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Weathering Airliners


Scotsman07

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22 hours ago, baldwin8 said:

This is a Lufthansa A350-900 D-AIXH and when I photographed it in summer 2019, already in service 18 months. Very clean.

I'm a ground engineer with Lufthansa in Munich...trust me, they don't look like that usually. But I must confess that the 350s are really pretty clean.

 

On the other hand...take a look at our 320s 🤦‍♂️

Edited by coneheadff
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53 minutes ago, coneheadff said:

I'm a ground engineer with Lufthansa in Munich...trust me, they don't look like that usually. But I must confess that the 350s are really pretty clean.

 

On the other hand...take a look at our 320s 🤦‍♂️

A dirty gear is a good gear! Dirt shows up the leaks. 

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It’s great to see someone wanting to weather an airliner. Airliner models are virtually always built to look pristine when in reality they are often filthy close up. As the photos show, gear gets caked in brake dust and grease, dirty grease streaks from flight control, slat, flap and speedbrake actuators, leaks from refill panels, black streaks from air conditioning packs etc etc. Hydraulic fluid seems to peel the paint too. 380s seem to have a particular problem with dirty water streaks running down from every window. Short haul aircraft round Europe are particularly dirty during the winter, especially when they are being regularly de iced. The fluid  is often coloured and gives some really interesting airflow effects (around the wing area especially). To see a clean aircraft is often really noticeable!


 

 

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My employer can be a bit tardy with paint touch ups.

 

qouGuJP.jpg?1

 

The low cost subsidiary aircraft with a mainline replacement panel installed. As well flaking paint on other panels. The area behind the landing gear wells is usually bad for collecting dirt. A combination of the airstream and rain, etc washing the dirt down.  

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What would really look good on a scale model would be an aircraft with replacement parts with different livery.

We have this with LH and had the same "problem" back with Air Berlin when they changed the livery. You get aircraft flying around with mixed engine cowls, radome...

 

There was a TUI B737NG flying in Air Berlin colors with a yellow TUI fan cowl and a blue nose cowl. That would be something 😁

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On 07/03/2020 at 14:33, baldwin8 said:

 

 

 

This is a Lufthansa A350-900 D-AIXH and when I photographed it in summer 2019, already in service 18 months. Very clean.

 

rhGhtam.jpg

Not surprised! When I send out parts to Lufty they  have to be spotless, blemish free not scratched, dents or ticky marks at all!!

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20 minutes ago, coneheadff said:

What would really look good on a scale model would be an aircraft with replacement parts with different livery.

We have this with LH and had the same "problem" back with Air Berlin when they changed the livery. You get aircraft flying around with mixed engine cowls, radome...

 

There was a TUI B737NG flying in Air Berlin colors with a yellow TUI fan cowl and a blue nose cowl. That would be something 😁

 

More common when airlines owns a subsidiary. ROB parts have to be returned to previous owner and hefty costs are charged each day a borrowed part is used by airlines.

 

mS6FTeg.jpg?1

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With the speak of landing gear, here's a video I just saw with a 777-300 walk around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyiXjyaZSvE

 

On 3/8/2020 at 4:45 PM, baldwin8 said:

 

More common when airlines owns a subsidiary. ROB parts have to be returned to previous owner and hefty costs are charged each day a borrowed part is used by airlines.

 

mS6FTeg.jpg?1

What's ROB parts?

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19 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said:

What's ROB parts?

When one aircraft (perhaps on long term maintenance) is robbed to provide a part to another aircraft. If it's from the same fleet the parts should be the same colour but as stated if it comes from an affiliate operator or is a pool supported item then it will be another colour.

I work for AirTanker and one of our leased civil aircraft, with Thomas Cook at the time (yellow engine cowlings), had a replacement front cowling for a couple of weeks from our stock in camouflage grey. Must have made an interesting picture for the spotters.

Conversely we've had a core military airframe fitted with loaned pool supported thrust reverser buckets on one engine for a couple of weeks, these were in gloss white which would suit a lot of civ operators and no one would notice but stuck out like a sore thumb on a camo'ed jet!

 

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So following on from my building of the engines the other day, I cracked on with the painting and weathering in readiness for the decals and eventually fitment to the wings. These engines are truly lovely, and a notable size difference is visible from the larger GE90-115s. 

 

These were again sprayed with Halfords Fiat Capri Blue and the metals are a mix of Revell Aqua colours. I came across a good photo of an engine that had what appeared to light grime streaks in the paintwork from where the reversers would be deployed on landing. I have tried to mirror this effect with some gentle sandpaper strokes. I hope it shows up in the photos, as it’s only a subtle effect. 
 

49650022796_96509be0dd_b.jpg


Also I have been able to crack on with more decals, and here is a final sneak peak now before it’s fully finished, which shouldn’t be too much longer now. It’s hard to imagine this kit was in 3 pieces just 4 weeks ago, contemplating my decision to do a conversion for the first time. It has been a challenge and something that I have enjoyed. It’s been a good learning curve, but also a great chance to develop some new skills. I hope this thread can inspire someone like me to begin their first conversion... and I hope that also like me, you won’t look back. Thank you for those that have been following my progress. I will follow it up with a series of photos in order of each stage of the conversion. 
 

49649484443_0662b17d29_b.jpg


Regards,

 

Alistair

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On 3/10/2020 at 5:56 PM, Scotsman07 said:

Here is some weathering I have tried on the wing surfaces of my BA B777-200ER... hopefully it looks ok.

The colours and appearance are spot on, but as you're trying to make it look as realistic as possible, I'd say the effects on the coroguard wing sections are too 'heavy' for the small scale. I would recommend you use the finest applicator you can possibly find, whether it's a brush or sponge or whatever you're using to apply the streaks.

 

For those fine streaks I have used dilute oil washes or preferably pastel chalks (the dry powdery ones) with a damp cotton bud to water down the effect. If you can just about see it, you've got it about right. But usual disclaimer, that's just how I do it, you do it how you want to make it look. 

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