[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by basuroy

Bell-47, Indian Air Force.

This type was mainly used for recon and med evac purpose- stretchers could be fixed to either side of the cabin. I left the doors to better display the super detailed interior.

Congratulations on assembling such a tiny model with so much intricate detail. Must have been quite a task. Please show us close up photos if you can of the rotor gear and the cockpit.

The Bell-47G was an all time classic. It was the second mass produced helicopter ever after the Sikorsky R-4 and stayed in production from the almost the birth of the helicopter age in 1946 to 1984. The last in normal service lasted till c.2010 by when piston-engined choppers were rarer than the dodo bird. That is like saying that a theoretical peer of the Wright Flyer that first flew in 1906 stayed in production till 1944 and its examples were in regular service till 1970!!!! It introduced the now common oversized broad main cabin mated to a thin light tail design.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by basuroy

Bell-47, Indian Air Force.

This type was mainly used for recon and med evac purpose- stretchers could be fixed to either side of the cabin. I left the doors to better display the super detailed interior.

Awesome details, looks like the real helicopter landed in your hand. Are the Indian Air Force decals bought separately? I have barely seen 5-6 model kits which came with IAF decals in the box.

[V.Narayan]

<sound of rolling drums>

<piercing roar of a turbojet>

Coming soon to a theatre near you - a historical naval aircraft .....

Designed by the legendary Sir Sydney Camm
The first naval jet fighter of the Royal Navy
Bi-furcated exhausts {#@$%#& ..... this is a complete sell out guys}

And as a special gift it carries a most historic serial number.

<trumpets a go go>

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The Bell-47G was an all time classic..

Also made immortal in the classic Movie and later TV series Mash on the Korean war. The series run considerable longer than the war lasted.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

<sound of rolling drums>

<piercing roar of a turbojet>

Coming soon to a theatre near you - a historical naval aircraft .....

Designed by the legendary Sir Sydney Camm
The first naval jet fighter of the Royal Navy
Bi-furcated exhausts {#@$%#& ..... this is a complete sell out guys}

And as a special gift it carries a most historic serial number.

<trumpets a go go>

de Havilland Vampire, actually the Sea Vampire. Is it in IAF colours?

If not please come back to the dark side

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

de Havilland Vampire, actually the Sea Vampire. Is it in IAF colours?

If not please come back to the dark side

I have decided that for some time I will focus on the tri-colour fin flash only Search for IN238 :-)

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

<sound of rolling drums>

<piercing roar of a turbojet>

Coming soon to a theatre near you - a historical naval aircraft .....

Designed by the legendary Sir Sydney Camm
The first naval jet fighter of the Royal Navy
Bi-furcated exhausts {#@$%#& ..... this is a complete sell out guys}

Wasn't the Attacker RN's first jet fighter? Somewhat stupidly served in the PAF as well....

[V.Narayan]

It is the Hawker Seahawk in IN colours. The aircraft model in question is IN238 the very last flyable Seahawk that flew out to meet the incoming Sea Harriers in December 1983. More tomorrow on Dassera day :-)

[Foxbat]

1/72 Indian Air Force Dassault Rafale (No introduction needed )












Some experts may immediately point out that this is actually a French Navy Rafale in IAF colours

The three Euro Canard equipped MCRA competitors:

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1/72 Indian Air Force Dassault Rafale (No introduction needed )


Some experts may immediately point out that this is actually a French Navy Rafale in IAF colours

The three Euro Canard equipped MCRA competitors:

Now where the hell did you get this from? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! The first Rafale on this thread and in IAF colours to boot. You deserve a medal, brother. Beautiful, a work of art. And it seems your wife has allowed you to splurge with a "buy a Rafale and get two more canards free scheme".

I have ordered a Rafale in 1:48 but it will take time. Decided it deserved to be a big one.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Now where the hell did you get this from? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! The first Rafale on this thread and in IAF colours to boot. You deserve a medal, brother. Beautiful, a work of art. And it seems your wife has allowed you to splurge with a "buy a Rafale and get two more canards free scheme".

I have ordered a Rafale in 1:48 but it will take time. Decided it deserved to be a big one.

Thanks Narayan. It's actually from a French Navy Rafale M plastic kit I ordered from Estonia. I then applied IAF colours from another kit.





Is your 1/48 a custom built model?

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

1/72 Indian Air Force Dassault Rafale

Outstanding work Foxbat!!!! Extremely well done and this is a treat to the eyes

Something like this, albeit fictional, would have been more appropriate for a Rafale M

[skanchan95]

1:400 Boeing 737-200(2A8) Indian Airlines VT-ECP (Aeroclassics)

Eventhough it is a very tiny model, this Indian Airlines 737-200 was a much awaited and sought after and nostalgic model for me. Flew in these 737-200s many times specially in the 732s of Indian Airlines, East West Airlines and Alliance Air.

Indian Airlines started inducting Boeing 737-200s from 1970 onwards. The first 737-200 delivered to Indian Airlines was VT-EAG(delivered on 09/11/1970) and the first 737s had metallic undersides like Air India's Boeing 707s. The later 737s were delivered to Indian Airlines with dull Grey paint finish undersides(more on that at the end of this post).

Atleast one of these 737s was known to have been named - VT-EAM( fifth 737-200 delivered to Indian Airlines) was named "Saranga". Indian Airlines had a total of 43 737-200s in their fleet. Few of them were either sold/transferred/leased to Indian Air Force and other domestic Airlines like its subsidiary Alliance Air, Skyline NEPC & cargo operators like Air India Cargo & Blue Dart( after conversion to freighters)

Blue Dart was the last Indian operator to fly the 737-200(Freighters).

Four Indian Airlines 737-200s were lost in crashes
1) On 31 May 1973, Flight 440, a Boeing 737 (registered VT-EAM), crashed and burned during landing at New Delhi, killing five of the seven crew and 43 of the 58 passengers.
2) On 19 October 1988, Flight 113, a Boeing 737 (registered VT-EAH) hit an electric mast 5 mi (8.0 km) out on approach to Ahmedabad in poor visibility, killing the six crew members and all but two of the 129 passengers
3) On 16 August 1991, Flight 257, Boeing 737 (registered VT-EFL) crashed on its descent into Imphal, killing all 69 occupants. The flight operating on the Calcutta-Imphal sector crashed into Thangjing hills, about 20 nautical miles (40 km) south-west of the Imphal airport. The aircraft had taken off from Calcutta and began a descent into Imphal airport with the visibility at that time being seven kilometers. However, the aircraft lost contact with Imphal airport on the Instrument Landing System. The search and rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather conditions and a slushy terrain. The probable cause of the accident was attributed to an "error on the part of the Pilot-in-Command in not adhering to the operational flight.
4) On 26 April 1993, Flight 491, Boeing 737 (registered VT-ECQ) started its takeoff from Aurangabad's runway 09 in hot and humid temperatures. After lifting off almost at the end of the runway, it impacted heavily with a lorry on a highway at the end of the runway. The left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling and thrust reverser impacted the left side of the truck at a height of nearly seven feet from the level of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit the high tension electric wires nearly 3 km North-East of the runway and hit the ground, causing 63 Injuries and 55 fatalities.

VT-ECP stats
Status : Scrapped
Registration : VT-ECP
Airline : Indian Airlines
Serial number : 20960 LN: 374
Type : 737-2A8
First flight date : 13/09/1974
Date of Delivery : 26/09/1974
Engines : 2 x Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17A

VT-ECP was sold to Skyline NEPC Airlines and was inducted into their fleet on 04/08/1996. The aircraft was operational till Skyline NEPC folded up operations in 1997.

The Model

Lovely attention to detail. They even painted the Pratt & Whitney logos on the engine








"InFlight", thanks to a 1/400 Aeroclassics Stand bought seperately earlier.










The Indian Airlines A300 & B737-200








My 1:400 aircraft collection






The real Aircraft VT-ECP in Indian Airlines colours


Ended up in a sad state in Skyline NEPC colours


I had painted almost the entire set of 737-200s operated by Airlines in India from those early days of liberalisation for the PC flight sim X-Plane 11. Its a pity that only Jet Airways for whatever reasons - right or wrong, was able to survive from that 90s era till recently.






How VT-ECP would have looked in happier days with Skyline NEPC








VT-EAM "Saranga" that crashed in 1973 as IC440 in Delhi




The Metallic Undersides on early Indian Airlines 737-200s that I was referring to earlier (VT-EAG : the first 732 delivered to Indian Airlines). I would be interested to know why some areas on the undersides were left in bare metal and was there any reason why this was discontinued in favour or all grey undersides?

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

1:400 Boeing 737-200(2A8) Indian Airlines VT-ECP (Aeroclassics)

Another historical Indian Airlines model in your collection

I'm assuming its from DBJets. Was wondering why the A300 and 737 have Indian Airlines written on opposite sides in Hindi and English? Is it an error or thats how it was actually ?

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Another historical Indian Airlines model in your collection

I'm assuming its from DBJets.

Thank you. Yes, from DBJets.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Was wondering why the A300 and 737 have Indian Airlines written on opposite sides in Hindi and English? Is it an error or thats how it was actually ?

Sharp as always!!!!

I had cross checked with photos of both aircraft after taking those photos. It is actually correct that way and that's the way it was on the real aircraft.

It seems there was no fixed convention for painting Indian Airlines titles in English & Devanagari scripts on either side of Indian Airlines aircraft. In some aircraft, Indian Airlines was in English on the Starboard side and in Devanagari script on the port side and in some aircraft it was vice versa.

On the Indian AIrlines A300 and B737 from Aeroclassics, the Indian Airlines text titles have been accurately represented:

A300 VT-EHD :





B737-200 VT-ECP:

Safe to assume Indian Airlines was in english on the port side.

On VT-EGE and many other Indian Airlines aircraft, it was vice versa