1/144 Bombardier Challenger 604 Revell

[ALF18]

I am finally building some kits I have had around forever in the stash. This one is the tiny Revell Challenger 604 in 1/144 scale. I bought this kit years ago, and acquired some Canmilair Canadian Forces decals for it.

I have a personal attachment to the Challenger 604. For two years, I instructed at Bombardier's business jet training centre in Montreal, on the 604 in the simulator. I also flew the real aircraft several times with Bombardier's corporate flight department. I have another kit that I will do next, in 1/72 by Big Planes Kits. That one will be in the colour scheme of one of Bombardier's Challenger 604s, which I flew for almost 200 hours.

For this one, I picked up some Canmilair decals of a white scheme. I never flew this aircraft in military service, but I have flown as a passenger in this particular one. It was the Challenger that the Defence Minister took from Ottawa to Trenton Ontario, to meet a Boeing 707 that I flew back from the Gulf War in. When the Minister heard that 5 of us on the flight from Bahrain/Doha/Frankfurt were from Bagotville (the 707 flight was a 20-hour odyssey, including 5 hours on the ramp overnight in Frankfurt and no food for the last 12 hours of the journey, à la Air Transat style...), the Defence Minister graciously offered for us to fly in his Challenger back to Bagotville, rather than the bus/train/Dash 8 return they had planned for us. That was my first Challenger experience, and I remember thinking how smooth, powerful, and quiet it was. This model represents that aircraft.

The kit

 

The decals

 

Decal image from Canmilair's site

 

The real thing (DND photo)

 

Quite the different approach from the BPK kit. Standard Revell.

 

It builds up VERY quickly. No interior to speak of. I put some nose weight in (half a fishing weight).

 

 

 

And, a duplicate of my latest photo from the RJ thread, showing both aircraft painted with Tamiya primer (light grey, then 3 coats of white).

 

Thanks for stopping by.

ALF

[Grandboof]

Looking good so  far Did this one a few years back OOB as the Swiss Air Ambulance . Remember it being a fun build that I would do again

Martin H

[ALF18]

14 hours ago, Grandboof said:

Looking good so  far Did this one a few years back OOB as the Swiss Air Ambulance . Remember it being a fun build that I would do again

Martin H

Thanks Martin.

Definitely, this is a relatively easy kit to build up. So far I'm enjoying it, despite the fact that airliner/bizjet types are not my forté.

ALF

[phantom]

Went together MUCH easier then my 1/72 all resin kit.

[ALF18]

On 24/09/2017 at 9:51 PM, phantom said:

Went together MUCH easier then my 1/72 all resin kit.

No duff! This is a lot easier to build up than the limited run kits. It is still tiny, though.

 

Here is the windshield/window assembly. I used a silver pen for the frames.

 

I assembled the engines and pylons. The silver on the hot sections of the engines is a spray can of glossy silver (Krylon from Canadian Tire). The silver on the wing, cowls, and tail section leading edges is the same pen as I used for the window frames.

 

I painted the wheels black, then added a bit of silver with the same pen. I have some touchups to do after this dries. Did I say tiny!?

 

I painted up the red, and am almost ready for gloss coat.

 

My next build will be a 1/72 Challenger from Big Planes Kits. It is HUGE compared to this one (fuselage sections from the 1/72 kit). The assembly breakdown shows its family relationship with the RJ that I am building in 1/144 in parallel with this Challenger.

 

ALF

[ALF18]

This one is done. I found that the Canmilair decals were superb, as usual. I used a decal film first, and had no problems at all with them. Despite their thinness, and the fact I bought them a few years ago, they went on beautifully.

 

 

 

ALF

[phantom]

Nice!!

[Trojan Thunder]

Looks great ALF!

[southwestforests]

Attractive little airplane. Whoever decided the real one needed the stripes (uhh, technical term cheat lines, I think I've heard/seen?) made the right call, they add life to the livery.

[Grandboof]

Looks great Well done 

Martin H

[AX 365]

Nice job on this one, ALF.

[ALF18]

Thanks guys! This kit was fairly easy to build up, and certainly it looks great with the Canmilair decals. Not perfect, but much nicer than I anticipated at first.

ALF