1/144 British Airways A380's with 'What If' Utopia World Image Liveries

[AdrianMF]

It's looking impressive. I like the tail design too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Back in the Saddle]

On 07/06/2021 at 15:47, AdrianMF said:

It's looking impressive. I like the tail design too.

Thanks Adrian - it should look good once it's finished! 👍

Talking of which, I've neglected this build recently - too many models on the go and not enough time! I took advantage of the good weather today and sprayed the fuselage with gloss white:

 

 

I have also applied filler to the seams on the engines, in preparation for spraying the blue - I will paint all the blue bits at the same time.

 

Hopefully more progress soon!

[Back in the Saddle]

I have masked the fuselage ready for the blue, using 2mm Tamiya tape for the curves then low-tack tape to cover the remaining area:

 

 

I will give the fuselage underside another light coat of white to seal it against the tape before applying the blue, in the hope that this prevents any blue paint from seeping.

 

I have also sprayed the wheel hubs white and need to spray the belly and u/c doors next.

[Back in the Saddle]

I have started to spray the blue onto the fuselage:

 

 

However, I have a problem... This coat was applied about a week ago and ever since then I cannot get the same paint to spray from my airbrush - it just keeps blocking in the nozzle. As far as I can determine, everything is identical (paint consistency, ambient temperature, airbrush PSI, etc.) but it just won't come out! The paint I'm using is Xtracolour 322, which is now discontinued - if anybody knows a good alternative I'd be very interested!

 

I particularly like this paint as it (up to now!) sprays well and is a very good colour match - here's the belly panel on the model compared next to a couple of genuine skin offcuts from the 747 - as you can see, it is very similar:

 

 

I will have another go with this paint later and see if I can get it to cooperate...!

[Alex1978]

Thats a sad thing.I experienced this once also.

 

Check out Revell 52 or 54,not sure which one but one of the 2 is very close or identical to your paint as far as I can see from your picture.

 

Or you check some color conversion charts online to see if there is an exact match for Xtracolor

 

[Back in the Saddle]

In the past week the paint has ‘curdled’ - I’ve never seen this before…

 

No matter how much I stir, it remains lumpy with the solvent not mixing into it. I guess last week must have been the beginning of this process, even though it looked OK to use. I’m still not sure why it happened!

 

On 28/07/2021 at 12:57, Alex1978 said:

Check out Revell 52 or 54,not sure which one but one of the 2 is very close or identical to your paint as far as I can see from your picture.

Thanks Alex. I’ve only used Revell paints once and they were horrendous. Maybe a bad batch, but the gloss white was like Tippex and very stringy. I might have to give them another go! The kit instructions, from memory, suggest a mixture of two different Revell paints - I’ll dig them out and check.👍

[tomprobert]

That’s a nuisance about the paint. 
 

I have built a number of BA jets in the World and current scheme and Halfords’ Fiat Capri blue is an exact match. You’ll probably get 5 models painted from the one can, too!

 

Tom

[Back in the Saddle]

45 minutes ago, tomprobert said:

I have built a number of BA jets in the World and current scheme and Halfords’ Fiat Capri blue is an exact match. You’ll probably get 5 models painted from the one can, too!

Cheers Tom.👍

 

Ive heard it was a close match, I will try to get some later. Failing that, Revell’s instructions recommend 50% Revell 50 and 50% Revell 54 - I’ll try the Halford’s option first though!

[Back in the Saddle]

I visited Halfords but they had none in stock. Fortunately I was able to order it online and I can collect it on Tuesday - hopefully more progress is imminent!

[Back in the Saddle]

Good news and bad news...

 

The colour match is very good. Unfortunately the cellulose paint has (predictably) reacted with the enamel paint originally sprayed onto the fuselage...

 

I will leave it overnight to see how it looks once dry but a complete rub down and respray might be required...🙄

[desert falcon]

11 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Good news and bad news...

 

The colour match is very good. Unfortunately the cellulose paint has (predictably) reacted with the enamel paint originally sprayed onto the fuselage...

 

I will leave it overnight to see how it looks once dry but a complete rub down and respray might be required...🙄

Oh no, sorry to hear that! Hope you get this paint issue sorted soon, we are looking forward to see her done 🙂

[Back in the Saddle]

23 minutes ago, desert falcon said:

Oh no, sorry to hear that! Hope you get this paint issue sorted soon, we are looking forward to see her done 🙂

Thanks Johnny.👍

 

I had a another look just now and I can't see this improving overnight:

 

 

However, the paint only reacted on the fuselage - the belly panel also had a coat of Halford's 'Capri Blue' but was not affected at all. Maybe I was too heavy-handed when I sprayed the fuselage...?

 

I'll rub it back a bit now and spray it again tomorrow - more lightly this time! Failing that, a complete strip back to bare plastic will be needed.

[RCI]

3 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Thanks Johnny.👍

 

I had a another look just now and I can't see this improving overnight:

 

 

However, the paint only reacted on the fuselage - the belly panel also had a coat of Halford's 'Capri Blue' but was not affected at all. Maybe I was too heavy-handed when I sprayed the fuselage...?

 

I'll rub it back a bit now and spray it again tomorrow - more lightly this time! Failing that, a complete strip back to bare plastic will be needed.

if you allow, i can only recommend one pain, which is MR.PAINT stuff...best airbrush ready paint on the market, you will be delighted, i can promise that, using this stuff ONLY for 2 years now. You will however most likely have to mix the BA blue... but no issues like the one you have on this one...

[janneman36]

5 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Good news and bad news...

 

The colour match is very good. Unfortunately the cellulose paint has (predictably) reacted with the enamel paint originally sprayed onto the fuselage...

 

I will leave it overnight to see how it looks once dry but a complete rub down and respray might be required...🙄

If you like to do cellulose over enamel there is a way to do this !

Just do thin layers and I mean thin and let it dry ( you can do a few in afternoon) between each layer..wet layers will ruin the enamel paint and it can take some time but the result will be worth it !

Or leave the white enamel and replace it with a cellulose as well!

 

good luck, Jan

[Alex1978]

Thats bad.I encountered such things too,not funny...

A careful sanding and a polish with Tamyia Compounds should do the trick,and if you are still going to use the same paint,light layers sprayed should work.

[Back in the Saddle]

12 hours ago, janneman36 said:

If you like to do cellulose over enamel there is a way to do this !

Just do thin layers and I mean thin and let it dry ( you can do a few in afternoon) between each layer..wet layers will ruin the enamel paint and it can take some time but the result will be worth it !

Thanks Jan.👍

 

1 hour ago, Alex1978 said:

if you are still going to use the same paint, light layers sprayed should work.

Cheers Alex.

 

I took the advice on board and after rubbing it back I gave it several very thin coats. It worked - thank you for the advice.👍

 

The masking is now removed. Here's the back end:

 

 

And the front:

 

 

Out of interest, here is a skin panel from a BA aircraft and the belly of this model sprayed with Halford's Fiat Capri blue:

 

 

I think it's a match!

[janneman36]

You are welcome..

Good to see this fixed Matt and it looks good.

It is indeed a perfect match🏆

 

cheers, Jan

[Alex1978]

You are welcome.

Great to see that it worked.

 

That blue is spot on.

I wish we had Halfords available in Switzerland...

[Back in the Saddle]

On 12/08/2021 at 15:26, janneman36 said:

Good to see this fixed Matt and it looks good.

Thanks Jan.👍

 

On 12/08/2021 at 16:44, Alex1978 said:

Great to see that it worked.

 

That blue is spot on.

I wish we had Halfords available in Switzerland...

Thanks Alex. The advice from yourself and Jan was exactly what I needed to know and it worked perfectly. Halfords is my new favourite shop! 😁

 

I took the plunge today and printed the decals:

 

 

The BA logo in the middle and the nose gear registrations are for my 747 build; all the other decals are for this model. It's an A4 sheet, so quite a bit of material to work with!

 

The only issue I have had is that the decal film is mildly elastic and stretches slightly during application... I started with the rear fuselage tonight:

 

 

There is a minor mismatch due to the aforementioned decal stretching, which means the tail cone design is not completely symmetrical. As it's barely noticeable and I'm unlike to improve things by re-printing and re-applying the decals, I will probably leave it as it is.

 

Hopefully the fin will get completed later tonight.👍

[Back in the Saddle]

The fin decals are now complete:

 

 

I have since removed the artist's signature and will relocate this to above the five upper deck windows rather than below them - I think that will look better. Whilst it was intentionally placed at a slight angle, I will make it a bit less extreme next time...!

 

As the 'Utopia' livery evolved it became standardised to a some extent. The country represented by the artwork was added to the fuselage and the artist's signature started to appear beneath this, as illustrated below:

 

 

The underside of the tail is acceptable. I had hoped for perfect symmetry but it is slightly out due to the decal stretching during application and this gets worse towards the rear:

 

 

Work has also started on the front end:

 

 

The blue font is slightly too dark, but it's close enough!

 

Window surrounds are next.👍

[desert falcon]

That is looking amazing !!

[Back in the Saddle]

On 14/08/2021 at 22:23, desert falcon said:

That is looking amazing !!

Thank you! I'm quite pleased with how this is turning out.🙂

 

I've moved the artist's signature and applied a few more details such as window surrounds, doors, registration, etc.

 

 

A bit of a dilemma with the door decals - if I made them fit around the door outlines then the window area missed the indentation in the fuselage... I decided to position the windows over the indentations and accept the outline does not quite match the panel lines in the plastic. One major bonus with the window decals is that I no longer have to fill all the windows with Krystal Klear, which saves a lot of work!

 

The front has also had the rest of the decals added:

 

 

There was one decal I could not use - no. 102 was printed back to front:

 

 

As the other cargo doors have no decals I will leave this one off and not worry too much!

 

I should get the fuselage sealed later today and then remove the window masking.👍

 

 

 

 

[Abandoned Project]

Only just found this. Fantastic model. Good to know about the Fiat Capri blue. Kudos on the decals. Superb work on the articulated landing gear, I shall be using this WIP for my own A380's (yes plural). Keep up the good work.

[Back in the Saddle]

Just now, Abandoned Project said:

Only just found this. Fantastic model. Good to know about the Fiat Capri blue. Kudos on the decals. Superb work on the articulated landing gear, I shall be using this WIP for my own A380's (yes plural). Keep up the good work.

Thank you! I've enjoyed this one - my inner graphic designer has had a blast! The Capri blue is a great paint option for the BA scheme.👍

I have five more of these in the stash (!), so have a few more to produce - all will be in 'what if' Utopia liveries.

 

I had a look at the wing decals this afternoon and noticed a problem. Here's the painting diagram and the decals:

 

 

All the lines at the bottom of the sheet go around the painted corogard section. However, the corogard section is defined by these lines - they do not match exactly to panel lines on the wing... a chicken and egg situation! I don't fancy my chances by applying the decals and then masking up to them accurately without potentially damaging the decals - I know from my previous mistakes how fragile they can be!

 

My solution was to scan the diagram and the decals, then use these files Photoshop to produce something appropriate:

 

 

With luck, these will work (but I might need to do some more tweaking first!). I can apply the black line decals up against the edges of these sections and hopefully get the result I wish to achieve.👍

[Abandoned Project]

9 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I have five more of these in the stash

Don't worry, I have 8 747's with 7 on the go (to my chagrin) and now I have started 2 A380's and I'm planning a third. Please note, I'm not boasting, I'm confessing.

9 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

all will be in 'what if' Utopia liveries.

Good man! 👍 

I'm planning/hoping for all my Airliners to be What-ifs.