The Concorde! The most beautiful civilian aircraft ever built! A symbol of an era when prestige took precedence over profitability...
It's worth noting that the kit dates back to 1974 (!)...
A common problem with Heller kits (but we're used to it!), once the fuselage is glued and filled, the wings don't touch it in some places...
First, glue the upper part of the wing, then the lower part. Apply putty and sand it down to smooth out the joint. Do not use the transparent portholes provided...
A primer was applied to even out the surface...
A top view. The joints must be perfect. On a model, there's no room for error...
Heller had the brilliant (bad) idea of making the nozzles out of semicircular parts that, on top of that, don't fit together at all and are more oval than round. Parts from the surplus box will help improve the finish...
The result—before filling—with color images!
The plane is spray-painted glossy white on top and matte white on the bottom. The landing gear and landing gear doors were painted separately. The decals are applied (kudos to Heller—they’ve held up after 48 years!). Except for a slight flaw on one side of the tail decal.
The Setting
It's simple: one sheet of extruded polystyrene for the floor and two 6-mm sheets of compressed polystyrene for the base and the painted bottom...
Acrylic paint for the background and support...
The finished model.
Actually, this kit isn't very difficult for a beginner to build, as long as you pay close attention to properly joining the parts and finishing the model. Always use photos of the real-life model as a guide whenever possible (and now, with the internet, that's definitely possible!)...
