Caravelle F-BJTR "Principauté de Monaco"

Daniel Klink
omg Mistercraft ..
Sure you will make the best out of this Lukasz..
Following

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks Daniel. I have to mention that this is one of the best Mistercraft sets, the other being the Hunter. Actually this is a rebox of a Airfix copy. No idea whether it was licenced or not, however they started molding it somewhere in the 70s or 80s.

Thomas Kolb
That is an interesting build... Mistercraft is a harsh mistress but I am sure you will wrestle it beautifully in shape. Following!

Adam Gudynowski
Powodzonka 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
Struggling with the fuselage joints, they seem to be still cracking. Hope to prime her soon.

Laurent VILLANUEVA "HELLER-forever"
great

Łukasz Gliński
Merci beaucoup. After few days of sanding/priming I find the last layer of primer good enough.

Ben M
watching because I too am building an airliner from a kit where the parts don't fit together, lol

Thomas Kolb
Yeah, don't you just love this stage when the primer gets sprayed on and it turns that mucky, mottled and dirty appearance into a pristine and clean uniform gray?

Adam Gudynowski
Nice 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
True, I had to reinforce the parts using significant load of perfect putty, CA glue, Mr.Cement and surfacer. Hope it will stay smooth now.

Łukasz Gliński
Thx Adam

Laurent VILLANUEVA "HELLER-forever"
to follow

Andy Ball
I love the graceful lines of the Caravelle, (and Comet I), so hope you have a good build here Ł

Łukasz Gliński
Not the best kit, however I enjoy the number of parts and pace of 1/144 airliner construction 🙂

Daniel Klink
Progress looks promising and you are on a good way with this "kit" 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
It's not so bad actually, however to my surprise the PE dedicated for Airfix doesn't fit so great. Always thought it was a pirate copy of UK kit...

Thomas Kolb
A very pretty aircraft! How did you manage to fair in that ill-fitting windscreen? On photo 7 it looks nearly impossible.

Daniel Klink
Not that bad?
As Thomas noted. Withou formidable skills you will not get any pleasant result out of this.

Rando Dude
The Caravelle is such a beautiful aircraft. Watching

Łukasz Gliński
@Thomas&Daniel: As my skills are not that great, I put an accent on concepts instead😉 Had couple of ideas, tried two of them, both requiring UV light. As the nail stuff borrowed from the best one of all wives😉 turned out to stay sticky on the surface and not sandable, I had to order the proper UV CA glue, which I can sand extensively. I have to make my own masks now, before painting.
@Rando: welcome mate 👍

Daniel Klink
Fantastic work and solution Lukasz.. As I said: Skills are with you 👍
I would have abort immediately after dryfitting or never started this thing..
Fabulous mate keep it up 👍

Łukasz Gliński
Thx Daniel 🙂
Got another update: I managed to cut my own masks. And today I added some white surfacer, so it starts to remind an airliner 🙂
How come absolutely nobody on this planet sells 1/144 Caravelle masks?! And I don't mean Mistercraft dedicated, just any kind of...

Łukasz Gliński
Added white and grey today. What would you use for the grey part on 1/144 airliner?
I have a feeling Dark Ghost Grey (Mr Hobby C307) might be too dark after all...

Thomas Kolb
I think it looks great. But if you really want to repaint it, you could go with something like Tamiya XF-19 Sky Gray or Mr Paint MRP-363 Boeing Gray. Not sure about the corresponding color in the Mr Hobby range unfortunately.

Gordon Sørensen
Looking good so far, Lucasz! Nice job on getting the windscreen fitted!

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks for your feedback. I went for the Air Defence Grey after all 👍

Thomas Kolb
I second Gordon, I am still not sure how you managed to wrestle that windscreen in place, it looks impossible, even with UV glue.

Łukasz Gliński
Easy-peasy - just spread the glue all around, remove most of the excess using plastic, toothpicks and your fingers (this order is not mandatory😉 ). Shine some black light, prepare for a week of sanding. Mask, prime and keep fingers crossed it's gonna look acceptable. 😄
Have I known the uv glue is that thick and hard, I'd throw the windscreen part away.

Thomas Kolb
That sounds easy. Like making a marble sculpture: you just take a huge slab of marble and remove the excess with a hammer and a chisel.

Łukasz Gliński
Nah, the secret is the extensive sanding😉

Łukasz Gliński
Spraying almost complete, time for Bostic windows 🙂

Patryk S.
Nostalgia! I remember this model in PZW boxing, even build it in the early 90ties! Looking good Łukasz!

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks Patryk, however I have to add that the decals don't look that good - the first one just scatterred once I took it out of water 🙁
Will try to fix it by varnishing and we'll see whether I'll have to look for another set of decals or not.

Thomas Kolb
MisterCraft decals are known to do that... 🙁 Microscale Liquid Decal Film is perfect to make sure old decals hold together, you can simply spray it on with the airbrush.

Ben M
Hopefully you can save them with some liquid decal film... the Air France livery is very attractive.

Thomas Kolb
In the worst case you have this (same aircraft) and which also includes the frames fore the windscreens:

bsmodelle.com/eu/ind..-2/product/view/2/84

Łukasz Gliński
Well, thanks for your feedback guys.
So, I went for the decal film for now. First, it's too thick to spray, it just clogged my airbrush instantly as I have no clue how to thin it. Hence I paintbrushed the broken fin decal and the rest has been sprayed using GX varnish. Will continue with the tail today and if I fail, I found a backup:
martola.com.pl/pl268..velle_iii_air_france
The BS set looks interesting, but I'd have to wait for it and since they have very interesting topics, the fit is not always good enough 🙁 However this one seems to be the copy of the Mistercrap set, even the layout is the same. 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
OK, the GX didn't help much, adding more Liquid Decal 🙁

Thomas Kolb
Are you using the Microscale stuff? I often print out my own decals and spray that with my airbrush without any issues. The consistency should be like regular acrylic paint (thicker than water, but not like honey either - a bit like like milk).

Łukasz Gliński
It's Microscale indeed, but it's waaaay thicker than milk, more similar to Vallejo Model Air paints (and don't tell me they're perfect for spraying, for they are not 😛 )
Brushpainting seems to be good enough, the decals are brittle, but it's not Ravensburger 1000 puzzle anymore😉

Thomas Kolb
Hm, strange, I am looking at my bottle here, it is definitely quite thin... Your bottle might be a bit old? I remember that I once read that it can be thinned with alcohol (like Tamiya thinner). But if brush painting works, then that's just fine!

Łukasz Gliński
Seems so at least.
The final test is the nose-side decal, if it will break or not conform, I'm ordering BOA set tomorrow 🙂

Thomas Kolb
Yes, you live in a civilized country where you can buy modeling stuff without having to order from beyond the country borders and possibly face ridiculous Covid-dependent transport times... 🙁

Ben M
I brush on the microscale stuff. Sometimes the resulting decal does not conform immediately, but with a little patience and decal solvent, I get them to settle.

I build lots of old kits with old decals.

Łukasz Gliński
@?Thomas: well, my Czech & Dutch shoppings arrived few days ago (ah, dat Huxley book😉 ) and the Ukrainian one is on its way 🙂
@Ben: brushing seems to work, though Mistercrap decals are very stiff, brittle and not so well designed. Working on the nose right now and still thinking of buying BOA set.
In the meantime I played with the engine nacelles and sth called "hush-sets" 🙂

Thomas Kolb
Ouch, those windscreen decals... 🙁 Which is more correct, the windscreen or the decals? Although considering that it is MisterCraft, I guess neither... Thanks for the pic dedication, BTW! 🙂 The drinking straw idea is quite cool, you might just get it looking like the real stuff! BTW I recently loaded up with a bunch of plastic straws from McDonalds, the paper straws you get nowadays is quite useless for model building.

Łukasz Gliński
Neither of them probably. But if you want to follow the decal shape, you have to overpaint the windshield part.

Łukasz Gliński
So the Mistercrap decals turned out to be incredibly stiff, so I ordered BOA set instead.
My honest recommendation: if you need a 144 Caravelle, head for the Amodel.

Ben M
If amodel is your *best* choice 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
Whatever is on the market, must be better😉

Daniel Klink
Not that nobody warned you 🙂
But you do a fantastic job with this.... And your patience is admirable Lukasz..
keep up the good work 👍

"Whatever is on the market, must be better"
I heard of a kit producer from France which name describes the Speed with that his products fly into the bin 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks Daniel, well I have couple of the kits issued by the abovementioned French company and yes, I still maintain I'm gonna build'em 😄

Thomas Kolb
I agree with Daniel, your determination with this pig of a kit is astonishing.

Łukasz Gliński
Thank you. In the meantime I filled and sanded the engines, corrected the windscreen once again and went on to decalling.
The BOA set has some errors though, the most noticeable one - missing blue stripes either on top or on the bottom of the main dark blue band.
I'm gonna live with it anyway.

Thomas Kolb
Looks really neat but with a huge amount of work! What is that paste on the wing leading edges in pic 33?

Łukasz Gliński
That's the famous Perfect Plastic Putty by Deluxe Materials from (not-so-much-Cool anymore) Britannia, the best putty I have ever used. Wanted to fill the huge slot gaps without repainting the wings and had to give up.

Andy Ball
Graceful lines captured Łukasz, now to build Comet I alongside the Frenchman? Yours from KühlBritannia...

Łukasz Gliński
Much appreciated Mr.A 🙂 However while working on the nose and the windshield it's hard to find the true Caravelle shape there 😄
I have to disappoint you though, next will be DC-9 (or couple of them, not sure yet) 😛
Not sure about the Comet in 144 as 72nd BAe Nimrod is waiting on the top of my shelves (too big to fit inside 😄)
So, I decided to leave the kit shape as it is, the nose painting will be my licencia poetica and I'm not going to correct the decals. Added the engines today, lovely British Putty is stepping into action again 😄

Adam Gudynowski
Turned out really nice 👍

Maciej Bellos
Whoa! That was one difficult kit... Turned out quite good Łukasz! Well done mate!

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks, still there are couple of details to complete 🙂
@Thomas: Bear in mind this kit is actually an unlicensed (most probably) copy of the old Airfix, copied in the Polish Peoples Republic era. So nobody took too much care and smoking stuff was really hard to get here 😄

Thomas Kolb
For some reason my comment got deleted, not sure why... This kit looks like nightmare fuel but you certainly managed to bring out the best of it. You deserve a medal for persistance! 😉

Julian Herrero aka Yuri
Łukasz ..... really tough work on that dog of a kit !!!!! Chapeau !!!!!!

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks a lot for your support, it's really needed 🙂
In the meantime I attached the engines, need to repaint the pylons once more (the fit was horrible) and I started adding details - wheels, gear details, door and so forth.

Łukasz Gliński
Hereby I announce this bugger finished!
Skipped couple of details as it's gonna be the photo background element after all (panel lines, stairs decal, stairs railings, few minor decals here and there).
My advice? Avoid at all cost!😉

Nathan Dempsey
Well done Łukasz! I know this is a very tough kit!

Nikolaos Kouzinis
Nice job Lukasz

Alex K
Thumbs up! 👍

Thomas Kolb
You certainly to managed to wrestle this pig of a kit into a really attractive little model. What a transformation! Lovely! 🙂

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks a lot Gents, glad you like it (even though I took so many shortcuts at the end😉 )

Adam Gudynowski
Good outcome 👍

Munkyslut
I've only just stumbled on this, what a great finish!
The Caravelle has always been one of my favourite passenger liners, especially in this livery, excellent 👍

Andy Ball
Graceful lines captured well Ł. [Caravelle and the Comet I....they don't make 'em like they used to!!]

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks Gents. did my best, but gave up the nose section. I'd have to build it from scratch😉
Glad you like it anyway. Maybe one day the Comet will join it, who knows...