Well, I fancied a change and was browsing the 'net one day and saw one of these built. The first airliner I flew on was a Viscount (yes, I'm old!); so I found a few online builds and reviews then ended up buying one on Ebay nice and cheap. Glencoe Models 1/96 scale. An old mould, plenty of flash and a few fit problems but hey, I'm old school and can cope with it.



Warped wings - every build I saw had these, but glue tape and clamps should handle it:


I'm on leave from work at the moment and the weather is sh*t so plenty of build time available

Don't want a tailsitter, boxed in part of the nose, added fishing weights and epoxied in place



Glazing in place



When this is dry - liquid mask on the glazing to protect it and then seam fixing.

Nice start Dave, uncommon build as well. I'll be following you along this journey!

Cheers, D

Welcome Damian. I haven't built an airliner since I was a kid, and frankly I have no interest in the modern efforts. I've flown in a Viscount, and been in the Vanguard at Brooklands; and there's something a bit different about the older turboprops. Old fashioned elegance and good looks. Frog/Novo did a Brittania in 1/96 - wonder if I can find one cheap?

Watch for dodgy fit on the engines and the wingtips. Time spent refining the fit before applying glue will pay huge dividends.




Eastern Express released the Frogspawn Britannia not that long ago. Hannants has the Cubana and RAF boxings in stock at the exorbitant price of £13.17 each. Of course the plastic is for the -100 version and Eastern Express is a trifle unconcerned about niggling little things such as accuracy so you may need to seek out aftermarket decals.

I saw those flaws on reviews before I bought it - nothing I can't handle. When I started modelling these kits were state of the art!




£15.80 in the Uk (VAT) - too much! And one site has the original Frog boxing for £150! If I decide on any other airliners maybe the Airfix Vanguard would be a better bet.

Dave, I built that kit back in the 60' and it has not changed much. I will follow along to see your build progress.

Bob

I'm following your build Dave!

Today's progress:

Primer


Paint


Ready for paint


Painted, de-icing boots on the props still to go


Making sure the nacelles don't get mixed up


Oh dear - but seems to be a problem with every one of these I've seen


Slight upward curve on the outer wing, but it's either that or lose the outline - if you straighten them then the leading and trailing edge don't match



Wings and nacelles joined up


That's it for today, Gap at the wing roots is a lot better than expected

Looks good. Often thought about buying one of these.

For 1960s moulds it ain't as bad as some online reviews would have you believe. The wing moulds actually say that it was made by Hawk - which makes it almost ancient!. Only the wings are real problem, and I think that's because they're crammed into a box that's too narrow for them.

If you find one cheap enough go for it!

I'll kew my eyes open. What are the decals like?

decals look ok, but I haven't tried them out yet

A dip into just-boiled water and some careful bending will sort that curve out.

Aerials on the kit are wrong for this aircraft - cut off and stretched sprue added

Masked - this showed up more errors in the kit - more on that later

Black primer for the NMF

My favoured finish



Finished. The other errors? It looks as if the relationship between the cockpit glazing and cabin windows is wrong- the cheat lines go immediately above the cabin windows and should meet the cockpit rather than pass under it. Also, some of the markings are the wrong colour - the RR Dart on the nacelles and the air race legends on the nose should be red







Verdict - it's crude, inaccurate, but it's unmistakably a Viscount

That's adorable!

but oh, those rivets ......

Dave,

Great job! I think this was an old Aurora or Lindberg kit initially. But it looks great!

Just as a note: My dad wrenched on FJ Furies when he was in the Marines during Korea. When he got home, there was no job. Then one day he saw an ad for ALL jet mechanics at Washington National airport. It was Capital Airlines and they just bought a load of these Viscounts with RR Dart engines. He was hired instantly. He said they were not the best planes. In fact, when United bought out Capital (that's how we got to California!) they junked them.

Keep it up, mate!

Bill B.

Dave,
That's one really rock solid build of a kit from the very early days of plastic modeling. Nice job on fixing those horrendous warped wings.

Joel