general melchett Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 Hi all, another one out of the traps. Built for December's issue of Airfix Model World, this is Roden's lovely 1/144th Type 1154, Vickers Super VC10, finished in the splendid East African Airways 'Lion in the Sun' livery. A great little kit (it's that nice, I've acquired another four of the blighters) it builds into an excellent rendition of one of the most graceful airliners to ever take to the skies. Some aftermarket was used on this one including NH Detail PE set which included among other things a cockpit, wing fences, main gear doors, engine covers as well as a variety of aerials. The only let down was the decal sheet. The colours looked off, with the yellow stripe looking more mustard than yellow and the details appeared soft and lacking finesse. Luckily, on the up side, Ray at Twosix Decals, came to the rescue with his superb EAA Super Viccy10 set, unfortunately on the down side, the set is designed for a modified Airfix kit (or Frog/Novo Super) and so needed a bit of tweaking to fit correctly. Firstly the doorways needed rearranging via some careful surgery and a fresh scalpel blade plus a few of the windows required repositioning. However, the biggest headache was the rear end. The kit decals depict the early version of the EAA scheme with the 'straight through to the tail cone' fuselage stripe whereas the TwoSix Decals version represents the second iteration which extended and curved around and under the rear fuselage. Being designed for the earlier kits meant yet more surgery. A lot of Mr.Mark Softer and Mark Fit Strong was sacrificed in order to persuade the decals to conform to the underside of the rear fuselage but it all worked out in the end. To avoid the 'see through' effect, jet pipe detail was added using styrene tubes cut to length and inserted into the rear of the nacelles. Due to the TwoSix Decals covering the entire area around the engine mounts I didn't fancy trying to fit these after the engines were on so decided to remove the fuselage mounting 'stubs' and sand the area smooth before applying the decals. I then cut out a deeper slot, fitted a new tab to the engine nacelles (before painting) and fitted the nacelles after the decals were applied. This meant needing a perfect fit on both nacelles...which took a fair bit of time not to mention patience but we got there in the end. The model was painted using a mixture MRP-098 Light Gull Grey and decanted Halfords Appliance White automotive paint. The wings and tailplane had multiple lightened (and a few slightly darkened) shades of the base coat applied to some panels as per available photographs of the real thing. MRP-186 Light Grey was applied to the engine nacelles and undercarriage wheel hubs. Weathering was kept to a minimum as these aircraft were kept extremely clean during their service with EAA. Sadly this particular aircraft, 5X-UVA was involved in a fatal crash during an aborted take off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1972. RIP all concerned. Cheers all, hope you like it and thanks for looking Melchie 63 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 That is pure gorgeous! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canberraman Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 An outstandingly beautiful build of the most elegant jet airliner of all time. Mark 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince1159 Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 i've got MAM's 1/200 diecast and your's is a beauty... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 Superb finish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted December 20, 2021 Share Posted December 20, 2021 Congratulations on an excellent build General. Thanks for the tip about the NH Detail p/e. I wasn't aware they did a set for the SVC-10. Dave G 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 That’s a super Super VC10! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamp Donkey Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Stunning looking VC10 SD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Definitely Queen of the African skies, no more beautiful airliner was ever built. Superb workmanship as always General. Cheers John 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Looks good. You have done real nice job. All work with decals have paid off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Thanks everyone, always appreciated. Quote Definitely Queen of the African skies, no more beautiful airliner was ever built. Totally agree John, poetry in motion, particularly when compared to modern offerings, but then, I'm a child of the sixties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 2 hours ago, Viking said: Definitely Queen of the African skies, no more beautiful airliner was ever built. Superb workmanship as always General. Dad-in-law was a flight engineer on RAF VC-10's - always to be referred to as 'Queen of the Skies'; although the Britannia bore that appellation when he flew them; so there might have been a bit of tribalism affecting his objectivity.... But either way John is clearly correct about the workmanship. 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Thanks Steve, 9 minutes ago, Fritag said: although the Britannia bore that appellation when he flew them; so there might have been a bit of tribalism affecting his objectivity.... I think you're right, the same thing went for the 747......and probably a few others in their time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Even as a die hard military modeller, I love the Vicky 10 ❤️ and your build (as per usual) does the model full justice Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Splendid work ! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Mmmm, Pretty. Me like. 23 hours ago, general melchett said: However, the biggest headache was the rear end. Isn't it always so.... (Snort!) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Pete Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Nice one, General, very nice. I always liked the look of the VC 10 and as it happens it was my ride for my first ever transatlantic trip when BOAC still existed... Not so show my age or anything! (I was extremely impressed with the acceleration on the runway). Coincidentally, the night before I flew I played a gig for BOAC with the Sydney Lipton orchestra. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Wow...what a beauty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said: Isn't it always so.... (Snort!) It was only a matter of time, wasn't it Thanks Uncle Pete, sadly a type I never flew on. BOAC eh, well if you're going to fly on one, fly in style! Quote I was extremely impressed with the acceleration on the runway Just to watch it tear down the Bruntingthorpe runway, blasting everything in it's wake and doing an excellent job of clearing the standing rainwater gave you an excellent idea of the power of the aircraft. Quote the night before I flew I played a gig for BOAC with the Sydney Lipton orchestra. Now that is in style, a memorable time all round. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane39 Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 Stunning. First plane I ever flew on as a child. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted December 26, 2021 Author Share Posted December 26, 2021 Thanks hurricane, appreciated. I just thought I'd show an image of the rear underside taken during the build (pre any light weathering). Getting the TwoSixDecals to conform to the shape was 'interesting' but as you can see, perfectly doable. Nothing wrong with the decals, they are magnificent, it's just that they were designed for a modded, ancient Airfix kit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 I was just reading about that accident. It was very much a freak event. How an aircraft jack finds itself on a runway is beyond me. Then, only one T/R deployed and the brakes failed. A real mess. High speed aborts usually do not end well. -d- 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 Very much a freak accident although a problem with the anti-skid brakes return line was an on-going issue at the time resulting in several incidents. Re the jack on the runway, that has shades of the 2000 French Concorde crash, only that one got airborne. Funnily enough -d- as I was writing the article, news came in of the Corporate MD-87 RTO at Houston...thankfully, in that instance, while the aircraft was totally written off, there were no fatalities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 H Andy How are you, another excellent build and finish, the Roden kit looks superb, and seems an accurate kit, although 1/144 is not my scale as you know 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maginot Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 Schmick! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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