mitchem's entry - Air Rhodesia

[mitchem]

Been wanting to do a model of the 720 for about 35 years !

Just looking for an excuse (and a decent model)

Lovely looking kit and a nice colour scheme too, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to get the old wax crayons out and have a crack at something a little more exotic .......... (shouldn't come as too much of a surprise)

Crayon and paper at hand with tongue hanging out the corner of my mouth - time to get drawing

Edited October 2, 2010 by mitchem

[woody37]

Looking forward to seeing this kit built. I've shyed away from vac form now, I did my 720 out of the Revell E3 although didn't have enough courage to extend the inboard leading edges.

Have you decided on a theme yet ?

[mitchem]

Hi,

I know where you're coming from with regards to vacforms although having admired your work on a number of occasions, I don't think you'd have a problem with them.

Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to come clean and admit to a bit of cheatage ! (Yes Jim, it's a vacform.....but not as we know it !)

Lift the lid on the box and you'll find that only the fuselage halves are vacformed - the rest is resin and white metal - Lovely !!!

You'll notice that I've chosen a colour scheme and although I've nearly finished the drawings, I'm still trying to iron out some colour-matching bugs - that's why you can't see them yet. (To be honest, I started work on them some time ago, and before anyone asks, it isn't a "?" logo jet ! )

All will be revealed in the next week or two. I'll post some more shots of the box contents on Saturday. (Keep your fingers crossed I can pull this one off, 'cos mine are. )

....start your engines !

[keefr22]

You'll notice that I've chosen a colour scheme and although I've nearly finished the drawings, I'm still trying to iron out some colour-matching bugs - that's why you can't see them yet. (To be honest, I started work on them some time ago, and before anyone asks, it isn't a "?" logo jet ! )

Can I tell them Mike, can I, can I.....???!!!

Looking forward to seeing this one done, it'll be a stunner!

I still can't decide what to do, but I think the Aer Lingus Connie is still just about ahead of the field!

Good luck with the decals

Keef

[mitchem]

Can I tell them Mike, can I, can I.....???!!!

Sure thing, but Post number 3477 will be your last

[keefr22]

Sure thing, but Post number 3477 will be your last

Oh no it won't - I'll tell 'em in the next one.....

[woody37]

That kit looks exellent, might have to try one of these as a first step into vac world (sounds either like a domestic or fettish club lol)

Now your teasing with these decals, go on, spill the beans.......

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase

[mitchem]

So what else is inside the box ?

Fuselage halves :

Resin wings and tailplanes :

White metal landing-gear :

Resin engines and fuselage bulkheads :

...and the old decal sheet (the new one is nearly finished !) :

and of course the Instructions :

All in all, very civilised and well worth having, if you ask me

(My kind of vacform - I just hope I can do it justice !)

Edited July 3, 2010 by mitchem

[T-Tango]

That looks a very neat kit.

[richellis]

looking good, Im hoping to crack on with a welsh vac-form for this GB, so ill be watching....

[mitchem]

Okay, so here's the plan (It's my avatar - I couldn't help myself !!!) :

Air Rhodesia Boeing 720-025 VP-YNM Mashonaland

Artwork is finished but needs some fine-tuning, so here's the "?" label ripped off :

Time to put the crayons away and start cutting some plastic.

Edited July 4, 2010 by mitchem

[Milo Black]

Nice livery! Go for it! I'm interesting to see what this throws up, since I've never been brave enough to go vac-forming myself.

[Nwanda]

Nice choice of livery!

[woody37]

Stunning and unique, what a great build this is gonna be.....no pressure lol

Really impressed with those resin engines and wings. Can't see much of the fuselage, but I feel I'm giving in to the Welsh kit. Just ned to buy a new shelf now !

[mitchem]

Stunning and unique, what a great build this is gonna be.....no pressure lol

Really impressed with those resin engines and wings. Can't see much of the fuselage, but I feel I'm giving in to the Welsh kit. Just ned to buy a new shelf now !

Cheers for the comment - hope I can pull it off.

With regards to the engines and wings, they are very impressive - no apparent casting imperfections whatsoever !

Been out and bought the Welsh Models Super VC-10 in East African colours for a rainy day as a result of the 720's quality - Same mixed media with only the fuselage halves being vacformed. :thumbsup2:

[mitchem]

Okay, so on with the build.....

- Close up of the decal sheet. Couple of minor modifications need to be done before I put it to one side and concentrate on the plastic.

- Fuselage halves cut out from the backing sheet and sanded down ready for the resin bulkheads

- Resin bulkheads pushed aside in favour of plasticard ones (didn't seem to fit properly but that's more than likely due to my "skills")

- Milliput and lead weight added behind forward bulkhead and interior parts painted black, because...........

....I opened two scoops under the fuselage, and I'm planning on opening the cockpit windows out instead of using the decal windscreen (Hope you're happy Keef 'n Clive !!!)

- pilot holes drilled in the fuselage halves in order to attach the horizontal bits.

Close ups of one of the scoops......

....and one of the cotton-pickin' glue-trenches that resulted from gluing in the plasticard bulkheads. :shithappens:

Should be able to get the fuselage halves together this week.

Edited July 10, 2010 by mitchem

[keefr22]

(Hope you're happy Keef 'n Clive !!!)

Well done that man!!

Good start so far Mike, you'll be finished by the end of July at this rate!!

After a whole lot of faffing about I've finally decided that I am going to do the Revell Connie in Aer Lingus markings. Unfortunately that means I'll probably have to lose the clear cabin windows as the Max Decals sheet uses decal ones, & there's a different spacing between them & the kit. She'll still have a clear flightdeck though....!!

Keef

[woody37]

Did you make those decals yourself ?

If so, how ? They look superb

[mitchem]

Good start so far Mike, you'll be finished by the end of July at this rate!!

......club competition will see that doesn't happen !.......

....and the rest of the unfinished builds covering our dining-room table - the family have to take it in turns to eat meals !

Did you make those decals yourself ?

If so, how ? They look superb

Cheers for that.

I did them over a couple of weekends using Photoshop and many, many curse words

[JosephLalor]

Been wanting to do a model of the 720 for about 35 years !

Just looking for an excuse (and a decent model)

Lovely looking kit and a nice colour scheme too, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to get the old wax crayons out and have a crack at something a little more exotic .......... (shouldn't come as too much of a surprise)

Crayon and paper at hand with tongue hanging out the corner of my mouth - time to get drawing

Good luck with the build, mitchem. You've just decided for me what my next Welsh Models purchase will be!

Joseph

[richellis]

Good progress. I got my welsh 737-4 on wednesady, and I was pleased to see injected plastic bits for the wings and engines!

[woody37]

......club competition will see that doesn't happen !.......

....and the rest of the unfinished builds covering our dining-room table - the family have to take it in turns to eat meals !

Cheers for that.

I did them over a couple of weekends using Photoshop and many, many curse words

Would you do a thread at some point explaining how you did them ?

With so many questions to ask like how did you get the profile into a 2d image, how did you get the dimensions etc, etc.

Really impressed with them. I've never used photoshop, but would love to have a go myself at some point.

Thanks.

[CliffB]

Would you do a thread at some point explaining how you did them ?

Thanks.

I would like to second that proposal please.

Thanks

Cliff

[Milo Black]

Yeah, what he just said.

[mitchem]

Would you do a thread at some point explaining how you did them ?

I'd love to explain it in a step-by-step fashion, but it's difficult to put into words.

Those who use Photoshop know that it's all about using layers which are then superimposed on top of each other.

The Air Rhodesia decals were no exception and were made up of multiple layers which can be seen down the right hand side of the following screen-shot:

As far as the designs are concerned, it's basically all down to the ability to draw straight lines and getting the dimensions (and the colours) right. Not as hard as it sounds !

With regards to the dimensions, it usually starts off with a strip of windows. Cheatline dimensions can be gauged by comparing them to the windows, and then once you've got the cheatlines sorted out, you can gauge the dimensions of the doors by them. Doors are relatively simple to draw - four straight lines and a circle spilt into quarters.

Fonts are sometimes more difficult, but if you haven't got something similar to what you're looking for on your PC, you can sometimes find them on the Internet. As an example, the Boeing font was downloaded for free from some web-site, so with some manipulation, I managed to write BOEING720 in the right size and colour, and then add it to the cheatlines as an additional layer.

Another useful idea is to try and get a side-view of the aircraft that you're trying to model. The following pic was handy in trying to get the dimensions and positioning right, even though the resolution wasn't very high.

When it comes to side-views, I'm often surprised by what's out there in Internet land. I even managed to find port and starboard side-views on Airliners.net for a short-lived airline that's always been of interest to me, and they only ever had one DC-8 !

There was no excuse not to have a go. (Only about 100 excuses in the loft not to build it.....yet !)

The English font was available on the Photoshop software and coloured using the eye-dropper tool, while the Arabic font was picked off the photo using the magic wand tool.

I'd encourage you to have a crack at making your own decals. The satisfaction of making something unique is often greater than making the model itself, and if I can do it, anyone can. (Hell, everything I know about Photoshop is self-taught - I couldn't even read Photoishop for Dummies without subtitles !)

cheers

mike

(Word of warning - don't be fooled by my decals. They may look the part, but they invariably require quite a bit of trimming and fiddling around with to get them to fit. )