Wien Air Alaska was an airline that served remote communities in Alaska, USA, up
until 1985. For some of those routes to oil drilling facilities, the Boeing
737-200C with gravel kit was the only plane that could get people and equipment
in and out of the gravel airstrips. A gravel kit is an awesome device which
allows a 737-200 to land on a gravel strip - it has a "vortex dissipator" which
basically blows bleed air into the area in front of the plane's intakes,
breaking up the sucking power of the whirlwind there and preventing the engines
inhaling all those pebbles. A gravel kit also has a special adaptor, not unlike
those skis for landing on snow, which prevents the nose wheel kicking up stones
onto the plane's belly.
This is
a cool little decal sheet from an outfit called Vintage Flyer Decals. I'd never
heard of it but found it after googling around for decals for my 1/200 737-200
from Revell. VFD gave me great service. His selection is pretty esoteric but
comes in all scales.
You get a decal sheet, which includes cabin windows and three different options
for your cockpit windows, and decals for the cargo doors including the large
fueslage side door on the "combi" -200C variant of 737 flown by Wien. On top of
that there's a colour diagram showing you the decal placement and colours, and
on the flipside (not pictured) it shows you how to use the provided masks.
The picture shows a large yellow thing beneath the decal - that's a paint mask
that comes with the kit. In between is a colour chip to help you mix up the
right colour for the tail. It's just a coincidence that the masks are a similar
colour to the ochre tail.
All in all this is a neat little set. I haven't tried it, so I can't vouch for
actual use, but I look forward to giving it a go.