220311 Kit contents. Actually not sure of this box art as this was a bagged kit with no decals or instructions, but it is EE's SA318 with the CFM engines.
220322: Sheldon also was eager to roll up into a tube as soon as placed in water. It took some doing to straighten the decal enough to slide into place.
Had to throw this in here!
Caption reads: "Frontier Airlines N810FR prepares to leave as Sheldon waves from the tail (N810FR). Sheldon is a green sea turtle and is one of many endangered animals on the airline's fleet"
walaroo Planning the same one! Was contemplating bashing the EE kit with the Revell A320. May not be 100% accurate. Thoughts?
17 March 2022, 23:52
Andrew P Not, er, really... concerned with dead-on balls accuracy. I just want it to look the part. A fuselage of the right length matters to me, as do general shapes, colors, etc. This kit, however, has been a bear, and has fought me most of the way (You'll see when I post more pictures). I've mostly got it under control, but it may be better to start from a better kickoff.
18 March 2022, 02:43
Łukasz Gliński Sounds familiar, my Coon build was the same story, but there's not much choice in terms of available kits.
Zbynek Honzik This kit from EE looks like a pretty tough nut to crack... I'd rather avoid it myself from what I can see. However, everything so far looks like the result will be beautiful. Fingers crossed! 👍
6 April 2022, 10:21
Spanjaard Since it is certainly not the best kit ever, the results you achieved are even more impressive!! It looks fantastic!
The Airbus A318 (a.k.a. "Baby Bus" or "MicroBus") is the smallest and least numerous variant of the Airbus A320 family. Frontier Airlines was the launch operator for the A318, although, like most operators, they found the type uneconomical in use and quickly retired the type. Only 80 of this variant were produced, and most retired aircraft have been quickly scrapped due to their commonality with the other A320 variants which makes their parts more valuable than the airplane.
This was my first experience with Eastern Express. The kit look good from a few inches, and although nicely engineered and detailed, molding was very poorly executed with sprue gates in poor locations, the main wing seam on the prominent upper surface, and a split lower wing that required marriage counseling to keep together.
I used the "Sheldon" decals from Draw Decals and was very pleased with the outcome, although the decals love to curl under if I look the other way.
Filler is exclusively cheap dollar-store Superglue (CA), primer and the gloss white topcoat are cheap WalMart rattlecan, and the colors are all Tamiya acrylics.
Incidentally, Sheldon was promoted and still flies today on Frontier Airlines Airbus A320-214 N210FR 'Sheldon the Sea Turtle'.