a320 family ceo & neo 1/144 (a318, a319, a320neo & a321neo)

[phil1]

a320 family ceo & neo 1/144 (a318, a319, a320neo & a321neo)

 

I am currently working on all full range of airbus models for my project. These consist of an Air France a318, 2 x easyjet a319s. an easyjet a320neo and finally a BA A321neo.

 

There is a kit for the a318 by eastern express. I've heard there are plenty of errors and it might be easier to convert a revell a319 or a320. I'm sure you can import a resin fuselage from the US but at some expense. 

 

Currently there are a shortage of revell a319 kits available but there are plenty of a320 kits and it basically is the same amount of work involved in the conversion just obviously removing a couple of extra windows. 

 

 

Seems strange that there is far more availability of the revell a320 kit and can be found for a tenner on ebay

 

 

 

apart from the obvious removal of the fuselage sections the tail will need to extended that being the only difference

 

 

blending the fuselage will unfortunately erase the panel details but can't really be avoided. I might be wrong but I've heard the eastern express kit is incorrectly scribed. Tail extension was made from scrap plastic below

 

 

Fuselage sections are now smooth to the touch

 

 

The bottom section of the fuselage was a bit troublesome. Removing the rear fuselage section means that the bottom doesn't line up properly. However I used a liquid plastic technique to build a new base of the fuselage where the join is. Plenty of shaping and sanding resulted in a neat finish. You can see where the new plastic has been blended into the fuselage.

 

 

The next 2 examples are going to be a319s for easyjet. I plan one in the new livery and one retaining the old livery. 

 

 

I could only get my hands on one revell a319 kit so I am going to convert an old czech a320 model of mine that is now unloved. 

 

 

stripping the paint has left the wing plastic brittle. unbelievably I had a spare set of airbus wings. Blow is the old wings and the next image shows the new ones 

 

 

 

I used the same liquid plastic technique to blend the joins. I think I used too much polystyrene cement which led to melting a section of fuselage, I came close to binning the whole thing! The section has now hardened and we'll see how it looks after the first coat of primer

 

 

a noticeable difference in the quality of the plastic!

 

 

I think this must have been the last a319 kit in the world, finally a straight forward build!....

 

 

 

looks like I got the length right on comparison. I'm still worried about that fuselage, its been battered. 

 

 

The a320neo is going to make up the small collection of easyjets

 

 

I've went with the revell kit rather than zvezda. 

 

 

This is a nice model and really easy build. the antennas are sturdy enough to be joined onto one fuselage half to save you the bother later, the are not easy to knock off like most fragile pieces. The sharklets also fit nicely

 

Bare in mind there is no undercarriage supplied in this kit! luckily like the wings earlier I have spares

 

 

Last but not least the BA A321neo. I was originally going to do a BA a321ceo from the Zvezda kit but the kit itself was horrendous and I binned it. You may think that's unlikely for Zvezda but in my opinion they overcomplicated the kit with multiple options including different slat and flap options which made putting it together a bit of a nightmare considering it's scale. 

 

 

like the a320neo kit this went together really well. The only reason its level 4 is probably the inclusion of the undercarriage as apart from the fuselage length its basically the same kit

 

 

seal off the windows with gorilla tape inside

 

 

the usual milliput window job...

 

 

I've highlighted what needs to be removed. The kit offers some radome options but the BA doesn't seem to have chosen that option

 

 

all examples ready for primer....

 

 

[Alex1978]

Wow,thats quite a project you have on the go Phil.

 

I did something similar last year with the Boeing 747 as a birthday celebration for the 50 years of the Queen of the skies.

Built 12 747s in different versions.Didnt manage to get all variants done,so there is still a 747-300 on the go as well as a 747-200 and one -400F, all in the space friendly 1/144 scale...

 

Its really a pity that Revell took the A319 out of their airliner range,I like that kit and wanted to do some more,but they are getting rare and expensive.

 

I also built 2 of the Eastern Express A318s,seems some kind of modified knock offs from the Revell A319/A320,a bit tough in places to build but doable.

 

Here the link to the RFI

 

I will follow your WIP with interest

Cheers

Alex

Edited June 15, 2021 by Alex1978

[Dave Swindell]

On 13/06/2021 at 20:40, phil1 said:

apart from the obvious removal of the fuselage sections the tail will need to extended that being the only difference

That and the asymmetric wing root front fairings, shorter rear wing root fairings, larger over-wing root/body fairing, repositioned baggage doors, extended engine nacelles.....

 

[phil1]

23 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

That and the asymmetric wing root front fairings, shorter rear wing root fairings, larger over-wing root/body fairing, repositioned baggage doors, extended engine nacelles.....

 

 

oh dear...........................

 

I didn't have a clue about the asymmetric front fairings (obviously making way for the cargo door?), totally forgot about the shorter rear wing root fairings! and had no idea especially about the over-wing root body fairing and the lengthened 5B nacelle!!!

 

Looks like this ones going back to the chop shop, unless I start again with a new a320. The engines are no problem, and neither is the over-wing root body fairing, but the shortened front and rear fairings is a problem, suppose I can give it a go and if I'm not happy with the result it's getting chucked.

 

The asymmetric front fairings look really odd, naturally you'd think they'd shorten both of them but then again it's not about aesthetics but cost I'd assume

 

Phil

[phil1]

On 6/14/2021 at 8:37 PM, Alex1978 said:

Wow,thats quite a project you have on the go Phil.

 

I did something similar last year with the Boeing 747 as a birthday celebration for the 50 years of the Queen of the skies.

Built 12 747s in different versions.Didnt manage to get all variants done,so there is still a 747-300 on the go as well as a 747-200 and one -400F, all in the space friendly 1/144 scale...

 

Its really a pity that Revell took the A319 out of their airliner range,I like that kit and wanted to do some more,but they are getting rare and expensive.

 

I also built 2 of the Eastern Express A318s,seems some kind of modified knock offs from the Revell A319/A320,a bit tough in places to build but doable.

 

Here the link to the RFI

 

I will follow your WIP with interest

Cheers

Alex

 

Wow, that's some mission. I'm curious to know what SP you ended up doing? Is there much difference between the 200 and 300? I remember seeing some footage of KLM 100 or 200 getting converted with an upper deck extension to match the later variant??

 

I'm currently doing the Revell 50th anniversary prototype as part of a classic era of jets I've got as a side project...I'm currently building part of Newcastle Airport 1/144 scale and doing 2 eras of jets around the pier, the airbus family are obviously part of the more modern era but the classic era will feature a 747, DC8, 707, 727 and a couple of classic 737s. 

 

The 747 anniversary kit is awful in my opinion, you get nothing for the extra cost just some fancy decals which I won't be using. I had to completely rebuild underneath the nose next to the gear doors as one fuselage half was obviously warped. I will get a thread on about it eventually but it won't be very complimentary. I probably would have had less bother converting the 800 kits

 

Phil

[phil1]

On 6/14/2021 at 8:37 PM, Alex1978 said:

Wow,thats quite a project you have on the go Phil.

 

I did something similar last year with the Boeing 747 as a birthday celebration for the 50 years of the Queen of the skies.

Built 12 747s in different versions.Didnt manage to get all variants done,so there is still a 747-300 on the go as well as a 747-200 and one -400F, all in the space friendly 1/144 scale...

 

Its really a pity that Revell took the A319 out of their airliner range,I like that kit and wanted to do some more,but they are getting rare and expensive.

 

I also built 2 of the Eastern Express A318s,seems some kind of modified knock offs from the Revell A319/A320,a bit tough in places to build but doable.

 

Here the link to the RFI

 

I will follow your WIP with interest

Cheers

Alex

 

and I forgot to mention how good those a318s look! absolutely love the old Avianca colours on that a318

 

Phil

[Timo]

Hi Phil

A great project, I especially love your A318 conversion - I made the mistake of attempting the Eastern Express A318 kit a couple of years ago which was a horrible experience. Wish I'd done it your way.

I also had a similar project for lockdown - to build as many A320 family aircraft as possible from UK and European airlines. I've completed 9 so far, got 3 more in progress and a further 7 in the stash. When they're all done I might line them all up one sunny day for a group photo and post it in RFI.

Keep building and best of luck.

Cheers

Tim

[Alex1978]

2 hours ago, phil1 said:

 

Wow, that's some mission. I'm curious to know what SP you ended up doing? Is there much difference between the 200 and 300? I remember seeing some footage of KLM 100 or 200 getting converted with an upper deck extension to match the later variant??

 

I'm currently doing the Revell 50th anniversary prototype as part of a classic era of jets I've got as a side project...I'm currently building part of Newcastle Airport 1/144 scale and doing 2 eras of jets around the pier, the airbus family are obviously part of the more modern era but the classic era will feature a 747, DC8, 707, 727 and a couple of classic 737s. 

 

The 747 anniversary kit is awful in my opinion, you get nothing for the extra cost just some fancy decals which I won't be using. I had to completely rebuild underneath the nose next to the gear doors as one fuselage half was obviously warped. I will get a thread on about it eventually but it won't be very complimentary. I probably would have had less bother converting the 800 kits

 

Phil

Thanks Phil.

 

I built the new Eastern Express 747SP in Aerolineas Argentinas Colors.An absolutely great kit by the way.

The 747 anniversary kit from Revell I also completed (both are here in the RFI somewhere).

The kit is really getting long in the tooth,Revell has it in their range probably since their first release in 1974 and it certainly shows.

I had esp. trouble with the engines on that.Otherwise it was ok.

For some of my other 747s I used Welsh resin engines,but I ran out of stock,thus I had to use the kit provided ones as I also had no intention to order an extra set.

 

I stay tuned for your upcoming projects.Sounds very promising

 

Alex

[phil1]

9 hours ago, Timo said:

Hi Phil

A great project, I especially love your A318 conversion - I made the mistake of attempting the Eastern Express A318 kit a couple of years ago which was a horrible experience. Wish I'd done it your way.

I also had a similar project for lockdown - to build as many A320 family aircraft as possible from UK and European airlines. I've completed 9 so far, got 3 more in progress and a further 7 in the stash. When they're all done I might line them all up one sunny day for a group photo and post it in RFI.

Keep building and best of luck.

Cheers

Tim

 

cheers tim

 

yeah it sounds horrific, I was persuaded not to do the EE kit by almost everyone. I love a conversion and before Dave above mentioned the less obvious a318 differences it sounded quite straight forward!

 

You'll be an expert mate by now......get them on the RFI definitely. unfortunately I've been working constantly during lockdown so it's hindered by progress

 

Phil

 

 

[phil1]

7 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Thanks Phil.

 

I built the new Eastern Express 747SP in Aerolineas Argentinas Colors.An absolutely great kit by the way.

The 747 anniversary kit from Revell I also completed (both are here in the RFI somewhere).

The kit is really getting long in the tooth,Revell has it in their range probably since their first release in 1974 and it certainly shows.

I had esp. trouble with the engines on that.Otherwise it was ok.

For some of my other 747s I used Welsh resin engines,but I ran out of stock,thus I had to use the kit provided ones as I also had no intention to order an extra set.

 

I stay tuned for your upcoming projects.Sounds very promising

 

Alex

 

The 747SP is definitely something of interest, it's amazing how EE can produce such a good kit for that yet others couldn't be much worse. The 757 minicraft kit is absolute garbage yet the DC8 kit is probably the best quality I've ever seen. 

 

I will check out your builds through the archives. 

 

Here's a quick pic of my airport progress........

 

[phildagreek]

A fine collection in the making!

[phil1]

ok, I've marked in pencil where the fairings need to brought back a bit. the starboard side is the shorter front fairing for the cargo door. Just by observing this picture its obvious the tail height needs adjusted, it's at least a couple of millimetres to high.

 

 

The only problem doing it this way is that the plastic is now pretty thin around the fairings 

 

 

now asymmetric.....

 

 

You can see a slight opening at the back of the rear fairing now where the plastic is wafer thin. All that sanding has exposed the fuselage join line.