[cathasatail]

Taylor Swift "Red" A320- Revell 1:144

 

 

Hi everyone!

 

After over a year in the making, I have finally completed my second (first being a Concorde) airliner kit!

 

The subject in question is an A320 of AirAsia's fleet which was repainted as part of the Asia leg of Taylor Swift's Red tour.

However, one stumbling block stood in the way: there were/are no decals available for this particular aircraft (not that I expected there to be any!). And so, with that in mind, I plunged into the build.

 

The initial steps were to build up the fuselage and wings so as to get a guide from which to create the decals in terms of dimensions. Despite being a terrific kit with excellent surface detail, I did have some trouble trying to remove the fuselage join lines (although that is more likely due to my inexperience, at the time, with using filler for small gaps).

To create the decals I used a few sheets of inkjet waterslide decal paper- designing the decals, printing them, spraying on several coats of Microscale "Liquid decal film", dipping in warm water and sliding on. Three problems presented themselves in quick succession.

 

Problems:

-Firstly, the decals slid around quite a bit once applied to the surface of the model (despite dabbing away excess water and giving it a quick brush with "Decalfix"

-Secondly, the transparency of the decals was certainly noticeable- especially when applied across the red/white demarcations

-And thirdly, after a period of drying and a quick gloss coat, the decals started to develop wrinkles and slight imperfections.

 

Solutions:

The first problem was solved by giving the decals a gloss coat before moving onto the next one, although this could have contributed to the problems of wrinkling (alongside being applied to a curved surface).

To solve the transparency issues I decided to cut out a stencil to the exact dimensions of the to-be-applied decal and use that to spray a base coat of white; this helped with both decal placement and solved any transparency issues that arose.

 

The "Taylor Swift" lettering in this case was done by spraying an initial base coat of white, followed by careful application of hand-cut letters made from Tamiya tape and a spray with red and then a final gloss coat. After multiple failed attempts with the "AirAsia" lettering I settled on using a hand-cut stencil and using a brush to go over that and refine the edges.

 

Enough talking, time for the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Would I recommend the kit? Yes. With superb surface details and attractive looking decals in the box (I used the Etihad boxing), it's a jolly good kit!

Would I recommend building this particular aircraft? If you're a huge fan of her music, go right ahead . If not, then the motivation to persevere with the decals and stenciling might not be as great.

 

Thanks for sticking with me on this, and thanks for dropping by!

Best wishes,

Sam

 

P.S: Fulfilling a life goal of getting to go to one of her concerts adds tremendously to the building "mojo"

 

 

[MartinSK]

Nice A320 in very attractive scheme!

[Vinnie]

Super work on those decals., Well done.

[Abandoned Project]

Well done on the perseverance with the decals! Truly unique. 

[Habu12]

We all have our things. Digging the build, even if I can’t stand the music 😆👍🏼

[Skodadriver]

I don't know how I missed the WIP thread but I've now read it and many thanks for the helpful information about making decals.

 

The finished result is fantastic and fully justifies the work you put in.  I hope you don't mind one suggestion. The Revell windscreen isn't a good fit and if you build the kit again it might be worth thinking about filling it with Milliput and using a "photo real" windscreen decal from Authentic Airliners. 

 

Looking forward to your next airliner 

 

Dave G

[BIG X]

Hey Cat - that is really cool and VERY different to anything I've seen in a ling while