Aeroclassics SE-210 Caravelles

[RStretton]

The French Caravelle was the world's first short-medium range jet airliner first flying in 1955. It used the nose and cockpit of the British Comet and RR engines but otherwise was all French and introduced the clean wing/rear engine configuration. It is also famous for its triangular windows. 282 aircraft were built - which for the time, and considering the difficulty of selling non-US types in the USA, was a great return. Aeroclassics unsurprisingly is the only manufacturer to have attempted a Caravelle mould. It has gotten some stick for using its Caravelle III mould for other Caravelles but considering the dearth of classic manufacturers I think beggars can't be choosers and it doesn't bother me too much. I certainly doubt we'll see any other Caravelle moulds in 1:400 anytime soon. In my fleet I only have 6 Caravelles at present though I hope to acquire some more.

The Caravelles I, IA, III and VI-N all had the same configuration and 80 seats just with improved variants of the Rolls-Royce Avon engine. 163 of the Caravelles built fit into these catageories.

Swissair Caravelle III:
Tunisair Caravelle III:
The Caravelle VI-R had thrust reversers and bigger cockpit windows. I'm not sure how accurate these are on the AC mould or what the differences really looked like? Judging by photos on airliners.net the cockpit windows weren't dramatically different but the side ones were larger. 56 were built including 20 for United which lacked the dorsal tail extension.

United Airlines Caravelle VI-R (with incorrect dorsal extension):
Cruzeiro Do Sul Caravelle VI-R:
Lan Chile Caravelle VI-R:

[RStretton]

In 1964 Sud-Aviation introduced the Super Caravelle 10B. This has a new leading edge extension to the wing, modified flaps and a 1.4 m stretch allowing seating for 105 people. The engines were also new in the form of P&W JT9Ds. Only 22 were built.

The Caravelle 11R was similar but with a slightly different length and a cargo door - only 6 were made whilst the Caravelle 10R was a standard Caravelle with the new engines - only 20 were made.

Unsurprisingly Aeroclassics hasn't made a separate mould to represent the 22 aircraft that make up the 10B production run or the 6 aircraft of the 11R. That's a bit of a shame but doesn't upset me too much. The stretch is almost impercetible at 1:400 anyway but the engines are noticeably wrong. Better to have my UTA example than never to have it made in 1:400 is my opinion. You make up your own mind:









This is especially true as the UTA aircraft have an interesting story. UTA's route network was primarily made up of long-haul services which hardly suited the Caravelle. The two Sud SE.210 Caravelle 10Rs were ordered specifically to serve the Noumea-Sydney route in the Pacific. The first to arrive, Caravelle F-BNRA (msn 201), was delivered on January 26, 1966 and entered service the following month to West Africa. An interim Caravelle (F-BOEE) was leased until Caravelle 10R F-BNRB (msn 222) was delivered on March 7, 1967. RB was the first to be sold joining SATA as HB-ICQ in 1972 and then CTA in 1978. Her final operator was Istanbul Airlines as TC-ASA whom she joined in January 1987 and served with until November 1991.

[Adrian]

Richard - another great thread from you. I have all these Caravelles, except the two Lan Chile aircraft. Oh and if anyone has an Air France one with reg F-BHRA samed 'Alsace', I would love to hear from you?
Not quite convinced about your theory 'better to have a UTA Caravelle on the wrong mould than not at all'. I'm afraid wrong engines, wrong cockpit windows, wrong wing fences and wrong fuselage length is not the inaccuracy I expect from Aeroclassics. Maybe if there was nothing left to do on this mould, but not when we still don't have Caravelle models in the liveries of Air Algerie (2 schemes), Kingdom of Libya Airlines/Libyan Arab Airlines, Air Liban, Tunis Air (delivery scheme),LTU, Soceta Aerea Mediterranea(2 schemes), SAS (SCANDINAVIAN late '60s cheme), Transavia, TAE, Sabena (late scheme) to name just those off the top of my head!!! Where are they?

[RStretton]

I know what you mean - if only Aeroclassics wasn't the only company into classics nowadays (I don't count Witty they mainly just reproduce existing stuff). I am infuriated with Gemini there are so many classics left to be made. It'd be great for AC to have some competition as they're not responsive to requests!

[fleetlordatvar]

Cruzeiro is severely lacking in 1/200, but i'm on the fence about getting a different one in the same scale because i'm not sure i like the airframe.