Bristol Britannia education required please!

[Ray S]

Hello all. As you may have found out, I am not that well up on different versions of aircraft. I am currently building a VC-10 C.MkI.K (ish) and have had a great deal of help, for which I give many thanks. My next project is to be the Roden Bristol Britannia. I have the Britannia 175 series 300 kit (with the BOAC markings). I have found a set of markings by 26Decals for British Eagle which I flew out to Singapore in (or possibly back from Aden in)

 

http://www.26decals.com/144-759-British-Eagle-Bristol-Britannia-300-Laser-decal

 

I have a couple of questions for you:

 

1 - Will the Roden kit do for this scheme (it is for  Britannia 312), I am hoping that as the main kit is for the -300 it should be okay. I do not mind minor differences, I can live with those.

2 - The markings are Laser decals, so am I right in thinking it would need trimming close to the image due to over-all carrier film, and is there anything else I need to be aware of with laser markings? I know the difference has been mentioned here on BM recently between Laser/Screen printed, but for the life of me I cannot find the thread again.

 

Thanks for looking, take care all.

 

Ray

[Dave Swindell]

40 minutes ago, Ray S said:

 

1 - Will the Roden kit do for this scheme (it is for  Britannia 312), I am hoping that as the main kit is for the -300 it should be okay. I do not mind minor differences, I can live with those.

Yes

41 minutes ago, Ray S said:

2 - The markings are Laser decals, so am I right in thinking it would need trimming close to the image due to over-all carrier film,

Yes

 

41 minutes ago, Ray S said:

and is there anything else I need to be aware of with laser markings? I

Unless the decals are printed on white decal film (which yours aren't, they're on clear) the decals need to be placed over white paint for the best colour reproduction. This shouldn't be a problem for your Eagle Britannia as pretty much everything is over the white fuselage parts. The black decals will work fine over silver and light greys. You'll just need to be careful masking between the silver and white. 

Top tip scan and print the decal sheet and cut out the printed cheat lines etc to check you've got the demarcation in the right place before you start applying the decals - by then it's too late to adjust your paintwork!

[Turbofan]

Hi Ray,

I have made this exact model

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235020482-1144-roden-british-eagle-bristol-britannia-g-aovc/&tab=comments#comment-2705422

So yes that decal fits the Roden kit.

With laser decals you are right you need to cut close to the image but most importantly because they are translucent and not opaque like silkscreen decals they need to be applied over a white background. This means you can't overlap them or place them over two different colours as the base colour will show through so very accurate masking is required.

On the British Eagle Britannia the only tricky part is the white/bare metal demarcation which needs to be accurately masked to allow a thin white line below the red cheatline.

The best way is to photocopy the decal and cut out the cheatline and tape it in place to guide you as to where to mask for the white/bare metal demarcation.

Hope this helps.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers,

Ian

[robmck]

British Eagle leased 9 312 Britannias from BOAC in 1964 which were used on the trooping flights to Singapore, so you should be fine. Regs, G-AOVB/C/E/F/GH/M/N/O.

Plenty to choose from.

[Ray S]

Thank you all for those replies, it eases my mind on this topic. I will be starting soon. My only concern in the 'accurate masking'. I am better than I was, but there is still room for improvement!

 

All the best everyone, and thanks again.

 

Ray