zebra Posted January 18 Posted January 18 With the two Tu-134s at the painting stage it's time to start another build. After a bit of dithering over what to build I've settled on the Eastern Express 1/144 BAC 1-11, and as I couldn't decide on one livery I'll be building two. These are 26 Models and Kitshobby boxings, but they're the same kit, although with different-coloured plastic - the 26 Models kit is in the same green as the X-Scale Trident and DC-8's plastic, whilst the Kitshobby one is light grey and also has a bit more flash. I've got four decal options to choose from - Manx, Dan Air and BA (Negus) from 26, and the Braniff jellybean from Vintage Flyer. One of them will definitely be Braniff (can't resist those colourful schemes), the other will most likely be Manx as I've flown on it. Here's one of the kits and the decals: I've made a start - fuselages are assembled. As usual with these kits the clear part is a poor fit (they're usually too big) and it pays to adjust the opening to get a better fit before the fuselage is assembled. With that done, I've got a fairly good fit and whilst it's not perfect, filling and blending them in won't take long. Looking ahead, the engines on the Manx aircraft are hushkitted, which isn't catered for in the kit. I have a solution in mind - watch this space! more soon Julian 19
bianfuxia Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Excellent choice and a double whammy! I think this bring us to 4 BAC 1-11 in the GB right? 1
zebra Posted January 23 Author Posted January 23 On 1/18/2025 at 11:54 PM, bianfuxia said: Excellent choice and a double whammy! I think this bring us to 4 BAC 1-11 in the GB right? Thanks! Might be 5 if my solution to the engine problem works out - I'll be tempted to start my Mark 1 1-11-500 if it does. Speaking of which, I've been doing a bit of CAD modelling rather than plastic modelling today. Here's my work in progress on an engine: I could have just modelled a hush kit to add to the back end of the EE engine, but there are a couple of other aspects of the EE engine I'd like to improve on. Firstly there's a seam in the intake that'll be a pain to remove, so here's an opportunity to create a seamless intake. Secondly the EE kit's thrust reverser is just a mesh and doesn't really look a lot like the thrust reverser grid you can see in walkaround photos. So I'm going to try and create something that looks a bit closer to the real thing - I've started on that. I'm fairly happy with the basic shape apart from the intake, which I think is a bit blunt. I'll try and fix that tomorrow. more soon Julian 7
Grandboof Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Any thoughts on the colour for the Braniff one . N1544 was Orange .Pat would be pleased . Great choice Martin H 1
CliffB Posted January 24 Posted January 24 On 1/18/2025 at 9:25 AM, zebra said: One of them will definitely be Braniff (can't resist those colourful schemes) Excellent! They're possibly even more colourful than the Court Line 1-11s 1
zebra Posted January 27 Author Posted January 27 On 1/23/2025 at 7:10 PM, Grandboof said: Any thoughts on the colour for the Braniff one . N1544 was Orange .Pat would be pleased . Great choice Martin H I was thinking it might be green. But orange would look good as well. More CAD work on the engine: I spent a bit of time trying to get the thrust reverser grid to look ok but think I've got something reasonable now. I've also done the fan - I think I've given it more definition and depth than the kit parts (it has both inlet guide vanes and the first stage rotor) and I've also done it so that the fan and intake can be painted separately, and the intake is a single piece and therefore seamless on the inside. I think I'll do the un-hushkitted back end next, then some panel lines. more soon Julian 8
zebra Posted January 28 Author Posted January 28 Not a lot more progress but it's gained a nozzle: I think I'll do the pylon next, then I can do a test print and try it on the EE fuselage. more soon Julian 11 1
zebra Posted February 2 Author Posted February 2 Pylon done and test-printed: Fairly pleased with how this has come out. I need to tweak the pylon a little to improve the fit to the fuselage, the intake lip is still too blunt, and the fan doesn't fit in because I've left too little space behind it (easily fixed though). You can also see a bit too much of the inside through the jet pipe, but I think the best way to deal with that is to paint the inside black - these were pretty sooty engines after all - rather than try and put a turbine/exit guide vanes in there. The print lines on the pylon are unfortunate but will disappear quickly with a combination of mr surfacer and sanding. more soon Julian 15
bianfuxia Posted February 3 Posted February 3 This looks good. I think 3D printing is the answer to the dilemma I faced when I missed getting the now OOP 1/200 B717 from retrokits. Another skills mountain to climb but I can see the upside from this and other builds using 3D. 1
zebra Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 Hushkitted version done: I'll do some printing tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to move on from CAD modelling and back to proper modelling after that! more soon Julian 10
zebra Posted February 8 Author Posted February 8 I've printed a few copies in a few different orientations. I've also separated the pylon from the engine so that it doesn't have to be in the same orientation as the engine, to try and lessen the print lines on the pylon. I'll clean them up and test fit them tomorrow. more soon Julian 14
desert falcon Posted February 8 Posted February 8 Great work so far @zebra, the CAD modelling and 3D printing certainly got some potential ! 1
zebra Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 I’ve cleaned up, test built and test-fitted an engine: Time to switch back to building the models for them to go on. But fairly soon I’ll move on to the Mark 1 1-11-500 which should just require some adjustments to the pylon. more soon Julian 14
Rob Sutto Posted February 9 Posted February 9 Excellent work Julian. It's fascinating to see how 3D printing is bringing a new dimension scale modelling 1
zebra Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 4 hours ago, CliffB said: That's looking very impressive Julian 1 hour ago, Bobby No Mac said: Excellent work Julian. It's fascinating to see how 3D printing is bringing a new dimension scale modelling 1 hour ago, bianfuxia said: Looking really good! Thanks everyone! Pressing on with the rest of the build now, starting with vertical fins. After a couple of minor adjustments they fit together quite nicely. Since both of these will have different coloured fins and fuselages I've decided to paint them separately, so I've gone to a bit of effort to make sure they fit the fuselage snugly - I tried out the bare metal foil/superglue method for the first time, and it seems to have worked pretty well. While I was at it I did the same with the engine pylons. I'll move on to the wings next. cheers Julian 2
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted February 9 Posted February 9 Nice work on both builds Julian. I would love to get into the 3D printing side of things. How long did these prints take to complete? 1
zebra Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 1 hour ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: Nice work on both builds Julian. I would love to get into the 3D printing side of things. How long did these prints take to complete? Thanks Ray These prints took about 6 hours. But printer technology has improved a lot since I bought mine (and it was an entry-level printer back then), the printers are much faster now. 1
zebra Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 Just noticed I forgot to post a photo in my last update - here it is: 9
zebra Posted February 12 Author Posted February 12 Wings are on: Wing fences will be next, after that I think it'll be ready for a coat of primer more soon Julian 10
zebra Posted February 15 Author Posted February 15 Quite a lot of painting has happened over the last two days. Having reached this point, I had to decide on a colour for the Braniff one - I've gone for green: The fins are only on temporarily, I need to paint the leading edges natural metal so I'll take them off for that. The fin bullet on the Manx one is bronze green - doesn't look like it in the photo though. There's still a fair bit of painting to do - the grey on the Manx one needs a gloss coat, there's the metallic leading edges, the Braniff one has a black nose and natural metal belly, plus various other details. more soon Julian 13
zebra Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 A bit more painting done - gloss coat on the Manx one, black nose for Braniff: metallic bits next 10
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