1:144 Airbus A318-112, Caledonian International Airways, 2020

[Dizzyfugu]

I had this project on my to-do list for a while, and recently felt the masochistic itch to tackle an airliner model. So I dug the Eastern Express 1:144 Airbus A318 kit I had already procured from The Stash™, as well as the design layouts (posted elsewhere a couple of days ago) I had designed/drawn up since then, and started.

First thing to mention: the box and its relative size to the content. No, an A318 is NOT a Boeing 747, not even a short SP variant, but... 


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

I always thought that Revell was the industrial leader concerning waste of box space/selling hopeful modelers more air than material to work with, but this is a new level!


The kit and its assembly:
I have been pondering the idea of an independent Scotland for some time and already built some what-if models with this background. But then arose the question: what could a national carrier airline be or look like?

This turned out to be a more complex question than initially ever thought of and led to more than a dozen potential design layouts, with the plan to avoid the much-too-obvious blue from the Scottish flag and rather incorporate the Scottish coat-of-arms (with a standing red lion on a yellow shield/background) but also based on limited decal resources. The small Airbus 318 was chosen because it would be a rather small airline, and the type's extended range vs. it bigger brethren (making flight to America possible) made it a good choice for trans-Atlantic flights.

I settled for the Eastern Express A318 kit, which is BTW the only option for this airliner in 1:144. Upon an initial glance the kit looked quite O.K. – very simple and straightforward, and somewhat looking like a clone of the Revell A319/320 model (but it isn't). However, closer inspection confirmed the impression of a rather poor copy quality level. Most surface details (engraved) are there, but they are soft and somewhat blurred, and any fine details like pitots or blade antennae are missing or just hinted at. The material is also dubious, a very waxy and soft styrene. It can be glued together easily, but it is very sensitive to scratches or cuts.

However, things turned really ugly when I tried to build it! NOTHING of the major elements fits together, the worst flaws became apparent when I tried to glue the fuselage halves together, which turned out to be wavy along the seams and heavily dented, esp. along the spine. Massive PSR was necessary to fill the worst gaps, and even then, the result is barely acceptable.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

After a coat of fresh primer, the dents a long the spine are already visible:


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...and led to an emergency PSR session - but the seams are still totally bumby because the fuselage halves match only incidently.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Another disaster area is the wing/fuselage intersection. Unlike the Revell A320, the Eastern Express kit comes with separate, asymmtretical lower wing halves, which carry a part of the lower fuselage. Raised surface details and air scoops justify this construction, but the poor fit of everything involved in this area left me with a ventral 2mm(!!!) gap and further misalignments that called for even more PSR. Horrible.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The final problem zone was the fin – in consists of a base, which is molded into the fuselage halves, and the extended fin tip as well as the rudder are a separate part. This could work, if the fin's base halves were not about 1mm too thick when assembled, resulting in a crippled fin that called for more PSR to create even surfaces on both sides (and fill gap's at the rudder's base)...


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Beyond that, there were some sinkholes on the wings, and the (otherwise pretty clear) cockpit glazing did not fit at all, being much too narrow and leaving considerable gaps at its base. Since I had decals for the complete cockpit glazing at hand I short-handedly blended the clear part into the hull with some more PSR.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


No, this kit is NOT recommended – I guess that cutting an A319/320 from another manufacturer and scratching the longer fin leads to better results than the Eastern Express A318 kit! However, more coming soon... 

[PR19_Kit]

Sounds like a standard Eastern Express kit to me. 

They're a bit like an eastern bloc version of Mach 2, but you're making a good job of a pig's ear of a kit Thomas. 

[Tophe]

Good start! Go on!

[zenrat]

...I always thought that Revell was the industrial leader concerning waste of box space/selling hopeful modelers more air than material to work with...

Not bought any Lego recently then?

[Dizzyfugu]

Painting and markings:
I wanted to develop a personal livery for Scotland's potential flag carrier, and this took a while. The process was inspired and also limited by decal options, and I wanted to avoid the obvious color blue. I rather took inspiration from the Scottish coat of arms, which shows a standing red lion on a deep yellow background. For potential layouts I took the burden to create profile drawings, which soon revealed that yellow and red would make the airliner look like a Spanish charter carrier, so more and more black crept into the design, eventually fully replacing the yellow, together with white as basic color for the fuselage and a little red from the lion as contrast. After more than a dozen layouts the one I chose reminds of the late BEA scheme (with the black fin and trim) or Air Canada.


Caledonian International Airlines (Layout #13) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


However, I wanted to avoid a contemporary livery with a uniform/featureless fuselage, so I incorporated a black window cheatline that visually stretches the fuselage. The design has a certain retro appeal, even though this was not intended.

The fuselage was prepared with grey primer and received a coat with pure white paint from the rattle can. The wings were painted with Humbrol 40 (Gloss Light Gull Grey) and 126 (FS 26270) for the Corroguard areas. Fin and engine nacelles were painted black (Humbrol 21). The small winglets were painted in red (Humbrol 19), as small color highlights. Black ink was used to emphasize the panel lines (esp. of the flaps and rudders) on the wings, the white fuselage remained clean, though, in order to avoid a dirty or worn look.


1:144 Airbus A318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The cheatlines and the windows come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a retro British Airways A319 with a BEA red square livery, the decals had to be tailored to the A318's shorter fuselage. The black nose section was retained, because it reminds of the elegant livery of British Caledonian Airlines. The red "Caledonian" letterings and the smaller sublines come from a TwoSix Decals sheet for a Sixties' Caledonian Airways DC-6B. I had hoped to use this sheet's large red lions for the Airbus' fin, but they were only laser-printed on clear carrier film and lacked opacity, so that I had to improvise. I found a suitable alternative in a MicroScale H0 scale sheet for Cape Brenton & Nova Scotia Diesel locomotives. Yes, it is not the Scottish lion, but the emblem conveys the idea... 
The stencils are a mix from the (very nice) Eastern Express and the TwoSix Airbus sheet, and I printed the registration code with the Scottish flag as well as the "independence" tag on the nose myself.


1:144 Airbus A318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Finally, the model was sealed with an overall coat of glossy acrylic varnish, it is just drying and waits for final assembly (wheels).

[Tophe]

 

[PR19_Kit]

........it is just drying and waits for final assembly (wheels).

And tailplanes too I suppose? Or is it a tail-less version? 

[NARSES2]

Does look good 

[Gondor]

A very dark Royal Blue would have worked as well as the black. Looks great though 

Gondor

[Dizzyfugu]

........it is just drying and waits for final assembly (wheels).

And tailplanes too I suppose? Or is it a tail-less version? 

Those were fitted before the final coat of varnish had been applied. 

[Tophe]

And tailplanes too I suppose? Or is it a tail-less version? 

Those were fitted before the final coat of varnish had been applied. 

I would have preferred the (very whif) tail-less way, but I am confident the result will be great anyway

[Dizzyfugu]

Wouldm't that rather be a twin-boom Airbus? 

[Tophe]

Wouldm't that rather be a twin-boom Airbus? 

Gasp... (orgasmic ecstasy)...

[Dizzyfugu]

Took some time to take the pictures and edit them, but here it finally is:


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
With Scotland's independence from Great Britain in late 2017, "Caledonian International Airlines" (or just "Caledonian" or "CI") quickly emerged as a privately-owned national flag carrier. The airline followed in the footsteps of Caledonian Airways, an independent Scottish charter airline formed in April 1961, which evolved into British Caledonian Airlines (a.k.a. "BCal"). During the 1970s and '80s, British Caledonian became the UK's largest independent, international scheduled airline, with an extensive global route network serving over 40 destinations in around 25 countries on five continents. However, a series of major financial setbacks during the mid-1980s combined with the airline's inability to grow sufficiently to reach a viable size put the airline at serious risk of collapse. BCal began looking for a merger partner to improve its competitive position, and, in December 1987, British Airways (BA) gained control of the airline. In April 1988 BCal was officially dissolved and the brand disappeared.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Caledonian International Airlines was a completely new company, though, and received its Air Operator's Certificate on December 31, 2017. Caledonian had, except for the name and the use of the Scottish "Lion Rampant" emblem (the Royal Standard of the King or Queen of Scots), no connections with BCal, and also not to British Airways. In the second quarter of 2018, CI leased two Airbus A319s from Lessors Avolon and Apollo and started deploying to several national destinations from its home base Glasgow, taking over domestic flight slots to Scottish destinations (primarily Glasgow and Edinburgh) from British Airways. In 2019, the airline added a third A319 for connections to Continental Europe as well as a single Airbus A318 and an A330 for transatlantic destinations and charter flights, respectively.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


CI's A318-100 (SC-ABG) was primarily scheduled for the direct Glasgow/Edinburgh – New York (3210 ml/5170 km) routes. The Airbus A318 was the smallest airliner in the Airbus A320 family, carrying 107 to 132 passengers with a maximum range of 5,700 km (3,100 nmi). Overall, the A318 was over six meters shorter and around 3 t (6,600 lb) lighter than the A320, and to compensate for the reduced moment arm, it had a larger vertical stabilizer. While initial concepts depicted the aircraft with a Boeing 737-300-style dorsal fin extension, the final design incorporated a fin tip extension, making it 75 centimeters (30 in) taller than the other A320 variants and easily identifiable. Pilots who were trained on the other variants might fly the A318 with no further certification, since it featured a common flight deck and the same type rating as its sister aircraft.


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The A318 was available with a variety of different maximum take-off weights (MTOW) ranging from a 59-tonnes (58 long tons; 65 short tons), 2,750 kilometres (1,480 nmi) base model to a 68-tonnes (67 long tons; 75 short tons), 6,000 kilometres (3,200 nmi) version. The lower MTOW enabled it to operate regional routes economically while sacrificing range and the higher MTOW allowed it to complement other members of the A320 family on marginal routes. On the other side, the lighter weight of the A318 gave it an operating range 10% greater than the A320, allowing it to serve some routes that the A320 would be unable to, e. g, London – New York, Perth–Auckland and Singapore–Tokyo, for instance. Its main use for airlines, however, were on short, low-density hops between medium-sized cities.

The airline also ordered two long-haul wide-body Airbus A330-900neos in November 2019 at the Dubai Air Show. The first plane is scheduled to arrive in January 2022 after a delivery flight from Toulouse and will operate on routes to Asia, e. g. Hong Kong and Tokyo, and to intercontinental destinations in North America and Brazil. A further order for six EMBRAER ERJ-190s was placed at the same time – these will replace the leased A320s on regional and domestic routes, and with these additional aircraft Caledonian International Airlines follows a slow but steady expansion strategy.



1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr



General characteristics:
    Cockpit crew: Two
    Length: 31.44 m (103 ft 2 in)
    Wingspan:   34.10 m (111 ft 11 in)
    Wing area: 122.4 m² (1,318 sq ft)
    Wing sweepback: 25°
    Tail height: 12.56 m (41 ft 2 in)
    Cabin width: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)
    Fuselage width: 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in)
    Operating empty weight: 39,500 kg (87,100 lb)
    Maximum zero-fuel weight (MZFW): 54,500 kg (120,200 lb)
    Maximum landing weight (MLW):   57,500 kg (126,800 lb)
    Maximum take-off weight (MTOW): 68,000 kg (150,000 lb)

Capacity:
    Exit Limit:   136
    1-class max. seating: 132 at 29–30 in (74–76 cm) pitch
    1-class, typical: 117 at 32 in (81 cm) pitch
    2-class, typical: 107 (8F @ 38 in, 99Y @ 32 in)
    Cargo capacity: 21.2 m³ (750 cu ft)
    Fuel capacity: 24,210 L (5,330 imp gal; 6,400 US gal)

Performance:
    Cruising speed: Mach 0.78 (829 km/h; 515 mph)
    Maximum speed:    Mach 0.82 (871 km/h; 541 mph)
    Range (typical payload): 5,740 km (3,100 nmi)
    ACJ range:   4,200 nmi (7,800 km)
    Takeoff (MTOW, SL, ISA): 1,780 m (5,840 ft)
    Landing (MLW, SL, ISA): 1,230 m (4,040 ft)
    Ceiling: 39,100–41,000 ft (11,900–12,500 m)

Engines:
    2x CFM56-5B9/P turbofans with 23,300 lbf (100 kN) thrust each




1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 Airbus A 318-112; "Independence (SC-ABG)", operated by Caledonian International Airlines; 2020 (Whif/Eastern Express kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Tophe]

Wow!