What if Braniff had never gone bankrupt?

Considering NG’s behavior regarding licensing with some of their releases, I don’t think it would be as big of an obstacle for them (if they were willing to). I could see that being a problem still though.

Sooner or later if someone releases 1:400 blank 738s I’ll just do a custom and call it good!
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.
 
Considering NG’s behavior regarding licensing with some of their releases, I don’t think it would be as big of an obstacle for them (if they were willing to). I could see that being a problem still though.

Sooner or later if someone releases 1:400 blank 738s I’ll just do a custom and call it good!
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
 
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
 
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
Not bad for 20 years ago! If NG or JC did some blanks again you could try another attempt.
 
Not bad for 20 years ago! If NG or JC did some blanks again you could try another attempt.
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 aparto_O

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.
 
I just saw on Facebook that Waffle Collectibles is offering a damaged United 737-800 for 10 bucks. Might make a nice donor if somebody wants to give my "modern Braniff" scheme a try...
 
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!
Braniff 737-800 Bare Metal Black.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Blue.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Green.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Red.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Orange.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Yellow.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Mercury Blue.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Perseus Green.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Sparkling Burgundy.pngBraniff 737-800 Bare Metal Purple.png
 
can't help it but this livery
braniff-737-800-red-png.14423

so reminds me on this one:
D-ABBB.png


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.
 
Like on this Flightsim 10-pack. Too bad they ignored the two-tone (black/white) exit outlines the real thing would have.
1680975368762.png
 
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