1/144 Catering truck new chasis (2)

Hello all,

Just a quick update to say that by the end of this week, between next Thursday/Friday I will be restocking the 1/144 AST-1 and the 1/144 catering truck.

I’ve been working on a new chasis which was build having in mind a better casting process later on. For this reason, several things had to be redesigned in the instructions and hence the delay on the re stocking of these items.

As I am getting deeper in the livery decals, I will be incorporating the 13micron (standard/normal/regular) decal paper on decals that are quite big as I’ve seen several airliners that have a big portion of the fuselage with an artwork. The 8 micron decal paper is perfect for small and medium decals, but those that cover a bigger area of the fuselage will be printed on the 13 micron (normal) decal paper.

I have been thinking about providing the decals with both paper types, but currently it is not within my capabilities and the 8 micron decal paper is just perfect for those small to medium sized decals.

Wish you all a nice week and hopefully I can give a better update on the current projects, but I am waiting to have more progress made to upload here that can be at least, worth the upload.

Guillem

June livery decal releases – Catering truck new chasis

Hello everyone,

These are June’s new livery decal releases which include some special and new A350-900’s:

Evelop A350

Japan Airlines JA01XJ (Red titles “Challenge”) JA02XJ (Grey titles “Innovation”) and JA03XJ (Green titles “Eco”)

Air China A350 with the Star Alliance livery:

And two A320Neos:

Lufthansa A320Neo “New livery scheme”

EasyJet “Neo” titles

 

At the same time I wanted to mention that I am currently working on a new chasis for the 1/144 catering truck. Reason for this being several mishaps in the casting process that lead me to design a new chasis that could allow a) a better experience, b) a more solid and stright forward system and c) a better/easier casting process.

This was due wrong preparation of the original parts prior creating the molds, this time I decided to use a “roller” system which is very similar to the actual sill mechanism on the real catering trucks. Will post pictures of a finished chasis/truck with these new parts and update the instruction illustrations.

Wish you all a happy weekend!

Best wishes,
Guillem

 

Cargoloader FMC15i Universal started

Hi guys,

Very bad weekend for me as several of my pets passed away.

Did not have much time but I started the new cargo loader which will be based on the “Universal” model of the Commander FMC15i.

What is going on with the other cargo loader being out of stock and why this new one? For the same reason that things evolve because they can be improved, I want to evolve the GSE catalogue, the previous cargo loader gave me a lot of experience and also a lot of troubles, the model wasn’t made having in mind how the molds had to be done later on, the cross bars gave me nightmares since I wanted them to be movable… and the nightmares continued after casting where I spent hours to “clean” every single kit.

What will be different on this cargo loader? It will be more accurate, I’ve taken a better look at the thickness of the elements, the detail will be a little bit sharper, there will be extra care on details which means there will be extra parts as well.
The previous cargo loader made was the “wide” type, this one is the “universal”, meaning that the bridge will have double sill to reach the main deck of cargo aircrafts such as the B747.

If I can make it more accurate is thanks to Michael who provided me of lots of references making this project to be as detailed as I want it to be, so a big thank you goes to Michael for the big help.

Leaving aside the movable parts since it is not possible to make them movable within scale limits, the sills will be easily interchangeable, meaning that you can set different heights and also a single sill will be featured so that the universal can be transformed into “wide” which can be used on lower deck assignments.

For the first time I will also be working on figures (or figurines), figures give life to these models, and although there may be something on the market already, I want to make these specifically to match these GSE posings.

I want to take the chance with this post to say that there will be a change in the GSE models of the catalogue, being honest, some smaller GSE does not sell at all, which makes me wonder wether they do not fulfill customer likings or either they are too expensive for what they are, so I am exploring some possibilities to make some of the GSE more “photo etcheable”.

3D printing is a big competitor I guess, and maybe someday I will move to that technique, still, I wouldn’t feel the same without my hands actually working on the item, call me old fashioned but I do appreciate the work that it is done with the hands.

Here is a photo that ilustrates how I start the projects:

I sketch and write how the parts are going to be made, but the difficulty resides in that those parts need to be made in a way so that they can be casted later in resin (prepared for mold making) and built by another person other than me.
So I have to think how the parts will join one with the other, and without forgetting that scale is one of the most important factors when making these tiny models, making something 0,5mm thicker would be pushing the part 72mm on the real deal.

Here is a part of the frontal and part of one side panel:

This cargo loader will later be “ported” to the 1/200 scale, which will be even harder to make than this, but still I want to explore a little bit further the 1/200 scale and make some items, I am however considering whether these 1/200 GSE should be sold as a kit, or as a finished/painted product.

 

I have to say that I won’t be giving too much updates on this project, the reason is that it upsets me that I can’t share anything finished, I am working on the 747 cargo project, the B737 1/12 cabin, and now this, so I know it may be upseting just seeing a tiny step every weekend.

I want to focus working on these items, and prefer to share when I have something to share. The B747 cargo deck set has the FWD cargo holds nearly finished and I will start with the AFT cargo holds soon, this project will be progressing along with the GSE models (cargo loader and other stuff) because my goal is have those new GSE finished at the same time I complete the B747 deck set, the final goal is a totally complete cargo loading scenario.

During the week I will write an update on regards July’s livery decal releases, there will be a couple specials A350’s, but still, need to manage a little bit better the supplies.

Until then,
Guillem

 

B737 cockpit progress – end side of the sidewalls

Hello all,

I wanted to give a small update on the 1/12 B737 cockpit project. This time I have made the main structure of the end side of the sidewalls, which basically is about half of the sidewall. If I am not mistaken that compartment is the stowage for the captain and first officer luggage.

Everything done so far is just basic shape. I still have to add other details and parts, but since this has to be casted later, I have to plan ahead which parts must be glued together and which should be casted separately.

Looking at the photo with the panel at the front, you can see that the two sidewalls create a kind of curvature towards the panel. That will be the next step to do, I will create that round edge going on top of the sidewalls to meet where the glareshield/autopilot will go. Part of this edge is the window rail so it will be very interesting to see what is the space I leave behind as I am considering making the nose shell, that definitely would be a BIG challenge.

I have to say that I am using lots of references from several different sources, however, there is a source which is the main line in this project. My friend Philippe is helping me a lot during this project as with his help I am able to see things coming directly from the real thing.
There are lots of great simmers who made incredibly simulation cockpits and sometimes I do use their measurements for some specific things (mainly angles), but, I always confirm this from images of the real cabin.

I want to move forward this week with the 747 cargo project so I am already planning how to start the rear cargo holds.

Finally, the decal provider has shipped me back the 8 micron decal papers and I hope to print the upcoming new liveries for next month, kudos to him for solving the issue I explained in my previous post.

Wish you all a nice week!

Guillem

Decals temporarily unavailable till next week

Hello all,

Just wanted to inform that during the next week all livery decals will be unavailable due provider mishap, they will be back in stock again in 7 days (if shipping is as it should).

I do keep my raw materials in stock and calculate when to buy more as I keep a balance of sales/materials, everything would have been just in time but the provider sent me 13 micron decal paper instead of the 8 micron ones. To me, it is important to use the right materials for the right things, even though the 13 micron is a standard decal paper which is still very good, the numerous small tiny decals are best printed with the 8 micron thin decal film.

I know some may think that I should keep more material quantities but to be honest, this year, customs are killing me.
I do not want to talk about politics cause this is a modelling blog, but to be honest, I used to buy a raw material from a country whereas now it would be impossible to do without rising my item prices.

I researched and researched and found another place where, being a bit more pricey, there isn’t any custom problems, still, producing these model kits with the best materials I can find (still using since I begun) and with the strong headed mind that I am not going to rise prices on my items.

For many years buying overseas, this never happened before, now for everything coming outside the UE I have to pay 21% tax over the total package value (item + shipping) and another aditional 19 Euro just because the guys handle the paperwork at the airport.
If that is fair or unfair I am not going to debate it, but I just wanted to mention that prices aren’t going to change as I am at the moment, finding those materials closer to me.

Again, apologies for the delay on the decals, sometimes things do not depend on ourselves, but to counteract this issue, I am doing my best with new liveries that I plan to release on next month.

Thank you all for the understanding!

Best wishes,
Guillem

PS: Starting to work with the remaining half of both sidewalls on the B737 cockpit, photos and an update this weekend!

B737 cockpit progress – starting to adjust MIP-Sidewalls

Hello all,

Just a quick update this weekend.

I haven’t had enough time for more, but I am finally starting to adjust something that was bothering me very much. I started to adujst the union between the side walls and the main instrument panel.
I have added a plastic extension so that the panel joins together with the side walls, there is another thing I must do in order to adjust it a little bit more.

Circled in white there is an area that is slightly lower in comparison to the other side, so I am also adjusting that.

The next step that I will do is to make the windows support that goes on each side so that I can have a reference point at the moment of making the glareshield.
This work will flow downwards and will end in the extension of the side walls that is yet to be made.

I am going to be working on this during this week and I hope to upload more images soon.

Thinking ahead, once the main shape of the sidewalls and the windows/railing are made, I would like to focus in one particular panel (the radio/com panel) with the idea of finishing it, with the buttons and all the other elements. Reason for this being that after this long time working mainly on structures, I want to do something different and see which level of detail I can put in it, to me it will be a guideance, an example, of how all the other areas should look like.

Wish you all a nice week,
Guillem

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