1/48 Hasegawa Learjet 31 9V-ATE (circa 1997-99)

Gallery Article by David C S Teo on Sept 11 2020

 

      

1/48 Hasegawa Learjet 35 converted to a Singapore Airlines Flying College Learjet 31 9V-ATE (circa 1997-99)

Greetings from tropical and rainy Merlion City..

I was commissioned to build this Learjet for a SQ pilot that used to train in this jet while he was a trainee pilot 23 years ago. It had to be converted from a model 35 (which Hasegawa only produced in 48th scale) to the earlier model 31 in which Singapore Airlines Flying College operated several of these circa 1996 - 1999 from Singapore.

There is a sad story behind the Learjet 31 fleet operated by Singapore Airlines College; one of the Learjets (Serial 9V-ATD) which was piloted by an instructor and a trainee Singaporean pilot crashed in July 1997 while flying from Phuket to Ranong in Thailand. A summary of the accident report can be found here: 
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19970721-1

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This was another challenging build as I had to fashion the wingtips and winglets out of Tamiya Plasticard and had to use lots of Perfect Putty (from Deluxe Models), which is an amazing putty that helps shorten the time to cure and its excess easily removed by water or sandpaper. Moreover, I had to produce my own water slide inkjet decals with lots of referencing with past photos to ensure an accurate representation of the SQ Learjet 31. Apart from this, the Hasegawa kit fits well, even for one that was produced in the 90s :-).

Hope you enjoy the pictures of my completed Learjet 31 model!

David C S Teo

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Photos and text © by David C S Teo