GB Airways Vickers Viscount 800 in 1/144

[Skodadriver]

Here is the F-RSIN Viscount 800 finished to represent G-BBVH of GB Airways in 1988.

 

Viscount c/n 281 was built in 1957 as ZK-BRD of New Zealand National Airways Corp. In 1974 she was bought by British Airways, re-registered as G-BBVH and immediately leased to Gibraltar Airways who later bought her outright. In June 1988 the re-branded GB Airways painted her in their attractive new red white and blue livery complete with colour-matched props. Unfortunately less than six months later in November 1988 she aquaplaned off the runway into a ditch while landing at Tangier in heavy rain. Nobody was hurt but damage to the elderly aircraft was beyond economic repair and G-BBVH was broken up after spares recovery.

 

As I said when I posted my Alitalia 785D last year, F-RSIN’s Viscounts are among their best kits and an easy build within the limits of short-run moulding. I like them so much that I have finished three to date, a second 800 is currently in primer and another 700 is at the planning stage. The only accuracy issue I have identified is that the bulged nacelles are a little too bulged but I can live with that. The most difficult part of the build was getting all four engines properly lined up. These fit the wings where they touch and a fair bit of packing, checking. re-packing, re-checking and so on was needed. The panel lines are better on the 800 fuselage than the 700 but that’s not saying much and once again I filled them. Aeroclub metal props replaced the unusable F-RSIN ones.

 

Paint is Halfords Appliance Gloss White and AK Interactive Aluminium.

 

Decals are by Classic Airlines. Nick has missed the aircraft name “Yogibair” (yes, seriously) so I made up my own tiny decal using the closest font I could find on Apple Pages. It’s not 100% accurate but it’s better than nothing.

 

Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

Dave G

 

 

 

 

 

A trio of F-RSIN Viscounts - Cambrian/BOAC early 700, Alitalia 785D and GB Airways 800

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Sharp!  Really nice job, and I love the family photo, too!  I've heard this is actually a challenging kit, but you seem to like it, so...

[Neil.C]

That's lovely. Thanks for the potted history. 

 

I actually flew on that Viscount between Tangier and Gib in around 1978 (?).

 

It sported the old red and white livery then IIRC. 

[MODeller]

As ZK-BRD it almost came to grief on landing 12 November 1958 when the undercarriage was inadvertently retracted and it did a spectacular slide across the grass damaging the port inner engine but was returned to service on the 19th of December that year!

You simply cannot have enough Viscounts!

[Back in the Saddle]

Very nice!

[stringbag]

Excellent as usual Dave.

 

Chris.

[Viking]

Another winner Dave, I like the phot of the trio together!

 

Cheers

 

John

[Skymonster]

23 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

the aircraft name “Yogibair” (yes, seriously)

 

 

Lovely build of a lovely aircraft. The story goes that the aircraft, flying under the airline’s previous name “Gibair” went in for a maintenance check and the engineers christened it by scrawling “Yo” ahead of the titles - so “YoGibair” (as in “YoGi bear”). The nickname stuck - it was known as Yogi Bear from thence on - and was officially carried by the Viscount post repaint. 

 

 

[Rupert]

A splendid rendition and all the better for the less familiar colour scheme inducing waves of nostalgia.

Vincent

[Alex1978]

Wonderful build Dave.

 

The Viscount is a really nice looking aircraft and the GB Airways livery suits it wonderfully.👍

 I have a FROG and a Glencoe Viscount in my stash,I hope they will turn out as nice as yours...should I ever come around building them...😊😉

[Skodadriver]

Thanks for the comments and likes, much appreciated as always.

 

On 12/19/2023 at 12:18 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Sharp!  Really nice job, and I love the family photo, too!  I've heard this is actually a challenging kit, but you seem to like it, so...

Thanks @TheyJammedKenny! F-RSIN kits by their nature can be challenging  but I think there is a psychological element to getting the best out of them. They are short run mouldings and if you expect Zvezda quality and fit you will be badly disappointed. However if you accept them for what they are - raw material for you to exercise your modelling skills - you can have a lot of fun and end up with a model which is a bit different from the mainstream. Some F-RSIN kits are undeniably difficult (Caravelles are definitely not for the faint hearted) but if you are tempted to give one a shot the Viscounts are among the easiest.

 

On 12/19/2023 at 3:58 PM, MODeller said:

As ZK-BRD it almost came to grief on landing 12 November 1958 when the undercarriage was inadvertently retracted and it did a spectacular slide across the grass damaging the port inner engine but was returned to service on the 19th of December that year!

You simply cannot have enough Viscounts!

Thanks @MODeller. One hazard of building model Viscounts is that if you do any serious research you will inevitably end up on Vickers Viscount Network. It is very easy to spend a whole evening reading life histories and interesting facts about every Viscount ever constructed instead of actually working on the model. I speak from experience!

 

20 hours ago, Skymonster said:

Lovely build of a lovely aircraft. The story goes that the aircraft, flying under the airline’s previous name “Gibair” went in for a maintenance check and the engineers christened it by scrawling “Yo” ahead of the titles - so “YoGibair” (as in “YoGi bear”). The nickname stuck - it was known as Yogi Bear from thence on - and was officially carried by the Viscount post repaint. 

 

 

Thanks @Skymonster I guessed that"Yogibair" was some kind of play on the airline name but I didn't know the full story.

 

[Carlo1963]

What a beautiful livery, I've never seen it before and really suits the Viscount.  Strikes a chord with me does F-RSIN, their Trident was what got me back into modelling and despite the challenge I thought the kit produced a lovely model of the real thing, certainly better loking than the rather lamentable metal diecast 1/200 recently introduced of the Mark 1.  I had a bit of an early blitz and made up their Trident, Caravelle and VFW-614 but have hit a lull recently and need some motivation to get back in the shed.  Waiting for me there is their Coronado CV990, if the Caravelle was daunting then blimey...

[Roger Holden]

Nice to see an F-RSIN kit built to a good standard. It is one of their better ones and much better than the S&M kit. But the best is the Eastern Express, which will hopefully get re-released for a more reasonable price at some point. Hope to build a GB Airways 737 one day.

[Turbofan]

Hi Dave,

Yes that's a fine looking Viscount! I've not built an F-RSIN one yet as I have a few AA 800s and an EE 700 but I'm tempted to try one now I've seen yours.

The engines do seem a little bulged but it's not so exaggerated that one can't live with it. In fact I might not have noticed had you not mentioned it!

Which livery are you planning for the next two? There are almost too many classic liveries to choose from for the Viscount!

Cheers,

Ian 

 

[Skodadriver]

Thanks Ian. The 800 which is in primer is probably going to be finished in British United livery but that could change. The 700 (which I haven't started yet) is planned to be Hunting Clan but that depends on decal fit. Ray designed the sheet for the EE kit and there might be problems using it on the F-RSIN one. We shall see in due course.

[Head in the clouds.]

F-RSIN kits are what they are to different people but whichever one you picked up you have done a grand job.

[NorbertBu]

What a nice collection! I tried the S&M kit once, but was stopped by the very thick propellers. Then I bought the Eastern Express, Authentic Airliner and F-RSin kits, but haven't built any of them yet. But this RFI could be a good motivation. I haven't  seen this livery before, thank you for all the interesting information.

 

cheers,

 

Norbert

[tomprobert]

That’s beautiful - just goes to show what can be done with a limited run kit in skilled hands. 
 

I have a couple of the S & M Viscounts in the stash and must get one built - your collection certainly gives some inspiration. 
 

All the best,

Tom

[woody37]

Brilliant, a dose of nostalgia for us all there wrapped up in some great modelling skill.

[mitchem]

Excellent stuff Dave. Fond memories of the Viscount for me, as my first flight was on a 700. Although I built an S&M one many years ago, I never got around to doing another, so F-Rsin could be the affordable answer.

 

mike

[Zulu Hotel Alpha]

so cute! 

[Sky Keg]

A lovely trio!!!!!    

[Mig88]

Lovely!!

 

Miguel

[Challenger350Pilot]

This is so good, Dave! I always love seeing the classic propliners posted here. You've done a magnificent job on the whole family! The pic of all three is really wonderful. I have a couple of unbuilt F-RSIN kits in my stash, and quite frankly, they are a bit scary. I've yet to have the courage to jump right in with one, but maybe I should take a second look. I'm not beyond or above making major corrections with putty and sanding. 

 

Very nicely done!

 

Paul

[exdraken]

Wow, fantastic Viscount!

I built one once in cardboard wopping 1/33!