Airbus A320-200 Eurowings Europa Park ,Revell's first A320 kit in 1/144

[Alex1978]

This is the 1988 first release of Revell's A320.

Compared to their newly molded A320 its a real stinker.No real detail,thick plastic and every part on sprues that would rival even tree trunks.

 

When I was a kid,this was the only game in town when it came to the A320.

I tried,and failed, every time to build or even finish one properly back then.

 

Earlier this year I won an auction with 5 model kits and among them there was that nightmarish kit.

First I planned to resell it but then I remembered one thing...it had a tow truck in the kit,so I decided to keep it and tried to build it.

 

First thing that I did was replacing the original kit engines with proper CFM56 engines of current releases.The original kit engines are a complete joke.

The winglets are also way too thick and big,they were replaced as well.

As there is almost no detail on the fuselage,I looked for a livery that would hide most of the kits flaws.

PAS decal offers this cute and nice special livery for the Europa Park livery by Eurowings.

And because of the all blue fuselage,the missing details are perfectly hidden.

 

Painted with Revell blue 52,Revell 371 for the wings and 374 for the coroguard panels.

The decals are laserprinted and have no white backing.White decals are provided with the set,which must be applied first and the the original motives on top.

Between the decals I used Gunze Aqueous gloss varnish,and again on top of the rest to seal the decals and give it a nice shiny look.

 

Finally in my 4th attempt,I managed to build Revell's first A320 model.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Alex1978

[RMCS]

Lovley 

[Skodadriver]

Another gorgeous model Alex. I would never have guessed it was the original Revell kit.

 

In the summer of 2017 I flew on the original aircraft from Edinburgh to Munich, a flight I remember particularly for the very fast taxying followed by what felt like a full-power rolling take-off. The aircraft was only about half full and we went up like a sky rocket - great fun!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Dave G

[Abandoned Project]

That is so cool. Love the tow truck.

[Alex1978]

On 12/12/2020 at 23:40, Skodadriver said:

Another gorgeous model Alex. I would never have guessed it was the original Revell kit.

 

In the summer of 2017 I flew on the original aircraft from Edinburgh to Munich, a flight I remember particularly for the very fast taxying followed by what felt like a full-power rolling take-off. The aircraft was only about half full and we went up like a sky rocket - great fun!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Dave G

Thank you Dave.

Sounds like a cool ride.

Something similar happened on my Philippine Airlines A321 flight.We were delayed about 45 mins. due to the inferiour boarding staff in Ho Chi Min Airport.

We went from the gate to the runway at highspeed and the pilot just full throttle down the runway and with a DC-9 -like climb and full cruisingspeed,we really made an ontime arrival in Manila.Until then I was not aware that an Airbus can fly this fast...

Edited December 17, 2020 by Alex1978

[swralph]

Looks great.😀

[Team Aer Lingus]

Beautifully looking model but the tow truck steals it why oh why couldn't they put one in all their airliners 

 

thanks for sharing

 

regards

 

Eamonn

[Alex1978]

25 minutes ago, Team Aer Lingus said:

Beautifully looking model but the tow truck steals it why oh why couldn't they put one in all their airliners 

 

thanks for sharing

 

regards

 

Eamonn

Thank you very much Eamonn.

Yah,nowadays these extras seem not to be in fashion anymore with model companies,let alone a display stand

[tMikha]

Nice Eurowings BTW and interesting info about early Revell 320 kits.  Before this I thought that all Revell 320 were the same plastic and all difference was decals in boxes.  

And you wouldn't believe - I have the same one in collection and more of it - the reason for this livery was near the same as yours. The thing is that it was my very first model assembled about two years ago. (Revell A320 airBerlin kit).

So you understand what FIRST model looks like))))) It was painted with brush, and looked really terrible. First it was in Air Astana livery. And so once I decided to do some experiment to "resuscitate" the model. I removed undercarriage, engines and tail stabilisers. Then removed all that fat paint layers. So blue livery lets me hide most disadvantages. Unfortunately PAS doesn't give us windows edges but I plan to apply it from other decal-sheet. Now model is on the shelf but looks poor without windows edges. 

 

[Alex1978]

5 hours ago, tMikha said:

Nice Eurowings BTW and interesting info about early Revell 320 kits.  Before this I thought that all Revell 320 were the same plastic and all difference was decals in boxes.  

And you wouldn't believe - I have the same one in collection and more of it - the reason for this livery was near the same as yours. The thing is that it was my very first model assembled about two years ago. (Revell A320 airBerlin kit).

So you understand what FIRST model looks like))))) It was painted with brush, and looked really terrible. First it was in Air Astana livery. And so once I decided to do some experiment to "resuscitate" the model. I removed undercarriage, engines and tail stabilisers. Then removed all that fat paint layers. So blue livery lets me hide most disadvantages. Unfortunately PAS doesn't give us windows edges but I plan to apply it from other decal-sheet. Now model is on the shelf but looks poor without windows edges. 

 

Thank you very much.

I know what you mean.My first attempts with model building were terrible but I had a lot of fun,and that was the important thing and the reason I kept modelling for 30+ years since then.

PAS makes nice decals, sometimes they provide windows as well.The problem is,that they have no white background,therefore you need a white underground for them.Otherwise they disappear on the model.

[tMikha]

3 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Thank you very much.

I know what you mean.My first attempts with model building were terrible but I had a lot of fun,and that was the important thing and the reason I kept modelling for 30+ years since then.

PAS makes nice decals, sometimes they provide windows as well.The problem is,that they have no white background,therefore you need a white underground for them.Otherwise they disappear on the model.

Hmmm, in my sheet there were white backgrounds for mice-faces decals, thats no problem. But there was no frames for passengers windows - and it's most upset in this decal from PAS. Now I have some windows decal for 320, hope  I will apply it in few days and make a new photo session with it. Today model is incomplete without this decals, black windows on blue fuselage don't look good. 

And, BTW, 30+ years is great skill, my kind admire for this. I'm only 2 years in the theme))) 

Edited May 30, 2022 by tMikha

[tMikha]

On 13/12/2020 at 00:34, Alex1978 said:

This is the 1988 first release of Revell's A320.

It sounds really impressive! In 1988 I was 2 yrs old, that was still Soviet Union, I used to walk under table on my knees, and mom tried to catch me for feeding with Yugoslavian baby-meals. And 320 1/144 already was available! Now I'm an grown man with bald head, who supervises loading and ground handling of that 320-s! 

 

Sorry if I'm quite sentimental now, but sometimes dates shock me 😀

Edited May 30, 2022 by tMikha

[BerndM]

Great job with a lovely livery.

The tow truck is a nice addition.

Guess you mean Revell 371 instead of 317.

[Alex1978]

11 hours ago, tMikha said:

Hmmm, in my sheet there were white backgrounds for mice-faces decals, thats no problem. But there was no frames for passengers windows - and it's most upset in this decal from PAS. Now I have some windows decal for 320, hope  I will apply it in few days and make a new photo session with it. Today model is incomplete without this decals, black windows on blue fuselage don't look good. 

And, BTW, 30+ years is great skill, my kind admire for this. I'm only 2 years in the theme))) 

Yes,you are correct about the white elements for the mice faces.

I meant the decals in general have no white backing as it is comon with kit decals,such as the ones from Revell for example.

 

4 hours ago, BerndM said:

Great job with a lovely livery.

The tow truck is a nice addition.

Guess you mean Revell 371 instead of 317.

 

Thank you very much.

Oh,yes I meant Revell 371😊 

Thanks for the notice 👍

 

[busnproplinerfan]

Four tries was well worth it.