Rareliners 1/144 Trans Caribbean B.727
by Scott Van Aken

Twenty plus years ago, I was really into airliners. So much so that I purchased quite a few sheets from various companies in preparation for a mass of model manufacturing. Well, as often happens, that fad faded and so I was left with a lot of unused sheets. However, this is not a bad thing as I still build an airliner or two from time to time so having options on hand is a good thing. Especially since these sorts of things seem to sell out rather quickly.

Now the airliner sheet business of the mid 1980s is not the same as today. Then the sheets were pretty basic and rarely included things like cabin windows. Those were to be purchased separately and in many cases were two part with the silver outside being placed first, followed by the black center. The other option would be to punch out the cabin holes after applying the decals, but before the fuselage halves were glued or the windows installed. This not only meant stocking up on cabin window sets, but often on the different cockpit window sets as not all airliner cockpits are the same. This I also did.

This particular sheet is from the now defunct Rareliners company. As you can see, it includes the basic markings, door openings and cockpit windows. It also offers paint information. Unfortunately, the upper color needs to be mixed and the references are for Floquil and Pactra paints, both companies bought out by Testors and their lines long discontinued. The decals are for Trans Caribbean's lone 727-100. At the time of this sheet, the -100 was the only 727 kitted and offered by both Airfix and Revell. While both of these kits have not been produced in a long time (I think the Airfix version was modified to do the longer -200), they are not difficult to find with a bit of searching. I should add that Aurora did an early 727, but I'm not sure of the scale. Instructions show both sides of the aircraft, but only offer fuselage paint information.

August 2016

Review sheet courtesy of me.

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