Well, after many years of wanting to properly model the BOAC Super VC-10 that carried my family and I to Canada in 1969, I can finally do it.

26Decals has, for many years, produced excellent decals for the BOAC fleet. He’s released them all, the 707s, VC-10s, Super VC-10s and 747-100s. Even the pair of Viscount 700s that ferried passengers between Glasgow and Prestwick have been made available. All, however, used gold ink for the Speedbird, BOAC titles, and registrations. We’ve also included BOAC Cunard titles where appropriate. The photo below ( by J.Ferris on http://www.vc10.net) clearly shows the reflectiveness of the foil to great effect.

I must express my sincere thanks to Ray Charles at 26Decal for providing the necessary artwork, and to Jennings Heilig for preparing the artwork for printing, In turn, Cartograf has produced excellent foil decals for all the jets.

These decals are for the gold elements only, and all must ultimately be paired with the respective 26Decal sheet for the stripes, flags, doors & windows, etc. The good news is that if you have already built one of these models, these foil decals should be exactly the same size and shape as the gold ink elements, meaning you can go back and use the appropriate set to improve your model.

In our excitement to see this series finally coming to production, I went ahead and also produced gold foil decals for the ‘retro’ 747-436. After everything was already at the printer I discovered that even British Airways cut a corner on this one, and it appears they used gold paint instead of gold foil. By the time I realised this, it was too late to change the artwork (all were being printed on one large sheet and separated later). However technically, you can now be more accurate than British Airways, and produce your retro model more accurately than BA did!

Unfortunately my mistake had a ripple effect. Sheet size precluded including update sheets for the Vickers Viscount 700s. Perhaps if there proves to be sufficient interest, we’ll come back to this one at a later date.

In the meantime…. here they are!

• A4-951 BOAC, BOAC Cunard & BOAC Cargo Boeing 707-320B/320C/436 (1/144 scale, requires STS44-370)

• A4-952 BOAC Vickers VC-10 (1/144 scale, requires STS44-373)

• A4-953 BOAC, BOAC Cunard Vickers Super VC-10 (1/144 scale, requires STS44-276)

• A4-954 BOAC Boeing 747-136 (1/144 scale, requires STS44-374)

As I said above, it looks like I jumped the gun with the -400, as British Airways used gold paint for the gold elements. So, technically, the following two decals for the 747-436 are ‘flights of fancy’. On the other hand, they correct for what British Airways should have done. So…. you decide….

• A4-955 BOAC ‘retro’ Boeing 747-446 (Flight of Fancy) (1/144 scale, requires STS44-328)

• A2-955 BOAC ‘retro’ Boeing 747-446 (Flight of Fancy) (1/200 scale, requires TS20-096)

Finally, as 26Decal had not produced a 1/200 scale 747-136 decal, I asked and he produced the basic decal for me to which the 1/200 scale elements could be added.

So, unlike all the rest, this one is also offered as a complete decal, with the ‘base’ decal laser printed by 26Decal, and the gold foil elements added by AHS.

A2-954 BOAC Boeing 747-136 (1/200 scale)   This decal provides the gold foil elements only.

A2-6​01 BOAC Boeing 747-136 (1/200 scale)