I've never done a custom before. Can you educate me on why it's better to start with a blank? If your base color is anything other than white (my scheme is on a bare metal base prior to 2003 and silver paint after), you're going to be doing a full paint job anyway.
What if Braniff had never gone bankrupt?
- Thread starter IndyJets
- Start date
By the way, many other types would potentially be eligible for this scheme depending on the era...
727-100 and -200 (bare metal version only)
DC-9-30 (from the AL side of the merger, bare metal version only)
737-200 (would they have bought them after the merger?), 737-300, -400, -800, -900, -MAX8, MAX9
757-200 (RR engines)
767-300 (GE engines)
787-8, 787-9, and/or A350
A320, A321 CEO and NEO (could be fairly recent additions to the fleet, post-2010 or so
Phantom
Well-known member
Speaking of Braniff and fantasy customs, I did a few of them roughly 20 years ago. I dug deep in my spares/scrap boxes but the only one remaining I could find was this Braniff 777, done on a GJ donor. Like many others this was never finished, I didn't like how the fuselage artwork turned out on the ultramarine base. The tail was to get artwork similar to the engines.
20230405_185553-01 by AlexK3800, auf Flickr
20230405_185553-01 by AlexK3800, auf Flickr
JJ Skippy
Well-known member
Not bad for 20 years ago! If NG or JC did some blanks again you could try another attempt.Speaking of Braniff and fantasy customs, I did a few of them roughly 20 years ago. I dug deep in my spares/scrap boxes but the only one remaining I could find was this Braniff 777, done on a GJ donor. Like many others this was never finished, I didn't like how the fuselage artwork turned out on the ultramarine base. The tail was to get artwork similar to the engines.
Phantom
Well-known member
I never understood the point of JCs blanks the way they do them.
As IndyJets already said, you'd need to strip and paint them anyways so any donor model would be as good for most subjects other than eurowhites.
If they (NG!) would deliver them unassembled then I'd have something to work with. The glued joints are so terribly strong for the otherwise soft diecast metal. You don't want to know how many donors I've killed in the process of getting them apart
The reason why I rarely do any 1/400 customs these days is smply a lack of available printers. Back in the days I used my ALPS MD series printers and a job like the one above (artwork/print/paint) was done in a few hours. Since the last printhead departed I need to have the artwork printed externally which makes things so much more complicated.
Here's the original bare metal version of my modern Braniff scheme, introduced in 1980 after completion of the merger with Allegheny/USAir, and unchanged until 2003 when the bare metal was replaced with silver metal flake paint. The titles had a white outline for contrast (as USAir, Eastern, and American did) but this was no longer needed with silver paint. Also I did the registration and nose numbers in black regardless of the plane's feature color as I felt this would stand out better. And these probably should have been in black on the silver painted version also.
If I had to pick just one of these to be done in 1:400, it would have to be the Mercury Blue version on bare metal... imagine how it would have looked on a 727!
If I had to pick just one of these to be done in 1:400, it would have to be the Mercury Blue version on bare metal... imagine how it would have looked on a 727!
Purpleplane
Well-known member
All of those would've looked great on 727s
Phantom
Well-known member
can't help it but this livery
so reminds me on this one:
Braniff had what was probably THE best airline livery concept ever with their "end of the plain plane" campaign ("Jellybeans") - I'd so love to see a todays Braniff still using it. Would look so cool even on A320neo or A350s.
so reminds me on this one:
Braniff had what was probably THE best airline livery concept ever with their "end of the plain plane" campaign ("Jellybeans") - I'd so love to see a todays Braniff still using it. Would look so cool even on A320neo or A350s.
