This means another member to join the Star Alliance…

Thanks for the tip, Ren! These turned out sharper, will use more light next time though…

Latest trip to Berlin resulted in these beautiful ones in 1/500:

Finally a decent A320 by Herpa as they are using a new mould!

B737-300 by Herpa, looks better than their earlier 737s but the nosegear is still too far aft.

New 727-200 in experimental all-metal livery tested by Lufthansa in the mid-80s to save on fuel costs. Yes, I am trying to complete my Lufthansa collection… 🙂

Long awaited by many: Ilyushin IL-62 – brand new model released a few weeks ago. Looks great in Interflug livery and now only the Let 410 is missing in Herpa’s Interflug fleet (except for helicopters) and the airline is complete!

Finally… I never thought I’d get one of these as only 300 were made and according to Aviation Center’s site, it was sold out. Nevertheless there was one sitting on the shelf when I got there so I grabbed it immediately:

Sovereign Models SAS DC-9-41 in 1/400 with dragon ship livery. How gorgeous… and looks great together with Gemini’s SAS 747 in the same livery. Now how about a DC-8-63 and a DC-10 to complete the SAS fleet of the 70’s? 😉

Is this the livery they considered already in 1995-96 perhaps? They planned to revamp their identity then but it never came to fruition.

Superb. Simply superb. One of the first aircraft photos I ever took was of a BA Trident 3B at Gothenburg, some time in 1985. I was 10 and not a single shot came out good of that roll of film… also remember photos of an Icelandair 727-100 which stood next to the Trident on the apron… 🙁

Return of the yellow… very nice

My latest babies, just before I’ll pack them up and move house…

1. Junkers Ju52/3m, Lufthansa D-AQUI, Herpa 1/160. Expensive but worth it, one of the most beautiful models I’ve ever seen!

2. Overview of my “premier” shelf with the Ju52, a Herpa Premium Lufthansa 727-200 and the new all-metal 727-100. Latter two in 1/200th scale.

3. Boeing 707-138B house colours, 1/400 by Dragon

4. SAS MD-90, 1/100 by Fratelli Cesana

5. SAS MD-82, 1/100 by Fratelli Cesana

The FTD’s I’ve seen aren’t generic rather have the same setup as a full-motion sim minus the visuals and movement. The one’s I’ve used even have the appropriate resistance on the flight controls as well as stick-shakers and pushers. They’re quite complex but offer a cheaper introduction to procedures and ergonomics for pilots instead of wasting thousands of dollars in a Level D sim.

True, most FTD’s are of the classic type with a real cockpit. But lately CAE and a few others have started offering generic FTD’s with displays showing the panels for quick conversion between types. Haven’t seen them for real myself but it sure sounds interesting, at least for me as an engineer…

The first FTD we had at our company was the actual cockpit from an earlier hull loss that they retrofitted. The fuselage was converted into a full motion cabin trainer for flight attendants and even includes a smoke machine for added realism.

Indeed so! Parts of the Bell 412 simulator here in Stockholm was once part of a real 412 that crashed in Canada years ago…