Eric Mc Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Having rekindled the bug to build some classic airliners (see my 707/720 thread) I have decided to try and finish off a few airliner projects which had ground to a halt quite a while ago. One of these is the S & M Viscount 800 kit. It is actually a very simple model with not that many parts. It's reasonably accurate in outline although a bit chunky. The nose needed to be rehaped slightly as it's a bit too blunt. I actually started it about four years ago (when on a break in my motorhome) and, after getting it assembled, put it away in its box and left it. However, it's back out of the box now and I've actually made some progress with it. I was a keen plane spotter in the 1970s and I have abiding memories of Northeast and Cambrian liveried Viscounts whistling their way over my house on their way in and out of Dublin Airport. This is the decal sheet I'll be using - I'm going with the Northeast scheme. This is the assembled airframe which has been primed and had the top half painted white and the white along the cabin windows masked off in preparation for the yellow to be applied to the cabin roof and tail fin. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 Sweet! What do you think about the kit and how it represents the Viscount? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gmat Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I have the kit. It is a very basic kit with little detailing, which is OK ,but let down by the too thick vertical and horizontal tail and wings. My kit only gives the early rounded nose. The F-RSIN kit has thinner tail, tailplane and wings, but needs to be cleaned up. The small parts like the landing gears are more detailed, but less distinct. It has options for the later pointy nose, too. Expect some extra work if you would like a Hasegawa 1/200 like result. Authentic Airliners used to have a 1/144 resin Viscount, but it is not even listed on their current catalogue. Sorry, that I couldn't give better news. Grant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 It's the only 1/144 injection moulded Viscount 800 in town and as far as I'm concerned, will have to do. I've seen them built up a few times and, to me, they do make a reasonable representation of the aircraft. I've done my best to reshape the nose - which to me is the most obvious error (if you want to do an 800 as they mostly looked by the late 1960s and 70s). Next time I build one (I have a few in the stash), I'll do a bit more work in thinning the flying surfaces. My emphasis this time will be on the final finish. I also have an F-RSIN Viscount 700 which I may have a go at before too long. I know what scheme I want to finish it in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gmat Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Sorry, not meant to dis and will follow with interest. Do you have the Eastern Express 1/144 Viscount 700? Looks nice. Thank you. Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 I think I do actually have the Eastern Viscount 700 (you can tell I have too many kits in the stash :)) Thanks for reminding me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Hi Eric Dad took his Command with BEA on these old girls Eric having to step back from Trident 1's & 2's at the time. He was very pleased to go back to props and enjoyed the twice weekly night stops in Gib or Malta while skippering on Viscounts. He used to race up/down the Mediterranean Steps on the Rock with his fellow crew during a turnaround in Gib in the days when they were on the Tarmac for 4 hours. Run a google image search on the painting called 'A Touch of Class BEA Viscount painting' for a trip back down a hot sunny Gibraltar afternoon memory lane. And yes Eric, this is a prompt to ditch those decals and grab a BEA set instead ! - Catch you online tomorrow night - JL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewW Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Pulling up a chair, I've a kit tucked away somewhere and always loved the Discount from the days I cycled to Dyce to see them in BEA colours in the 60's to flying in them in the 80's with BAF. Same aircraft on the same route . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 4 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said: Hi Eric Dad took his Command with BEA on these old girls Eric having to step back from Trident 1's & 2's at the time. He was very pleased to go back to props and enjoyed the twice weekly night stops in Gib or Malta while skippering on Viscounts. He used to race up/down the Mediterranean Steps on the Rock with his fellow crew during a turnaround in Gib in the days when they were on the Tarmac for 4 hours. Run a google image search on the painting called 'A Touch of Class BEA Viscount painting' for a trip back down a hot sunny Gibraltar afternoon memory lane. And yes Eric, this is a prompt to ditch those decals and grab a BEA set instead ! - Catch you online tomorrow night - JL I have plans for future Viscount 800s and a BEA one may very well be part of those plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 2 hours ago, AndrewW said: Pulling up a chair, I've a kit tucked away somewhere and always loved the Discount from the days I cycled to Dyce to see them in BEA colours in the 60's to flying in them in the 80's with BAF. Same aircraft on the same route . The Cambrian option on the decal sheet is G-APIM which I saw in a variety of schemes. It's the one now preserved at Brooklands in BAF colours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Nice choice , I remember the Viscounts coming in to land at Lydd in the 70s , lovely looking machines. Got a Mach2 kit in the stash. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Best of luck with the Mach 2 kit, 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Watching and cribbing Eric, my S&M Viscount sits abandoned since I reshaped the nose ready for a fresh dose of muse This might just be the impetus I need, lets see. I quite like the Eagle Airways marks in the box... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 The Eagle markings are a bit before my "spotting" days so I never saw an Eagle Viscount for real. When I'm building airliners I try to build ones that I did actually see at some point - although I will make exceptions now and then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 I remember the early BEA schemes and was watching as they changed to the red square livery too, but as the box came with the Eagle ones I might as well do it. I have never seen a Norwegian 'Rescue Queen' or a British Airways S-61N so it wont be difficult to have the Viscount in a scheme I dont know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 With all the changes made to British airlines in the 1960s and 70s, the same Viscounts carried up to four or five different colour schemes over their lives. G-APIM is a classic example. It would have started life with BEA Peony Red markings, then BEA Red Square. It might have carried BEA Speed Jack for a while. It definitely wore the Cambrian orange scheme, then the Negus British Airways scheme and finally ended its flying life in British Air Ferries colours. You could build at least four Viscount models all in different colour schemes but all of G-APIM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Good idea Eric, I have been doing this with Britannia's that I have been involved with. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimme Shelter Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 3 hours ago, perdu said: I remember the early BEA schemes and was watching as they changed to the red square livery too, but as the box came with the Eagle ones I might as well do it. I have never seen a Norwegian 'Rescue Queen' or a British Airways S-61N so it wont be difficult to have the Viscount in a scheme I dont know. never seen a BA S61N?..... you have sadly missed out there, they were wonderful and provided a real touch to any journey over to the Scillies back in the day before BA handed the route over.I made this years back to remember the experience 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 I never saw a BA S-61N for real but I did see a few KLM examples and also a Canadian one operated by Okanagan Helicopters. It was based at Shannon in the late 1970s operating flights connected with the oil and gas exploration that was going on in the Celtic Sea area at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 I'm looking forward to seeing this in the livery..... Going to look good! I picked up one of these a couple of years ago at a show, from the "Man in the Suit"! I managed to get the flaps deployed, ruined one prop and fitted a clear disc so she's running up No.1 engine. Maybe the props are a little bit iffy....? Let's see how you get on. As for the S61N, I got a job in Scilly picking potatoes and tractor driving, lemme see....... Summer of 76? And being a national carrier, the job centre gave me a ticket to get to the job. One way, I had to get my own return flight, but I was fairly flush by then anyway. Discount rate for residents and workers - £9!! Spent most of my adult life under the flight path of these. I watched the last flight coming in to Pz. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 Haven't tried to separate the props from the sprue yet. They look a bit flimsy. I should have a few Aeroclub metal ones as spares somewhere if needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Props at this scale are a bit tricky. I'm not detail obsessed and I thought they were OK with a bit of finishing and tidying up. But I don't go looking for issues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Fleming Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Welsh Models do some props, I bought a set last year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 The tricky part - once they are off the sprues, is painting them. These ones would be light gray with yellow tips and black de-icing booths. All a bit tricky in 1/144. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 Some progress has been made on the Viscount. The main colours are on but there is fair amount of touching up and tidying up required. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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