Project A320

[F-27pax]

The plan is to make a model of each of the liveries that the A320 series has flown with VH- or ZK- registrations. I’ve been trying to keep track of this project by making myself notes and keeping lists but it occurs to me that it might be easier, and of interest to others, if I keep it in a sort of blog form here. It also means that if others have suggestions or corrections they can let me know here. I've been buying up kits when I've seen them for quite a few years now and here is what my pile looks like.



Here’s the list of what I’ve made and am planning to make, as of today.

A.318 - Made
Air France, F-GUGK. I made this one back in 2011 when I was first thinking about this project. At that stage I wasn’t thinking of making this set exclusively Australian and New Zealand and anyhow, as far as I can tell there were no VH- or ZK- A.318s. My records tell me that it is the Revell kit but who knows. If it is, I must have converted it from a standard A.320 kit.



A.319 - Made
Sky Traders, VH-VHD, early 2000s. This is the Revell kit with home made livery.



A.320 - Made
Skywest, VH-FNP, 2012. The Revell kit with V2500 engines and Southern Skies decals



A.320 - To be Made
New Zealand
Air New Zealand (Blue tail), V2500 engines, Oldmodels decals
Air New Zealand (Black tail), V2500 engines, Oldmodels decals
Air New Zealand (Black scheme), V2500 engines, Oldmodels decals
Air New Zealand (Star Alliance), V2500 engines, Oldmodels decals
Freedomair, V2500 engines, Draw Decals
Kiwi, V2500 engines, Oldmodels decals (not a ZK-registration but flew in New Zealand)
Australia
Ansett (Stars tail), CFM56 engines, no decals available but I’ll try tweaking the Hawkeye Ansett 737-300 decals to see how they go
Ansett (Flag tail), CFM56 engines, Liveries Unlimited decals
Ansett (Big A tail), CFM56 engines, Hawkeye decals
Ansett (Olympic Torch livery), CFM56 engines, Masp decals
Strategic Airlines, CFM56 engines, Decals Global decals, not for a VH- A320 but can easily be modified to suit
Tiger Airways, V2500 engines, Underworld decals
Tigerair, V2500 engines, Ric Warcup decals
Jetstar, V2500 engines, Hawkeye decals
Jetstar Asia, V2500 engines, Nazca decals
Virgin Australia, V2500 engines, Ric Warcup decals
QantasLink, V2500 engines, decals coming from Hawkeye
Air Australia, V2500 engines, decals coming from Hawkeye

A.321 - To be Made
Jetstar, V2500 engines, no decals yet available

The Engine Issue
I’ve been collecting Revell A.320 kits for some year in preparation for this project. Only recently have I discovered that not all of their kits have both the CFM56 and V2500 engines, which has left me short of kits with V2500 engines. To solve this I’ve bought a number of the Zvezda kits from overseas at very cheap prices that have both engines. If you were to ask me, I’d say that the Zvezda kits are overengineered and their engine parts are overly complex, but that’s life. This may leave me with a surplus of kits with CFM56 engines so I’ve laid in a few additional decal sets for French A.320s with CFM engines

A.320 - May be made
Air Corsica, Draw Decals
Air Inter, 8A Decals
Air France, 8A Decals
Transavia, 26 decals

I've also laid in a supply of 8A Corogard decals for the wings for them and some BraZ Models wing end fins because the Revell ones are so inadequate.

More details as this little project progresses

[scotty100368]

Leigh,

Doing some photo research for the decals, I have realised that Air Australia used CFM engines on their 2 A320s (VH-YQB/C), not V2500s.

I'll have to go back make corrections to my drawings...

[F-27pax]

That's good news for me though.

[Graeme H]

Wow, what an ambitious project, but if anyone can do it, it will be you.

[F-27pax]

Making this many models of the same subject is a bit of a production line so I spent a few hours assembling engine pods for both styles of engines. These days I like to pe-paint the engine pods before fixing them to the rest of the airframe so getting them done first makes at least some sense. These are all the engine pods from the Revell kits and mainly the V2500 engines from the Zvezda kits. These should be enough for the complete set of A.320s I'm planning to make with some left over for wastage.

[Uros]

Making this many models of the same subject is a bit of a production line so I spent a few hours assembling engine pods for both styles of engines. These days I like to pe-paint the engine pods before fixing them to the rest of the airframe so getting them done first makes at least some sense. These are all the engine pods from the Revell kits and mainly the V2500 engines from the Zvezda kits. These should be enough for the complete set of A.320s I'm planning to make with some left over for wastage.

This is CRAZY! I like it!

[F-27pax]

Here's the next one in the series, the Kiwi Travel International Airlines A.320 in about August 1996. Although it has a Seychelles registration it was based in New Zealand and used by Kiwi for a short period in mid to late 1996. Kiwi began in 1994 as a charter company and then launched low cost services in New Zealand and to tourist destinations on the Australian east cost. Competition for Air New Zealand, Qantas, Ansett and the Air New Zealand low cost competitor, FreedomAir, forced Kiwi into bankruptcy in September 1996 and this leased A320, which had come from Vietnam Airlines, went to fly with America West Airlines.

This is the Zvezda kit which is very nice and comes with both engine options. However, in comparison with the much older Revell kit, it is rather fussy and offers the option of dropped slats and flaps and extended oleo in the undercarriage. The only time you would see all this is for the few minutes the aeroplane was on final approach and seems more than a little superfluous to me, and makes construction a lot more difficult. The decals are from Oldmodels, 8A and Ric Warcup decals.

[F-27pax]

Here's the next one out of the production line, a New Zealand Freedom Air A320 made using the Draw Decals sheet.





I decided that it was inefficient making just one kit at a time, so here is the beginnings of four more models to come. They are all the Revell kit and they will be made in four Air New Zealand liveries using Oldmodels decals.

[Graeme H]

You are powering along with this Leigh, just loving it

[F-27pax]

Here's the next A.320 off the production line, with decals from Hawkeye and 8ADecs.