Airbus A318 "Sheldon" Ver : Diapositivas Mosaico Lista 1 March 17, 2022
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.
2 March 17, 2022
220311 Kit contents look good from a few inches.
3 March 17, 2022
Even the compressor fan disks look nicely molded.
4 March 17, 2022
The tall vertical stab for the A318 variant is in there. Nice landing gear detail, too, but the gear doors are slabs.
5 March 17, 2022
Wing detail scribing looks nice (uppers) but rough on the lowers.
6 March 17, 2022
Upper wing detail scribing looks nice. That seam will be tricky.
7 March 17, 2022
Surface detail looks ok too, with recessed panel lines and molded-in AoA vanes (or pitot tubes?).
8 March 17, 2022
Underside mold detail is very nice, but note the flash and the sprue gates to the flap canoes.
9 March 17, 2022
Windshield is nice and clear. As long as it fits the rest of the kit...
10 March 17, 2022
Frontier was the major US Carrier to fly the A318. I'll use these.
11 March 17, 2022
First tape-up. EE's problem here is with the molding. Note slight warping.
12 March 17, 2022
EE molding: Wing leading edges (yikes!)
13 March 17, 2022
EE molding: Join on the top wing is... problematic.
14 March 17, 2022
Horizontal stabs are nicely molded with fine recessed lines.
15 March 17, 2022
EE molding: Misalignment.
16 March 17, 2022
EE molding: Getting these two halves together will be a challenge.
17 March 17, 2022
EE molding: Getting these two halves together will require marriage counseling.
18 March 17, 2022
220313: Construction begins. Sanded flat the mating surfaces and welded with Tamiya thin, with clamps to hold alignment.
19 March 17, 2022
220313: Sanded flat the mating surfaces and welded with tamiya thin, with clamps to hold alignment. Note crappy fit and sink marks on the flaps.
20 March 17, 2022
220313: After welding and CA reinforcement, installing the socket for the in-flight pedestal.
21 March 17, 2022
220313: Socket will be reinforced too with epoxy. Tape covering nose gear well is a mold for 5-minute epoxy (kit doors would never fit).
22 March 17, 2022
220314: 10 gr nose weight (tyre balancing weigh; will be epoxied in).
23 March 17, 2022
220314: Result after filling and sanding. Filler is CA (Superglue).
24 March 17, 2022
2203014: Filing the socket flush while trying to preserve detail.
25 March 17, 2022
2203014: Filed and sanded, with silver paint as an indicator.
26 March 17, 2022
220314: windshield... promising, but crappy fit.
27 March 17, 2022
220314: Windshield superglued in, with a few shims as fillers.
28 March 17, 2022
220314: Installing MLG doors.
29 March 17, 2022
220314: Installing MLG doors.
30 March 17, 2022
220314: Installing MLG doors. Note epoxy reinforcement for the wing join and socket.
31 March 17, 2022
220314: Trial fit for the vertical stab extension.
32 March 17, 2022
220314: Vertical stab extension.
33 March 22, 2022
220315: I use cheap Superglue as a filler. It begins messy...
34 March 22, 2022
220315: ...but can give good results fairly quickly.
35 March 22, 2022
220315: Using CA as a filler, I can tackle a project like these wing seams in a single 2-hr session.
36 April 5, 2022
220315: Port wing improved and re-scribed.
37 April 5, 2022
220315: After a couple of hours, the wings are done and ready to install!
38 April 5, 2022
220315: End result is strong enough to scribe into, and polishes to a shine like the base plastic.
39 April 5, 2022
220315: Final primer coat looks good.
40 April 5, 2022
220315: Time to fit the wings.
41 April 5, 2022
220315: Made some adjustments to get as good alignment as possible.
42 April 5, 2022
220315: Made some adjustments to get as good alignment as possible.
43 April 6, 2022
220316: Wing box attached with solvent glue and CA, then filed into submission. Primer coat looks good.
44 April 6, 2022
220316: Wing box fairing filled (cheap $-Store superglue), filed, sanded, and primed. I'm good with that.
45 April 6, 2022
220316: Wing box fairing filled, filed, sanded, and primed. I was able to preserve most of the better engraved detail.
46 April 6, 2022
220316: Tail under a coat of grey rattlecan primer.
47 April 6, 2022
220316: Cleaning up the kit's wingtip fences.
48 April 6, 2022
220317: Engines have good detail...
49 April 6, 2022
220317: Engines have good detail... but the trailing edges are really poor and the hot section is hard to assemble.
50 April 6, 2022
220317: I cut the tail cone off the pylons so I could build the hot sections as a unit.
51 April 6, 2022
220317: I was able to use a rotary tool to clean up the cowling bypass duct (intake and aft ends).
52 April 6, 2022
220317: Engines temporarily assembled to allow completing the cowlings before securing hot sections.
53 April 6, 2022
220317: Engines temporarily assembled. Note compressor blue-tacked to the hot section for assembly.
54 April 6, 2022
220317: Cowlings assembled and cleaned up.
55 April 6, 2022
220317: Cowlings assembled, cleaned up, and ready for paint.
56 April 6, 2022
220317: Cowlings are in Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green. (Note primed CD as paint mule)
57 April 6, 2022
220317: Under gloss white (WM rattlecan), masking the wings for paint.
58 April 6, 2022
220317: Wings and engines painted.
59 April 6, 2022
220317: Engine intakes turned out OK.
60 April 8, 2022
220320: Painting the in-spar panels.
61 April 8, 2022
220320: Painting the in-spar panels.
62 April 8, 2022
220322: Engines ready to install.
63 April 8, 2022
220322: Engines ready to install. That missing decal will surely turn up on my finger.
64 April 8, 2022
220322: Applying the livery was a PITA. The decals were eager to curl under, time consuming to fix. Hardy, though, and - when dry - very thin.
65 April 8, 2022
220322: Windshield decals were somewhat plain but fit perfectly,
66 April 8, 2022
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.
67 April 8, 2022
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"
68 April 8, 2022
220322: Sheldon will need trimming on the flip side (once fully dried).
69 April 8, 2022
220322: Sheldon the Sea Turtle fit very well (some trimming), but the film was thick with the various layers of ink (I suppose).
70 April 8, 2022
220322: Hz stab trim rub plate was cut from clear decal film airbrushed with the same Boeing Gray as the stabs.
71 April 8, 2022
220322: The FRONTIER billboard worked out perfectly, but it took some work to get it in place and eliminate the curled edges.
72 April 8, 2022
220322: Overwing exit walkways snugged down without help.
73 April 8, 2022
220322: Engines are complete and press fit into place. That missing cowling decal probably ran off on a finger.
74 May 30, 2022
220408: Details: APU Exhaust
75 May 30, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight.
76 May 30, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight.
77 May 30, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight.
78 May 30, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight.
79 May 30, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight.
80 November 11, 2022
220408: Ready for first flight. Note brass "Popsicle stick" stand.
81 November 11, 2022
220409: First flight over water.
82 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
83 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
84 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
85 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
86 87 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
88 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
89 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
90 November 11, 2022
220409: First revenue flight.
91 92 93 94 95 Comentarios 11 November 2024, 10:31 -
Album info Airbus A318-111 N810FR "Sheldon the Green Sea Turtle" with Frontier Airlines, c. 2009
(Eastern Express A318 bagged kit, no instructions or decals, probably kit #14429 original release ©2010 because of the CFM-56 engines.)
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'.
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