LOST: Oceanic Airlines Boeing 777

Master Tej

Active Member
RPF,

I'm a fairly new member here, aside from commenting on a few Falcon threads here and there, I haven't really done a whole lot.

To briefly introduce myself, I'm Master Tej, although people also call me Tej and Nick, my actual name. I'm into LOST, Star Wars, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Back to the Future. Those are my favorite 5: LOST and Star Wars compete for the top spot and rest are in order (although I've only seen through Season 4 of LOST). I'm currently working on a NovaTrooper Elite to join the 501st, and I'm a member of the Spec Ops Forum over there.

However, I'm not here about Star Wars, I'm here about LOST. I recently found a model airplane site that makes Oceanic Airlines 777s.

Boeing 777 Oceanic Airlines - Lost TV Oceanic B777 Model Airplane - $199.98 : Model Airplane Factory, Mahogany Wood Model Airplanes, Wooden Model Helicopters, Military Wall Plaques in Wholesale and Retail.

I'd really like to buy one, but that model is very much sadly inaccurate in terms of the paintjob. The website says that the model is made to order, so I'm hoping that I can give them directions to adjust the paintjob for me if I order one. If I’m wrong about that, please, somebody correct me.

Now, when I say accurate, I'm referring to accuracy with regards to the physical and digital models used on the show. This isn't to say that they all agree, but the original Lockheed L-1011 that they used for the set, its paintjob on the beach/jungle of Oahu, and the few digital models they had for a few shots combined are what I'm using.


For reference for those who didn’t see the show, Oceanic Flight 815 left Sydney International Airport on September 22nd, 2004, bound for Los Angeles. 6 hours into the flight, they lost all radio communication, and so turned back to land at Fiji. They were 1000 miles off course when they hit turbulence and crashed on a mysterious island, the plane itself splitting into 3 separate pieces of the nose, the fuselage, and tail section. For the show, they used a retired L-1011, N783DL, which they cut the tail off of, and then transported to Oahu for filming.

Warning: the upcoming will be pic heavy.

To start out: here's what I have of N783DL, before it left California.



Note the gray underbelly of the plane.





The L-1011 they used had previously belonged to Delta Airlines. So, here’s a few pictures of Delta Airlines L-1011s, because they, for the most part, left the paintjob alone with the exception of adding Oceanic logos and a light blue stripe on the side of the fuselage (more on that later).



You can see here how the dark blue pinstripe broadens at the tip to encompass the nose and meet up with the gray on the bottom of the plane. You can also see how, at the wider point where the wings connect to the fuselage, the gray seems to stop until the belly has thinned back down to its original size. Did that make sense?



This is not N783DL, but I posted this because it shows the tip of a Delta L-1011 nose section very well over on the far right of the pic.


I’ll post more later, with some pics of the actual plane in Hawaii, but other than that, enjoy! I hope this wasn’t too much, and thank you for reading!


- Master Tej –


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Hasagawa sells a 1/200 scale B-777 for under $30.
I'd get that and build it myself. I'm sure there are plenty of aftermarket decals and the Oceanic you can make your self.
 
I actually have a 777 model, but I want to buy the expensive one for a number of reasons. For one, it’s professionally made with professional decals. For another, the base is really nice. And finally, if they can make it to order so it’s accurate, it will look better than anything I could make.

Now here’s what Cockpit pics I have of Oceanic Flight 815. Keep in mind that this is after the plane has been shipped to Hawaii and new paint details added. This area is one that I go back and forth on a lot, because the nose is never shown head-on with the paintjob it gets on the show, and so that’s difficult to determine, particularly with that pesky blue stripe they added on. That particular addition is located right below the darker blue stripe, and is about twice the thickness of the red stripe.



Here’s the cockpit as it appeared in the jungle in the Pilot episode of the show. You can see all 3 stripes and the placement of the Oceanic logo. If you look closely, you can also still see the gray on the underbelly of the jet.



This only shows the very tip of 815’s nose, but it shows the lighter blue stripe, which I believe actually gets closer to the dark blue stripe right before they both hit the gray underbelly. I’m not quite sure on that, though, so I’m trying to get better images to prove it.



You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor . . . oh, sorry, wrong thread. You can see here that the light blue stripe is interrupted by the Oceanic “O”, thought I can’t quite see the extent. More on that in a moment.

Now, onto the fuselage. As near as I can tell, other than adding that blue stripe, the only major thing they changed was to add the Oceanic logo and remove the red stripe where the letters “ceanic” are placed.


There’s a good view of the Oceanic logo on the side.



This shot shows the same side of 815, after it was burned in "Walkabout", with the cutoff of the red stripe demonstrated. However, I’m having trouble seeing if the light blue stripe cuts off all the way beneath the bottom of the Oceanic O. I’ll have to watch the Pilot again to see how that is.



Another shot of the fuselage.



The bottom of the fuselage. A nice shot of the gray, and I also like the Director’s chair in the lower right corner.

Finally, on to the tail. There’s only really 3 certifiable shots of this I could get, and that’s because N783DL had its tail left behind in the Mojave Desert, and so the tail was created in CG for the few times they needed it in the show.



The tail section as seen in “The Other 48 Days” as it is sinking in the water. Not much to see here, just a cool picture.



Here it in the scene in Pilot Part 2 where it split off. The only thing this mainly shows is that the vertical and horizontal stabilizers are white, and not gray or silver, nor do they have any silver on the fronts. I believe this plays into the wings, which I haven’t been able to determine are gray, silver, or white. However, I’ve come to think that if the horizontal stabilizers are completely white, then the wings must be so as well. And, to that effect-



The virtual model of the entire plane as seen in “Exodus”. I hate this model for a number of reasons: the light blue stripe is too thin, the red stripe continues under the logo letters, you can’t even see any wings, and it just looks . . . off. Like, the plane doesn’t look sized right. It annoys me. But it does enforce my point of white stabilizers on the tail.

So there. That’s Part 2 of my examination. Enjoy!

- Master Tej -
 
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Right then, onto Part 3. This one will deal with all the models and sources I have of 815 that are either:

A.) Associated directly with the show and official licensing
B.) Physical or virtual models that are very close in their design to the actual

However, on the subject of the “actual” design, I’m still having trouble pinning it down! Each and every time I feel I’m getting close, I find or think of something new that presents a problem. My idea is to eventually make my own source in Adobe Illustrator that will compile all my information into the most correct design possible, and that will hopefully be the culmination of this. Anyways, here goes with the next bit.



This is actually a model from the show that I forgot to include, but it’s not worth much anyways. For starters, it’s too far away to make out much of any details with the exception of the Oceanic logo on the tail. However, it’s also incorrect in that you can clearly see, especially if you look at the tail section, the red stripe is below the windows. Bad. Not right. Wrong.

Now I’ve got two shots from Season 4 of the false 815 that was placed by Whidmore Industries in the Sunda Trench. I’m not really going to touch on this, as it doesn’t much matter that it’s incorrect. After all, it was a fake!



Next up are two shots from the official game, “LOST Via Domus”. Haven’t played it myself, but it looks fun. However, the red stripe continues beneath the letters of Oceanic, and the fuselage itself looks to be a good deal longer than what was on the beach in the show. Even so, it’s a nice model for a somewhat old game.





Now that I’m done with the obligatory officially licensed media, I can move on to the awesome, yet always a little incorrect, fan art.



This model’s so very, very close to being correct that it hurts. The main thing that is wrong is, you guessed it, the red stripe under the letters. I’ve said that so many times now I feel like I’m a politician making promises. Anyways, other than the red stripe, the colors seem just a little off, especially the dark blue. The blue stripe thins as it curves down to meet the gray at the nose tip, which it shouldn't. There’s a little bit of gray on the wings and horizontal stabilizers. And also, the area where the wings meet the fuselage is supposed to be white, not silver.

That being, said, I know this person did their homework and was striving for correctness, as the gray underbelly is present, the three stripes are all there, and the nose is pretty much exact. On top of all of that, they even counted how many windows are on the fuselage in between the first boarding door and Oceanic “O”, which is correctly at 9 on this model. So props to them, whoever they may be!



Once again, I would love to be able to say this one is correct, but it misses the mark by just a little bit. The main problem is the nose, which has been left completely devoid of stripes and white. As we all know, the red stripe should continue on to meet the cockpit windows, the blue should widen to encompass the nose tip, and the light blue should curve down under the darker blue until it meets the gray underbelly, which is absent on this model. Also, there is silver on the tips of the wings and stabilizers, which is incorrect.

However, the area where the wings meet the fuselage is correctly white, and I really do like the way the stripes continue under the horizontal stabilizers. I’ll just have to see if that’s correct. And of course, the entire virtual model just has a really nice, real look to it, and is definitely the most well done model of 815 that I’ve seen.



Lastly, this is a physical model I found which has an incorrect nose, placement of the Oceanic logo on the fuselage, and no gray underbelly. However, it’s got those white wings, so that’s good.

I hope this thread hasn’t been dry in terms of how it reads and all. For me, it’s untold fun writing and researching this because I have a love of airplanes and a love of LOST which combine well to make this incredibly interesting. To whomever may read this, I hope you enjoy it like I do!

- Master Tej -
 
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Hey everybody,

Not much today, just a brief update. I've begun work on my "correct" source, so to speak, in Adobe Illustrator, and I expect to be done with that very soon. In the meantime, here's just a few fun pics of Delta L-1011s, N783DL, Oceanic 815, and LOST in general.

Delta L-1011s:







N783DL:







Oceanic 815:







LOST:





A fun Oceanic L-1011 Model, no real source here.

Anyways, I hope to post pics in the week of my compiled source. Thanks for looking!

- Master Tej -

"The numbers are bad!"
 
Well, I've gotten no response back from the company with the Oceanic 777, so it looks like I'm going to have to go on ahead and do this myself. Now, while I'll admit this wasn't my original plan, I'm looking forwards to it nonetheless. My AI mockup is just about done, too. The problem is that I only have a limited time to work on it each day, and I'm on my, like, 3rd attempt by now, because I've used the wrong or bad blueprints twice already.

Hasagawa sells a 1/200 scale B-777 for under $30.
I'd get that and build it myself. I'm sure there are plenty of aftermarket decals and the Oceanic you can make your self.

I found the 777 on Hasegawa. The problem is, I don't know how I would do anything. Like, is there a way I could make the stripes down the side into decals? How would I make the Oceanic logo into a decal? I'm sorry for all the really simple questions, but I've never really modeled anything before.

- Master Tej -
 
To make your own decals, you have to draw them in some way accessable to a computer, then you can print it on decal paper. This is available for both inkjet and laser printers. After printing, it has to set for a day or so, afterwards you have to seal it with a transparent substance available from the same shops as the decal paper. Afterwards they can be used just as commercial decals, perhaps with a bit more care.

To draw your decals, you can do it the old fashioned way by hand, copy them, test fit them on the model and iterate until it fits. Then scan the latest iteration and touch it up in a design program (best thing would be to convert them to vector format) before printing them.

If you have access to a 3D design program you could build a mock up of the model of the airplane on which you draw the decals. Then they can be unfolded and touched up in a design program like above.

For the Oceanic logo I'd try to use the most straight-on picture you can find of it (perhaps the screenshot from the gate in post #3) and trace it in a vector design program, taking the perspective into account. Then all you had to do is to rescale it to match the model.

But in any case, I think best is to decide which model to take and buy it, to take the measurements. Most kits are too incorrect compared to scale drawings for this work.

I really like your idea, hope we see more of it in the future!

Thorsten
 
Thanks for the response! And, by the way, thanks for your support above. I don't know why I didn't say anything in the 6th post! :thumbsup

The whole idea of the decals doesn't work out in my head well, though. How could I get one to work with the tip of the aircraft, which is entirely blue? Would it be easier to just paint?

--Update--

Perhaps if I applied the design I've figured out to a premade model in Sketchup? Would there be a possible route from there?

- Master Tej -
 
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Well, I've figured out the logos. On Monday, I can pull them off of the computer at School. I have them in Illustrator, and they're some pretty big Rasters, too. One thing I figured out was that the Oceanic logo as depicted on the side of the plane is different from depictions on signs and whatnot. The letters are differently placed, and different circles from the side are missing.

I have the graphics and can make them the proper size for decals. But the side stripes, I'm not sure how I'll do. Plus, I'm not sure if my home printer will be sufficient to print out the decals. Whenever I have it print on thick paper (for Oceanic Airlines plane tickets), even with special photo paper settings, the ink still pools on the paper and makes it splotchy.

But this is nice. This is a very achievable first step.

- Master Tej -
 
Yeah the nose area is the most difficult part, every airline modeler will know it ;) Have a look at commercial decals of existing kits to see how they solve the problem. It will never be 100% without using a brush and paint, but you can get pretty far.

Here are some examples:
Lockheed Super Constelation Revell 1:144
(The nose top is not covered by the decal! You have to paint it.)

50 Jahre Lufthansa - Eine Retrobemalung für den Airbus A 321 - Nazca - 1/144
(A bit more elaborated. The stripe is split into parts for easier handling, you might want to do this, too. The nose parts are better matched to the courved surface as you see with the small cuts)

The Lufthansa stripe goes around the nose much broader, the Oceanic seems to have the strip as narrow as on the rest of the fuselage. I guess it would be easier as the Lufthansa. The Oceanic stripe almost looks as it can be made by an exactly straight stripe...

I guess you really should take a real kit and test it. You will not get happy witha sketchup model found online. They are not scale accurate in most cases.

About the printer issue: If you manage to get your decal design drawn in vector format on the computer, you could get it printed on a local copy shop in good quality I think. But first test the fit with a paper version at home!

Thorsten

Edit: oops, looked at the wrong picture for the nose of the Oceanic. It seems to be really close to the Lufthansa one...
 
Yup, that's where my problem comes in. It encompasses much of the nose, and I'm not sure how I could do that. I guess trial and error may very well be the best solution.

Although . . . on that note, we all know that the plane was originally an L-1011 owned by Delta Airlines. Could I maybe re-purpose decals for a Delta L-1011? Maybe, if I could get decals for that plane, I could use them, and then extend them as needed. Of course, the chance of finding that exact decal at the right size is small, but maybe I could find one, scan it, and then resize it? Hey, it's worth a try, right?

- Master Tej -
 
What you could also try is to cover the nose area with masking tape and roughly paint the stripe's outline onto it. Then you can take the tape off, glue it onto paper and scan it... should be a good first estimate. But you won't get this done in one iteration, without paint.


Thorsten
 
I guess most modelers order from model shops, online or in a hobby shop in the city. There should be one in your near as well ;-)
 
Okay,
First of all I want to say I love this thread. I have never watched a single episode of Lost, but figuring out stuff like this for airplanes gets me all excited and I want to see this one done.
My unasked for 2 cents:
A few things.
1. You are trying to paint a cgi-only 777 like a full size L-1011. 777 by Boeing, L-1011 by Lockheed. 2 different animals. Cockpit heights compared to passenger compartment windows are different. Airplane body heights different. Window and door placements-different. Front door distance to cockpit windows are different. And so on.
2. The CGI model as you pointed out isn't even congruent in it's own universe. That would be like a 5 foot falcon having different greebles than a 3 foot one. Ridiculous!
3. Ugh. Too many other things.
Anyways, for the Delta L1011's, the window stripe was very dark blue and the front nose was black. The front nose black completely covered the radome, as far as I can tell. The black and blue transitioned at the cockpit window lower rear corner. Difficult to see, but it's there.
Delta left the lower half of it's planes bare metal. Gray is at the wing joint. But definitely bare metal.
I don't think the wings should be white. They RARELY ever are. I think a lot of that white is sun reflection on what should be bare metal wings with gray center sections, silver front slats. I can't think of an airline that paints it's wings white (or even at all), since it would add unecessary weight and other issues.
Getting an L1011 decal set and a 777 model in 1/200 scale would not transition, I don't think. You could scan the Delta decal for a reference point, though. Windows would not match up, nor would doors. You could scan the 777 side and create the decal that way. But whether you fill in and sand smooth the doors and windows or leave the detail that comes on, either way the L1011 decal won't work on the 777. Not long enough, either.
You could paint the stripes. Since you are doing it in 200 scale, painting those radii would be difficult. But you can get away with a lot in the smaller scales.
You could go with the 1/100 scale travel agent models. But those are typically solid, and smooth on the sides depending on the company that made them.
Anyways, a quick photoshop job I did shows what I *think* the front nose would look like on a 777. That photo of the nose under the tarp gives it all away. You can see the Lost people painted white and the light blue stripe over part of the black radome in the front. That is the key, I think.
I would do it with all decals, but most of the nose you could just paint black. You can use the decal radius for a cheat line, so no real tough masking would be necessary.
Creating your own cheat line is easy. Like Thorst mentioned up above. Just smooth down tape over the side of the front, and draw the line radius how you want it. Then, peel off the tape and scan it.
If you went with a Delta L1011, the only decal you would have to make is the light blue one. Since it would be on a white background, you could print it up on your home printer, take some laser decal paper to your local Fedex office (kinko's) or anywhere else there is a laser scanner, and print.
Looking forward to this!
LOST planes.jpg
 
Finally, I got it! The design I made in Illustrator. Now, I had to make it a PDF, then run it through paint, so it's lost (hah!) a bit of its quality.



I'm pretty happy with this, though. I knew from the beginning that this wouldn't work out completely correctly, since an L-1011 and a 777 have major design differences. However, if you photomatch the placement of the Oceanic O on the side of the cockpit in the shots above with the placement on the fuselage in my version, it's pretty close.

I guess I'll also have to change the color at the wing joint. I've always thought that was white, but looking closely, it is gray. Why would they paint the wing joint? Wouldn't it be easier to leave it bare silver instead?

I can believe that the wings wouldn't be white. I don't really know much about airplanes, except that pretty much all of the single-engines at the local airport have white wings. Buuuuut, a single-engine is a lot different from a jumbo jet. I've also looked at two different sources and noticed something similar to what you were talking about, Morris.





These ones shows Oceanic 815 right after the crash. The wing looks kind of gray, although it's hard to see, and that gray could be chalked up to debris, like dirt, that coated it during the crash. I'm sorry I couldn't find a much better image of this, especially considering how Jack (and the camera) stares straight at it, but there's a shot where the wing looks fairly gray.



This is where Jack looks out the window in Pilot, Part I. The wing actually looks a bit white in this shot, but I've watched this particular scene too many times to count, and have actually wondered if the wing had gray in the middle, particularly when a shadow from a cloud passes over it. I kind of passed both of those ones off, though, in order to say it was white. Is there a reasoning behind Airlines using that scheme of gray, Morris? I've seen it done before, but never known why. And, on that note, what about the vertical stabilizers? Are they normally white, or gray on jet airplanes?

I've also noticed that the nose cone is darker on Delta L-1011s than the rest of the stripe is, but I'd thought it was my imagination. However, giving the cockpit a second thought, I don't even think they used the original nose cone of N783DL. I've seen numerous pictures before filming where it was left off, so I wonder if they fabricated one to use?

- Master Tej -
 
Your illustrator image is exactly how I would do it.
I think you've nailed the light blue stripe thickness, the logo, the red stripe, etc. Except for this damning evidence:
lost 777 landing.jpg
Now, this image is from the Lostpedia where someone was pointing out that during landing on this episode, the aircraft is a Boeing 777. (To be honest, I don't even know if this is from the show.) However, later in the episode the aircraft is taxiing to the terminal, and it's clearly an Airbus. What kind of Airbus is also a debate, because apparently there is a shadow underneath the wing showing that the plane has 4 engines but those extra engines have clearly been airbrushed out. Again, continuity within the show doesn't even exist. Unless, that was on purpose....
The black on the top front of the nose is the anti-glare panel. To prevent pilots being distracted or blinded by sunlight reflected off a white nose. Not only is it black, it's flat coated. Not glossy like the rest of the plane would be.
Many freight and passenger train engines have the same thing.
They very well may have fabricated their own Radome replacement. That picture of the plane under the tarp is still the key to how they approached the L-1011 nose, I think. The 777 nose would purely have been CGI, artist's discretion.
Wings are fabricated from different types of materials and metals. The different colors on the wings are different shades of bare metal, but some of that is painted surfaces. You have the wing skin, ailerons, flaps, slats, blah, blah, blah. Maybe someone who knows more can chime in on that one. I think it has to do with weight savings mostly. There is no real need to paint the wings. Like the reason the Space Shuttle External Tank was originally white, but then orange after they decided to save all that weight and leave it unpainted.
The wing root is a separate piece that covers the wing attachment hardware. Definitely grey on many passenger planes. But I suppose that is up to the airlines to decide to paint them depending on the color scheme. I believe they can be made from composite materials, also, so painting them to somewhat match would make sense.
Vertical stabilizers, mostly match the airline paint scheme since that is what you see when looking at it head on. Logos often go there and stand out (Alaska Airlines, for example). Horizontal stabilizers, same as the main wings. You wouldn't see them if they were painted, so different shades of metal.
I think if I were doing an L-1011, I would do the curved stripe, black nose and radome. For a 777, I'd do like the picture above of the plane landing. (if it is canon)
I don't know. Do whatever you would be happy with. I'm LOST.
 
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