1/72 Airfix Britten-Norman Islander Milford Sound

I'm built this great little kit as the 1st in a series of small twin engined STOL prop aircraft to be used on a diorama of an airport similar to that of Lands End Airport and Lukla Airport which will sit on top of a layout.

On a side note, the kit being used is 02062-4 but I'll be using the Milford Sound Flightseeing decals a close friend of mine gave me from 03067.

The story behind this fictional livery on G-AVCN is in 2000 after the airframe had been shipped back to the Isle of White by the Britten-Norman Aircraft Preservation Society(BNAPS), CN was put into storage whilst awaiting a suitable and affordable workshop.

Fast forward to 2005 and Milford Sound Flightseeing were contracted in advanced to carry out sight seeing tours around the South West coast, the only issue they had was getting an aircraft from New Zealand.

Milford FS were searching for an intact Islander but no readily available machines were on the lease market at the time and had heard about G-AVCN and the story behind it.
That same year Milford FS and BNAPS signed a deal to restore CN to perfect original flying condition.

The Milford FS livery stayed the same and DB V was added which was a tribute to ZK-DPV which crashed at Lukla on a trials flight.
Nobody was killed, it ran into the wall at the end of the runway and upon further inspection the airframe suffered major cracks all round so the decision was made to cut their losses and scrap the aircraft.

On January 29th 2006 after a 6 month restoration project between the 2 companies CN finally made her first post restoration flight and remains stationed at Lands End Airport to this day carrying out sight seeing tours and now flights to the Isle of Scilly, Newquay, Exeter and the Isle of White from Lands End.