Niki's notes to himself... :)

[niki]

Hi everyone,

I've decided to share these following sketches/ drafts (they hardly deserve to be named profiles given this forum member's skills  ) with you as a sort of Thank You, because it was during the recently closed Non-Military GB here that I started thinking about...

... What if the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina would have decided it was necessary to set up an airline to better connect its citizens with the rest of the country and also cater for the growing number of tourists wishing to visit this remote piece of land?

Even though I have done as good as no modeling lately, the one thing I always keep in mind when designing [now that's a big word!  ] a scheme is the ease of transferring it to plastic, meaning using existing decals or attempting to print my own which in turn translates into simple motifs and no white markings over any other colour.

I initially played with the idea of using the Argentinian blue and some water motif for what I imagined would be the very cool sounding Rio Grande - Lineas Aereas Patagonicas (or de la Patagonia, my [lack of] Spanish being of no help figuring out what the correct form should be like  ):

For better resolution click here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8426/29316517602_f49b57bb99_o.jpg


A short while after finishing these, I came across a couple of real world schemes in Brazil which bare some resemblance to my poor effort:
NORDESTE: http://blog.opovo.com.br/asaseflaps/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/06/Boeing-737-500-Nordeste-pintura-antiga.jpg
RIO SUL: http://www.luftfahrt.net/galerie/photos/2003/10/1051370754_PT-SLN_Boeing-737-500_Rio-Sul.jpg

Prior to that I only knew about them in the associate Varig liveries...:
https://img.planespotters.net/media/photos/original/036000/PlanespottersNet_036901.jpg
https://img.planespotters.net/photo/137000/original/pt-ssi-rio-sul-boeing-737-53a_PlanespottersNet_137975.jpg


So, back to the drawing board (a.k.a. touch pad on the laptop) and out came these two garish looking  :) examples, the idea being of using the colours of the Province of Tierra del Fuego and that the to the north neighboring Province of Santa Cruz joining in with some finances in order to get a couple of its cities on the route map of Rio Grande - Lineas Aereas de la Tierra del Fuego:

For better resolution click here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8819/29305875842_db1bdf934a_o.png


I mentioned "737-400" just because I have a kit depicting this series ready to hit the work bench (whenever that may be!?). The original profile is advertised as a -600. Program used is MS Paint.

Between the last two examples above, so far I could not make up my mind which one to turn into plastic.
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Niki


L.E.: changed topic title  :)

[AXOR]

Howdy nice profiles Niki...definitely I would choose the last version,but with a little change.Move the Boeing 737-400 inscription like on third profile.
Here's my interpretation for this imaginary airline

[niki]

Thanks a bunch, Alex!
Nice, clean design on your "Rio Grande"

And I believe I will go indeed for a mix, combining the front half of the fourth profile with the aft one from the third.

Cheers,
Niki

[Kerick]

Nice entrance! Any one of those patterns looks quite doable. Keep it up!

Don't worry about skills, they will improve with practice. Its the imagination that counts around here!

[niki]

Don't worry about skills, they will improve with practice. Its the imagination that counts around here!

Thanks a lot, K!

****

I have a Zvezda A321 that I would also like to build and am trying to give it a nice scheme.
This time I got inspired by a couple of MD-83 from Air Caucasus that have been flown for storage where I work, after the company shut down. They sported a fairly simple scheme:
https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/keyword/andi%20hiltl;antalya/i-xfLrcnm/A
I tried to give it a bit more colour using the Georgian flag motif, the result - one could argue - looking a bit like the tail scheme of Airzena (Georgian Airways):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Airways.

So,...

... What if Air Caucasus would still be flying and thriving, needing a fleet of long range single isle airliners to get their passengers to far away places?

For a slightly better resolution click here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8406/29344381212_37b3b77e52_o.png


Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Niki

[niki]

Eagle Atlantic airlines claims to be "Ghana's premier airline", according to its website:
http://www.eagleatlanticairlines.com/www.eagleatlanticairlines.com/us/en.html

If you ask me, I'd say Eagle Atlantic is just another disguise of some people owning a couple of MD-80s, each masquerading as belonging to another airline, such as:
MEDALLION AIR: http://cdn.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2011/4/2/128733.jpg
TEND AIR: http://cdn.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2012/1/8/177056.jpg
FLY ROMANIA: https://img.planespotters.net/photo/460000/original/yr-oty-fly-romania-mcdonnell-douglas-md-83_PlanespottersNet_460805.jpg

I used the word 'garish' when describing one of my earlier efforts, but I think it is more appropriate to use it now, both looking at the real livery...:
http://cdn.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2014/7/16/431113.jpg

... and my take on it 

I replaced the funny looking bird on the tail with a golden wing, which - should I get that desperate  - I imagine I could print on a clear piece of decal and lay over an appropriately trimmed piece of white decal, so as to allow for the red tail.

The Airbus branded second profile takes into account that the Zvezda kit provides the tail decal and everything else could be self printed.
I am still working on mental notes regarding a better livery (airline) that should go with a catchier Airbus motto ending with "The Long Ranger"



So,...

... What if Eagle Atlantic would be a serious business, profitable and having payed for a sizeable order with Airbus?

For a slightly better resolution click here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8117/28851102123_8857207428_o.png


Thanks for putting up with these! 

Cheers,
Niki

[niki]

Right.
So, the idea was of coming up with a western theme/ name that would go nicely with the Long Ranger. There are/ were a couple of airlines containing the "west" part:
NORTHWEST: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines
WESTERN PACIFIC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Pacific_Airlines
PACIFIC WESTERN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Western_Airlines

I thought I hit the jackpot when "Pacific Northwest" came out of my head, but a quick online check hinted that I probably read/ heard sometime in the past about the region in North America that is called as such:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest

I went ahead and made use of local colours, seals and logos and thought it funny that an airline based practically in Boeing's backyard would choose to fly Airbus. But, you know, that all has to do with Boeing refusing to produce a true replacement for the 757!   

For a slightly better resolution click here: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8151/29401672192_6e8d421e27_o.png


So far, so good from me.

Cheers everyone,
Niki

[niki]

Here's something I did while literally "on the road". Profile is the work of Scott at www.norebbo.com, who graciously shares his drawings with whoever feels inclined to play with them  :)
Check out his A321 drawings and search his site for other airliners: http://www.norebbo.com/tag/a321/

***

A couple of weeks ago I found a site dealing with the history of Braniff International Airways (www.braniffpages.com).
Lately I have tried to cobble together a modern scheme for the now defunct airline, but only today, after finishing reading the story, I ended up with something... not too ugly (if I may say so myself  ).

Principles are again those of ease of potentially transferring the idea into plastic: the inscriptions (and even stars) could easily be written/ drawn in MS Word and printed onto clear decal paper.
Some of you might argue that the scheme has something of the (by now) old Rossiya Airlines design, but my mind has "worked" with Braniff's "own material", from the period I perceived as being the most inspiring (before that "End Of The Plain Plane" era, with its glaring colours):


http://www.braniffpages.com/1954/1954.html

... What-If Braniff wouldn't have gone through the "Flying Colours" period, its management wouldn't have changed and its business model would have survived the decades of turmoil in the airline industry? The livery would have modestly changed (the Euro White being a giveaway of "modernity") to reflect that things have evolved, but that the core values/ service remained premium.

Thanks for looking,
Niki

[AXOR]

A plausible scheme...quite elegant actually.  :)

[CiTrus90]

quite elegant actually.  :)

^^^ As he said, a really elegant simplicity :)