Jump to content

HS-748 "Dan-Air London" [1:144 Mark 1 Models] - RFI


Alex

Recommended Posts

Back in May I was cruising along through life and modeling without too many cares.  Making progress on my latest overly-complex 1/32 warbird.  Then my wife was diagnosed with colon cancer - very much out of the blue, no reason to suspect anything wrong.  Despite really wanting some sort of distraction at times, I found myself utterly unable to focus due to stress and lack of sleep.  My manual dexterity was similarly shot.  I was actually afraid to ride my bike for a while (I have been riding and racing for 40 years, for context) because my reaction times were so poor.  So needless to say I had to hang up the modeling tools, and most everything else, for a while.

 

Fast forward a couple of months and (I am thankful every day for this) my wife is recovering nicely post-surgery, with pathology indicating that the cancer was found early enough that it was removed completely and hopefully won't recur.  Now that I'm not full-time on nursing her back to health any more, and I've finally recovered a bit from the stress (which was vastly more debilitating than I expected it to be), I wanted to try and get a bit of model mojo flowing again.  I didn't feel up to diving back into my 1/32 Airacobra just yet, so I pulled something small and simple off of the shelf - I wanted something that just required basic skills, would involve no research, no scratchbuilding, no decisions.

 

Seemed like this should fit the bill.

pnYUlKhtj

 

It's a simple kit.

po02UG8Ej

 

That builds into basically this A/C:

pn0nAs8Aj

pnXG30Fuj

poydPGbFj

 

I'm afraid I didn't (still) have the presence of mind to take many pix while building - it was hard enough to remember how to do the basics & not screw them up...

 

This is mostly assembled - I decided to attach pretty much everything but wheels, main gear doors, and props before painting.

poCxla8Ej

pnnPMUpGj

 

Looking pretty in primer...

pnN7DAW2j

pnuT3EkZj

 

And with the fuselage painted gloss white

po3BpLHMj

 

Hoping it will come together quickly now.  It's nice to be building again - contributes to life feeling more back to normal...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alex: firstly, sorry to hear about what you've going through, but so glad your wife is recovering. I had a similar experience back in 2017, so I certainly understand what you're going through.

 

Secondly, your new build is coming along nicely! I'm not familiar with either this aircraft or that kit, but they both look pretty decent. Looking forward to further progress from you on all fronts.

 

Kev

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

 

Secondly, your new build is coming along nicely! I'm not familiar with either this aircraft or that kit, but they both look pretty decent. Looking forward to further progress from you on all fronts.

 

Kev

 

It's a decent kit, assuming all the usual short-run caveats.  No major fit issues.  The biggest challenge for someone wanting to build it is that the wings and tailplanes basically butt-join to the fuselage, with no locating pins etc.  So it requires some care to get them attached correctly.  But otherwise it's fine.  Three schemes come with the kit.

 

I'm not surprised that you were not familiar with the aircraft (neither was I, but I'll buy any 1:144 commercial aircraft kit I see, just in the name of diversifying the shelf...).  While these planes were operated by a bunch of airlines around Africa, Latin America, Europe, and many parts of the Commonwealth (as well as in the UK, obviously), the only evidence of one being flown "down under" that I could find was this (photo from 1974, a local operator out of Christchurch):

pmPCIxi6j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Alex said:

the only evidence of one being flown "down under" that I could find was this (photo from 1974, a local operator out of Christchurch)

That's interesting, I did not realise there were so few of them.  Although we can bolster numbers a bit if we count the military derivative, the Andover: the RNZAF operated a number of ex-RAF aircraft for some years.  But that's probably a bit o/t, sorry.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, MikeC said:

That's interesting, I did not realise there were so few of them.  Although we can bolster numbers a bit if we count the military derivative, the Andover: the RNZAF operated a number of ex-RAF aircraft for some years.  But that's probably a bit o/t, sorry.

 

Right you are!  I had only been looking for civil operators...

pmKH25Y9j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kind of hurried through the finish on this one - largely because the mojo is returning and I'm motivated to start a more complex project.  I struggled a bit to get the decals to lay flat, even after a few rounds of MicroSol.  Reminder of why, when I'm bring more patient, I paint as much of these liveries as possible, rather than relying on decals.  The decals that came with the kit were decent though, quite thin; the only complaint was a lot of clear film around each colored area - I ended up having to trim most of them before getting them wet, because it was obvious that the extra film would make it even harder to get the decals to conform to a 3D shape.  For the record, this is the first 1:144 kit I've done that came with decals to do the manufacturer's labels on the prop blades...

 

pmrK2IV0j

potDgNTTj

pmkfjIE4j

pmktfdTOj

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Alex changed the title to HS-748 "Dan-Air London" [1:144 Mark 1 Models] - RFI
1 hour ago, Panzerwomble said:

Awesome , my first time on any aircraft was a Dan Air 737 to Spain circa 1982 .....and they let me "visit" the pilot whilst mother smoked ...... Happy days .

Also - I hope your wife makes a full recovery. 

Yeah I can also remember when you could smoke on airplanes…. Been a long while there ;-)

 

 thanks for the good wishes too - she’s doing great so far

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great Alex, 748's were a regular sight at Manchester Airport, and though I don't remember that particular scheme I probably saw all the Dan Air 748's in the later colours, incidentally they were built at Woodford, South Manchester, where the Lancaster, amongst others, were built. 

 

Really nice model, hope your wife makes a speedy and full recovery. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...