I am pleased to announce a new release in the AHS/JHeilig decal program. Now available is the final pre-merger United Airlines ‘Rising Blue’ decal for the Boeing 757-200, in 1/144 scale. As with previous releases in this series, it has been screen printed by Cartograf. Please see A4-310 to order.

Some, but not all airframes painted in this scheme were fitted with APB Winglets. A list of those requiring winglets is provided on the instruction sheet. All my research for this detail coming from images found on the internet, in particular http://www.airline.net. So, you can build your model with or without winglets. I recommend your verifying the registration you apply to your model with regards to this detail.

The tail decal proved to be very difficult to print. On the 1:1 aircraft, it is made up of a series of horizontal white lines, starting off wide and closely spaced at the base of the fin, and becoming progressively narrower and further apart as they rose up the fin. This is impossible to replicate in 1/144 scale.

So, we have attempted three options for the tail.

First, printed on the main sheet, is a screen printed blue ‘fade’, intended to be applied over a white fin. The left side came out perfectly, the right side came out with a noticeable color break about half way up the fin. Cartograf saw this, so tried printing the fins using a “dithering” method, again with a poor result. I am including this extra piece, however I doubt you will want to use it.

Now, as the tail decals are printed clearcoat-blue ink-clear coat, the left side tail could be applied upside down on the right side, so we have asked Cartograf to print an extra batch for us. The problem, however, is that with their upcoming plant summer vacation shutdown, we don’t expect to see them until late August. So, anyone ordering this decal before it arrives will receive this extra tail piece as soon as they arrive here.

The good news, however, is that I also enlisted DRAW Decal to assist with the tail. Greg has designed and printed a white ‘fade’ decal that must be applied over blue paint, which really is ideal as it guarantees that your blue tail will match the engines and lower fuselage. It is printed ‘double struck’ using his ‘Digital Silk’ print process, and the finished decal looks superb.

So, it will remain your choice as to which paint and decal option you use. Personally, I would lean towards the blue painted fin with the DRAW white tail decal.

N542UA ‘The Farewell Season’

As I researched this decal, I discovered that one airframe was painted to commemorate the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show. A modified tail and extra fuselage details were added, with this aircraft operating throughout the United Airlines network. This is available as a separate decal as A4-310A. It required A4-310 to provide the basic United scheme, sold separately.