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Air New Zealand Dash 8-300 - +++ All done +++


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Well, I have got the first few markings on now.

 

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OzMods gave a very nice black and white guide (obviously!) for the colour scheme and transfers. It was great good fortune that I turned the page and read that there were special instructions for using them! A big warning, 'WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE ANY TYPE OF SETTING OR SOFFENING AGENT WITH THESE DECALS. AS IT WILL DESTROY THE DECAL'. Crumbs, that was lucky, so I put back my Micro Set and Sol, and, as a first for me, added some dishwashing soap to the water as the guide recommended.

 

They behaved very well, but, as notified, they did take a little while to release from the backing paper. Once bedded down into some of the soapy water, they slid around into position very nicely, and, with the aid of a damp cotton bud, nestled into the recesses very well indeed. Top marks to Ozmods for that!

 

I was very please with how the fern settled with the fuselage/fin interface, and, I hope I got it in the right position - it looks about right to me.

 

I hope the rest go as well later today.

 

Thanks for looking and the comments,

 

Ray

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  • Ray S changed the title to Air New Zealand Dash 8-300 - First decals on

Hello all!

 

The final transfers have been added.

 

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One thing that became apparent when I added the cabin windows, was that it looks like I got the black tail area just very slightly wrong, it is too far forward. Judging by the placement guide, the cargo/cabin doors aft should be bisected by the sweep of the curve of the black. Getting the window strip to allow that has meant that the windows start too close to the cockpit and allow only just enough space for the Link Air pentagon markings. this is my mistake, not the kits. I think overall I was about 5mm out, so I do apologise for that error.

 

The markings did work well again and once more have settled very nicely indeed. I can highly recommend them.

 

I have just spent a fun time cleaning up four of the wheels, and am trying to work out a way of holding such small, curved items securely while trying to sand the seams down. The nose wheels will be even more fun! I have also taken two of the spinners off the runners and added the fitting shaft, that at least will allow me to hold them a bit better when I try and smooth them up. I have decided to try and use the feathered prop option, as that would be how it is seen on the ground, and, apart from that, I think the props look to be moulded better than the unfeathered ones.

 

More soon hopefully,

 

All the best,

 

Ray

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  • Ray S changed the title to Air New Zealand Dash 8-300 - Decals are on

Today, I bit the bullet and built the feathered props. The spinners were plastic, the blades resin. The blades were incredibly fine, and cut wonderfully from their casting block. There were two spares (and one spare spinner), so I had a bit of leeway.

 

This is the difference between the plastic ' in flight' prop and the feathered version:

 

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I had been tempted to use the plastic ones, but the combo set is very much finer. I had to trim the blade openings in the spinner just a hint, and secured the blades with medium CA. Then it was the next awkward thing, masking the prop blades. Air New Zealand Dash 8s have what appears to be white/black/white stripes at the blade tips, so I painted the blades with acrylic gloss white, let it dry a while, then used a couple of strips of .7mm (I think) Aizu tape to protect the white portions. I then gave them a couple of coats of Revell Anthracite, and the hubs a coat of gloss black. It was with some trepidation that I then removed the masking to reveal:

 

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Don't look too closely, the blades are just very slightly out of alignment, but I think they are better than the in flight option. I needed to drill out the location holes in the engine nacelles, and thankfully I did not pop any seams!

 

I have also painted the wheels, they were fun cleaning them up. I used a light grey for the hubs, and good ol' Anthracite again for the tyres. Sorry about the image quality -

 

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I have also painted some trim on the nacelles, black around the intakes and at the rear of the engine pods too. There is not much to do now, so I am nearing the end.

 

That is it for now, thanks for dropping in,

 

Ray

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Looks smart.  I will have to be wary when I get to doing the black/white demarcation on my 787.  Been studying as many photos on line as I can to get an idea of how the two colours go.

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Thanks for those kind comments.

 

I am now calling this one complete. I had a few jobs to do, but all went very well. I needed to drill out the location holes for the wheels, there were small depressions, but I felt they could have done with being deeper. The wheels were fun to paint, but the hub was quite well defined from the tyre. When I did fit the wheels, all six touched the ground! Woww! The undercarriage doors fitted quite well, I used my own Dash 8 photographs to decided how the aft ones sat, I think they are not too far out. The props went in well, and needed just a hint of PVA to hold them in place. I painted the exhausts matt black, followed by gun metal and some Tamiya weathering powders, and stuck them in with more PVA, but, to be honest, the resin castings were such a snug fit they could have done without glue. They were exquisitely cast too! The final thing was to look on our Walkaround photographs for the port/starboard lights, and how to portray them It looked like they (the Quantas ones anyway) were clear covers and a couple of lamps, so I used a sharpened cocktail stick to put just a hint of colour on each wing tip.

 

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I am so glad I plucked up enough courage to make up, mask and paint and put the feathered props on. All in all, this OzMods kit was a delight to build. It is short run, and the packaging does say for experienced modellers. I have been modelling for over 50 years, so I thought I would classify! Now, somebody really good could get an absolute beaut out of one of these models. As for me, I am more than happy, despite the masking error for the black aft fuselage, and for the few areas where I should have cleaned it up a bit more.

 

Anyway, thanks for watching and the comments, they were always very much appreciated. I will start my Ansett 737 in a couple of weeks, I have a 1/48 Hawker Hunter to do first!

 

I will pop some more photographs in the Gallery shortly.

 

All the best, Ray

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  • Ray S changed the title to Air New Zealand Dash 8-300 - +++ All done +++

If I had a penny for every mile I had flown one of these I would have quite a lot of pennies. You've caught the sit and the overall look wonderfully well - I could be sitting in the terminal having a coffee waiting for my flight to be called  

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That’s a really good looking build Ray. I can hear those turboprops starting up just looking at it. Well done. 
Andrew

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