Azores Airbus A321neo LR 1/144 Magical Livery

[BluesModeller]

After 9 months or so and a few stops and starts I've finally completed my second 1/144 airliner.  The first being the lovely British Airways A319 which can be found on this forum.  The WIP can be found here:  

 

 

This is Revells new A321neo kit which has been converted to the long range version.  Nothing special required for this except for filling a door frame or two and a slight change to the panel lines.  The kit went together fairly well.  The only real issue was a slightly poor fit of the clear cockpit section.  Nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of filler and a sanding stick.  Overall the fit is good and a kit I can recommend.  The engines are the CFM Leap-1A engines and what a joy it was to place a 1mm swirl decal on a sharp point!!!

 

Paints used are Halfords plastic primer and Appliance White and a mix of Vallejo Model Air and Revell acrylics.  Humbrol Clear gloss varnish and Galleria matt was also used although the Humbrol seems to react with the Appliance White leaving a very fine crocodile skin effect which is thankfully not visible except with magnifiers and harsh light.  Decals are from Nazca Decals which I recommend highly and the stock Revell ones.  Also excellent.  And a big thankyou to our very own Turbofan for making me the wingwalk decals which are not supplied by Nazca or on the stock decal sheet.  Oh, and it's the fantastic Authentic Airliners decal for the cockpit.  I also had the cabin windows but they are smaller than the Nazca ones and would have a frame within a frame.  I'll save them for the upcoming BA A320neo when it drops in July.  Speaking of decals, watch the callout in the instruction manual as some decals are missing and others are numbered wrong

 

Couple of minor issues with the decals distorting over the wing root (I should have cut them up for better adjustment) and the Azores lettering on the rudder should be parallel to the rear of the rudder not the front.  That's what I get for following the Nazca decal placement sheet and not referencing photos as I had for the rest of the model.  I also had an issue with some blistering of the whale tail decals on the fin after glossing.  No idea why as it didn't happen anywhere else using the same methods.  I cleaned the model prior to decalling but I can only presume some kind of contaminant such as skin oils got under the decal.  It's barely noticeable but annoying none the less.

 

So, a bit further up the learning curve when it comes to building civvies but despite a few errors i'm happy with this.  Hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

r

 

 

 

[Abandoned Project]

Very nice. Very smart livery and some great photos. 

[Skodadriver]

Great work and a superb model in an attractive and unusual scheme. 

 

I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the kit and my own build is currently stalled. Maybe I was just unlucky but my example was a mess of sink marks and poor fit, not exactly what you expect from a brand new kit. I'll probably get back to it eventually although I doubt I'll be able to achieve such a good result.

 

Dave G

[mitchem]

I've run out of superlatives so I'll just say "Magical" and leave it at that 

 

mike

[Holzhamer]

Since I often fly in this same aircraft, what’s not to like? Beautiful work! Wonder if there are decals for the whale painted Airbus??

[Turbofan]

Hi Mike,

Great to see this finished, I think you've done a great job on it! As Dave says it's an unusual livery which I don't think we've seen on here before.

Glad to help with the walkways, it's the little details like this which really help finish off a model so I don't understand why they were left off.

I wouldn't worry about your minor issues none of them are obvious. It just looks like a nicely finished model and looks good alongside your BA 319.

Looking forward to seeing your BA neo!

Cheers,

Ian

[BluesModeller]

9 hours ago, Abandoned Project said:

Very nice. Very smart livery and some great photos. 

 

8 hours ago, mitchem said:

I've run out of superlatives so I'll just say "Magical" and leave it at that 

 

mike

Thank you chaps, your comments are much appreciated!

[BluesModeller]

8 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

Great work and a superb model in an attractive and unusual scheme. 

 

I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the kit and my own build is currently stalled. Maybe I was just unlucky but my example was a mess of sink marks and poor fit, not exactly what you expect from a brand new kit. I'll probably get back to it eventually although I doubt I'll be able to achieve such a good result.

 

Dave G

Thank you for the kind comments Dave!  I’ve seen enough of your builds to know that when you complete it it will be of the highest quality.  What livery did you choose?

 

Your comment made me realise I have looked at this build with rose tinted spectacles.

 

Indeed it is not without issues which really shouldn’t exist on a new kit well into the 21st century.  I did have some sink marks on the top of the wings right by the wing root but as far as I remember that was it.

 

The biggest issue is that cockpit glazing but I also had an issue with a bent tail fin which needed some hair dryer treatment to straighten.  The separate piece rudder was too tall and needed sanding and a bit of filler and the rings on the engine cowling are not perfect.  I also had to shave the pins for the engines and wheels but nothing to major.

 

It hasn’t put me off building another one down the lineup such a modern kit should be of higher quality.  Very soft plastic too, compared to the A319 which feels assuringly solid.

 

sounds like you got a particularly bad kit but I know you have the skills to turn it into something stunning!

[BluesModeller]

6 hours ago, Holzhamer said:

Since I often fly in this same aircraft, what’s not to like? Beautiful work! Wonder if there are decals for the whale painted Airbus??

Thankyou Holzhamer!
 

Really nice liveries on these Azores aircraft.  One day I may do the trio.

 

I’m off to Google the whale scheme...

[BluesModeller]

1 hour ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Mike,

Great to see this finished, I think you've done a great job on it! As Dave says it's an unusual livery which I don't think we've seen on here before.

Glad to help with the walkways, it's the little details like this which really help finish off a model so I don't understand why they were left off.

I wouldn't worry about your minor issues none of them are obvious. It just looks like a nicely finished model and looks good alongside your BA 319.

Looking forward to seeing your BA neo!

Cheers,

Ian

Thanks Ian!

 

Strange of Nazca to Omit the decals considering they are needed to complete the long range version.

 

The BA A320 ships in July I think.  I’m hoping it has the landing gear included.  One site seems to indicate it does but we’ll see.

 

I’ve only completed two small Airbuses in 1/144 and I’m already running out of room.  May have to look into hanging them from the ceiling.

[Skodadriver]

30 minutes ago, BluesModeller said:

... What livery did you choose?

Thanks for your very generous comments although I'm not sure your faith in me is entirely justified!

 

By an odd coincidence I originally considered SATA's CS-TSG "Wonder" although I eventually decided on the rather less exotic Easyjet. However that was before Jon Ochoa produced his amazing sheet for Arkia. If I do resurrect the build it's going to be a difficult decision!

 

The biggest problem I had was with the central belly section of the lower wing. The fit with the lower fuselage was, quite frankly, a disgrace for a kit produced in 2019. It was also extremely difficult to deal with the sink marks on the upper wings without destroying the detail, particularly the neat little lifting lugs. In the end I just got bored and fed up.

 

Dave G

[BluesModeller]

1 hour ago, Skodadriver said:

Thanks for your very generous comments although I'm not sure your faith in me is entirely justified!

 

By an odd coincidence I originally considered SATA's CS-TSG "Wonder" although I eventually decided on the rather less exotic Easyjet. However that was before Jon Ochoa produced his amazing sheet for Arkia. If I do resurrect the build it's going to be a difficult decision!

 

The biggest problem I had was with the central belly section of the lower wing. The fit with the lower fuselage was, quite frankly, a disgrace for a kit produced in 2019. It was also extremely difficult to deal with the sink marks on the upper wings without destroying the detail, particularly the neat little lifting lugs. In the end I just got bored and fed up.

 

Dave G

That Arkia set looks stunning!  That said, I quite like the EasyJet set too!
 

I don’t get how manufacturers can put out such lousy kits in this day and age despite the limitations of injection moulding.

 

Just read another modeller had issues with the A320neo kit.  It does sap your enthusiasm pretty quick.

[Alex1978]

Must be "Airbus-week"...

 

Superb -NEO and also the BA A319 is spot on.

👏👍

[BluesModeller]

55 minutes ago, Alex1978 said:

Must be "Airbus-week"...

 

Superb -NEO and also the BA A319 is spot on.

👏👍

Arghhh...  I was admiring your A319 yesterday and meant to comment.  It’s a beauty!
 

Good to see a glut of civilian aircraft on the forum as of late.  Thanks for the kind comments Alex!

[RMCS]

Fantastic work 

[LiamA]

Very neat job, thanks for sharing, Liam.

[BluesModeller]

11 hours ago, RMCS said:

Fantastic work 

 

11 hours ago, LiamA said:

Very neat job, thanks for sharing, Liam.

Thankyou for the kind comments chaps, much appreciated.

 

Time to move away from Airbuses for a while and join the Boeing camp.

 

Up next is the Boeing 777-300er in the older Air Canada (Ice Blue?) scheme.  Hope I can do that quicker than the previous two!

[ZHOU Kun]

Very smart build! Look sexier than the CEO models with those big LEAP engines! 

[luis pacheco]

Beautiful !

 

 

[Milczacy]

Very nice build resulted in beatuful model 👏

[FortyEighter]

At the risk of repeating comments - a great model of an unusual livery.

[BluesModeller]

3 hours ago, ZHOU Kun said:

Very smart build! Look sexier than the CEO models with those big LEAP engines! 

 

3 hours ago, luis pacheco said:

Beautiful !

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Milczacy said:

Very nice build resulted in beatuful model 👏

 

5 minutes ago, FortyEighter said:

At the risk of repeating comments - a great model of an unusual livery.

Thankyou!!!
 

I’m happy with it, despite some silly - if minor mistakes.  But I’ve also learned a lot too which I can carry over to future builds.

 

I’ve viewed the two A series airbuses as my practice models so to speak before I move onto the larger A380 and 747-8.  
 

There wasn’t many neo decals on the market when I bought the Nazca set but some nice ones are hitting the market.  The ‘Magical’ one is unusual but very clean.  Nazca also do the ‘Wonderful’ and ‘Breathe’ variants as well as an EasyJet one.