Airbus A318 "Sheldon"

220311 Kit contents. Actually not sure of this box art as this was a bagged kit with no decals or instructions, but it is EE's SA318 with the CFM engines.

220311 Kit contents look good from a few inches.

Even the compressor fan disks look nicely molded.

The tall vertical stab for the A318 variant is in there. Nice landing gear detail, too, but the gear doors are slabs.

Wing detail scribing looks nice (uppers) but rough on the lowers.

Upper wing detail scribing looks nice. That seam will be tricky.

Surface detail looks ok too, with recessed panel lines and molded-in AoA vanes (or pitot tubes?).

Underside mold detail is very nice, but note the flash and the sprue gates to the flap canoes.

Windshield is nice and clear. As long as it fits the rest of the kit...

Frontier was the major US Carrier to fly the A318. I'll use these.

First tape-up. EE's problem here is with the molding. Note slight warping.

EE molding: Wing leading edges (yikes!)

EE molding: Join on the top wing is... problematic.

Horizontal stabs are nicely molded with fine recessed lines.

EE molding: Misalignment.

EE molding: Getting these two halves together will be a challenge.

EE molding: Getting these two halves together will require marriage counseling.

220313: Construction begins. Sanded flat the mating surfaces and welded with Tamiya thin, with clamps to hold alignment.

220313: Sanded flat the mating surfaces and welded with tamiya thin, with clamps to hold alignment. Note crappy fit and sink marks on the flaps.

220313: After welding and CA reinforcement, installing the socket for the in-flight pedestal.

220313: Socket will be reinforced too with epoxy. Tape covering nose gear well is a mold for 5-minute epoxy (kit doors would never fit).

220314: 10 gr nose weight (tyre balancing weigh; will be epoxied in).

220314: Result after filling and sanding. Filler is CA (Superglue).

2203014: Filing the socket flush while trying to preserve detail.

2203014: Filed and sanded, with silver paint as an indicator.

220314: windshield... promising, but crappy fit.

220314: Windshield superglued in, with a few shims as fillers.

220314: Installing MLG doors.

220314: Installing MLG doors.

220314: Installing MLG doors. Note epoxy reinforcement for the wing join and socket.

220314: Trial fit for the vertical stab extension.

220314: Vertical stab extension.

220315: I use cheap Superglue as a filler. It begins messy...

220315: ...but can give good results fairly quickly.

220315: Using CA as a filler, I can tackle a project like these wing seams in a single 2-hr session.

220315: Port wing improved and re-scribed.

220315: After a couple of hours, the wings are done and ready to install!

220315: End result is strong enough to scribe into, and polishes to a shine like the base plastic.

220315: Final primer coat looks good.

220315: Time to fit the wings.

220315: Made some adjustments to get as good alignment as possible.

220315: Made some adjustments to get as good alignment as possible.

220316: Wing box attached with solvent glue and CA, then filed into submission. Primer coat looks good.

220316: Wing box fairing filled (cheap $-Store superglue), filed, sanded, and primed. I'm good with that.

220316: Wing box fairing filled, filed, sanded, and primed. I was able to preserve most of the better engraved detail.

220316: Tail under a coat of grey rattlecan primer.

220316: Cleaning up the kit's wingtip fences.

220317: Engines have good detail...

220317: Engines have good detail... but the trailing edges are really poor and the hot section is hard to assemble.

220317: I cut the tail cone off the pylons so I could build the hot sections as a unit.

220317: I was able to use a rotary tool to clean up the cowling bypass duct (intake and aft ends).

220317: Engines temporarily assembled to allow completing the cowlings before securing hot sections.

220317: Engines temporarily assembled. Note compressor blue-tacked to the hot section for assembly.

220317: Cowlings assembled and cleaned up.

220317: Cowlings assembled, cleaned up, and ready for paint.

220317: Cowlings are in Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green. (Note primed CD as paint mule)

220317: Under gloss white (WM rattlecan), masking the wings for paint.

220317: Wings and engines painted.

220317: Engine intakes turned out OK.

220320: Painting the in-spar panels.

220320: Painting the in-spar panels.

220322: Engines ready to install.

220322: Engines ready to install. That missing decal will surely turn up on my finger.

220322: Applying the livery was a PITA. The decals were eager to curl under, time consuming to fix. Hardy, though, and - when dry - very thin.

220322: Windshield decals were somewhat plain but fit perfectly,

220322: Sheldon also was eager to roll up into a tube as soon as placed in water. It took some doing to straighten the decal enough to slide into place.

Had to throw this in here!
Caption reads: "Frontier Airlines N810FR prepares to leave as Sheldon waves from the tail (N810FR). Sheldon is a green sea turtle and is one of many endangered animals on the airline's fleet"

220322: Sheldon will need trimming on the flip side (once fully dried).

220322: Sheldon the Sea Turtle fit very well (some trimming), but the film was thick with the various layers of ink (I suppose).

220322: Hz stab trim rub plate was cut from clear decal film airbrushed with the same Boeing Gray as the stabs.

220322: The FRONTIER billboard worked out perfectly, but it took some work to get it in place and eliminate the curled edges.

220322: Overwing exit walkways snugged down without help.

220322: Engines are complete and press fit into place. That missing cowling decal probably ran off on a finger.

220408: Details: APU Exhaust