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1/144 Zvezda Airbus A320neo - Cebu Pacific Air (build and review)


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The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the popular A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321. Re-engined with CFM LEAP-1A or Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engines and fitted with sharklets as standard, it is 15% to 20% more fuel efficient than the A320ceo family.

 

The airline depicted is Cebu Pacific Air, founded in 1988, and the largest low-cost airline of the Philippines and the largest airline of the country based on passenger numbers. Operating out of Cebu and Manila as main hubs, the A320 family makes up the majority of its fleet, the A320neo making up 9 of its fleet of 48. 

 

It was an ambitious paint scheme for sure, but one I've always wanted to do. This airline is a big part of my and any travelling Filipino's memories, after all. The project ultimately got bogged down quite a bit, but I will elaborate on this later in the post. 


The aircraft depicted is RP-C3281, a Cebu Pac A320neo that I took on a domestic flight to Dumaguete and then saw again in Caticlan Airport. Thankfully, as an owner of a camera taking reference pics proved to be very useful in the build. Here's the A/C itself as I photographed it in Caticlan Airport.

 

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I also compiled some of the timelapse footage I got of the build and put it into a sort of "reel" - First time trying this and I didn't want to spend too much time on it, so the editing and cinematography might not be the greatest. 

 

 

I chose to spoiler tag the rest of it as they do have quite a few images and are talked about in length

 

Review - The kit itself is pretty good for an airliner offering, and it's no secret that Zvezda makes some of the best airliner kits out there. Personally I'm content with how the build went together, I don't have any major gripes or issues with the kit and it's still very good. However, there are a few nitpicks worth talking about -

Spoiler

Overall fit of the parts is pretty good. I think the way the landing gear goes together is somewhat fussy and doesn't have a very strong join. However, I think this is more because of the nature of airliner landing gear itself, as every airliner kit seems to have fragile and nitpicky way landing gear, but this Zvezda kit is definitely one of the more annoying times I've encountered that. Also, for some reason, the fit of the engines is terrible in bizarre contrast to the rest of the build, so I suspect it might have been user error or a mistake in using the PW engines. 

 

For detail, I thought it was a bit disappointing how Zvezda modelled the landing gear as well, particularly the tires. The A320's tire hubs could have used more detail than a flat disc and a hub. I was tempted to 3D print new ones but a lack of time and loss of mojo on the build meant I settled for the kit ones anyway. 

 

The clear part up front, the part including the cockpit windshield, also presented some issues for me as the fit wasn't really great and depending on how I cemented it would leave a gap in front or behind the windshields. I chose to align mine to the back of the windshield as the nose area would be easier to fill without scratching the clear plastic that would be masked off. This turned out to be a mistake on my part, as the misalignment around the rest of the fuselage contour left noticeable seam all around the cockpit part and the windshield, one that I tried to sand out but unfortunately still shows up on the final product. If you plan on tackling this kit I think it's worth buying/making masks for the cockpit windshield, or making a decal specifically over the windows. I think the shape of the windows is very good - certainly better than on the Revell A320, both old and new tooling - and adds to the look of the A320, but is definitely a hassle without the assistance of decals or masks. 

 

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I've elaborated on this on my review of Zvezda's 777, but I am not very big on Zvezda's approach of making the fuselage fairing and wing assembly entirely separate from the rest of the build, although I do like that the wings can be kept separate. With an assembly like this filling and sanding has to be done between the fuselage underside and the fuselage fairing, parts that are supposed to look continuous, instead of a wing-to-fuselage join like on the Revell A350 which negates any need for that. 

 

This particular boxing of the Zvezda A320neo comes with a complete set decals for the SAS scheme, but the decals are made in such a way that the vast majority are only useful for an SAS scheme (door decals being colored to match the SAS scheme, raccoon mask windows only useful for a select number of A320s, etc.) If you plan to make the scheme with custom-printed decals like I did and are not getting a full aftermarket set, a lot of extra inclusions might have to be made, like new doors, wing walkway markings, etc. I bought DRAW decals for some windows and doors and that helped a lot but still, this area will take quite a bit of research on the part of the modeler. 

 

Masking Process - The masking was one of the most challenging parts of the build, and the sweeping curves all around the A320 were certainly very hard to replicate. I've been asked quite a bit about this process when posting about it, so here's a thread explaining the process. 

 

Spoiler

The masking was achieved by taking an A320 model online, and a flat profile photo of the aircraft, then resizing it accordingly to project the patterns of the flat image onto the A320 model in Sketchup. By extruding the flat faces onto the 3D model, then subtracting the rest of it, leaving only the intersection between the two, this gave me an approximation of the A320's fuselage curve, but I needed to turn this into a flat pattern. 

 

 

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I took the curved face and exported it to Pepakura Designer 5, usually used for turning 3d models into papercraft, but in this case projected the curved pattern onto a flat surface. 

 

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Doing this for every part of the decal, plus some additional ones like the Cebu Pacific pattern, then exporting to Illustrator to turn JPG and PDF paths into vector gave me this. Numerous test fittings on bond paper allowed me to perfect the pattern and make sure it fit.

 

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The plan was to give this to someone I knew that would then cut the pattern with a Silhouette cutting machine, but due to personal circumstances he couldn't, so this pattern instead had to be cut manually, and the Cebu Pacific part having to be done with decals. 

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Not much to talk about in doing this other than having to use my hands to the best of their abilities. Using a brand new knife blade also helped quite a bit. 

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Decals: 

Spoiler

Printed via a decal shop, SetupDecal164 from Thailand. They print white which made it easier for me to do the white parts of the door and other parts like the emergency wing walkway markings. The decals laid down beautifully and thinly, and they would certainly be my go-to if PayPal and shipping costs didn't inflate the cost so much. For the windows and other generic A320 decals, I used a DRAW Decal set of generic A320 windows and markings, which also worked beautifully.

 

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Painted with a combination of Armored Komodo lacquers and Tamiya acrylics. Gloss is GX112. 

 

Now, to summarize the build experience as a whole...

 

This build has honestly brought me to the edge of quitting modelling more than any other build in the past, partly due to mistakes as a result of my own negligence, and partly due to luck so bad it was comedic, and certainly much worse than I've encountered on any other build. Issues ranged from paint peel on the white paint that then wouldn't feather when sanded, to incorrect hues on the first rounds of paint resulting in multiple rounds of masking and painting the (very difficult!) Cebu Pacific logo on the rear fuselage. For some reason, the white paint I used then started to yellow over time, which I had to sand back while the decals were already on - look closely around the windows where I had to avoid taking a sanding stick to it and you'll see some of the yellowing still there - Afterwards, seams reopened which resulted in having to repaint over the already peeling and yellowing white paint. The painting of the engines then went awry as the coverage of the white wouldn't lay down correctly, having to strip and repaint each one around 4-6 times each. The paint I used on the wings for some reason lightened under one of the registration decals as well, which meant I had to repaint a good fourth of the starboard wing to correct it. 

 

I had to speed up the final phase of the build as I wanted to make it in time for the local Nationals, which ultimately resulted in lots of compromises of the build - it was in the IPMS hall with the engine exhaust cones missing, left at home because they were still drying! Needless to say, it didn't really win any prizes but did catch the attention of quite a lot of people, as the only airliner build put in the competition, and with the vibrant and recognizable colors of Cebu Pacific no less.

 

It then got damaged on the drive home, with the engines and landing gear breaking off and another fuselage seam reopening. Ultimately, the cowling ring and one of the nose landing gear wheels went missing, so I had to 3D print resin substitutes, which then made it onto the build in time to be make it my last completed build for 2022. 

 

Any modeler with a good eye can spot quite a few mistakes in the build's craftsmanship, many of which I honestly no longer had the energy or time to correct. In the end, I'm just happy to have gotten this project through the finish line.

 

Thanks for reading, especially if you've gotten this far through the wall of text! 

 

 

 

Edited by Columbia20713
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Having seen this build unfold as you were doing it, I want to congratulate you again on creating such an excellent model in the end, despite all the problems.

Making that kit to that level of quality seemed like a really involved process, it would have definitely made me consider quitting too, or perhaps question my sanity!:P

You knocked the ball out of the park as usual :worthy:

 

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Superb work on this, Columbia20713. I especially liked your description of the work involved defining the shape of the curved sections of waves and dophins on the rear fuselage.

I too had great difficulty eliminating those seams where the cockpit windows section joins the fuselage. Very difficult to sand to a good fit without damaging the transparency sections, I think your end result there was excellent, better than mine - hardly visible at all on yours  I found no trouble with the engines, although there is a tricky assembly part where three hands would be useful briefly !  It would be easy to get parts from the alternate engines mixed in by mistake - perhaps that is what happened.

Zvezda's underccarriages always are a  challenge for me too.

 

Terrific end result, lovely looking livery. 

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Fantastic result. Your hard work has certainly paid off and none of the problems are obvious from the photos.

 

Poor fit of the engines isn't unusual with Zvezda kits. A couple of months ago I mentioned that I'd had problems with the engines of a Boeing 738 and a while back a Tu-204 caught me out completely - one engine fitted perfectly, the other was a disaster area. I'm not surprised to learn that you had issues with the Neo.

 

I am very impressed with the wings of your model. I always build my airliners in "gate" condition and I can't be bothered with the separate flaps and slats in the Zvezda "ultimate" kits. I have experience of a model (an Il-62) going horribly wrong when I tried to build it with the flaps and slats retracted but your Neo shows that it can be done, and done well. 

 

If you are looking for window decals for a future model you might want to check out Authentic Airliner Decals. I use their window decals for cockpits as well as cabins which means I don't have to take so much care when I'm sanding down the clear section - anything to make modelling life easier!

 

:goodjob:

 

Dave G

 

 

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Thank you guys for your comments about the build! Appreciate it very much. 

 

I figure it might be worth linking here as well, I compiled footage of the timelapses and build processes I took during the build and put them into a sort-of "reel" - The editing is a bit rushed as I didn't want to spend too much time on it but here it is. Will be putting it in the main post as well. 

 

 

On 2/19/2023 at 6:27 PM, KingTiger435 said:

Having seen this build unfold as you were doing it, I want to congratulate you again on creating such an excellent model in the end, despite all the problems.

Making that kit to that level of quality seemed like a really involved process, it would have definitely made me consider quitting too, or perhaps question my sanity!:P

You knocked the ball out of the park as usual :worthy:

 

 

Haha, thanks! Definitely lost some of my sanity with this build and I'm pretty sure you noticed as I was doing it. Great to hear you like how it turned out in the end, especially knowing you saw it as it progressed. 

 

On 2/19/2023 at 6:57 PM, John B (Sc) said:

Superb work on this, Columbia20713. I especially liked your description of the work involved defining the shape of the curved sections of waves and dophins on the rear fuselage.

I too had great difficulty eliminating those seams where the cockpit windows section joins the fuselage. Very difficult to sand to a good fit without damaging the transparency sections, I think your end result there was excellent, better than mine - hardly visible at all on yours  I found no trouble with the engines, although there is a tricky assembly part where three hands would be useful briefly !  It would be easy to get parts from the alternate engines mixed in by mistake - perhaps that is what happened.

Zvezda's underccarriages always are a  challenge for me too.

 

Terrific end result, lovely looking livery. 

Thank you! It took me some time and effort to write the descriptions of the processes, so am quite happy to hear you like it. The window/cockpit join issue seems to be a common factor for Zvezda A320 builds, and it's interesting to hear you have the same experience with it as well. 

 

On my build, it was strange - the engines themselves fit well for me, albeit not well enough for the fan to freely rotate - but the engine-wing fit was where the major issue was for me. Given Skodadriver's experience with engines it seems to be a mixed bag for these Zvezda builds. 

 

On 2/19/2023 at 9:23 PM, Skodadriver said:

Fantastic result. Your hard work has certainly paid off and none of the problems are obvious from the photos.

 

Poor fit of the engines isn't unusual with Zvezda kits. A couple of months ago I mentioned that I'd had problems with the engines of a Boeing 738 and a while back a Tu-204 caught me out completely - one engine fitted perfectly, the other was a disaster area. I'm not surprised to learn that you had issues with the Neo.

 

I am very impressed with the wings of your model. I always build my airliners in "gate" condition and I can't be bothered with the separate flaps and slats in the Zvezda "ultimate" kits. I have experience of a model (an Il-62) going horribly wrong when I tried to build it with the flaps and slats retracted but your Neo shows that it can be done, and done well. 

 

If you are looking for window decals for a future model you might want to check out Authentic Airliner Decals. I use their window decals for cockpits as well as cabins which means I don't have to take so much care when I'm sanding down the clear section - anything to make modelling life easier!

 

:goodjob:

 

Dave G

 

 

 

Greatly appreciate your comments, an honor especially from someone with airliner builds as amazing as yours! Seems like the engines are indeed strangely inconsistent with these kits, even my engines on the Zvezda 777 were fine up until I had to fit them onto the wing. It's not a major issue for me but it makes things somewhat strange.

 

I actually did encounter a lot of trouble with making the flaps that configuration, I chose not to mention it as I figured it was probably user error but now that you mention it it might be worth noting. Definitely took some trouble getting the wing parts to fit in the flaps area as well, don't know how I persisted with it haha.

 

Thanks for linking Authentic Airliners, I wanted to use their decals for this build but unfortunately they don't offer shipping to here in the Philippines. A shame as a lot of their products would definitely be upgrades to my builds. 

 

On 2/20/2023 at 3:51 PM, luxskater said:

one of my favorite asian color schemes! Great job!

 

Peter


Thank you! It's a beautiful scheme indeed, good to know that it gets noticed outside the country as well. 

 

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  • 4 months later...
On 7/3/2023 at 1:15 AM, lambrakos said:

Very nice build of the A320 NEO! I have a question on the paint used for the inside of the engine. Is the blue paint off the shelf or is it a custom blend?

Thank you! The paint is a custom blend, unfortunately I don't know the mix anymore; I eyeballed it with blue, green and white Vallejo paints until it looked somewhat like the interior of the PW engine, then handpainted it on. 

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  • 3 months later...

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