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Braathens S.A.F.E. Boeing 737-500 in 1/144


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Here is the Daco Skyline Boeing 737-500 finished as LN-BRC “Håkon IV Håkonsson“ of Braathens S.A.F.E. in the second version of the airline’s red white and blue stripe livery.

 

About 30 years ago my wife and I flew with Braathens on what should have been the short hop across the North Sea from Bergen to Newcastle but because of fog we were diverted to Manchester along with most other flights bound for airports in the east of England. The handling companies were inundated and obviously scraping the barrel to get road transport. I still shudder at the memory of the three hour journey to Newcastle in darkness and fog on a clearly unroadworthy bus with no heating, stinking of diesel and driven by a delightful individual who responded to a mild complaint from one passenger by threatening to dump everyone on the hard shoulder of the M62. The passengers included several large, hairy and disgruntled Norwegians, probably oilmen, so it was maybe just as well for him that he didn’t actually try! Anyhow, the nightmare bus journey was in no way the fault of Braathens and I have been “going to get round” to a model ever since. The one poor quality photo of the aircraft which I snapped at Bergen suggests it was LN-BRC hence the choice of registration.

 

The build is pretty much OOB apart from the addition of a few small fairings from plastic strip and replacement of some of the small detail parts with photo-etch.

 

Paint is Halfords Appliance Gloss White and Racking Grey with AK Interactive aluminium on the lower forward fuselage. Other metallics are by Tamiya and Revell.

 

Livery decals are a mixture of an ancient Liveries Unlimited sheet (copyright date 1996) and the more recent Lima November sheet 144-506. Detail decals are from the kit and windows are by Authentic Airliners.

 

Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

Dave G

 

 

52255431511_6602b4a16a_b.jpgI

 

52255431656_d68a8d3dcb_b.jpgIMG_1231 by David Griffiths, on Flick

 

52247838847_084f5668b5_b.jpg

 

52248825653_ccd82a6906_b.jpg

 

Just for fun, a full set of Daco 737s -300, -400 and -500

 

52248825413_7b8762677e_b.jpg

 

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10 out of 10 for that livery from me Dave! On of my all time favourites.  Beautifully built as always, that's a nice little set of Classic 73's you have.

Out of interest, I am building a Braathes 'first and last' liveried DC-4 and 737-400.  Yours would sit nicely in the middle!

 

Cheers

 

John

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Very nice model. I like this livery. I had a very nice flight with Braathens from Oslo to Newcastle in 1997. The return flight was on my sons' 4th birthday, and they were properly celebrated by the flight attendants. 🙂

I have a couple of the DACO kits. Must build them some day...

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Lovely, indeed!  Great job at making sure blue/red stripes are correctly placed and painting the bottom half to complete the aircraft livery!  Things don't look easy to me, but this looks as perfect as it can get!  And thanks for showing all three of them at once! :)

 

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Thanks for the comments and likes everyone, these are much appreciated.:) Particular thanks to anyone who noticed the dodgy left cheatline and didn't point it out :whistle:  

 

It's amazing what you manage to miss until you see photos of a model! The cheatline has been sorted and I have retaken and re-uploaded the first two photographs.

 

On 7/29/2022 at 4:30 PM, Viking said:

10 out of 10 for that livery from me Dave! On of my all time favourites.  Beautifully built as always, that's a nice little set of Classic 73's you have.

Out of interest, I am building a Braathes 'first and last' liveried DC-4 and 737-400.  Yours would sit nicely in the middle!

 

Cheers

 

John

 

Thanks John. That's something to look forward to. By the last livery do you mean the blue lower fuselage and red stripe? It's on my "to do in due course" list as well.

 

On 7/30/2022 at 9:09 AM, Vingtor said:

Very nice model. I like this livery. I had a very nice flight with Braathens from Oslo to Newcastle in 1997. The return flight was on my sons' 4th birthday, and they were properly celebrated by the flight attendants. 🙂

I have a couple of the DACO kits. Must build them some day...

 

Thanks Vingtor. The Daco kit produces a good model but it has a few problems, particularly the wing-fuselage fit.  Here is the link to my build of the yellow HLX -400 (shown in the "group portrait") which explains how I deal with that. It might be some help when you build yours. It's an issue with all three versions.

 

Dave G

 

On 7/30/2022 at 2:51 AM, busnproplinerfan said:

Never knew of a 500 series. Real good model, love the story with it.

 

Thanks very much. The -500 was the smallest version of the 737 Classic family and more or less a direct replacement for the -200. It wasn't as common as the -300 and -400 but it still enjoyed decent sales. Apart from Braathens, European users of the -500 included Lufthansa, Air France, Aer Lingus and Malev. British Airways picked up several second-hand examples including LN-BRC (the subject of the model) which became G-GFFG.

 

Dave G

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1 hour ago, Skodadriver said:

Thanks for the comments and likes everyone, these are much appreciated.:)  Particular thanks to anyone who noticed the dodgy left cheatline and didn't point it out :whistle:  

 

It's amazing what you manage to miss until you see photos of a model! The cheatline has been sorted and I have retaken and re-uploaded the first two photographs.

 

 

Thanks John. That's something to look forward to. By the last livery do you mean the blue lower fuselage and red stripe? It's on my "to do in due course" list as well.

 

 

Thanks Vingtor. The Daco kit produces a good model but it has a few problems, particularly the wing-fuselage fit.  Here is the link to my build of the yellow HLX -400 (shown in the "group portrait") which explains how I deal with that. It might be some help when you build yours. It's an issue with all three versions.

 

Dave G

 

 

Thanks very much. The -500 was the smallest version of the 737 Classic family and more or less a direct replacement for the -200. It wasn't as common as the -300 and -400 but it still enjoyed decent sales. Apart from Braathens, European users of the -500 included Lufthansa, Air France, Aer Lingus and Malev. British Airways picked up several second-hand examples including LN-BRC (the subject of the model) which became G-GFFG.

 

Dave G

Smaller than the -100?

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15 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

Smaller than the -100?

No. The -500 was the smallest of the 737 Classics but the -100 was the smallest of the entire 737 family.

 

The -100 was 29m long and could take up to 118 pax. The -200 was 30.5m long and could take up to 130 pax. The -500 was 31m long and could take up to 132 pax.

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46 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

No. The -500 was the smallest of the 737 Classics but the -100 was the smallest of the entire 737 family.

 

The -100 was 29m long and could take up to 118 pax. The -200 was 30.5m long and could take up to 130 pax. The -500 was 31m long and could take up to 132 pax.

A lot of work for two pax. Now I know, thanks.

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A very fine build Dave.One of my faves of the 737 family.I think the -500 as well as the -700 just have the right proportions

The Braathens livery is very classy and suits the -500 very well.

I really should continue to build my 2 Daco -300s which are sitting aside for some time now...😊

Thanks for sharing

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23 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

Thanks John. That's something to look forward to. By the last livery do you mean the blue lower fuselage and red stripe? It's on my "to do in due course" list as well.

 

I do Dave. The 734 is completed already, apologies for the rubbish photos, 

br1.jpg

 

The DC-4 is still a work in progress, I've painted the wings & tail planes. There is a little way to go yet. It will be Braathens first aircraft LN-HAV. Overall natural metal with red 'cheatlines'.

br2.jpg

 

Maybe between us we will have covered off most of the aircraft types and liveries used by Braathens, as I also have a 767 awaiting its turn on the bench!

 

Cheers

 

John

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