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"Lady du Pont" Laker BAC 1-11 in 1/144 - another Airfix update


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Here is my latest update of a classic Airfix airliner, the BAC 1-11 finished to represent Laker’s G-AVBY as she appeared in 1972, a sort of early logojet. Before anyone asks, I have no idea who Lady du Pont was or why she was so desirable although my wife thinks du Pont was a brand of swimwear. Anyway, whatever Bravo Yankee was advertising I think she makes an attractive and unusual subject. (Edit - Thanks to @Dave Swindell for providing correct info about Lady Du Pont. See his post below).

 

The model would have been finished sooner but Covid -19 meant the eye surgery I should have had in March was delayed until August. My perspective was all to pot making close modelling work a difficult chore rather than a relaxing hobby and things like stringing aerial wires were a complete no. Now that I can see properly again Bravo Yankee is finally ready for inspection.

 

I used the replacement resin nose sometimes available from Ray Charles of Two Six Decals. While filling the seam round the replacement nose I also ran a bead of Milliput along the fuselage roof which Airfix have moulded almost flat and sanded it to a more realistic rounded profile. The APU exhaust and RDF fairings were easily made from plastic tube and sheet respectively and the fuel duct to the APU was added from stretched sprue.

 

The wing fences are inaccurately positioned for the production aircraft. I replaced them with brass fences from one of the PE detailing sets which Ray sold a few years ago and which I wish he would re-issue. Before fitting them the Airfix fences were removed and the raised wing detail sanded down and re-scribed. The Airfix landing lights were filled and wingtip lights added from clear sprue in the usual way.

 

The PE set also provided badly needed replacement engine fans as well as aerials and undercarriage doors.

 

Paint is Appliance White and Racking Grey from Halfords with AK Interactive Aluminium and a little Rub’n’Buff on the engines.

 

Decals are a mix - basically an old Flightpath sheet (I had forgotten how much I liked Flightpath decals) with Du Pont titles and logos from Classic Airlines. As always I used Authentic Airliners windows. AA provide the windscreen in four separate sections. I found these fiddly and difficult to align, not helped by a slight asymmetry in the resin nose, and eventually I applied the Flightpath one piece windscreen and overlaid the AA sections which means the cockpit is a little darker than it should be.

 

Thanks for looking and as always constructive criticism is welcome.

 

Dave G

 

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.... and finally posing with my other two recent Airfix updates - the Caravelle and the DC-9-30

 

50407119883_4a3f9aeee2_b.jpg

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Absolutely superb!   The One-Eleven is a type quite dear to my heart ever since visiting the production line in the '60s at Hurn.  I can see that your Caravelle and DC-9 have also been built to your exceptionally high standard - well done!

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43 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

I have no idea who Lady du Pont was or why she was so desirable although my wife thinks du Pont was a brand of swimwear.

DuPont is a synthetic fabric manufacturer, some of it's better know  products are Kevlar and Nomex

Lady DuPont was a 1971 advertising campaign/beauty contest.

become-lady-du-pont-2.jpg

 

Another excellent model there Dave from the old classic Airfix kit, and a nice twist on the standard Laker scheme

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Hi Dave!

 

Really good to see you back...and most importantly...in good health. From the looks of these beauties, your eyes are absolutely spot on!! Really love the 111. Most of the time, they don't catch the eye; but you have done a cracking job on this one...and it catches and HOLDS my eye! Really love the detail around the nose...and the cable antennae are quite a nice addition as well. I have but one complaint...the pictures seem to have been made in the shade, or possibly an overcast day. The sunlight would have made these builds so bright and even more beautiful! The display of the three Airfix kits is a very nice touch, too. Thank for sharing! :clap:

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20 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

DuPont is a synthetic fabric manufacturer, some of it's better know  products are Kevlar and Nomex

Lady DuPont was a 1971 advertising campaign/beauty contest.

...

Thanks for that Dave. £7000 in 1971 is just short of £100,000 today so whoever won the Lady Du Pont prize would have been rich as well as beautiful!

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22 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

Thanks for that Dave. £7000 in 1971 is just short of £100,000 today so whoever won the Lady Du Pont prize would have been rich as well as beautiful!

EFE23CdXsAEsp3v?format=jpg&name=900x900

EFE22s2XsAMS4yr?format=jpg&name=medium

 

The burning question is whether the winning swimsuit was Nomex or Kevlar?!

Oh, and anyone recognise the host?

Spoiler

Michael Parkinson

 

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Thanks again @Dave Swindell. It's great to have the slogan put in context but the picture and, indeed, the whole ethos of the competition puts me in mind of the quote from L.P. Hartley - "The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there." 

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Hi Dave,

Another beautiful model (and the 1-11 is nice too)! I had those Flightpath decals but passed them on a while back, kind of wished I hadn't now!

As Paul says it's always nice to see detail like the antennae on an airliner.

Interesting story about Lady du Pont, I wonder if she ever got to fly in 'her' plane.

Out of interest were the AA cockpit decals smaller than the FP ones? I always feel AA are slightly undersized.

Cheers,

Ian

Edited by Turbofan
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Hard to believe that's the old Airfix kits.

 

As for Parky - thank goodness Operation Yewtree has been wound down. Was he giving away any Parker Pens at the time? they were really sought after in 1971.

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Superb looking BAC-111 in a very classic scheme. Prompting me to resurrect my 111 build, which is almost ready for paint, but has sat back stage while many other builds have progressed. I even have the beige and blue BUA decals ............

 

Very neat looking Caravelle and DC9 also.

 

Great stuff

 

Terry

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Va-Va-Voom !!! Talk about eye-candy ! 😍

 

8 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

50407119883_4a3f9aeee2_b.jpg

(...and for those of you who thought I was talking about anything else, you should be ashamed of yourselves.  😇)

 

Seriously impressive BAC 1-11 there Dave. :thumbsup2::thumbsup2:

 

Really hard to believe that it's the Airfix kit. (In fact, it's hard to believe that they're the Airfix kits).

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

mike

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Great to see the old Airfix kits being brought up to standard, and a very high standard at that. A man after my own heart Dave!

It's also a reminder of the variety of airliners we used to see, Caravelle, DC-9, 1-11 and many more on the ramp at your local airport in the 70's!

 

Cheers

 

John

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Hello Skodadriver,

Immaculate finish on these former civilian workhorses.

Regards, Orion / The Netherlands.

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Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement which is very much appreciated :). Thanks again to @Dave Swindell for the additional information and, no, I have no plans to build Big Bunny!

 

22 hours ago, Challenger350Pilot said:

Hi Dave!

 

Really good to see you back...and most importantly...in good health. From the looks of these beauties, your eyes are absolutely spot on!! Really love the 111. Most of the time, they don't catch the eye; but you have done a cracking job on this one...and it catches and HOLDS my eye! Really love the detail around the nose...and the cable antennae are quite a nice addition as well. I have but one complaint...the pictures seem to have been made in the shade, or possibly an overcast day. The sunlight would have made these builds so bright and even more beautiful! The display of the three Airfix kits is a very nice touch, too. Thank for sharing! :clap:

Thanks Paul. Your point about photos in the shade is well made. I normally take my photos in the same sunny spot in the garden but the bush which forms the backdrop is currently covered in bright red berries making for a distracting and annoying background! Hence the move to a different and shadier spot.

 

21 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Dave,

Another beautiful model (and the 1-11 is nice too)! I had those Flightpath decals but passed them on a while back, kind of wished I hadn't now!

As Paul says it's always nice to see detail like the antennae on an airliner.

Interesting story about Lady du Pont, I wonder if she ever got to fly in 'her' plane.

Out of interest were the AA cockpit decals smaller than the FP ones? I always feel AA are slightly undersized.

Cheers,

Ian

Thanks Ian. Freddie Laker never missed a chance for publicity so I wouldn't be surprised if Bravo Yankee took Lady du Pont on her Italian holiday. It's scary to think that Her Ladyship is probably somebody's grandmother by now!

 

The AA cockpit side windows are a bit smaller than the Flightpath ones. If you look closely at the model you can see a distinct dark border but it's passable from a normal viewing distance. Everybody seems to have their own ideas about the size of 1-11 cockpit windows - Flightpath are significantly different from 26 and both are different from Classic Airlines. For overlaying purposes Flightpath seem closest to AA.

 

1 hour ago, Viking said:

Great to see the old Airfix kits being brought up to standard, and a very high standard at that. A man after my own heart Dave!

It's also a reminder of the variety of airliners we used to see, Caravelle, DC-9, 1-11 and many more on the ramp at your local airport in the 70's!

 

Cheers

 

John

Thanks John. I've definitely got the taste for upgrading old but basically accurate kits. A Boeing 732, a Trident and a 1-11-500 are all at the planning stage and will draw heavily on your work. I also hope to produce a DC-9-50 at some point.

 

Dave G

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