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FedEx ATR-42 Model
So far I have been on a mission to have a model of each of the aircraft types that I have flown in revenue airline operations. I have several 1:400 diecast models, but the model manufacturers haven't made the aircraft that I need in the right color schemes. By using plastic models, I can work with details on a size that is manageable, and it doesn't matter what livery the manufacturer chooses since I can repaint to my liking.I've never been able to build plastic models very well, but I have been practicing with an F-27 kit. In the mean time I decided to take a break and do things the easy way. Rather than starting with a kit, I found one of the solid plastic snap together models. Since none of the manufacturers have made a FedEx ATR, I set out to find the cheapest ATR model on ebay with the intention of repainting. I found one in factory colors for $12 with shipping, and as you can see in the pictures below, it was quick work to scrape off the old decals.
The first step after stripping the model down to a CIA livery was to paint the tail purple. I used Model Masters "Plum Crazy" because it was available, but Jim told me that he used a paint marketed for use on Wal-mart sponsored Nascar models. The Plum was a bit too metalic, since the real FedEx purple is not metalic at all. Back when I used to work for FedEx I learned how particular they are about brand protection. The rumor on the street was that there were a handful of ladies that worked in one department, and anytime someone wanted to use the logo for any reason, they had to submit a request to that apartment. They specified particular pantone codes for the purple and orange, and even standards for how far the logo had to be from other logos. I used that information when I made an internal department web page and it also came in handy for this project. After all, if I could exercise the same amount of care in coloring my decals as they would, the model would look more convincing.
I also painted the spinner black. Keep in mind that after the American Eagle crash the spinner was required to be black. There are even regulations about how much paint can be chipped off for the part to still be airworthy. The logic is that a black spinner allows enough contrast for a cue for inspection of ice accretion. MAC's ATRs also had some paint on the bottom of the nacelles, which I approxmiated.
The real magic of this project was in generating decals. This was a process that I started back when I was still working at MAC to help "Operations Jim." He had an ATR 72 and an ATR 42 that he stripped and painted purple, and he needed decals that would be similar to the decals that I would need for my F-27. I used the Testor's inkjet decal system to make a sheet of the various details for several models, since a half-full sheet is a half-wasted sheet. I used my own photographs to generate pitot-static ports, big FedEx logos, little "the world on time" script, etc.
The problem is that the clear decal paper only works great on light colored backgrounds. After all, most inkjets can't print white. If you print a section of white in a picture but use red paper, your white section will be red. The decal paper is no different- if you take a clear decal off of the white backing and put it on a black model, everything that used to be white is now black. This is true for plain white sections, such as the hole in the lower-case e, but it is also a problem for blended colors. Since inkjets only have 3 colors, if your printer wants to turn magenta into light magenta, it has to spread out the magenta and leave some white space in between. If the space in between is not white, you can end up with some pretty strange colors. This is definitely the case with the purple tail, since the fedex logo, the american flag, and the tail number are all in the purple section of the ATR.
One solution is to use white decal paper instead of clear. This solution works great for the blending problem, but when it comes to the sections that you really would want to be clear, (remember the e?) you would have to cut out each little piece that you didn't want a white spot in. As a result, I haven't actually put any of the details on the purple section of my model yet. Honestly, I haven't decided yet if it is really worth the trouble. I could print purple on the spaces that I wouldn't want to cut out, but that would require some careful color matching.
If you are working on a similar project and would like to use some of my graphics, contact me via the link below.
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| This page last modified 03/27/09 | |||||