1/33 Geli Caravelle - Austrian Airlines

[Erik Zwaan]

Hey there, it might be worthwhile to open the rear and expose the stairs. The box structure is a good suggestion as it provides stability and shape. In reality, the stairs itself were also a bit of a box structure.
The advantage of a lowered staircase is that it prevents the model from tilting when displayed. Otherwise you need to make sure that you have added some weight in the nose!

Regards,
Erik

[BigGiraffe]

Hi Erik,

Yes, after mulling things over I just would not feel right to leave out the stairs, so will definitely come up with a way to reinforce the inside. It will involve cardboard and might just be the long sides, and it has to be something I can place through the center cutouts of the formers. The structure will be in place before I cut the door outline in the skin.

Best regards,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The wheels are good and sturdy with that cardboard interior. It is interesting how they have you cut out the colored side of the wheel, which of course is round, and then have you cut the black tire portion from the edge toward the center like a pie, but without cutting into the hub. This allows you to glue the silver hub flat onto the cardboard, then curve the "tire" over the former to give it a bulge all the way around. The cuts can be seen in the second photo and I later went over those with a black felt pen.

The tread will also bulge out at the center because they have you cut from both sides so you can curve it on each side (these cuts sort of show in the third photo).

After the wheels, I'll do the landing gear struts. (And, I'm still mulling over the interior for the aft airstairs.)

Take care,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The landing gear struts are made of cardboard wrapped in paper. I drilled out the axle holes prior to cutting out the four cardboard parts so there would be lots of material keeping me from breaking out the side of the part. For the paper sleeve, the first side is combined with front and back sides all as one piece as can sort of be seen in #2554. The front and back sides were wider than the cardboard assembly so I bent them over and glued them around the edges, then glued the final side in place.

For the main landing gear, I wrapped the axles around a round toothpick as can be seen in #2558. It probably didn't need the extra strength but the toothpicks were just the right size and made it easier to roll the axle tightly.

I forgot to mention that I drilled holes for the axle in the outboard side of each wheel besides just the inboard side, then glued the outside silver hub paper in place. This will keep the wheels from sagging out of alignment as the weeks and months go by.

The nose landing gear goes together in a similar way to the mains except the axle diameter is slightly smaller and so I did not use the toothpick.

Next I'll be doing the engines.

Take care,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The engines are finished. The exhaust end was unusual in that the outer ring must have openings cut out for exhaust mixers (which allow cool air to mix with the hot exhaust air). I colored the insides of the mixers black with a permanent felt marker.

Take care,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

I glued a cardboard stiffener to the inside of the fuselage on each side of the airstairs (2579). After joining this cylinder section to the adjacent, I reached in and added a cardboard angle to attach the end of each stiffener to the fuselage frame. Next, I cut the airstair outer panel on the fuselage cylinder, leaving the forward edge middle as a hinge. The airstairs fit nicely and can be extended and retracted.

The wings are quite large, of course. The instructions suggest assembling the wings separately, then slipping them over the cardboard spars when it is time to attach to the fuselage. And that is how I did these, only I found that it was very difficult to get them over the spars during my test-fit. However, it can be made to work with patience. I think maybe it would work better to assemble the wings in place on the fuselage even if that is kind of cumbersome.

Take care,
Kurt

[mor54]

Looks very nice and detailed Kurt. Should be a big model at a 1-33 scale.

Shalom Mor

[Isaac]

Love the stairs. Adds nice touch to this plane.


Isaac

[BigGiraffe]

Thanks!

The model is very large now that it has wings. And I sure agree the stairs add to the look of the kit. The subassemblies are already done so it's not far from being finished.

The airplane is so large that you have to be very careful not to put too much pressure in one place when handling or the skin could be damaged.

Best regards,
Kurt

[BigGiraffe]

Hello,

The Caravelle is complete. It was fun to build. I especially like Geli's painted colors on this airliner because it looks bright and shiny like the real ones once did.

Best regards,
Kurt