Airfix Islander - Scottish Air Ambulance

[eng]

Whilst searching for pic's of the real aircraft, as reference for this build, I realised the aircraft in question was that which was tragically lost on the 14th March 2005, with the loss of the pilot and paramedic, near the Mull of Kintyre during a flight on behalf of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Loganair, a franchise of British Airway's until very recently, hence the color scheme, had a contract to provide this aerial ambulance service much needed on the island dotted coastline of Scotland. Living very close to Glasgow airport these little aircraft regularly passed low over our house either departing or returning, often very late at night, and during scottish winters, often in atrocious conditions.

The flight crews and medic's really are unsung hero's and as such I will dedicate this model to the memory of all those who have been lost in the line of duty with the Scottish Ambulance Service, and the air ambulance crew lost on 14th March 2005.

The kit is the old Airfix rendition with a few modifications to more accurately represent G-BOMG as it was in service. Decals are from TwoSix and aren't the best I've ever used, I found they would not adhere very well and I ended up using Klear to stick them down. Some still have a visible edge but it's not too noticeable in the pic's, I dare say the rivet detail didn't help my cause either, but for weird and wonderful schemes TwoSix are top dog. My biggest failing with the kit was not to correct what I initially thought was a fairly insignificant bend in the one-piece upper wing, but the more I look at it now the worse it seems, almost some kind of mini-Antonov! Overall I'm delighted with the way it's turned out and here's a brief run down on the mod's I made to improve it and more pic's -

1. Cabin painted as per reference pic's and cockpit door left open for interest,

2. I removed the tank-like ribbing on the outside as it was way to overscale, I suppose the rivetting is too but it wouldn't have looked the same without it,

3. brake lines added to the gear legs from wire,

4. 2 upper whip type aerials are stretched sprue, the 3 lower aft ones are plastic scraps and the lower forward one is the lower end of a dunking sonar from a Revell Seaking cut and sanded slightly to improve the shape,

5. fin anti-collision light is stretched sprue shaped and painted, while the 2 antenna either side of the fin is a piece of wire superglued through a hole in the fin, painted, and bent to the correct angle,

6. engine cowl latches were simply drawn on with a fine tipped permanent black marker,

7. De-icing boots were simply masked and painted.

All comments, good and bad, welcome.

Thank's for checking these out and all the best for 2008 to everyone,

Eng

[Aggressor Supporter]

Impressive wingspan on this plane. Good job.

[Diamond9]

Nice build mate. I'm buiding one at the moment and I was looking at the same scheme from twosix. Where did you find your referances for the interia? I've been trying to find some for ages, and I gave up and used guestimation instead :)

Mark