AIRLINERCAFE.COM - Forums - 1/144 Airbus A310-325 BalairCTA semi-scratch build report...

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Forums | 1.0 Airliner Modeling | Airliner Modeling Chat | 1/144 Airbus A310-325 BalairCTA semi-scratch build report...

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44261 09-10-2012 GMT-5 hours
	I am trying to do something that looks like an accurate A310-325 in 1/144 scale... So far it's a revell kit with an airfix A300 nose section, new wing roots and numerous small edits here and there... All panel lines will be rescribed and scratch build PW4156A engines will be build for this model. Follow the progress here: http://www.airlinercafe.com/plug.php?e=gallery&f=1509 Some more pictures and updates of the progress will follow below in this thread! For the livery, it's going to be the colorful BalairCTA and even the same aircraft, HB-IPN, the last A310 delivered to the SAirGroup to BalairCTA in 1993, in 1996 this aircraft went to parent Swissair and was the last A310 of the airline retired in 2000. A few custom decals will need to be printed with the help of a laser printer and a Skyline Sabena A310 decal sheet will provide the grunt of the decals for this model. In the greater scheme of things this aircraft model is going to be part of my Swissair project. Quality wins!

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TheFlyingDutchman Members Add As Buddy Posts: 220 Location: Haarlem Occupation: Student Aviation Engineering Age: 22	#44284 09-12-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Nice project, I like both schemes but I think the Balair CTA one is more exciting to build. How many airliners have completely coloured wings, let alone yellow? What are the differences between the PW4000 engines you need and the GE CF-6-80 ones? I am building an A310 too using GE engines from the Revell Beluga kit. I also replaced the cockpit window part by a Revell A330 one (just the window, not the entire nose). Mine will be Air Transat.

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LH707 Upper Deck Member Add As Buddy Posts: 161 Location: Occupation: Age:	#44299 09-13-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote TheFlyingDutchman : Nice project, I like both schemes but I think the Balair CTA one is more exciting to build. How many airliners have completely coloured wings, let alone yellow? What are the differences between the PW4000 engines you need and the GE CF-6-80 ones? I am building an A310 too using GE engines from the Revell Beluga kit. I also replaced the cockpit window part by a Revell A330 one (just the window, not the entire nose). Mine will be Air Transat. I second the Balair comment. The difference between the Pratt and GE is the GE have the exhaust cone sticking ot of the core duct.

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Graeme Contributors Add As Buddy Posts: 219 Location: Townsville TSV YBTL Occupation: Condition Monitoring Technician Age: 67	#44301 09-13-2012 GMT-5 hours
	The shape of the cowls is decidely different as well as the exhaust I think the Swiss one Graeme

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44303 09-13-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Yes indeed, the PW engines are considerably different then the GE ones... I am going to use a set of Braz PW4000 nacelles with scratch build pylons and exhaust cones. I believe the Braz set was originally meant for the 767, but the shape of the nacelle is very much the one on the A310 and possibly even the MD-11, not even remotely close to the 767 one... I know it's a bit geeky to do all this work (again) but I like to get all the little things right! For the livery I am very much leaning towards the BalairCTA one indeed, however I don't have any decals for them and both the aftermarket sets of the LU and the Revell kit from 1995 have holes in the titles for the windows which i dont really like and also the red or blue used might not be a perfect match for my paint... I do have sheets of blank decal paper and I have the exact same font (futura, the Swissair font) on the PC! An old Sabena A310 Skyline decal will be the base for the gross of the decals together with some from the original kit. I have the F-DCAL Swissair decal here already though, but I can't use the decal for the tail as that is not going to look "real", so in the end there won't be much more complicated work to do the BalairCTA one, in fact I don't need to worry about the coroguard wing the Swissair requires; The plan is to spray the entire model gloss white, then for the tail I am going to do a complete paint job with the Swiss cross masked off and red over it. Obviously the wings go yellow after that and the belly insignia blue... I'll post some more pictures of the progress in the gallery! At the moment it's in primer and some small areas with blemishes received some surface primer from Tamiya, next step is wet sanding those areas, another fine coat of primer (Humbrol 1). After that its scribing the panel lines very subtle here and there, then the white gloss paint, most like extracolour white. The modifications on the model are: * reduced thickness of the wing * new wing root with epoxy putty * reshaped bulbous root of the vertical stab. * nose of the Airfix A300 till the first fuse plug attached to replace the horrid Revell nose, it's a perfect match btw! I used this nose as overall its the best shape available for the wide body Airbus (A300/A310/A330/A340) * wing tip fences/winglets are scratch build with styrene sheets * custom PW engines with my spare part box * the landing gear will be slightly modified to be more accurate, same for the gear doors, these will be made out of very fine styrene sheets. * minor scribing of panel lines and moving surfaces on the wing Quality wins!

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TheFlyingDutchman Members Add As Buddy Posts: 220 Location: Haarlem Occupation: Student Aviation Engineering Age: 22	#44306 09-14-2012 GMT-5 hours
	I would almost suggest to airbrush the 'balair cta' banners on the fuselage. They shouldn't be that hard to mask with patience and you'll get a perfect colour match with the belly and the tail.

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44313 09-14-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote TheFlyingDutchman : I would almost suggest to airbrush the 'balair cta' banners on the fuselage. They shouldn't be that hard to mask with patience and you'll get a perfect colour match with the belly and the tail. Maybe... It's quite complicated to do nicely though, lots of round shapes which are hard to cut out perfectly... I've done it a few times in the past, like the Air Belgium 757 found in my galleries, went relatively smooth, but not without trouble! Let's see how the decals go first... Thanks for the idea btw! It's indeed a good point for a perfect colour match! Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44358 09-17-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Work is progressing very well! Currently the model is completely gloss white... I bought myself a colour laser printer yesterday, they are becoming quite affordable lately to be honest! Already test printed the titles with the help of Adobe PS5, looks really spectacular! I scaled them to 1/144 and it seems that just about 102mm is the right size. I've seen some reference for the blue belly as insignia blue on the LU sheet, forgot the fs code, but it seemed way too gray then some reference photos... Off course, blue is most likely the hardest colour to capture and use as a reference on anything, so I am just going to go for a close match according to what my eye thinks comes close and so far it looks like Tamiya X4 blue will do the trick... Also Tamiya X7 is a near perfect match for the red used here, so I will adjust the RGB values to match those paints ones printed. I've just started work on creating the PW4000 engines, the Braz nacelles have been removed from the 767 pylons and the Revell Beluga's pylons where removed from there nacelles. I am most likely going to recycle those Nacelles for a CF6 on the A330's... Now it's a matter of mating the pylons to the nacelles, reshaping the entire assembly for a perfect match to the real ones and dive in my spare parts box for the exhaust cones. Putty and sand paper will follow suit... I will finish the engines completely before attaching them on the wings... First need to make sure as well that the pylons fit properly on the wing. I'll upload some photos soon and post them here! Quality wins!

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Caravellarella Members Add As Buddy Posts: 408 Location: S.W.London/Surrey. Occupation: Royalty Accountant & Rights Manager at a Literary Agency Age: 49	#44359 09-17-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Dear Karel, I have to tell you that the PW4000 nacelle used on the Boeing 767 bears no external relationship to the PW4000 nacelle used on the Airbus A300-600/A310; but it is used on the Boeing 747-400. The PW4000 nacelle of the Airbus A310-324/325 is very similar (externally) to the JT9D-7R4 nacelle of the Airbus A310-222/322 though...... Also, the CF6-80C2 nacelle of the A300-605R/A310-304 bears no relationship to the CF6-80E nacelle of the Airbus A330-301. Want pictures to help you? Terry (Caravellarella) Because *L�OR�AL* keeps telling me I�m worth it.......... Or maybe it�s *MAYBELLINE*...............

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44360 09-17-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Hey Terry, Yes indeed, the Braz PW4000 I have here that was intended for the 767 has the same shape as the nacelle found on the A300/A310... That's why I am using that nacelle, I'll post some pictures to show you! It's quite peculiar to be honest! Indeed, the CF6 of the A300 is different to the one found on the A330, I use it as a starting block to reshape it properly though! Any pictures/drawings are more then welcome! :-) I am still looking for some reference work of the wings of the A310... Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44398 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Picture update of the progress... The model is now gloss white, It's going to be in this state for a while so the paint can harden properly before the major masking work will commence. My custom PW4156A engines are visible in the background! Sorry for the poor quality of my photo... My historic iPhone doesn't have a great lense... Quality wins!

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LH707 Upper Deck Member Add As Buddy Posts: 161 Location: Occupation: Age:	#44400 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Looks nice! Did you use those sticks to prop it up as you painted it?

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44401 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote LH707 : Looks nice! Did you use those sticks to prop it up as you painted it? Tkx! It's painted in 2 steps, wings first, then the fuse... I used those toothpicks to suspend it up while drying. The toothpicks in the engines are for similar purpose! Custom made decals, a test print... Quality wins!

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LH707 Upper Deck Member Add As Buddy Posts: 161 Location: Occupation: Age:	#44402 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote Karel : Quote LH707 : Looks nice! Did you use those sticks to prop it up as you painted it? Tkx! It's painted in 2 steps, wings first, then the fuse... I used those toothpicks to suspend it up while drying. The toothpicks in the engines are for similar purpose! Custom made decals, a test print... Did you use a laser printer for those? How did you avoid seams when painting in two steps, by masking, or just slightly overlapping the two?

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44403 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote LH707 : Quote Karel : Quote LH707 : Looks nice! Did you use those sticks to prop it up as you painted it? Tkx! It's painted in 2 steps, wings first, then the fuse... I used those toothpicks to suspend it up while drying. The toothpicks in the engines are for similar purpose! Custom made decals, a test print... Did you use a laser printer for those? How did you avoid seams when painting in two steps, by masking, or just slightly overlapping the two? Yep! Just bought one! They are getting quite affordable now! :-) I overlapped slightly as you can see on the top picture, it is a lighter coat on the wings and tail because those still need to be painted yellow and red respectively! where needed I will wet sand before the final coat, however both layers merged very well! The Swiss cross will be masked out when the tail receives it's red paint. Quality wins!

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LH707 Upper Deck Member Add As Buddy Posts: 161 Location: Occupation: Age:	#44404 09-18-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote Karel : Yep! Just bought one! They are getting quite affordable now! :-) I overlapped slightly as you can see on the top picture, it is a lighter coat on the wings and tail because those still need to be painted yellow and red respectively! where needed I will wet sand before the final coat, however both layers merged very well! The Swiss cross will be masked out when the tail receives it's red paint. Sweet, I should consider a laser if I want to do some. I think I'll try using your priming method, I've been a bit stumped about how to prime a 1/72 707 without touching it or making a big mess....

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44460 09-21-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Some (poor quality) pictures of the progress... (soon Ill take some high res photos again!) The majority of the paint is on! Now just some corrections here and there on the paint job... Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44527 09-24-2012 GMT-5 hours
	The landing gear is attached! I've used the nose gear of the Revell Beluga as it's more detailed then the A310 kits gear and miraculously it's exactly the same one as on the A300/A310. I always thought the Beluga's gear strut was different but when I removed them both, compared them and checked with some reference work I was pleasantly surprised! The beluga kit is actually quite accurate hey, lots of details as well... Styrene sheets have been used to create the gear doors. I've also used some bare metal foil to simulate the suspension strut. Next step is detailing the paint, still a few minor masking job errors that need to be corrected, the engines are currently gloss white and still need to be detailed, leading edges of the wings and horizontal stab. need to be painted, the trim mechanism with that. Then antennas, decals, attaching the engines and it's ready for a high quality photo shoot! So far this build went extremely smooth... Touch wood... lol Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44542 09-25-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Small setback... The laser printer decal paper didn't work out at all, the powder came off the sheet almost right away even though the sheet was specific for laser printers... Bummer... Guess I'll have to revert back to ink printing and sealing it out properly, or masking and painting that way! I still had some other blank decal paper from DACO that worked very well on laser printers, but I fear I left them in Belgium before I moved to the gulf... The good news: The model itself is finished, gear is on, engines attached, just waiting for decals now! I'll post a few pictures anyway as it is in the current state! Quality wins!

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TheFlyingDutchman Members Add As Buddy Posts: 220 Location: Haarlem Occupation: Student Aviation Engineering Age: 22	#44543 09-25-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Bummer about the decals indeed! I've never had that problem. What decal paper and printer settings did you use? The model looks nice so far. You'll have to let yourself go on detailing and maybe a little weathering on the wings, otherwise people might think it's a toy

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44547 09-26-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Quote TheFlyingDutchman : Bummer about the decals indeed! I've never had that problem. What decal paper and printer settings did you use? The model looks nice so far. You'll have to let yourself go on detailing and maybe a little weathering on the wings, otherwise people might think it's a toy Bare metal foil was the company that issued the decals, bought them in Germany somewhere... I think I will need to educate myself a bit more on the correct use of laser decals... Thought it was plug and play, apparently not. Luckily my technique for ink printing is already established! lol Haha, yeah, lol, it will always look like a toy with those yellow wings hey! :-D Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44611 09-29-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Ready for detailing: The lines of the nose become visible now with the flight deck windows decal! The silver paint on the leading edges of the wing still needs to be corrected, I painted it slightly too thick as is evident in this picture... Also the engines need to receive more paint to make them look more "realistic". Then I will commence with the decals, antenna's and what not... Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#44681 10-03-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Some quick high res photos with the EOS300D! The custom decals have been printed and I just placed them on the model... Good opportunity to take some snaps of the progress! Quality wins!

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Karel Members Add As Buddy Posts: 596 Location: Bahrain, UAE, UK, FR, DE... Occupation: Airpeugeot babysitter Age: 31	#45187 11-04-2012 GMT-5 hours
	Small update! Finally! All the decals are placed, panel lines are redrawn and the weathering has commenced... Now all the antennas, pitots and lights need to be installed and it's ready for the photo-shoot! Current state: Quality wins!

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