Revell 1/144 Airbus A320 Etihad Airlines

[Dave Ward]

While I'm waiting for my decal solution to work on my Kfir & Mossie, I thought I'd make a start on this - my first airliner in about 40 years+!
I'm not going to put up sprue shots - mainly because I've taken a lot of bits off already.
It's a simple model - 60 parts - and, unlike the old Airfix models, doesn't come with cabin windows, only the cockpit glazing. How this works out I will see.
In the event that you actually can see anything through the windows, I've painted the interior black..............
At first glance, the parts look good, but on closer inspection, there is a bit of flash, and a lot of edge preparation is needed.
I've already had the chat about the paint, and I have prepared my paints for mixing. Despite the boxart looking like the fuselage is white, it is in fact a very pale pearl orange. The engine pods are white, so it should give some contrast.
I'll have to add 20g+ to the nose, before closing the fuselage - a good joint will be essential, as a pale finish will show up any blemish - I may remove all location pins, and lightly sand the fuselage mating surfaces on a flat surface to give the best possible fit.
Dave

[Guest]

It doesn’t include cabin windows because the decals take care of those: you’ve got a row of window frames on the decal sheet (Nos. 82–86) and that will go over the openings and form the glazing as well. The Ed Force One I built had the same thing, and though I was skeptical about it, it worked surprisingly well.

[Fernando N]

Nice one Dave and I’ll have to agree with Jakko on the decals.
Made the same kit as he and the Revell ones worked fine, also had similar ones on an AM sheet for an Airfix 737-200 although very thin they still worked fine.

Looking forward to see how your A320 comes together.:smiling:

[Dave Ward]

Weight added, and the fuselage is closed up, & taped up, and drying.
I finally found a picture of the Revell Airbus Etihad painted - on the Revell website!
Not exactly HD, but at least I can see the contrast between the white engine pods, and the fuselage...............
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Finally back to the bench - but soon wished I hadn't!! I'd cleaned up all the seams & decided to fit & mask the cockpit glazing. Immediately dropped it, couldn't find it - then promptly stood on it, shattering into tiny pieces - a total loss! I think I can make a replacement, after all, it's only (!) flat planes...................
Fuselage, wings & tail planes all primed in white - even that didn't go well - I managed to get paint all over my paws!
I then decided that my hand/eye coordination wasn't up to par, so that was it for the day :disappointed2:
Dave

[Fernando N]

Sorry to read about the troubles Dave, hope the scratch-built windows come together easily and tomorrow is a better modelling day for you:thumb2:.

[Dave Ward]

Back to the bench - been hospital visiting - a friend was taken seriously ill last Wednesday, saw him on Friday & Saturday looked bad, but pretty upbeat. Phone call this morning, now in intensive care - only family visitors - not good.
Anyway, I'm working on the cockpit replacement - at the moment just plugging the major part of the aperture with filler.
I've painted the wings, two tone grey ( on the upper surface only ) all carefully masked
Not quite the contrast I was expecting, but that's the paint call outs ( or equivalent ), so it is what it is..............
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Plan B for the cockpit windows - my original idea didn't look like it was going to work, so I'm trying another idea. Whilst waiting for filler to dry, I've done the engine pods & painted them

And the unknown part of this, the paint mix! I was able to extract 3ml from the white paint pot, which left 0.8ml of orange & 0.2ml of aluminium. All together into a plastic bottle - luckily the pipettes are disposable. It doesn't look much different from the white paint (r).
I haven't thinned it for the airbrush yet - I won't do that until I'm ready to spray. I did, however just try a brush stroke on the tail......................

You can actually see it! - that answers one question.
Looking at the tail, I can see the rudder joint would be visible, but are the other panel lines realistic? 1/144 is a different ball game to the larger scales! If an actual panel line joint is 5mm, then the scale version should be 0.035mm - about the diameter of thin hair - and I would think that aviation panel joint lines are tighter than 5mm. I'm just wondering about a panel line wash - I see panel line washes on model airliners, and wonder how effective they actually are.......................
Dave
Dave

[boatman]

Looks ok to me
chris

[Fernando N]

I think the panel lines are a bit big too, maybe no wash and if you don’t like it, than a very thin wash just to make it only slightly stand out?

Just my thoughts…:thinking:

[Dave Ward]

Never had these thoughts last time I made an airliner! - At least airliners don't have any weathering ( at least modern in service ones )
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Despite other things going on, I've finally sprayed the fuselage....................
Wings dry fitted. I put the white paper in to show the contrast - it's a subtle colour, but the mix seems to have worked - I have just a few drops left for any touch up needed.....................
Dave

[Guest]

That's turned out well Dave.

Like you say, a subtle colour. Without the paper you could mistake it for white under "warm" lighting.

Is the metallic evident in real life?

[Dave Ward]

Andy,
difficult question! - I think that the fuselage colour seems to change depending on the light falling on it! ( internet pictures for discussion only )
Both these picture seem to show white areas on the fuselage, as well as the pale orange mix. About the only thing certain I can say about the colour is that the engine pods are white!
Far too subtle - IF I do another airliner, it won't be as complicated a paint mix!
Dave

[Guest]

It certainly looks like that triangular area on the top of the fuselage, around the antenna, is white, as is the bit on the side with the registration number, and the bits on and below the tail as well.