Category: Blog news

Hello everybody,

I am glad to write this entry to say that practically all the stock is done now. There are still the photo etched parts to be done, but everything is being made step by step.
It really took me a very long time to complete these stock units, there are several parts for each item and I had to make new molds on the way, in most cases, changing the distribution of the parts in order to improve the molds and  avoid wasting material (because of errors) and time.

Not only I made new molds for these reasons, but for the most important; to keep the parts as crisp and clean as possible. With time, molds degrade and so do the resulting resin parts, in order to keep as clean and sharp parts as possible it’s important to renew the molds from time to time.

As I mentioned, every GSE model has its own parts, so far I’ve made about 900 bagagge, the reason being that there are a total of 42 baggage for every baggage cart set and 7 for each belt loader model.

In the meanwhile, I have also tried to improve the molding of the NeoPW engines, and although it was a success for small quantities, it wasn’t viable as only one out of 8 engines came out fine.
Therefore, I decided to go for the conventional method of two halves which I think isn’t such an issue, it is actually better than having to fix misalignment problems along the whole engine. I will update some photos of the engine soon.

Speaking of the Neo PW engine, it seems that more and more airlines are chosing the LEAP-1A model over the PW1127G, so I am really hoping to make a LEAP-1A version as I am also working on livery decals.
There may not be huge visual differences between those two engines, but for those who have seen both engines carefully, they are quite different. Still, I may use the PW as a base and fully rework the cowlings and the pylons to make the LEAP-1A, this will hopefully save me the troubles of starting from 0 as I did with the  PW and be able to make this engine in shorter time.

I am also working on the A350 liveries and working on the new online store. The A350 liveries that will be available once the site is open will be: Generic decals, China Airlines “Pheasant”, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines.
I expect to make more in the near future, but I am planning to make more liveries for the A320Neo as well.

 

As the stock units are being finished, I would like to do a quick out of the box build with the A350 in order to fully test the interior window decals and another test that has to be done for the cockpit windows, alongside the build I plan to do a full tutorial from preparing the fuselage halves to decaling with these livery decals as well as giving as many tips as I can from errors and experiences I had while painting and clearcoating.

There are still things to be done, but I am progressing forward one step at a time.

 

Best wishes,
Guillem

Hello all,

As you may know, I haven’t been able to update the site with news on the projects because I have been working on the stock units also on the weekends.

I not only have been working with these, but have dedicated quite a lot of time to design the first A350 decals after I made some for the A320 model as well as fine tune the new online store.
These are not a simple decal set; the decals include several details and we tried to include a new feature that I would really like to test on the A350.
I am hoping to receive the first A350 decals from Rob soon, and will do a review/tutorial with an “out of box” build to be used as a test/example with hopes for a good result on this new feature.

I do like airliners, so I also took my time to design profile views as detailed and realistic as possible. I grown fond of drawing profiles that later can be included in the instructions rather than just making simple plain illustration, so for me this will be a little different concept. In fact, in most cases, prior starting to design the decal artworks, I start with the profile to have a general view of the aircraft and have an idea of what decals need to be done.

The stock is currently at about 47% done, the most time consuming items have been done, thus from now on, the remaining items won’t take me that long to make.
The main reason why the online store is not open yet is because I wish to have at least most if not all items available, since it would make no sense to release an empty store.

I would like to take this chance as I am writing this post, to comment on what will be the current and upcoming projects that I would like to undertake.

– Boeing 747-8F – B747-400F cargo set:

As you have been able to read from the last couple entries, I plan to do a detailed set that will include a cargo deck compartment, the nose door and side cargo door for hopefully both, the 747-8F and 747-400F.
Although I have not “officially” started to work with it as I haven’t done any cutting yet, I did gather all the information I need to start and have been doing a plan, which is something I always do to schedule what to do and how to proceed.

The main issue will be the work on the deck floor, not because the floor itself but because Revell’s kit has the gap on the wing root and although the floor level is correct where the wing joins, the problem is the thickness of the plastic, thus if that is not fixed, the floor would not follow the level.
A litle complex thing to explain without any visual reference, but I will show this in later posts of the build progress.

– GSE items:

Charlette tug: Some time ago I was contacted on regards this particular tug, and after having made the MA50, I always wanted to make a new improved tug with more details. The Charlette tug will be one of the upcoming works as I was asked if I could do this in 1/144 scale and I currently have good references for this project.

Pushback tug GT-110: Most recently I have been mentioned about this pushback, and after a little research I found it is used for several airlines.
What attracts me to do this tug is that unlike the AST-1, this pushback makes use of a bar, and in some ways it is a smaller model.
It has always been on my plans to make a smaller pushback tug in the future, and since I have some references already, I am really excited to start this.
One of the goals I have for this pushback are the wheels; I want to improve the tire detail and would like to make the wheels to actually turn.

This project may also lead me to make separate decals of airline logos in different sizes in order to fit to any GSE model, something similar like I currently do for the LD3 containers. So in this way, anybody could have a ramp of a certain location with certain logos on these GSE vehicles.

Hydrant dispenser Meteor: As I have done in 1/200 scale (and yet to be re casted) I would like to do this model also in 1/144 scale. I will be making the “Meteor” platform type since I have good references of it, and use the Eurotruck cabin that it’s already included in the catering model.
The big goal for this would be to make it adaptable to any airliner wing, meaning that the nozzle/bridge will have to reach the wing height from a B737 to an A380.

Bigger cargo loader: The last GSE on the list I want to make is a bigger cargo loader. The purpose of this model is to make it suitable for the 747F cargo detail set, since the Commander FMC15i model cannot reach the required height as it also happens on the real versions.
In this case, I also want to take the chance and take what I’ve learned making the Commander model in order to make a better cargo loader, with as many details as I can and with a better sill system. I still have to consider wihch model to make and if I will be doing double sill system for the bridge or single sill.

These are all the upcoming GSE models I would like to make, but I also have in mind some others that I save for the future.
The list may be a bit long, but I will do one step at a time and focus all my efforts in each model.

Lastly, the 1/12 B737NG cockpit project is not abandoned by any means, I will be working with it as regularly as I can and will be making things by phases. Doing it this way will be the only way to keep things in order, since there is a lot to do, so if I do the MIP, I will be making the buttons of the MIP panel instead of doing the buttons of every panel.
One area or subjet at a time, taking every area as if it is one project.

That is all for now, as I am progressing with the stock units and the online store, I will inform of its opening at least two weeks beforehand, I am hoping that everything will really work out well, now it’s time to get back to work.

Best wishes,
Guillem

Hello everyone,

I have been working during the last days into the new molds and finally I finished to make them all. As I explained in my previous post, some parts that were more complex to cast than others, were splitted to make an easier cast and therefore having better molds which result in a quicker and easier work.

I have made a test with the FMC15i cargo loader with the new molds, these don’t change the final aspect, but this was needed to check if all the parts from the new molds fitted well as this is one of the most complex GSE models I made so far. While I was building this model I took photos of the entire process which I hope to upload here and hopefully these can assist on your build.

The WiFi (Honeywell’s Jetwave MCS 8200) radome has also been casted and will be available once the online store is open. In the photos below it was tested on an A350.

I wanted to advance with the B737 cabin project during the last holiday, but I had some issues making the PFD and ND displays so I am hoping to fix that during the next weekend. I did not have much free time to advance with the cabin as my main goal was to finish the new molds. Now that they are finished, I am starting to make new units of these GSE items.

I will update the blog in a few days with some info on the livery decals and the upcoming stock.

 

Best wishes,

Guillem

Hello,

I have been able to complete the new molds of the 1/144 catering truck and the 1/144 pushback truck, there are still the cargo loader molds and GPU molds to be made.

Making the molds may be a little time consuming thus I did not have much time to advance with the B737NG cabin project on the weekend. With less time, I decided to make a new WiFi radome; this WiFi radome is mainly seen on B777, A350, B787, B767 and also on smaller airliners such as the B757, B737 and A319/A320/A321. The one that I tried to represent is the Honeywell’s Jetwave MCS 8200.

Some airliners using that WiFi radome are: A350 aircrafts, United’s B777, Lufthansa’s A320, ANA’s B767, 777 and 737, LOT 787, Air Europa B787 etc.

Following this antenna, I also would like to make the ADF antennas which are often included in both halves of the model’s fuselage and in my opinion, result in a little hasle when applying putty and sanding the fuselage union.