This was the final B727-233 delivered to Air Canada on June 17, 1982. She was the 39th B727 that Air Canada had in their fleet and flew for ACA until she's was withdrawn from service on August 12, 1992. (Later sold to Fedex for conversion to N286FE where she flew for another 20 years until March 16, 2012.)

While doing research on this airframe, I was surprised to find that she was originally delivered with the polished aluminum "belly", not a standard livery for ACA's fleet. A few years later she was repainted with the grey underside and the twin (red/burgundy) cheatlines.

This particular airframe checked several boxes for me as a repainter...I love classic airplanes, love steam gauges, and of course the opportunity to paint a classic livery is always high on my priority!

I haven't had the FSS 727-200 very long...about a month now. Absolutely love it!!!

I've flown it a few times with the CIVA INS...fun to program...but, admittedly, approaches are a little cumbersome...and very "non-precision" with my limited technique with the INS. Lately, I've been flying her with the optional, and period correct, GNS-XLS.

The original texturing of both the Freighter and PAX variants from FSS are very weathered...but really well done!

I was hoping to create a "working" livery that doesn't look like it's spent the last 20 years in the Nevada desert sun!!! 

For this example, I wanted to display the aircraft (C-GYNM - Fin 439) as she was delivered in 1982...cleaned up considerably!

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any online photos of actual ACA B727 cabin or cockpit photos...I had to take a little "artistic liberty" to create these textures. The only obvious "error" is a reversed logo image on the passenger compartment divider...I can live with it!  🙂 

Cleaning up the cockpit took a lot of time...online photos show different cockpit colours...ranging from greys to blues...I'm sure a lot of the disparity in available photos is due to old polaroid's converted to digital...as well as vastly different lighting conditions. I tried to compromise a little here as well with a standard grey cockpit panel and slightly "bluish" cockpit panels...I think it turned out OK.

Normally, a repaint of an aircraft takes about 6-10 different textures to modify. For this aircraft, i went a little bit crazy...modifying 60 of the original textures to get the "look" I was hoping to achieve...a recently delivered, "new" B727-233.

I'm pleased how this one turned out!

Time to go flying!!! (Livery uploaded to FS.to this afternoon.)  🙂 

First, the "original" aircraft as she appeared in 1982:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing!

A lot of hard work...and it shows. Best looking 727 panel I've seen!

1 hour ago, Dave_YVR said:

Gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you Dave...appreciate the feedback!

1 hour ago, John F said:

A lot of hard work...and it shows. Best looking 727 panel I've seen!

FSS definitely deserves the credit...the aircraft is great! (I merely added a few personal "enhancements"!)  🙂

Thanks for the comment!  🙂 

First great paintjob 👍

Second, beautiful shots, i love to fly this AC great work the Dev's have done with this product IMO !

Thanks for sharing and for the upload to Flightsim.to .

cheers 😉

Wonderful and evocative set of (hand-crafted) images...rmeier...surely more so to you than me...🙂...

I've been always fond of this classic AC color...with that bold and beautiful Red cheatline...🙂...

13 hours ago, rmeier said:

Normally, a repaint of an aircraft takes about 6-10 different textures to modify. For this aircraft, i went a little bit crazy...modifying 60 of the original textures to get the "look" I was hoping to achieve...a recently delivered, "new" B727-233.

"6-10" vs. "60"...I see, though this does not mean a thing to this non-repainter...🙂...but I can at least tell that the "artistic liberty" has worked well...🙂...it all looks professional grade...inside and out....

BTW, your remark:

13 hours ago, rmeier said:

While doing research on this airframe, I was surprised to find that she was originally delivered with the polished aluminum "belly", not a standard livery for ACA's fleet.

...made me recall a thing. One of the last 767s I flew in FSX was an AC 767 in the metallic aluminum livery. So, I asked AI, which helps a lot during these later years...🙂...without taxing the brains much (needed to ensure smart AI auto suggestion does not change the word to "taxiing"...🙂...). Anyway, indeed, it tells me this:

"Air Canada temporarily used a Boeing 767-200 (C-GDSP) with a bare-metal, aluminum finish in 2005 as an experiment to save fuel. The airline removed the painted livery to reduce weight by 360 pounds, which was projected to save $24,000 annually in fuel costs, though the trial only lasted for a few weeks." Just wished to mention...

Thanks for the repaint work of this seemingly wonderful 727 SIM in MSFS...while I will keep looking for it in Xbox...🙂...Oh well...

9 hours ago, pmplayer said:

First great paintjob 👍

Second, beautiful shots, i love to fly this AC great work the Dev's have done with this product IMO !

Thanks for sharing and for the upload to Flightsim.to .

cheers 😉

pmplayer...thank you for the feedback! Much appreciated!

Thanks P-7878!

I'm really enjoying this aircraft...love vintage planes.

It's too bad this one isn't available yet in the Marketplace...I know you'd love it...and I know you like red liveries and classic cheatlines as well!  🙂

Thanks for the feedback! (...and the education on the trial B767!)  🙂 

I definitely get the sense I may have a little OCD on this repaint...

Uploaded V1.1 due to slight "tweaks" of the polished metal surfaces...

The polished metal belly looks very nice and just right, rmeier. You’ve shown it here, both with and against the sunlight.

I now recall the “PBR” days when legendary…🙂…Steve D. would explain how the metal reflection should look like from different angles in sunlight…🙂…

Enjoy flying this classic in this lovely AC colors…

1 hour ago, P_7878 said:

I now recall the “PBR” days when legendary…🙂…Steve D. would explain how the metal reflection should look like from different angles in sunlight…🙂…

Metal is always tricky to manipulate...yeah, Steve Dra was definitely ahead of the pack! (Hope to see him return from hiatus soon!)  🙂 

I'm still trying to balance a "newer" aircraft appearance vs a fully weathered one...I suspect I will continue to tweak this one as time goes on...flew it last night after the latest changes and I think it looks really good.

Thanks for the feedback!