Back in the Saddle's Bits on the Side!

[Back in the Saddle]

Welcome to my new thread which will be a refuge for all my little side projects!

 

Despite having far too many models on the go already, most of which are almost (but not quite!) complete, I sometimes can't resist the urge to start another. @Paulaero knows what I'm talking about...😁

 

This latest side venture had the promise of genuinely being a short diversion, something I could finish in a matter of days - possibly whittling away the hours whilst away from home. However, as with many things in life, my first BOTS grew arms and legs and became a little more convoluted than I had anticipated!

The mission was simple - rejuvenate a model from 2022 which had suffered in the sunlight and no longer looked its best. The aircraft was one of my fictional British Airways 727's in the 'Benyhone' tartan livery and it looked like this when it first rolled off my workbench (more images are on my RFI thread if you wish to see her in all her glory!):

 

 

My homemade decals have unfortunately suffered in the direct sunlight - I need to find another source of decal paper which is more durable in the heat for future projects... After a couple of years in the sun, these decals had shrunk and cracked badly:

 

 

My plan was simple - soak off the offending decals and apply some new ones!

 

I packed the kit into my bag and took it away on a work trip; when I arrived I gave it a long soak in the sink:

 

 

After many hours soaking (and much scrapping with a cocktail stick!), I had finally removed 99.9% of the decal material. This is when my problems began - either the water or the wooden stick had affected the white paint, leaving it looking a little wrinkled:

 

 

The above photo was taken after I had returned home and realised my little project had become bigger!

I gave the fuse a gentle sanding to remove the blemishes and applied primer where necessary:

 

 

I have run out of the Halford's Appliance white paint which I use on my airliner kits (and it has also now been discontinued!😲), so I bought a can of something similar from them which I will try out and see how it looks. Hopefully it will do the job!

 

[Gimme Shelter]

decals are just like humans - they wrinkle with age!

 

And probably just as difficult to overcome - all the best with the 727, and all the others.......... not forgetting that Concorde of yours (yes, I had to get my two penny's worth in there!)

[woody37]

Don't you just hate these setbacks? Modelling is a great source of resilience building...and swearing!

 

Have you tried spraying the decals with car lacquer as a sealant before applying (several light coats)? Touch wood, this has worked really well, with a few builds in sunlight that have coped fine. 

[Back in the Saddle]

7 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

decals are just like humans - they wrinkle with age!

These ones have aged very badly! 😁

 

7 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

And probably just as difficult to overcome - all the best with the 727, and all the others.......... not forgetting that Concorde of yours (yes, I had to get my two penny's worth in there!)

A little Concorde update has just been posted!👍

 

3 hours ago, woody37 said:

Have you tried spraying the decals with car lacquer as a sealant before applying (several light coats)? Touch wood, this has worked really well, with a few builds in sunlight that have coped fine. 

I haven't, as the decals were sprayed before application (to seal the ink). I will try spraying them again once they are on the model to see if that helps.👍

 

 

The decals I'm planning to use on the tail fin are a spare set of Revell's 'Chelsea Rose' decals, left over from my BA 767 'Sweden' build. The inspiration came from a comment made by @Vince1159 on the original 727 RFI thread - thanks for the suggestion!

 

These are the decals; I'm hopeful the design can be applied on the 727 fin:

 

 

I'll have a go as soon as the fuselage is repainted!

 

[Back in the Saddle]

I had another minor setback with this project, when the model slipped from my fingers whilst being sprayed and landed in the grass!

 

I gave it another rub down once it was dry and sprayed the affected areas with filling primer, but I think a bit more work is needed - I can still see a gouge in the fuselage paint just above the window line:

 

 

Note the clamp holding it securely this time - no more falls!

In other news, the paint I traditionally use on my airliner models was supplied by Halfords but is now discontinued. However, I think I may have tracked down the company that supplied it to Halfords in the first place, so am about to order a can of Appliance White and Capri Blue from them to confirm if it really is the same paint. Fingers crossed, as I use that stuff all the time! 🤞

 

Finally an update about another side project I'm working on. Along with @FortyEighter, we are trying to produce a set of 'Delftblue Daybreak' decals for Mike's 777 model - you might have seen this mentioned on my Concorde build thread a while ago.

 

As a quick recap, Mike bought some decals from a well known supplier, but they were very inaccurate - the size was far too big, the design was flawed and the colour was wrong! Coincidentally, I also had many inaccuracies when I bought a different BA Utopia set from this supplier too, which is how I got started with making my own decals... Here's a picture of Mike's decals, which shows how oversized they are, especially the ones to wrap around the fuselage:

 

 

Getting these corrected has been an ongoing task, fitting in around other projects and work. After much dabbling I thought I had something broadly correct, so printed out a set of decals to try them on the model to see how they looked. They are still not quite right, as can be seen below - the fin decal extends slightly too high:

 

 

The fuselage decal was added next. This one includes two different shades of blue, so I could check which one looked most accurate. You can also see the green template markings around the tailcone, used to help me get the general dimensions correct:

 

 

Not quite right, but invaluable information for making final adjustments to the design.👍

 

Any cracks in these decals are a result of me using a batch of dodgy decal paper. No good for final prints, but quite OK for a sacrificial decal such as this!

 

A bit more tweaking should produce something that looks very authentic.

[Gimme Shelter]

Keep Calm and Decal On.....

 

ride the storm 

[Back in the Saddle]

My painting woes continue... Having sanded the fuselage until all blemishes were removed, I gave it a coat of primer:

 

 

I have never had this happen before, it almost looks like the paint coating shrank as it dried. Another session with 240 grit sandpaper awaits; this time I'm going back to bare plastic in case this was a reaction between the new primer and the remains of the old topcoat...

[Back in the Saddle]

I've eventually got around to rubbing the paint off this one - at least, most of it:

 

 

 

I'm hoping that spraying the same brand of primer onto this will work and no further paint reactions will occur!

 

I'm also about to resurrect my Photoshop file for the 'Delftblue Daybreak' decals shown earlier in the thread, which must be a relief for @FortyEighter who could be forgiven for thinking I'd forgotten about them! Sorry Mike, work on those will resume again shortly...👍

[Mike]

What primer did you use Matt?

[Richard E]

36 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I've eventually got around to rubbing the paint off this one - at least, most of it:

 

 

 

I'm hoping that spraying the same brand of primer onto this will work and no further paint reactions will occur!

 

I'm also about to resurrect my Photoshop file for the 'Delftblue Daybreak' decals shown earlier in the thread, which must be a relief for @FortyEighter who could be forgiven for thinking I'd forgotten about them! Sorry Mike, work on those will resume again shortly...👍

 

That's a very inadvertently psychedelic colour scheme - it wouldn't look out of place on some business jets !  

[AdrianMF]

I love the Delft blue tail scheme.

 

That said, your rubbed down multicolour primer finish would make a good full size scheme as well!

 

I do remember seeing a Ryanair "Guinness" scheme once where the body was painted to look like a stout with a turbulent head of froth on it. Unfortunately, on first glance at the nose in the early morning light it looked to me like a burnt out wreck!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Back in the Saddle]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

What primer did you use Matt?

Hi Mike. My usual - Halford’s grey primer/filling primer. I suspect the solvent (cellulose?) is reacting with the topcoat, hence the aggressive sanding to remove the offending layer. There’s a bit left, but I’ll see how it goes next time as it only seemed to react in some areas, not all over…

 

31 minutes ago, Richard E said:

That's a very inadvertently psychedelic colour scheme - it wouldn't look out of place on some business jets !  

If I’m completely honest, that’s one of the reasons I posted the pictures - it looks very funky!😁

 

18 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I love the Delft blue tail scheme.

It’s one of the better designs - simple but effective. I’m hoping to finalise the amendments in the next few days to make it accurate.👍

 

 

[FortyEighter]

1 hour ago, Back in the Saddle said:

I'm also about to resurrect my Photoshop file for the 'Delftblue Daybreak' decals shown earlier in the thread, which must be a relief for @FortyEighter who could be forgiven for thinking I'd forgotten about them! Sorry Mike, work on those will resume again shortly.

N̈o problem Matt, in fact I thought it was my turn to have a go at improving the decals but....I got sidetracked by my first flight in a Dreamliner in September and have a BA 787-10 in progress (plus a BA A350 following flights last April) and let's not forget the 747 WIP (CIVB 100 Anniversary livery)  which is waiting for the preparation of a set of Braz engines...and then there's a couple of mini Airbooses too.  Moral of the story; one kit at a time next year🤣

[Back in the Saddle]

10 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

Moral of the story; one kit at a time next year🤣

You’re as bad as me! At least my procrastination isn’t delaying your progress!

 

Hope you enjoyed your flight in a 787, it was a bit breezy this morning! I’ve heard on the grapevine that our landing today was being streamed live - at least we got in, there were quite a few go arounds due to the weather.

[Back in the Saddle]

Found a clip on YouTube; our landing was the 787 touching down at 0844am:

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

The aggressive sanding on the 727 seems to have worked, as the last coat of primer went on without any reaction occurring with the older layers of paint:

 

 

A bit more work is needed, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel!

 

I've also had another side project on the go this week - a new method to display my models. Traditionally I had always just just lined them up on a flat surface:

 

 

My wife suggested it might look good to have them flying across the wall! After giving it some thought, I came up with this - a copper strip screwed to the wall at one end and attached to the model at the other:

 

 

I've just tried it on one model for now, to check if it works as planned. I'm very happy with the result, as the copper strip is almost invisible from the 'usual' viewing angles - time to order some more and get the rest of the fleet into the air!

 

[Back in the Saddle]

A quick recap on the 727 refurbishment which started this thread! My intention was to use a spare set of "Chelsea Rose" decals, leftover from a Revell 767 kit. Unfortunately, having looked at these a bit harder, I don't think they will be quite the right shape/size to apply convincingly to the 727 tail fin: 

 

 

Which meant I would have to design something else instead! 😁

 

I decided to re-work my Polish design, which was applied to this 747-8:

 

 

Like the 727, these decals have also suffered from some shrinkage - note the gap in the design between tail cone and fin...

 

After a bit of tweaking, I came up with this:

 

 

When cut out and wrapped around the fuselage, it looked like a sensible design:

 

 

The fuselage was painted white and masked ready for the blue belly:

 

 

 

Decal application should be underway soon!

[Back in the Saddle]

The blue paint was applied but I had a slight mishap when removing the masking tape:

 

 

Easily remedied with some more tape and a quick coat of white:

 

 

I mentioned previously that the planned 767 'Chelsea Rose' donor decals were unsuitable due to their size, so I decided to have a stab at producing my own version instead. The original design is portrait rather than landscape, whereas a 727 tail fin suits a landscape design due to its shape. Here's a low res image of the artwork to illustrate the issue:

 

 

And the design I eventually settled on. Note the shape of the 727 tail fin - the width is greater than the height due to the sweepback:

 

 

I also had a dabble with a design called 'Waves of the City', which was used on a single Comair 727 in South Africa. My version is a bit different though:

 

 

You can tell from the primer that this dabble happened a while ago! I quite like how this looks, so may use it on another model.

 

Decal production is next, then I can get this one finished.

[stringbag]

On 2/4/2025 at 6:16 PM, Back in the Saddle said:

 

 

Decal application should be underway soon!

I missed this one Matt.

I still think this was the prettiest design of all and it should look great on the 727.

Looking forward to the finished article.

 

Chris.

[Back in the Saddle]

On 20/02/2025 at 00:17, stringbag said:

I still think this was the prettiest design of all and it should look great on the 727.

Looking forward to the finished article.

 

Cheers Chris - it's a great design and a shame it wasn't used more extensively.

 

I've had another dabble with the 'Chelsea Rose' design, to make it suitable for printing. My first task was to improve the resolution. From the earlier image on my previous post (which is the only version I had to work with!), you can see how poor the quality is. I copied this into Photoshop and used it as a template to recreate the entire design. This took quite a while, but was well worth the effort as I now have a high resolution and accurate version of this design. The original is on the left and the reworked version is on the right:

 

 

This design was then superimposed over an image of the tail fin (with a ruler included, to get the size correct!) then manipulated until it fitted the fin nicely:
 

 

As previously mentioned, the aspect ratio of this design is portrait and the fin shape is more landscape, so getting something that worked was a challenge!

 

Paper versions were printed to check if it fitted correctly. Note the window decals are now in place too (and a set of "Waves of the City' cutouts, which will also get used at some point!):

 

 

Once happy, decals were printed:

 

 

Two sets for the 727 (Poland and Chelsea Rose) and a Caribbean set for a smaller 747 which is also on the bench!

 

Decal application should occur soon, but first I need to find the exhaust for engine #2, which has gone AWOL...😬

 

[Back in the Saddle]

The exhaust for engine #2 is still missing but I'm sure it will turn up - eventually!

 

In the meantime, I've applied the fin decals. Here they are before application:

 

 

The left hand decals went on first and were allowed to dry:

 

 

These were trimmed to fit (taking extra care over the central intake and top of the tail fin), then the right hand side decals were added:

 

 

I need to reprint the artist's signatures, as these ones are too big. Once I've done that (and sourced an exhaust!), I'll be ready for an RFI.👍

 

Then I can refurbish my next 727 and apply the Polish fin! 😁

[stringbag]

15 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

The exhaust for engine #2 is still missing but I'm sure it will turn up - eventually!

 

 

Let me know if it doesn't show up.  I'm sure I have a spare which you are welcome to.

 

Chris.

[Back in the Saddle]

On 22/04/2025 at 00:39, stringbag said:

Let me know if it doesn't show up.  I'm sure I have a spare which you are welcome to.

Thanks Chris. One month later and it still hasn't appeared... I haven't given up (yet!), but I might be tempted to take you up on your kind offer!👍

 

The first model from this mini production line is complete - the 727-200 in a fictional "Chelsea Rose" livery. The Polish version is next on my agenda, followed by the G-RAES decals for Mike's 777 model!

 

Here's the RFI for this one:

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

The 'Chelsea Rose' design was just an interlude, as the original intention was to finish this model in the Polish livery. That meant the decals had to come off again after I'd taken the photos...🙁

 

The fin needed some TLC, including a general rub down to remove a few blemishes, re-scribing the rudder and drilling a hole to insert a support pin for the tailplane:

 

 

The belly also had a few marks, so these were blended away:

 

 

I masked the majority of the white and applied some primer in the middle section:

 

 

Before reapplying the blue:

 

 

That looks much sleeker! Note the slight overspray - not a massive issue as the white also needs a new coat of paint... I will mask the blue very carefully and then respray the upper fuselage and fin.👍

 

Almost time for the set of 'Poland' decals!

 

[Back in the Saddle]

My shiny blue underside was masked off and the topside was sprayed with a fresh coat of white:

 

 

The set of decals ready for application:

 

 

The window decals were applied first, followed by the first decal on the tail design:

 

 

Then the second one, checking carefully for symmetry:

 

 

The fin decal was next to be applied (after remembering to paint the leading edge silver!). This was deliberately over-sized, so it could be trimmed to fit:

 

 

Almost done, just a bit more work required at the top:

 

 

Decals done!

 

 

Time to re-attach the engines and tailplane:

 

 

RFI next!👍