Saab 340 1/160 Air Rarotonga

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Static model this time, taking a brief break from flying models: Saab-Fairchild 340, Air Rarotonga livery, 1/160 scale. This is a downscale and repaint from Gary Pilsworth's free Saab 340 in 1/72 in the downloads section, which a couple people have recolored before. I started with the Loganair livery by Berke Babaoğlu, since it was the most similar and mostly blank, then brought in the windows from the Silver Airways livery, added Air Rarotonga graphics by reworking images from online, and added belly shading, wing access hatches, and registration numbers. I think the prototype for the plans is the base model 340, whereas these days Air Rarotonga flies the 340B Plus, so the wingspan and horizontal stabilizer size are smaller than would be accurate for the latter, so it goes.

Added and modified details:

• Full set of control surface actuator fairings: flaps, ailerons, elevators
• Ventral tail strakes
• Ventral nose conduits
• Prop discs

It's a nice, no-nonsense plan; I like the wing carry-through and the split wing/body fairing piece, which shaped up nicely. This model being less than half the original size, I had to bust out some 2.5X magnifier glasses to work on it. The nose was a bit fussy to put together at this small of a size because of the way the portion under the windshield is split. Skipped the landing gear per usual for me. I used 65#/96gsm text paper, with the bulkheads made of thicker cardstock. This example isn't the cleanest of builds, but it is small and cute!

I'm making this for someone I know who recently flew on this airline, which serves the Cook Islands. To make it a more interesting gift, my thought is to turn it into a mobile, with some local birds (in the same scale) making up the other suspended elements. Will post pics of that if it works out.

[MacSongLi]

Very nice job, especially at the small scale. Add details look great. I love the spinning props too.

Gary

[Rata]

Top job! And in a reduced scale too!

[Siwi]

Hadn't appreciated just how small this is until I reached the picture of it in sections on the cutting mat. Did you use a compass cutter for the prop discs?

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Thanks Gary, Rata, Siwi, y'all are too kind. I'm obviously down for making little details, but the patience some of you guys have for fiddly little fragile parts like propeller blades and landing gear... whew, I'm impressed, but I'm out, haha. The prop discs are indeed made with a compass cutter. I tried using thicker plastic to represent the chord of the blades but couldn't get a clean cut, so thin plastic it is. Poked a bunch of little holes in the center under the spinner for glue adhesion. When sizing the discs, I forgot to add the spinner radius to the prop blade length, so if they look undersized proportionate to turboprop power... that's 'cuz they are a bit.

In incorporating the Saab into a mobile, rather than accompany the model with tiny birds, think I'll try making a couple humpback whales to scale, as there's good whale watching in the Cook Islands. There was an appropriately sized plan on Etsy that shows up in search results, but unfortunately it's not available anymore. Instead I'm gonna try to downsize and simplify a nearly 4' plan down to under 4". May be more challenging than the plane!

[ReynoldsSlumber]

See the thread in the dioramas forum for more pics and details.

[Marterair]

Nice job! i im currently designing a saab 340 atm

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Very nice! I’ll be interested especially to see how you handle the nose/windshield interface.