rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 I've started into the Airfix Vintage Classics kit of the Heron, and I was pretty much resigned to trying to recreate the light grey/almost metallic looking paint that appears in the photos. G-AORG is all over the net in it's modern restoration decor. Then it was pointed out that in active service, the airframe was polished metal and white fuselage top. I've found a couple of older images, one is a Mk I looking very presentable in bare metal, and some BEA aircraft that are well buffed up. But any other information or references would be great. Apparently the original Airfix box has a Decal sheet that includes wing reg and company name. These have not been applied to the restored G-AORG aircraft and, copying this, Airfix has not included these on the reissue. Any images of top or bottom of the wings with the lettering...?? And anyone got the original Airfix decals showing this feature?? I've heard the lettering described as "staggered" which may or may not mean "italics" style. A photo of the sheet or indeed a scan would be most welcome And are there any good WIP builds lurking in the BM archives that I can't find? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 I have an earlier airfix kit with Jersey decals. I will check whats on the decal sheet and let you know. I will see if I can post some images from the decal and instruction,of thats of any help ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 That would be most helpful, Alex! Esp If it features this wing lettering business. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Found this on here below ... Farsands of em Airfix Instructions Vintage Airfix (vintage-airfix.com) Heron-381 (1).pdf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 @bzn20 thanks, but I can't get the pdf link to work, and I can't reach "Vintage Airfix.com" either. Are your spellings OK or am I missing something?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 (edited) Don't know ,just copied link and pasted Never mind just Google Airfix instructions , go down to vintage Airfix.com . hit letter D or go down to D and find the DH Heron click on it and will download automatically Edited May 11, 2022 by bzn20 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Rob there is Neil's cracking build on here, along with some others too, just Google 1/72 DH Heron Britmodeller and you'll see some, easier than a search of Work in progress. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 5 minutes ago, bzn20 said: vintage Airfix.com . hit letter D or go down to D and find the DH Heron click on it and will download automatically Yes cheers @bzn20I got there eventually.... Excellent, I can at least see what's intended on the wings Cheers, Chris, too 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 Yes, a good few nice builds in the archive (that's a painless way to search BM, Chris....!) but nobody seems to have the wing lettering thing going on. I've just been messing around with printing text and here's my first shot at it, using the ancient Airfix instructions pdf as reference. This stuff is not renowned for accuracy, but it's all I've got to go on.... Bear in mind that the ailerons and flaps are removed from the wing and this is just the main wing panel. My Decal sheet does have the reg lettering once for underneath the port wing so I should be able to duplicate it or get close. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 (edited) That lettering looks a bit bigger than the Airfix instructions . That shows a third ish of the Chord ,I'd say yours is about a half of the Chord at the AE E in Jersey A in Airlines . JERSEY Google Image search Jersey Airlines Heron there are shots that show the how much of the Chord is taken up with the lettering AIRLINES Edited May 11, 2022 by bzn20 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 OK, I found a couple of pictures of the original livery @bzn20 and a couple of pictures of a 1st edition Airfix kit build with the transfers applied. I think you're right, I'm a bit too big. For clarity, here is the wing mocked up with the flap and aileron in position. The flap is now too big to tuck in the wing due to the top extension fitted. But it gives some sense of the complete wing shape. I think I'll come down a couple of points and try again. Very limited graphic capabilities on the laptop for manipulation of text but then I'd be cutting items off the decalsheet anyway and "pasting".. Looking like there should be a Royal mail logo on the fuselage side as well and I guess the restoration museum wasn't allowed to use it as it's not carrying any mail! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 I have an image of the original Airfix decals if that helps? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 12, 2022 Author Share Posted May 12, 2022 3 hours ago, rossm said: original Airfix decals That would be an excellent thing to see, Ross, for comparison of font sizes etc. and possibly that Royal mail logo. By all means paste it on here if you want, or PM the image. What I have got is a picture of the Airfix kit built with the decals applied. The modeller obviously had a bit of yellowing on the sheet but pressed on with it. So, yes please..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Yurr tizz 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 Brilliant @rossm thanks for this I can get some relative sizes off this. Looks like everything is done in navy blue but probably a simplified printing regime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Here's the instructions and decal of my Heron kit. Sorry,it took a while.I had to find the kit in my stash first... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) OK @Alex1978thanks for the post. Your's is in fact the same as my kit. That's the more recent Airfix version, probably their Vintage Classics box. So check out the picture from Rossm just above here. That's the original sheet and it carries the Company name and Reg for above and below both wings, plus a few other details, and that's what I'm after Thanks for taking the trouble to find the kit and paste pictures Edited May 13, 2022 by rob Lyttle Addition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 27 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said: OK @Alex1978thanks for the post. Your's is in fact the same as my kit. That's the more recent Airfix version, probably their Vintage Classics box. So check out the picture from Rossm just above here. That's the original sheet and it carries the Company name and Reg for above and below both wings, plus a few other details, and that's what I'm after Thanks for taking the trouble to find the kit and paste pictures You are welcome. My kit is probably from 1991 or so,so thats interesting that the recent Vintage Classic reissue is identical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Alex1978 said: the recent Vintage Classic reissue is identical. Yea, seems like Airfix has stuck with the Museum restoration decor of G-AORG. This does not have the wing lettering, just the reg under one of the wings. Just out of interest, this is a Jersey DC3 which shows the style... Wing top pictures are so incredibly rare to find, it's almost always side views in photos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMB Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) 13 hours ago, rob Lyttle said: Brilliant @rossm thanks for this I can get some relative sizes off this. Looks like everything is done in navy blue but probably a simplified printing regime Not 'Navy Blue', a bit lighter. If you can match the excellent scan of the original Airfix decals by Rossm, you've nailed it! Good luck! Edited May 13, 2022 by AMB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 Well, I've tried some printing on decal paper, let's see how it goes.... Apart from the various text lines, I have the original sheet image included, courtesy of @rossm, size adjusted to give 14cm fuselage stripes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 Minor disaster...... I've bought white decal paper..... Maybe it'll be useful one day. I've reordered CLEAR sheets. On the upside, they worked very well. No running etc. I tried one on the white fuselage but the difference is noticeable. Slid on nicely though. Nother couple of days I guess..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 47 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said: Minor disaster...... I've bought white decal paper..... Maybe it'll be useful one day. I've reordered CLEAR sheets. On the upside, they worked very well. No running etc. I tried one on the white fuselage but the difference is noticeable. Slid on nicely though. Nother couple of days I guess..... Ah, now there could be a problem......... I have yet to use my home printed decals but my understanding is that for the colour to render correctly you need to put decals printed on clear decal paper onto a white background. Where you go onto silver areas you may find they look darker than you expect. IIRC commercial decals usually print white under everything except possibly black. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 16 minutes ago, rossm said: Where you go onto silver areas you may find they look darker than you expect My previous experience with self-made transfers is limited.... I've had some laser printed in a copy shop. The advantage with these is that they are waterproof straight from the printer and no need to seal. This was onto clear sheet. What I found was they don't have the covering power of commercial decals. If you have a change in appearance or colour of the background surface, it will show through the decal,to some extent. If the background is uniform it's not so much of an issue, and the laser print items worked well on the bare metal of my Curtiss C46, and elsewhere. I'm expecting the home-print ones to be similar to this. So yes, there can be an issue due to lack of covering power if asking too much of them, but with plain white and plain metal surfaces, I think they should be OK. There is always the possibility of doubling up I guess, for more density if required. I've no doubt that these white sheets will be useful at some point 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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