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1965 Britten-Norman Islander


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An update on the Islander. The windscreen fitted with very little effort, it just clipped in although it needed a wipe of filler top and bottom. I have decided to continue with the 2 main sub-assemblies to make painting the fuselage easier. These were given another coat of Mr Surfacer and a top coat of Mr Colour gloss white. 

Meanwhile I have been busy making the decals. Whilst the yellow Aurigney scheme is appealing, it doesn't really fit into my collection. I have decided to go with Mount Cook airline as part of my New Zealand founder collection. Here are the decals printed yesterday. I have printed the Mount Cook Lily on clear and white film so I can decide what to use later. 

 

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The eagles are for my AT37 in the 80s Front line Asia Group build. 

Colin 

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Glad the canopy was a breeze . Just goes to show how each kit differs. 

 

This is one of those aircraft you could model all your life and not do every scheme.

 

Boy..... does this aircraft call for a group build .

 

Cheers

Dick

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Yes Dick,

Amazing to compare our 2 different kits. Presumably something to do with the rate of shrinking of the original plastic. Still it's all part of the fun. 

A BN Islander group build? Hmm plenty of schemes but not sure I'd sign up! 

 

Colin 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress is happening with the Islander build but not too exciting. The base coat of Mr Surfacer gloss white was over coated with Character white which is a bit less bright than normal white. I have added 7 layers of tape to mask the fuselage stripes. 

20190908_161439

Colin 

 

 

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Wow - look at the masking! that looks so even and time consuming however it'll pay huge dividends once finished Colin. This was always looking like a great build and it's getting better with every new post. Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

Cheers.. Dave  

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9 hours ago, Jinxman said:

That red is very....red! 

 

Is that a Hi-Tech Mystere I see in the background?

Red enough to find if crashed on a glacier! 

 

Well spotted,  Yet it's the box of a Hi-tech Mystere, built in the NATO 1950s group build earlier this year. Box still in service. 

 

Colin 

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Stripping came out well. I had a bit of bleeding under the tape at the base of the final but I knew this would be a problem area so put extra pressure on the seal.

 

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I painted some clear decal film with the blue, yellow and red while I had the colour in the airbrush. I'll use this to make strips for the engine sides as they are too confined to paint and poor fit precluded pre painting. 

 

Colin 

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Wow.. that masking has turned out hugely successful from these photos and is something that many modellers (especially me) would never attempt. Well done, this is turning out very nicely indeed. 

 

Cheers. Dave 

 

 

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Looking good. Surprised to see the fin marking under the masking. I take it  it was an expendable item??

 

By the way, did you know that OldModels decals in New Zealand do decals for this kit now.?

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2 hours ago, Paul J said:

Looking good. Surprised to see the fin marking under the masking. I take it  it was an expendable item??

 

By the way, did you know that OldModels decals in New Zealand do decals for this kit now.?

When I make my own decals I always make a few spares. This time I made white and clear roses so had plenty spare to help masking. I wad sure the dark blue stripe would show through even the white decal, hence the mask.

 

I found some 1/72 decals but I'm not aware of any 1/48 decals for this scheme. I avoid buying decals as they are expensive and I only use a few on each sheet. Far better to make your own. 

 

Colin 

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17 minutes ago, Colin W said:

When I make my own decals I always make a few spares. This time I made white and clear roses so had plenty spare to help masking. I wad sure the dark blue stripe would show through even the white decal, hence the mask.

 

I found some 1/72 decals but I'm not aware of any 1/48 decals for this scheme. I avoid buying decals as they are expensive and I only use a few on each sheet. Far better to make your own. 

 

Colin 

Old Modeil decals added the 48th Islander to their range about the time of the kit release. 

Wish I could make my own???!!!

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7 hours ago, Paul J said:

Wish I could make my own???!!!

Ain’t that the truth.. I spend way too much money on decals, although I doubt I’d be able to match the quality so would probably end up disappointed with the final result... then think I should have just bought then anyway! 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

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10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Ain’t that the truth.. I spend way too much money on decals, although I doubt I’d be able to match the quality so would probably end up disappointed with the final result... then think I should have just bought then anyway! 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

I spend way too much on decals too - they're a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, I have a habit of buying decals for aircraft I don't have a kit for. But then lots of decals aren't available for very long and stockpiling decals I like for kits I might buy in the future kind of makes sense - the kit will be available much longer than the decals - two of the models I've built this year have been kits I've found to go with decals I've had for years. That's how I justify it to myself anyway!

 

When I've tried making decals myself, and really put the effort in, I've been pleased with the result. It's worth doing, but can be pretty time consuming.

 

Back to Colin's Islander - it's looking fantastic - if it was me I'd have probably bought the Oldmodels decals, but you're showing we don't need them.

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Well it comes down to whatever you enjoy. I do buy AM decals but usually only national insignia.  Colour matching is quite hard and the concistancy of ink jet colour is not as good as you might hope. Black or red letters are pretty easy to make though and with plenty of free fonts on the web a lot is done for you. 

The challenge is to print white of course. I just used my own technique in the 80s Front line Asia Group build to finish the Eagle artwork on a Thai AT37. No decals available so printing your own is the only way. 

Colin 

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