Airbus conversion...

Here's a series of pics shoeing the evolution of a particular lit over a couple of years... This is the story of a Hasegawa Airbus A300, 1/200.



The middle picture shows how the kit looked like in Compass markings; an Australian airline that did not last very long, Compass still had I think a fairly original scheme and one that was once available in decals from Pals Flight of New Zealand. Well, the logos and titles, that is.

After completion, a few shows and a few pictures, I found information about the Super Transporter Beluga and decided to convert the Hasegawa kit (excellent kit by the way!) into the Big White Whale. However, as I had no luck locating a brand new kit and that the urge was becoming irresistible, I took the Compass Airbus and got started on the conversion... Working from drawings scaled at something like 1/280, and some info found in Flight International, I completed this project before the first flight of the Beluga.

Taking into account the little info I had, I managed to obtain a very acceptable replica. Only the fin (which should be slightly taller) and the color scheme gives it away as a 'pre-production' model, so to speak..!

Of course, a couple of years later, Revell released a kit of the Beluga, scaled at 1/144 (which I bought but never built).