Croatia Airlines “World Cup” A319 in 1/144

[Skodadriver]

I am gradually building my way through the current and former European national carrier airlines and here is the latest addition to the collection.

 

The final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was between France and Croatia. France won 4-2 but getting to the final was a tremendous achievement for the Croatian team and it inspired Croatia Airlines to apply celebratory titles to veteran A319 9A-CTL “Pula”. They brighten up what is already a fairly colourful livery and hopefully make for an attractive model.

 

The model is, of course, from the Revell kit. The build is OOB apart from replacement winglets and a few small details.

 

White paint is Halfords Appliance Gloss White. The blue lower fuselage, now sadly a thing of the past, is Halfords Gadget Blue. (It’s from the same range as Racking Grey). Airbus Grey is Holts HL Grey 01. Contrary to what is shown in the decal instructions, Croatia’s A319s seem to have plain grey wings which cuts down on the masking. Metallics are by Tamiya and Revell.

 

Decals are by BOA with Authentic Airliners windows (note that the cabin window spacing on the sheet doesn’t match the real A319 particularly around the emergency exits) plus some odds and ends from the spares box.

 

Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

Dave G

 

(Edit: New photos with corrected Croatian flag now uploaded)

 

 

 

 

 

With the opposition from the World Cup final, another of my national carriers collection

 

[Bangseat]

Beautiful work! So many great schemes for the A320. Keep going - you could probably do an A320 for every country in the world...

[Challenger350Pilot]

Beautiful build...AND presentation, Dave...as usual. Did you accent the rudder lines on the tail? Sure looks like you did...makes the tail stand out just a little bit...just enough to catch my eye and say...wow...and the sealing lines around the wing root...how is that done? Decal? Small pencil? Patience and a huge magnifying glass??? Thanks for sharing, Dave...really is beautiful. And I LOVE the last pic with Air France standing tall. You’ve got a large journey ahead building hour way through European national carriers! Enjoy! 
 

Paul

Edited December 7, 2020 by Challenger350Pilot

[swralph]

Fantastic looking model.😀

[SAT69]

Truly beautiful models. Congratulations!

[MarkoZG]

Nice work, but you positioned Croatian flag upside down. The colours are red-white-blue top to bottom.

[Skodadriver]

4 hours ago, MarkoZG said:

Nice work, but you positioned Croatian flag upside down. The colours are red-white-blue top to bottom.

Thanks for that Marko - very helpful. 

 

I didn't position the flag myself - BOA provide it as a combined decal with the registration and the EU flag so blame them not me! I just took it on trust and didn't think to check photos. I think I might have a couple of spares and if I can find them I'll fix the flags and re-take the photos.

[Team Aer Lingus]

That's a real beauty Dave very very nice well done

 

thanks for sharing

 

regards

 

Eamonn

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

What an attractive and well-built model!

Congratulations!

[Abandoned Project]

 

[mitchem]

Cracking build 

Cracking colour scheme 

Cracking photos 

 

What's not to like ?

[Skodadriver]

Thanks for your comments everybody - much appreciated as always.

 

I managed to find a couple of replacement flags - don't ever throw spare decals away, you just might need two 1/144 Croatian flags some day! The incorrect flags on the model have been replaced and new photos uploaded. Thanks again to @MarkoZG for keeping me right.

 

22 hours ago, Challenger350Pilot said:

Beautiful build...AND presentation, Dave...as usual. Did you accent the rudder lines on the tail? Sure looks like you did...makes the tail stand out just a little bit...just enough to catch my eye and say...wow...and the sealing lines around the wing root...how is that done? Decal? Small pencil? Patience and a huge magnifying glass??? Thanks for sharing, Dave...really is beautiful. And I LOVE the last pic with Air France standing tall. You’ve got a large journey ahead building hour way through European national carriers! Enjoy! 
 

Paul

 

Thanks Paul. Yes, I accentuated the rudder line slightly. I would have made it even more noticeable but there was a risk of damaging the overall fin decal. The sealing strip is done with decals from a Daco detail sheet which has been out of print for some time. My stock is dwindling and unfortunately Danny doesn't seem to be planning another print run. The only decal maker who usually gives you the sealing strip is PAS but they aren't always consistent and if space is at a premium on the sheet the strip will probably be omitted. The recent detail sheet from Authentic Airliners has the strip but it's a fairly expensive option and it includes a load of other stuff which is really only needed for the Zvezda A320/321 since the Revell kits come with good detail decals.

 

I've been working on the national carriers project for several years and I've covered most of the major airlines and quite a few of the smaller ones. The main ones still outstanding are Aer Lingus, Icelandair, Tarom and Czech Airlines all of which should appear in due course.

 

[RCI]

well done Dave, like that choice of livery. It is surprising at some point that it is actually possible to build a proper 319 out of this old revell kit.

Its always good to give your model some company... the air france is a good match, could be dirtier though

[Cessna]

Very, very nice model and great job!

About BOA decals, I informed BOA for wrong Croatian flag immediately after them published first production of Croatia Airlines decals and they send me correction flag decals and put this correction in all other sets. There is no correction in your set?

 

 

 

 

[Skodadriver]

Thanks @Cessna, glad you approve of the model!

 

There definitely wasn't a correction sheet with my decals. I bought the sheet from Hannants several years ago and it has been in my stash since. It was probably produced before the correction.

[Vince1159]

Lovely job Sd...

[MarkoZG]

Great you had a spare for correction. Once again, good job!

[Turbofan]

Hi Dave,

Got to agree with everyone else this is beautiful. I like the simple, yet original, livery. It's colourful and it's a pity they've dropped the blue belly.

I too like to see the sealing strip on an A320 family model it's a feature many models don't include.

I think it's about time I finished a baby 'bus as I don't think I've built one for 20 years!

Couldn't agree more regarding never throwing spare decals away, I've lost count of the amount of times I've needed spares from my old used decal sheets!

Cheers,

Ian

[Viking]

Very attractive livery Dave, simple yet colourful like Ian said.  You've done you usual perfect job, and given me the itch to build another baby bus myself! (I've got Air Malta retro and SAS retro n the queue).

 

Cheers

 

John

[Homer]

Excellent work well done 👏 

[buzz]

Lovely job as usual. 👍

 

Dave, do you clearcoat after decalling?  And do you spray everything straight from the can or decant and airbrush?  I use Appliance White from the can but am sure I'll get some hefty paint ridges if I then spray-can other colours on top.

Roy

 

 

[Skodadriver]

Thanks @buzz - much appreciated!

 

I don't usually clear coat my models unless there is a reason to do so. On the odd occasion when I do I use Klear or whatever it's currently called applied with a cotton bud or a 1/4" brush depending on the area to be covered. I know opinions differ about the practice of clear coating but in the past I had some nasty experiences - aerosol clear coat eating the decals, Xtracolor paint which had been "drying" for a fortnight crazing under Klear etc etc.  In my personal opinion clear coating is just something else to go wrong.

 

I always decant Appliance White, mainly because I buy the large 500ml size which I find just too forceful for spraying a model. I spray most other paints from the can - the Holts HL Grey 01 I use for Airbus Grey gives a better result from the can than I could achieve by airbrushing. The Gadget Blue on the A319's belly was from the can and I usually spray Racking Grey from the can. 

 

Again it's a personal thing but I tend to mask rather than spray one colour on top of another. With the A319 I gave it an overall coat of grey primer to show up flaws. Then I masked the lower fuselage and wings before spraying the white bits with white primer and Appliance white on top. I then unmasked the lower fuselage, masked the white and sprayed the blue. Finally I unmasked the wings, masked the blue and sprayed the grey. It's a long process (I always leave an absolute minimum of 48 hours before masking over new paint) but it minimises the ridge problem. Nothing will eliminate it completely but I find doing it that way keeps it to the level where a rub with Micromesh (usually 4000 grade followed by 8000) should take care of it.

 

It all comes back to the point that in modelling there is no "right" or "wrong" way, just what works for the individual modeller.

 

Dave G

[buzz]

^  Thanks, Dave.  Masking individual colours make sense, I'll give it a go. 👍

[Alex1978]

Beautiful and original,Dave.

Great build all around and together with the Air France Airbus a perfect match.

👍

You mentioned the clearcoating

I have very good results with Gunze Aqueous Premium Clear Gloss.

Its water based and it really gives a very nice shine .I add also a few drops of Gunze leveling thinner which helps to get a very smooth finish.And it also dries quite quickly once applied.

 

Alex