Category: Blog news

Hello everybody,

It’s been quite some time since my last update, to be honest I was looking to have something finished to share prior writing another update, but since progress on the new stuff seems to be taking some time, I decided to write a quick update.

First I want to say that I am delaying the restocking dates of the various GSE items one week, the main reason for this is that I am currently at a very crucial moment with both the 1/144 cargo loader and the 787 galley/cockpit sets. A lot of time is needed for correcting, adjusting and finishing those items (basically for the cargo loader), so I want to arrive at December (at least) with these two items’s units being produced, I am preparing stock of various GSE in between tests.

Temperatures are dropping, these changes are crucial in resin, differently than the polyurethane resin which is harder to work with on summer, thus I have to warm up the room and make some adjustments to some of the files for them to be done properly, again all of this takes some time, this is the main reason why the belt loader workers are still out of stock, however, I almost finished adjusting this.

The 1/144 Commander FMC15i cargo loader was quite difficult to do, making the scissors of the model movable made things quite challenging designwise, because there are certain things you can’t possibly do it like the 1/1 model. So far I have done two test builds from which I learned a lot, specially about fittings and detail.
I am at this point doing what I hope will be the last corrections, so if everything goes well, around Thursday/Friday I should have the first finished version.

For the first time in any other GSE I previously made, I am including 0,25 mm photo etched handrails. These are twice as thick as the ones I usually include in some GSE models, so this way the handrails are represented more realistically.

The chassis is designed so that the main platform rises at the max height as per the 1/1 specifications. The double sill and the wide bridge option is something I will be making shortly after releasing the kit and will then become an extra to chose from within the product page.

 

Here are some photos of the 787 galleys/cockpit sets, note that the cockpit and forward galley are not yet shown in the photos.
Each will be sold separately, meaning you will be able to get the cockpit / forward galley combo and the middle galley separately. For the B787-8 only one center galley is used, the B787-9 has two center galleys, so you can decide to either open L3 as well on the 787-9. More on how to quickly open the various doors will be explained soon.

The rear galley has been started this weekend, so chances are I may not be on time to have it before December, but I will do my best to release the three galleys at the same time.

Note the PE frames placed from the inside. The width clearance matches the same as the real one, obviously converting the dimensions from 1/1 to 1/144. You can also see the different latches engraved on the frames.

The reason to leave the latches engraved is to give you freedom to chose to leave them as they are, or to use them as a guide to put the actual resin latches on top as shown in the photo above.
These are very tiny parts, about 0,8mm wide, so I will be including plenty of spare latches in each set. These will be on customer’s behalf to cut off their supports from manufacturing, as I cannot cut the 280 latches I can produce for diverse sets, it would take me a big ammount of time which would increase the cost.

The doors have detail on the inside and outside. For producing reasons, the outside is left smooth ready for the decal, which you can use from any decal manufacturer as door dimensions are the same as the kit’s door sizes.

The door opening distance was also taken into consideration, so if placed properly, it should be very close to the actual 1/1 clearance according to the B787 airport manual.

The cockpit/forward galley set and the middle galley will both include PE and decals. The PE parts will be the door frames and the door’s step, this will be very helpful to make sure there is a nice transition between the plastic thickness and the galley floor.

There are several decals in the set, decals for the food carts, door windows (small at the top of the door and for the inside), door markings, emergency exit markings.

The cockpit also features the correspondent decals, main panel, pedestal/radios, oxygen masks, autopilot, cabinets etc.

Together with the main galley parts, PE and decals, other small resin details will be included such as: coffee machines, flight attendant seats, light control screens, emerency exit signs, interior door handles. The cockpit will include the different seats, yokes, boxes, fire extinguisher and other equipment, cabinets and cockpit door.

 

That is all for now, there is a lot going on here with those two items being on the final stage, so stock producing is a bit slower, I am also working on the A320/A350 decal sets, mainly testing them and doing the final steps, these will hopefully be ready at around February 2021.

I hope to be posting another update soon, at the end of the week, with more info on those projects.

Wish you all a nice week and stay safe!
Guillem

Hi everyone,

I am finally able to share some of the promotional photos of the 1/144 passengers figure set that will be available from tomorrow.
It has been a challenge for me, work does not end with these because each one has to be precision-cut individually as these are not like the injection plastic figures, making this process somewhat a bit tedious and time consuming, however, I got used to it.

I haven’t decided a final price for them yet, it may be odd, but I want to be realistic and consider all factors. I have been thinking of releasing a smaller set, but… when passengers are boarding an airplane, I guess there are not just a few (with the exception now of the Covid-19).

I wanted the scene to be realistic, and therefore I wanted to make this set with a reasonable number of people. They vary from each other; a mom hand in hand with her son, a teenager checking her phone, other taking a photo of the aircraft, a flight attendant and a flight dispatcher/airport worker welcoming the passengers etc.

This set is particularly useful for a “retracted” stairs position, although I haven’t checked, it may be a bit sparse with the stairs fully rised, so I may make another set which will include more walking upstairs passengers. A different set will be made for more realism if you are making a double gate airport diorama or a scene where passengers are boarding from two stairs trucks.

 

I would really love to release this set painted, but it is basically impossible for me, I have been painting those figures for a week, it was very time consuming because each one has a color that is not repeated in other figure, that makes things very slowly, honestly it took quite a lot of energy from me to paint such tiny details and I could not spare the time to make/prepare other units and/or advance with the current projects.

 

Despite the tedious work with the figures, I still had some time to do some more progress with the 787 galleys as well, the forward and center galleys are done, however, the rear galley and the cockpit are yet to be done, let’s see if I can make it to the deadline I set.

 

That is all for now, tomorrow I am setting back in stock the 1/144 stairs truck, 1/144 passengers, 1/144 flight crew, the 1/144 LEAP-1A and PW1000G engines and will be presenting the product page for the 1/200 belt loader which I will set in stock as well as the 1/200 AST-1 F600 pushback on Friday 30th.

I have added the GSE step by step building page on the top menu of the blog, you can check out the first GSE guide I wrote about the 1/144 Stairs truck TLD ABS1740 model.

Best wishes and stay safe!
Guillem

Hello everyone,

It is not my usual time to publish an update at this hour, but since tomorrow is national holiday here and I have progressed with the stairs truck over the weekend, I thought to share with you the new modification that I have been working on.

Before I go into details about the stairs truck modification, I would like to say that the 787 galleys, the cargo loader, the livery decals (A320/A321/A320N/A321N) and the passengers set is coming along nicely. I have been sharing the progress of the livery decals with the printing company and so far so good, work continues, although it is nearly finished, the next artwork will be of the A350-900/1000.

The last couple days have been quite busy, the new motherboard is working well (fingers crossed) so things should now continue from where I left them, stock units are progressively being made (1/144 and 1/200) the Neo engines are also on restock process.

Now about the stairs truck, I have done a modification on the hydraulic columns which in my opinion, give an overall better look, the tube/rod union fits very nicely and smoothly, also, the assembly process is now much easier thanks to the new parts at both ends, the ones for the rods and for the tubes, basically a small 2,5 mm long wire is inserted in one end, then placed through the chassis hole and a cap is placed at the other end.

I have always been curious about Vienna’s Airport (LOWW) GSE colors, so I wanted to take a chance and make my own version of it.

 

Here are the  new parts that will be inclued from the next restock, customers who had purchased the stairs truck have the right to have them as well, but shipping will be on customer’s end, there is also the possiblity to include them in a future order to group items and pay one shipping.
To ask for these parts, simply write me an email and those will be saved/shipped to you.

 

I had a lot of fun building this stairs truck! It took me the whole Sunday, about 8 hours. These are pretty straightforward models to build, what I always do is group parts that will go with a certain color and paint each color at a time, leaving the parts ready to be joined together.

Decaling was very interesting as I saw that the decal shows absolutely no edge around as you can see in the photo above, that remineded me and show me again that the important to achieve this is to make sure the surface is shiny before applying the decals, also that the decal is sealed with glossy varnish prior the final matt coat.
I personally like applying a matt finish, I always use Vallejo’s matt varnish as it gives the model a smooth finish.

I have taken the chance to take  photos of the whole progress and I will be creating a new section in the blog where I will share the step by step build of each GSE and this stairs truck will be the first.

The stairs truck will be in stock again very soon, as I am currently updating the instructions for the new modification, it will also be restocked at the same time as the passenger figures and crew figures, passenger figures will be my next update.

That is all for now, everyone stay safe!
Best wishes

Hello everyone,

I have been doing some progress over the weekend but unfortunately the progress has been finding some solutions to issues that I had with a couple things.

For starters, the stairs truck modification will finally be introduced in the next restock of these units. There are two parts that I still need to test as I made them differently in order to have a simpliest way to join these tubes onto the chassis (instead of the tube ending with an O shapped end to insert the axle, it will have a hole only in one side to insert in it a metallic axle resulting in an L shapped end which will be inserted in the hole of the chassis suport, this way less parts are used for the fitting).

In the meanwhile I will also start preparing these metallic tubes and rods, I finally found a silver colored rod which slides very nicely in the tube thus no paint is needed.

The figure passengers have been coming out very well, however there is one particular figure of the set which I am still working on, this is a quick preview of the set (there is a figure missing yet).

With the motive of these passenger figures, I will also take the chance to make a stair truck build (as an example) which will feature the new parts and will be doing a photo progress of the build. This is something I am planning to do for the rest of the GSE, as a way to let you see how I build these models step by step (as an extra guide to the included instructions) as well as share some tips etc.

On regards the equipment, I am still awaiting the motherboard for one of my printers, thus stock production will be slower this week.
I distributed the LD3 trolley parts into 3 separate files so that I can have quicker stock of them (with a more reliable result).

The 787 galleys has turned into a major step back, I am still not happy with how things fit so a new way to do it has already started. I am looking forward to work further with this, every attempt is taking me closer to finally have it as I want it, so I am optimistic at the upcoming work.

 

Things are a little “unschedule” at the moment because I cannot combine the stock preparation as before having one printer broken, so when the motherboard arrives, I will need to dedicate some time to install it and do some further tests with it.

The cargo loader is progressing very well, the engine compartment has been fully finished. As I am starting with the lifting system, I am considering make it movable after the experience I had with the stairs truck, this will also be useful once I do the 1/72 version. I am sure that it will work out nicely, the project is at the moment at about 50% done.

I am also working on the A320/A321/A320N/A321N decal set, I am reusing very little from the previous artwork as I am taking  the chance to improve things and adapt them for silk screening.
So far the remaining decals to make are the doors, window details, engine details and some other minor things. Overall the decal set will have many details and will be usable for both the Revell newest kits and the Zvezda A320/A321. Within the set I am also offering several versions of the same detail , for its use on dark or white fuselages (for example, red or white outlines of the static ports, different probe types, etc).

That is all for this weekend, I will be restocking the Neo engines and making more LD3 trolleys and belt loaders during the week, unfortunately the issues with one of the printers delayed a bit the 1/200 GSE, however I must say that the stock process of the 1/200 belt loader has begun and will continue forward this week. Next Friday I will create the product page and set a date for the restocking of the 1/200 belt loader.

One last thing I forgot, the Covid situation is not giving a break, cases are raising thus I am going to be very strict at shipping times (Tuesdays and Fridays) as I want to be outdoors and in contact with others as less as possible.

Everyone take good care,
Guillem

Dear all,

I wanted to give a quick update on the different things that I am working on.

Livery decals: I am progressing with the base artwork for the A320/A321/A320N/A321N details.
I honestly thought it was going to be a bit “easier” having already the artwork, but every single line of the original artwork must be changed to adapt them to the silk screen printing method.
I am taking the chance to include a few more details and also modifying the decals for the belly/wing root area. The decals will be an improvement over the previous ones, plus this time the belly panel lines and rivets will fit on both Revell and Zvezda kits (each will have their own within the same detail set).

I have been able to finally have both kits and I took this chance to make these specific decals to adapt on the Revell’s (Neos) bellies since my original work was based on the Zvezda model.

There are significant differences between the Revell and the Zvezda kit on the wingroot area, not surprising since this difference is also present in the A320 and the A320Neo whereas the Neo version has a taller wall at the wing joint (easily noticeable when comparing the distance of the emergency door lights to the wing).
I am not going to enter in details about each kit pros and cons because I truly find both kits beautiful. Some details lacking on the Zvezda belly will be covered as well with the decals (access panel doors, etc) and some other decals will adapt on the Revell’s model such as the horizontal stabilizer plates.

Work with this continues.

Passenger figures (1/144):  Having done a first test with these figures, I still have to adjust a few minor things, but so far it looks as desired, the set will consist of 26 passenger figures with a mix of women/men/teens and kids. I am going to do another test (hopefully the final one) at the end of the week, so my aim is to be able to show some progress on next Sunday.

Update on the stairs truck: I mention about the micro tubes on my last entry for the next project (the cargo loader) and I wanted to start using that “slide in” system on that project onwards. However, I wanted to give an improvement to the stairs truck that will also improve on my preparation time for the packaging of these units (it was overly time consuming to prepare these two parts in the original release).

The stock of the stairs truck is done, but there is still some more tests to do with these tubes. For this method, two new resin parts have been made (one fitting in the tube and the other fitting on the rod). After the initial test, I will also make two new parts that will make for an easier fitting of the tube and rod to the chassis.

One thing that was concerning me was the paint, the tube is 1,7 mm and the rod 1,5 mm so the rod slides in prefectly, however, paint cannot be used, therefore I decided to use a different rod with already a silver color, so the only part to paint of the two will be the tube which won’t cause any issue for the rod to slide in (painted from the outside).

This update, I would very much like to give it for free to all those customers who purchased the stairs truck. I however cannot ship it for free, therefore shipping charges will be on customer’s end, but there is also the possibility to include these new parts on a next order if desired, I will give more details about this once I have finished the tests.

Note the rod will not be brass, instead a silver colored alloy will be used to avoid the use of paint.

Stock units: Stairs truck were going to be released this Friday 28th, however, due the tests with this slide in system and new parts for a better and stronger fitting, I may push this restocking on the second week of October. Stock units are made already.

There will be more units of the 1/144 AST-1, LD3 trolleys coming this Friday. I will also intend to restock the Neo engines and increase quantities of other items.

1/200 GSE items will start production at the second week of October being available at mid October.

Current projects: I am progressing on the 787 forward galley / cockpit, once done, will start with the middle galley. Work continues to fix and adjust the 1/144 passenger figures as well as the work with the 1/144 cargo loader.
The 747 cargo deck detail set and  the 1/12 737 cockpit projects are on hold. I will resume first the 1/12 737 cockpit project at mid October coinciding with the release of the 1/200 GSE models. I will resume the work with the main instrument panel before going for the side walls.

Some not so good news: There may be some bit of delay with the production of the parts due a failure in one of the printers I use. I have been doing some tests during the weekend in order to find out where the problem comes from and so far, no luck, there is still one last thing I want to check before changing the mother board, which is really my last option.

That is all for now, I have several fronts opened with lots of work to do on each area, but I am going step by step with all of them. The 747 cargo project and the 1/12 737 cockpit are currently my two biggest projects and therefore the dedication and time required to planify are so much bigger compared to the other projects. They are by no means abandoned, but until I can have the weekends free, I won’t be able to progress as much as I want, upon the releasing of the next 1/200 GSE, there will be more time for them.

Take care everybody,
Guillem