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144 Boeing 737-4Q8 British Airways "Chelsea Rose"


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G-BNNL was delivered to Dan-Air (hence the designation 4Q8 rather than 436) in Jan 1989 and acquired by British Airways in Nov 1992.  In March 1995 ownership was transferred to BA's franchise partner GB Airways.  In the late 1990s it was painted in the "Chelsea Rose" variant of the "World Image" tail designs as seen in this model built from the Daco 737-400 kit.

 

Main paints used are Halfords Appliance White & Fiat Capri Blue, with various metal shades on the engines.

 

Livery decals from F-Dcal, windows from Authentic Airliners and leading edges and coroguard are kit decals.

 

20190808_163159

 

20190808_163426

 

20190808_163217

 

20190808_163252

 

and finally a "tails" shot of my four BA 737s.  The other three were built in the STGB last year but unfortunately the Chelsea Rose decals didn't arrive in time - so I was forced to visit Danny Coremans stall at Telford to get another kit for them.

20190808_163831

 

Regards

 

Mike

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Those World schemes really started to grow on me once they scrapped them! Blue Poole, Bennyhone, and Chelsea Rose are my favourites, so great to see one here.

Very nice quartet Mike, and chance of a shot of all 4 lined up?

 

Cheers

 

John

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40 minutes ago, Viking said:

Those World schemes really started to grow on me once they scrapped them! Blue Poole, Bennyhone, and Chelsea Rose are my favourites, so great to see one here.

Very nice quartet Mike, and chance of a shot of all 4 lined up?

 

Cheers

 

John

Hi John,

 

I don't remember these schemes (because I wasn't paying too much attention to aircraft at the time) but they make a change from a "corporate image".

Bennyhome might feature on a future model (and perhaps Bauhaus too).  I did a DelftBlue BA (Comair) 727 last year and have decals for a 777 in the same scheme, though that means using a saw to convert 777-300 to 777-200.

 

As requested, a shot of all four 737s

20190808_181345

 

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The World schemes were a bit of a shock when they replaced the staid and slightly boring Landor. I wasn't sure to start with but I became a fan when I discovered that Margaret Thatcher hated them! 

 

I really like the quartet particularly Chelsea Rose but they are all fine models. Excellent work, have a round of :clap2:

 

Dave G

 

 

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15 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

The World schemes were a bit of a shock when they replaced the staid and slightly boring Landor. I wasn't sure to start with but I became a fan when I discovered that Margaret Thatcher hated them! 

 

I really like the quartet particularly Chelsea Rose but they are all fine models. Excellent work, have a round of :clap2:

 

Dave G

 

 

Thanks Dave,

 

As I replied to Viking, I don't remember the designs but I do remember Mrs T disdainfully dropping her hanky over the tail of a publicity model for the new livery🤣

 

Mike

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4 lovely 737s!  All superbly done!  Thanks for sharing!

 

I think the problem with the World Schemes was that they took the flag off the Flag Carrier.  Ever the opportunist, this allowed Mr Branson to install the flag on all his aircraft and proudly declare the fact!  Something I believe he maintains today?  Commercially, that was a silly decision: artistically it allowed so many interesting schemes to replace the boredom of previous BA schemes.

 

Interestingly, out here in Hong Kong, a certain carrier that you will all know claims to be our flag carrier but refuses to carry the flag.  A (albeit in trouble) local competitor does: who is really the flag carrier and does it matter?  I think so as it states that this is the official airline of our country/city.

 

But back to topic, I really love all 4 schemes and the story behind the RFI was also interesting!  Excellent work!

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Just done a bit of research into your subject.  As I’m sure you are aware G-BNNL ended its days rather sadly, crashing as Adam Air 574 on 1 January 2007.  Can’t make out the serials of your other jets but your subject has become a very interesting one indeed.  Contributed partly to the demise of Adam Air, and other corrupt airlines in Indonesia.

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29 minutes ago, feifeitim said:

4 lovely 737s!  All superbly done!  Thanks for sharing!

 

I think the problem with the World Schemes was that they took the flag off the Flag Carrier.  Ever the opportunist, this allowed Mr Branson to install the flag on all his aircraft and proudly declare the fact!  Something I believe he maintains today?  Commercially, that was a silly decision: artistically it allowed so many interesting schemes to replace the boredom of previous BA schemes.  Perhaps they should have painted a small Union Jack near the rear door?

 

Interestingly, out here in Hong Kong, a certain carrier that you will all know claims to be our flag carrier but refuses to carry the flag.  A (albeit in trouble) local competitor does: who is really the flag carrier and does it matter?  I think so as it states that this is the official airline of our country/city. Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airways?

 

But back to topic, I really love all 4 schemes and the story behind the RFI was also interesting!  Excellent work! Thanks - time to model some BA Airbooses next?

 

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4 hours ago, feifeitim said:

Just done a bit of research into your subject.  As I’m sure you are aware G-BNNL ended its days rather sadly, crashing as Adam Air 574 on 1 January 2007.  Can’t make out the serials of your other jets but your subject has become a very interesting one indeed.  Contributed partly to the demise of Adam Air, and other corrupt airlines in Indonesia.

Your post #10 crossed my reply at #11!

 

I didn't realise at the time of choosing the registration that G-BNNL was subsequently involved in the Adam Air crash in Indonesia but did find that reference when searching for pictures of the aircraft.

 

There were only two 737-400 that wore the Chelsea Rose livery - the other one being G-DOCG .  As I had already done my first 400 as G-DOCH, and to get a little variety in the window positions, I chose G-BNNL.

 

The two 737-200 are G-BKYB (Blue Poole) and G-BGDF (Delftblue Daybreak).

 

Mike

 

 

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Hi Mike,

You've been busy lately! Nearly missed this one but I'm glad I caught it, I really like the Chelsea Rose design and just realised that I don't have any World schemes in my collection. Trouble is if I did one I'd end up wanting to do them all!!

The Daco 737 series are lovely kits aren't they? I'd love to see a sharp pencil run along the flaps to accentuate them a little and maybe a few streaks backwards over the wings though. Not a criticism just an observation.

So what's next in your BA collection?

Cheers,

Ian

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16 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Mike,

You've been busy lately! Nearly missed this one but I'm glad I caught it, I really like the Chelsea Rose design and just realised that I don't have any World schemes in my collection. Trouble is if I did one I'd end up wanting to do them all!!

The Daco 737 series are lovely kits aren't they? I'd love to see a sharp pencil run along the flaps to accentuate them a little and maybe a few streaks backwards over the wings though. Not a criticism just an observation.

So what's next in your BA collection?

Cheers,

Ian

Hi Ian,

 

I hadn't realised that you hadn't seen this one.  The Chelsea Rose was chosen with the other two as they all had a significant amount of blue in the design, so sort of matched.  Perhaps you could start on the World Tails when you've done one of every type in the Negus scheme.

 

Thanks for the suggestion re the pencil lines - that's easy to do but for streaks I need to practise on some spare mouldings.

 

As for what's next:

 

Three little Airbii under construction (one of each type) - they'll probably all be in the current livery and aircraft I've actually flown on.  Then there's a 747, 757, 767, 787 still sitting in their boxes - a couple of those might get a World Tail (Bauhaus 757 looks good).  Oh yes, and a British Airtours 707 to decal at some point.

 

Mike

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Cracking work there - (and the best choice of Airline too in my bias opinion - sorry I'm a share holder...) superb collection of tail fin liveries to finish off with. I probably flew on all of these at some stage back in the day

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1 hour ago, Gimme Shelter said:

Cracking work there - (and the best choice of Airline too in my bias opinion - sorry I'm a share holder...) superb collection of tail fin liveries to finish off with. I probably flew on all of these at some stage back in the day

Thanks,

 

I don't think I've ever flown on a BA 737 but I just liked the liveries!  To date I've only one model of a BA plane that I have actually flown on A380 G-XLEL built for the Airliner III GB in 2016.  Flew from LHR to YVR when it had only been in the fleet for a few weeks.

 

Mike

 

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  • 1 year later...

Lovely collection.

 

The World Images scheme (known internally as Utopia) was a great artistic statement but a dumb corporate statement. It also caused all sorts of practical problems both with maintenance and ground control as it was very difficult to pick out BA aircraft in the sometimes confusing melée that airports can be. 

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On 02/02/2021 at 8:38 AM, Back in the Saddle said:

Came across this thread whilst doing some research for a future build - what a cracking quartet!

 

Are there any other ‘World Tail’ additions to the collection yet?

Thanks Matt, there was a Comair 727 (also in DelftBlue Daybreak) finished just after the 737s;  sorry but I'm having issues at present using the tablet to insert a link.  Hopefully will get one working over the weekend.

 

Regards

 

Mike

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