Revell 1/144 Bombadier Challenger CL.604 "Swiss Air Ambulance"

REVELL 1:144 BOMBARDIER CHALLENGER CL.604
"Swiss Air Ambulance"

Reviewer: Michael Johnson (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 13 November 2006

The Aircraft

Challenger CL.600 series

Originating from the drawing board of Bill Lear, designer of the Lear Jet, this executive jet was first named Learstar 600. However when Lear sold the executive production rights to Canadair in April 1976, the type was redesignated as the Canadair CL.600 and became known subsequently as the Challenger.

Canadair’s market research indicated a sales potential for some 1000 business aircraft in this category and believing it could capture 40% of this market, the company launched the Challenger development programme on 29^th October 1976, at which time it had 53 firm orders and a $130 million Canadian government loan.

Canadair introduced a number of changes in the basic design, the most noticeable being the movement of the tailplane from the bottom of the tail to the top. A major selling point for the Challenger is a fuselage of large cross section with a width of 2.49m and height of 1.85m, providing a “walk about” cabin not present in any other business jet. The aircraft provides comfortable accommodation for a maximum of 18 passengers.

Three pre-production aircraft were built, the first of them flying on 8^th November 1978 with the power plant of two Lycoming ALF502L-2 turbofan engines each rated at 7500 lb st (33.35kN). The first production aircraft flew on 21^st September 1979 after which Canadian and US certification was gained during late 1980.

By 1982 Canadair had firm orders and options for 200 aircraft. Out of those 150 were for the CL.600 and the remainder for the CL.601. By the middle of the 1990’s deliveries had exceeded 300 with sales of subsequent models increasing.

The CL.604 first flew on 18^th September 1984 and delivered from 1996. Engines were uprated to two CF34-3B each rated at 8730 lb st (38.83kN) and fuel capacity extended to 1242 litres for a range of 7408km. Other changes included new landing gear, strengthened tail unit and a Collins electronic flight instrumentation system.

Swiss Air Ambulance Challenger CL.604 Specifications

Wing span: 19.61 m
Length: 20.86 m
Height: 6.40 m
Max. take-off weight: 21,863 kg
Max. range: 6,500 km / 4,039 nm
Cruising speed: 850 km/h / 528 mph
Stretcher patient capacity: 4
Fully air-conditioned on ground

Preamble

Whilst perusing at the local hobby shop my wife noticed this little kit and decided that it was going to be part of my Christmas gift. I usually never argue with Lorraine when it comes to gifts like this so it came home along with a lovely Classic Airframes 1:48 Wyvern.

The Kit

Typical end opening blue Revel AG box with the kit parts nicely bagged. The instructions are top opening loose A5 format which although relatively clear could certainly do with an improvement ion presentability. But they told the story which is the most important thing!

So what is in the box? All the sprues included were white plastic, with a single clear sprue for the windshield and the wing root landing lights. The decal sheet included is superb, with all decals sharp and in register.

Two decal options are provided. One is a corporate bizjet finished in a colourful blue and white finish. Revell have thoughtfully provided templates that can be traced onto masking tape to provide masks for the compound curves of the schemes demarcation lines. The other scheme offered is the Swiss Air Ambulance in overall white with red tail.

The kit is typical of Revell’s airliner models, with slightly heavy panel lines and open holes representing the cabin windows.

Construction

Assembly started with the fuselage halves which had been painted inside with flat black and nose weighed on one side with 3 small fishing sinkers. The halves joined well with filler needed to smooth out seams. I then added the masked cockpit clear part, which was tacked in place with model glue and the joints flooded with thin CA to assure it would not fall inside the inside of the fuselage during the course of the build.

While this was setting I assembled the winds and winglets, spending extra time to smooth out leading edge joints and winglet joins. Once this was done and the fuselage seams sanded smooth, I added the wings and high “T” type tailplane. At this stage the wing root clear parts were added after the recesses were painted silver. Once the CA had set, I sanded the clear parts smooth with wet n dry and polished them back to crystal clear condition with a ladies 3 stage nail polish stick.

I painted the twin jet nozzles with a flat black base and used Humbrol metalliser Aluminium exhaust. Once this was dry and polished I assembled each engine nacelle, cleaned up the joints and masked the engine nozzles with Tamiya tape. This was then sprayed with Tamiya fine white primer and detail painted. Once both were completed they were put aside for installation after the model was near completion.

The remainder of assembly proceeded smoothly and rather quickly, with only moderate amounts of filler required to smooth out ill fitting joints.

Painting and Decaling

Now that construction was essentially finished I could settle down to painting.

Using Humbrol flat black, I quickly brush painted the interior windshield frame colour and after that had dried, I applied Tamiya fine white primer in multiple mist coats over 20 minute intervals. After each coat, I checked the surface for imperfections, smoothing any lumps n bumps with used 1200 grit wet n dry used wet.

Once the overall white finish was cured, I used Citadel Blood Red acrylic to paint the tail. This was brush painted with a flat wide brush after the white tailplanes and lower demarcation were masked off with my trusty roll of Tamiya tape. Painting of the wing and tail leading edges was next using Humbrol Polished Aluminium metalliser. This gave the right amount of metal gleam for the scale but proved to be extremely fragile, requiring multiple re-applications as handling wore the paint off.

The painted and completed airframe was put aside to cure prior to application of several thin coats of Johnsons “Super Stride” with a wide flat brush kept especially for this purpose.

While the fuselage was set aside to cure, I turned my attention to the undercarriage legs, doors and the wheels. In this scale the nose wheels are only 2mm across and had to be painted one side at a time with the “tops” of the tyres painted last.

All 6 wheels were particularly annoying to paint having no defined wheel hub rim to flow the Aeromaster tyre colour to. Careful use of a sharpened wooden tooth pick solved this problem, though my eyes are still trying to recover! However after some clean up and a wash to dirty up the hubs they looked just the part!

Undercarriage legs and the inside of the wheel bays and undercarriage bay doors were painted next using Vallejo sky grey.

The decals went on really well, settling down with an application of Aeromaster Sol II. The only two issues I had were the warning stripes on each engine mounting which needed to be cut into 4 sections and reassembled on each mounting and the main door seal decal which was 5mm too short. I used a thin light grey wash to replace the decal

Once the decals had dried, the model was washed with warm soapy water and gently buffed dry. This was followed by two more coats of Johnson’s Super stride to impart an overall gloss finish.

Finishing Touches

I decided to use Testors clear part cement to make the glass portion of each fuselage window. This was a second trial for me and once again failed dismally. The cement dried clear, fine, but it was thin in the middle in a most obvious fashion and corrections made the whole affair worse. In the end I striped the glue out and used the window decals from the Hawkeye RAAF Challenger sheet. A much more satisfactory result!

Dangly bit installation time followed with little problems. Even better all 6 wheels look even and appear to tough the surface when the model is sitting on them!

Overall

What a great little kit! Very little fuss to build with a few minor vices. I will build another as a RAAF Challenger, having purchased a replacement Hawkeye sheet.

This kit is highly recommended

References

World Aircraft Files (background information)
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