Thursday, November 27, 2008

The Thai Airways Royal Barge Planes

Note: This is another one of the entries I posted at Wings900 and on my Flickr pages, and I seem to have overlooked doing the same thing on this blog. Better late than never.



The Royal Barge Procession is held in Thailand during very special occasions, usually during celebrations that have something to do with the king. It has a religious significance as well.

In 1999, in celebration of the king's 6th cycle (12 years = 1 birth cycle), Thai Airways painted three of its planes with the image of the two royal barges that are most significant to the current king. The two 747-4D7s, HS-TGJ and HS-TGO were painted with the image of the Royal Barge Suphannahong ('golden swan'). Its bow is adorned with the hongse (head of the swan, with jewels).

HS-TEK, an airbus A330-300, was then painted with the image of the only barge constructed under the current king, the Narai Song Suban. its bow is decorated with the statue of the god Narayana being carried by the Garuda.

In 2002, Thai Airways commissioned Herpa to produce two of the three specially painted planes.

Now we start with the Narai Song Subhan...
Herpa's version has a clear imprint of the Garuda, with the god Narayana behind it:

The pavilion has very intricate details. My camera failed to capture it, but I think it is much clearer in the previous picture.

Note the intricate design of the rear part of the boat design.

In contrast, the StarJets version, which they named simply as "Dragon Boat" has a brownish color.

Further, the pavilion is only a criss-cross pattern without the intricate design.

Now we come to Herpa's version of Suphannahong...

Herpa's version is very well-detailed.

Check out the royal pavilion; note its design.

The rear of the royal barge is very well detailed, too.

Starjets referred to their version simply as the "Royal Barge."

Compared to herpa's, the SJ version has a larger Hongse, and the color is too yellow. Note also, that SJ printed "HARIPHUNCHAL" as the name of the aircraft, when in fact it is "Hariphunchai."

Herpa on the left, and SJ on the right:

And here comes that generic criss-cross again:

Last is the BigBird version...

It is simply too 'red.' Compare it with the SJ on the right.

Again, the generic criss-cross:

Both 747-400s have been repainted into the new mica colors of Thai. Undoubtedly, the Narai Song Subhan's days painted on the A330 are numbered.


Philippine Airlines Inflight Sets

Note: This is one of the entries I posted at Wings900 and on my Flickr pages, and I seem to have overlooked doing the same thing on this blog. Better late than never.


Since 2002, PAL has been selling a set of 1/500 Herpa miniatures through its inflight sale consisting of a 747-400 (N751PR) and a A340-300 (F-OHPJ). It has the Herpa item number 510134. The contents of the set are identical to the regular sales items from Herpa (that were sold separately).

Recently however, the set has been re-editioned and the contents have received a slight upgrade in quality. I'll be making some comparisons between the contents of the two sets.

In this photo, you can note that there are no physical differences in the boxes, except that the new set comes with stands which you can see through the acetate window. Also, the new set is priced USD28 instead of USD26.





From the old set:

1) 747-4F6, registered N751PR.

Note that the windowline towards the nose slopes upwards and ends up being too high! The correct 747 window line should approximate through the vertex of the nosecone.



The tail fins (rudder and elevators) are all made of plastic.



The landing gears are dark gray, and it has the old "herpa Wings" logo on the belly.


2) A340-313X, registered F-OHPJ.

Note the rounded edges of the doors which make it look 'cartoonish.'

The tail fins are likewise made of plastic. The cargo door printing seems a lighter shade (or maybe the line was just thinner) than the printing of the passenger doors.

The belly logo, like in the 747-400, is old-style with "herpa Wings" stamped on. Landing gear struts are dark gray.


From the new set:

1) 747-4F6, registered N751PR [same registration as before].


It comes with a display stand.



The first thing I noticed was the METAL tail! Both the rudder and elevators are made of metal! Also note that the registration is printed much heavier than on the old version.

The belly logo has been updated, with just "herpa" stamped on.


2) A340-313X, registered F-OHPJ [same as before].

The doors look less 'cartoonish' as they have become less rounded on the edges. This model has the correct squarish airbus door profile as can be seen on actual Airbus planes.

The tail section is still made of plastic. To date, herpa has made metal tails only for the airbus A310.

The belly logo has likewise been updated.


Comparisons:

a) Nose section of the 744s:

old = high windowline, dark gray gears;
new = lower windowline, light gray gears.

b) 744 winglets:



old = larger sun/ shorter rays;
new = smaller sun/ shorter rays.

I would like to think the newer one has the correct profile of the rising sun, but it's really too small to notice.



c) 744 tails:

old = plastic, reg printing lighter;
new = all METAL, reg printing heavier.


I have no idea why the metal unit stands higher .

d) 343 nose:

old = rounded doors, heavier printing of windows and door lines;
new = squarish doors, lighter printing of windows (smaller) and door lines.

e) 343 tails:

old = slightly lighter blue
new = blue is a tad darker.

I think all of the above models still have a very pale yellow compare to the originals which have a yellow-orange rising sun.

A followup set would be nice, espeically if it could contain, a) models that have not been made before, such as the A330, A320, A319; b) historic planes like the A300, 747-200 and DC-10; or PAL affiliates like the Air Philippines 737 and PAL Express Q300 and Q400.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Austrian Airlines inflight set

Some months ago, I inquired about the special inflight set directly from Austrian Airlines. They were gracious enough to allow me to order this set. I actually had it delivered to a friend residing in Europe, who then brought it to me during a recent holiday.

The 777 in the set was reportedly identical to the regular release. At any rate, it is one of the most detailed OS plane released by herpa, though not yet as detailed as the ANA Precision Models.

The set also came with an A320-200 exclusive only to this set.

Compared to previous OS releases, this inflight set had better printing - the arrow had a brighter red with a shadow. The previously released A330 on the left had only a monotone red on a non-painted plastic tail.
I'm looking forward to the yet to be released EM 2008 A320!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

CX at the Flower Terminal

I originally intended a circular terminal with roofing similar to that at Chek Lap Kok. As you can see here, it became a little too curved and someone commented that it looks like a flower!

This satellite terminal can have six jetways and a skytrain.

I parked most of the CX birds here as I have run out of space and had to delete my other CX photos at my flickr account.


I am delighted that this shot of the terminal made it to the "photo of the week" for one of my flickr groups, "Die Cast and Plastic models." Too bad the original aircraft had been painted into normal colors. The Asia's World City livery was then transferred to CX's newest flagship, the 777-300ER.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

My Pan Am collection



I have a very modest Pan Am collection with only three planes. Both the Lockheed L-1011 and the 747-100 in the background are from the Herpa Wings Club. The A300 came with the first Advent Calendar.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Details, details, details...

To date, the most detailed die-cast models come from the All Nippon Airways collection (ANA Precision models) that are sold only in Japan. They are quite expensive, yet worth every penny for all the minute details found on other brands.




Monday, March 10, 2008

Singapore Airlines Jubilee planes


SQ painted three of its planes in the Jubilee colors. The 777 and A340 are by DreamJets, while the 747 is by BigBird.

The early 80s



These years saw more widebodies - from foreground to the back: HWC PanAm L-1011, SQ Heritage series A300B4 and BB PAL 747-2F6B mabuhay! Chicago.







The mabuhay! Chicago PR 742 with herpa Continental / Alitalia DC-10 and Heritage set British Airways Concorde.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Malayan Airways and MSA



The Singapore Airlines Heritage sets include the various props and early jets from SIA's history. Examples include the DC-3, DC-4 and the Vickers Viscount








Just prior to the split of MSA into SIA and MAS, their fleet consisted of 707s, 737s and Fokkers.

The late 70s

The North American carriers came during the late 70s.

Featured are: HWC Delta 747-100, SJ 727-200, HWC PanAm L1011 and another HWC TWA 747SP.

Radio Tower

I thought the old terminal building was a bit "bare" on top with nothing going on. Rather than making an aiport tower, I thought of just making one in the fashion of Kai Tak's control tower.


This I then positioned on the top of the old terminal building. It may not be as elaborate, but at least it does its job of making this building look like it's an airport piece.
Again, I used cardboard, plastic sheets and a combination of painted toothpicks and plastic model leftovers for the antennae.

The 70s

The old terminal building in action... It saw the arrival of many old Asian carriers, and long-hauls from Europe as well. Seen above is an SAS DC-8 taxiing past the terminal on its return flight home.



Air India used its 707s to fly to Paper Interncontinental via Bangkok, continuing forward to Tokyo.






Early morning shot on the left, showing the SK DC-8 that arrived from Europe via the Middle East and Bangkok. Meanwhile, a SWAL 737 gets catered as it awaits its own journey back to Tokyo via Hong Kong and Taipei.



Main Terminal Building

This has likewise been made out of cardboard that has been painted over with acrylic paint. I used an old plastic folder for the glass parts of the building. The holes on the jetways will be for airportdesings-style boarding bridges.

In the Beginning...


I made this terminal some years ago, before I entered med school. It is completely made of cardboard (illustration board) painted over with acrylic paint. The lines are marked using a silver gel pen.


The mat came with my wings club subscription, and the construction equipment are of course herpa's.