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Douglas EC-24A Electronic Warfare Aircraft (X144006) 1:144 X-Scale The DC-8 airliner on which the EC-24A was based was a first-generation jet passenger aircraft from Douglas, initially in response to a requirement for an airborne refuelling tanker in 1952, losing the contract to competitors Boeing, who went on to supply the Air Force with the KC-135. Douglas took their losing design and reworked it with a view to selling it to civil operators in the burgeoning jet airliner market space. By 1955 they had their first order from Pan Am, with others following, the maiden flight occurring in 1958, and the first commercial flight after certification by a Delta Airlines aircraft late in ’59. Several variants were created for different operators and distances, and using various power plants from Pratt & Witney, plus a Rolls-Royce Conway for the unsuccessful Series 40, that suffered from lack of sales due to the stigma of having foreign engines. The Series 50 was considered the definitive variant of the short-fuselaged DC-8, using four P&W JT3Ds suspended on underwing pylons for power, different variants of the 50 series utilising other engine versions that gave greater power and weight-carrying capability, including those used for cargo transports, which became known as the DC-8 Jet Trader. Douglas took a single former United Airlines Series 54 aircraft and converted it into an Electronic Warfare aircraft that was used by the US Navy as an Electronic Warfare training airframe that remained in service until 1999. It was tasked with acting as an Aggressor in exercises to pose as the enemy to train US Naval crews on how to recognise them and deal effectively with their attempts at disrupting operations. After it was retired, it went into hibernation at a Deep Storage “boneyard” in Arizona, where it remains at time of writing. It was replaced by a third-party contractor providing similar services to the Navy using their own crews and equipment, as is often the case with modern training resources, bringing yet more profit into the National Defence equation. The Kit The origin of this kit stems from a new tooling in 2022 from X-Scale, which has been reboxed and is now offered with new parts to depict this unique airframe. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a handsome painting of the subject matter on the front under a dramatic sky, and inside are nine sprues of grey styrene plus two fuselage halves that have been removed from their sprue on our example in a separate bag, a small clear sprue in its own Ziploc bag, a decal sheet, pre-cut vinyl masks, and an A5 instruction booklet that is printed on glossy white paper in colour. Detail is good, with finely engraved panel lines, fan detail inside the engine nacelles, a cockpit, and basic gear bays into which you could add more detail if you feel the urge. Construction begins with the cockpit, adding a supplementary panel to the coaming of the main instrument panel, mounting it to the front of the cockpit floor that has centre and side consoles added into slots in the floor, a map table in the rear bulkhead, and an engineer panel with table on the starboard rear side, locating five seats on pegs that are moulded into the floor. The nose gear bay is built from a stepped roof plus four sides, which have raised location points for the nose gear moulded-in. In preparation for installation of the cockpit, four L-shaped supports are inserted into corresponding depressions inside the nose, fitting the cockpit and nose bay during closure of the fuselage halves. Once the seams have been dealt with in your preferred manner, two cheek inserts are applied to the nose, adding the belly with moulded-in inner wing lowers after installing main gear bay inserts in shallow recesses around their perimeters. The upper wings have inserts appropriate to the engine used in this boxing inserted into the spaces in the leading edges, gluing the lower wing surface and ailerons in place to complete the basic structure. The elevators are made from two halves each, as is the tail fin, which has an integral rudder, and a large tab for later installation in the fuselage. Each of the four engines are built from cowling halves with fans front and rear, adding an intake lip from a single part that has a small auxiliary intake moulded into it, making the four individual pylons from two parts each, remembering their step numbers for later installation. Eight main wheels are made from halves, making two more for the nose gear wheels, building the main gear struts from a leg that has separate scissor-link, jacks and ancillary parts, fitting four wheels per unit, and making the nose gear from a similar number of parts, adding two wheels and a twin landing-light at the front. Two blade antennae are made with separate flat tops, creating an intake and two pitot probes in anticipation of detailing the airframe later. The fuselage is fitted with a clear canopy that has a portion of the forward fuselage moulded into it to ease blending it with the rest of the fuselage without marring the windscreen panes. A sensor panel is inserted in a raised ring over the cockpit, then the wings are installed over the lower inner panels, slotting the elevators and fin into their receivers in the rear of the fuselage. Flipping the model over, the engines and their pylons are mated with the wings on two pegs each, the engines and pylons slotting together for strength, positioning the pitot probes and their fairings under the tips of the wings. The fuselage is dotted with blade antennas over the following steps, adding the intake to the port side of the fuselage above the wing leading edge, and fitting two gondolas and more antennae under the belly, and a small number at the tail. The main and nose gear legs are installed with the model inverted, adding doors and retraction jacks to complete the build. Markings There was just one airframe of this type, so the decal option is a solitary one, unless you intend to go for an imaginary option of course. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The masks are pre-cut vinyl and will permit the modeller to cut the framing of the windscreen neatly, and the demarcation between the wheels and hubs with ease. Conclusion This unique aircraft quietly served with the US Navy for an extensive period, and X-Scale have done its legacy justice, with fine panel lines, detailed landing gear and a cockpit that will be seen dimly through the clear windows. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Eastern Express from Russia was to release 1/144th Douglas DC-8 kits. As result from the war going on this project is now taken over by the Ukrainian Eastern Express subcontractor X-Scale Models. Source: http://www.pas-decals.ru/forum/novosti/1078-novinki-vostochnyj-ekspress?start=621#39553 Box art Source: http://www.pas-decals.ru/forum/novosti/1078-novinki-vostochnyj-ekspress?start=810#42073 3D renders V.P.

I'm joining in with a Thai DC-8-32. This is the X-Scale kit in 1/144, with 8A decals. The box shot: It's pretty typical of recent Ukrainian short-run kits - nice surface detail, no locating pins, a little flash here and there, probably going to go together ok as long as I'm careful. The decals are laser printed and look nice. I've started with the fuselage. I'm not bothering with the cockpit as I'll use a decal for the windscreen, so only had to add the nose gear well and some nose weight before closing up the fuselage. The fuselage goes together ok, but the clear part will need a little work to blend in. more soon Julian

Here's my X-Scale DC-8-32, just finished in the Asia group build. Build thread is here. It's an OOB build with Thai decals from 8A Decals. This was the first time I used 8A decals and it won't be the last. I'll be building more X-Scale kits as well, I enjoyed this one. thanks for looking Julian

DC-8-72 N817 belonging to the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB. She actually operates out of Palmdale airport. Visiting Wright-Patterson AFB 31 July 2023. Thanks for looking, Sven Old Viper Tester

I just received the Mach 2 1:72 scale Swissair Dc-8 model for Christmas and very excitedly opened it and examined the contents especially the decals. Well, there are no decals for the red part of the tail or the red stripe along the plane where the windows are or the black area in front of the cockpit. Am I supposed to mask it off and paint it myself? Or are there any decals for this model from another vendor. I was able to find any in Joydecals or some of the other vendors I have dealt with. Thank you.

Mach2 is to release 1/72nd Douglas DC-8 kits in December 2020. - ref. GP110AAF - Douglas DC8-50 Armée de l'Air CoTAM & "Sarigue" Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-50-armee-de-l-air--french-af-sarigue--expected-december-2020-gp110aaf-mach-2-gp110aaf-aircraft-scale-modelling/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174344 - ref. GP110USN - Douglas EC-24A (link) US Navy Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-ec-24-us-navy-expected-december-2020-gp110usn-mach-2-gp110usn-aircraft-scale-modelling/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174343 - ref. GP110AMX - Douglas DC8-50 - AeroMexico Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-50-aeromexico-expected-december-2020-gp110amx-mach-2-gp110amx-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174342 - ref. GP110UTA - Douglas DC8-50 - UTA Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-50-uta-expected-december-2020-gp110uta-mach-2-gp110uta-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174341 - ref. GP110IBA - Douglas DC8-50 - Iberia Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-50-iberia-expected-december-2020-gp110iba-mach-2-gp110iba-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174340 - ref. GP110SWA - Douglas DC8-30 - Swissair Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-30-swissair-expected-december-2020-gp110swa-mach-2-gp110swa-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174339 - ref. GP110KLM - Douglas DC8-30 - KLM Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-30-klm-expected-december-2020-gp110klm-mach-2-gp110klm-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174337 - ref. GP110SAS - Douglas DC8-30 - SAS Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-30-sas-expected-december-2020-gp110sas-mach-2-gp110sas-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174338 - ref. GP110PAA - Douglas DC8-30 - Pan merican Airlines Source: https://www.aviationmegastore.com/douglas-dc8-30-pan-american-airlines-expected-december-2020-gp110paa-mach-2-gp110paa-airliner-modelling-kits/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174336 V.P.

Here's my 1/144 EC-24A, built for the In The Navy group build. The EC-24A was a DC-8-55 converted for use by the US Navy Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group as an electronic aggressor. It's the Minicraft kit with shortened fuselage, Bra.Z resin engines, and scratch-built conversion parts (mostly 3D-printed). Decals are from various sources, including some I printed myself. Build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

Afternoon all, Here is the Mach 2 1/72nd DC-8-50 that rolled off the production line this very afternoon. Released at the end of last year, I was really keen to get my hands on one of these kits as I love the DC-8 and this is the first injection-moulded kit in 1/72nd scale of an important piece of civil aviation history. Unfortunately Mach 2 kits don't come with the best reputation, but I'd never built one before so threw caution to the wind. I'm used to dealing with 'difficult' kits and I'm pleased to say this one didn't pose too many problems at all - it is just like you'd expect from a short-run injection moulded kit. I thought it might be useful for fellow builders to have a quick summary of my findings below: Cons: Typical short-run kit with no locating tabs and plenty of flash on the smaller parts; I found that the right stabiliser was 3mm too high on the starboard side and needed lowering - a quick an easy fix; The engine pylons were too deep on my example and the inboard engines almost touched the ground - 3mm was removed from each pylon and now the nacelles sit at the correct height; Transparencies needed a lot of work to get them clear; Fit was a bit dodgy in places, and don't expect to build this kit without the use of fillers. Pros: Panel detail appears accurate and well moulded; Shapes seem pretty good to my eye; Nicely detailed landing gear; Overall the build was fairly painless and it went together well; Nicely detailed flightdeck area; Engines are nicely done and look the part once assembled; Plastic is nice and thick and there's no need to additional interior bracing or the like; It's a 1/72nd scale injection-moulded DC-8! I used Halfords' automotive paints and has a custom set of decals printed by 8A decals to complete the build. All in all I really enjoyed this model and am pleased to finally have a decent DC-8 in my civvie collection. All the best, Tom

Here for your perusal is the Minicraft 1/144 scale DC-8 kit modified to be a -61. I decided to include photos of the finished model from the workbench as well as some that are staged in the bright sunlight. The workbench photos lend to seeing the details a little more clearly, while the sunlight just makes her shine! I’ve long wanted to build a DC-8 and chose for my subject N822E, msn#45907, rolled off the line at Long Beach, California in January 1967, then delivered as the very first -61 to Delta Air Lines. She flew her first revenue flight on 18 April 1967 in the roomy 195 seat two-class configuration, and served faithfully until her conversion to a -71 in 1982. In 1988 she was sold to UPS, re-registered as N707UP, then subsequently modified into a -71F as a freighter. She was stored at Roswell in 2003, and eventually was broken up for scrap. Livery decals are custom made from Vintage Flyer; cockpit and passenger windows are from Authentic Airliners; details are combination from F-DCAL, Vintage Flyers, and from my workbench. Photo Etch parts from ExtraTech. JT3D engines are from Authentic Airliners. I used Tamiya gray surface primer, Tamiya TS-26 white, Alclad black surface prep on the wings, Alclad airframe aluminum on the wings, and Alclad chrome on the under belly of the fuselage. Details of the work in progress may be found here: Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoy……

This model I received at an aviation fair in 2018. It had been started by someone with probably no modelling experience. There was glue all over the place,the wing halves had been squeezed together,most of the landing gear was gone... In short...a complete mess.The guy who gave it to me,told me,that he got it aready in this sorry state. He knew me and my attitude,so he said;"If you can do something with it,good,otherwise bin it" First I ceaned the parts of the glue and smudges as good as possible,then I tried to save the messed up wings. No chance. Then I remembered that I had for some reason 2 upper wing halves left in my spares. I lined out the pieces to be replaced on each wing and carefully cut out the needed parts on the spare wings. Then these parts were inserted and carefully glued and sanded. It was a long and painful process,putty...sanding....putty....sanding... I worked on and off on this DC-8,sometimes I let it be for 1-3 months,then trying again to get on with it. Finally I managed to get an acceptable result out of the wings,rescribed all panellines that went lost during the whole repair process and started to think in what livery the DC-8 should be finished. I had a complete Hawaiian decal set left from a Minicraft kit,so I thought well,they should fit.But wait...Hawaiian's DC-8s were -62 and -63 versions. Revell only had the -61 of the longer DC-8s. I had bought a bagged Minicraft DC-8 kit together wit NASA decals from DRAW Decals sometime ago,and these kits have both,the P&W and CFM56 engines. I closed the slots on the Revell wings with palsticsheet and drilled to small hole in each,and also in the Minicraft engines.Then small pieces of metal wire were glued in and attached to the Revell DC-8 Paintjob and decals on...done. Almost 2 years I spent on and off salvaging this classic Douglas jet,it payed off. The wings are not perfect,there can still a slight knack be seen but i can live with it. Cheers

For a new summer project I chose the Minicraft DC-8, converting it to a -61. This particular kit was ordered from Draw Decals as a bagged kit that contained engines for a -61, a -62/63 aircraft, a set of CFMs to complete a -71/73F, and metal landing gear. When I was but a tot in model building, I finished the old Revell -61 in United livery. Remembering that the old Revell kit was actually a pretty good kit for its day, the Minicraft kit overshadowed it with good fit, accurate detail, and a healthy array of options for liveries and models to choose from. I assembled the Braz JT3Ds that came with the kit, and they proved to be quite nice, but seemed a bit small for the actual scale of the kit. The real problem were the over wing fairings that would not match the under wing pylons without quite a bit of modification, and then in quite small scale. So I opted for the more accurate Authentic Airliners engines, which proved to be perfect for the model in scale and accuracy, though the resin is quite brittle and fragile. Scroll the photos below for a chronicle of the work so far. A lot done, but a lot yet to be done. First steps were to assemble the large parts, such as the fuselage and wings, and get them puttied and prepared for sanding and priming. The fuselage went together quite nicely, though the cockpit nose "cap" is a bit cumbersome and didn't fit perfectly. I discovered this after I had puttied and sanded, then primed, showing dips and troughs requiring more puttying and sanding to get the surfaces even and smooth. I weighted the nose with my usual scientific method of "that looks about right," or "TLAR" for short. inserted just enough weight to keep the nose down. I did, however, tape and pre assemble the entire fuselage to get an idea of the weight required for balance. After sanding and priming and sanding again, the fuselage was painted all white using Tamiya TS-26. At this point, there has been no further progress on the fuselage...the concentration of effort has been on the wings. hoping to shoot the belly of the fuselage sometime this weekend with Alclad Airframe Aluminum. Time to tackle the wings.... First things first...the wings that are in this kit have no "slots," since the engines supplied are for everything BUT the -61. The slots had to be cut through the upper and lower halves, and the only way to accurately do this is to have them together. I used a Dremel tool with a rotary cutting circle, and low RPM so as not to melt away the plastic. Fortunately the cutting circle was the perfect width for the Authentic Airliners engines pylons. with a little sanding and trimming using an Exacto #11 blade, I test fitted the engines, and they fit nicely. And then....the near nightmare. I discovered that both wings (upper and lower halves) were warped terribly, and unfortunately this discovery took place...yep...AFTER assembly. So I did some research by looking through forums and posts of the MC DC-8 build, and found that many, if not most, had experienced the same issue. I have a second kit in my stash; pulled it out, and upon inspection, it too has warped wings, bent in the same fashion as this one. I studied and sought advice as to how to rectify this disaster, receiving suggestions of using hot water, a warm oven, or a hair dryer to straighten them. Hot water didn't seem practical; a warm oven seemed like an accident waiting to happen; so I elected to use a hair dryer. Spent the better part of a couple of days holding a dryer at varying distances from the wings after clamping them down to a piece of glass, then a straight wooden paint mixer. It worked! Patience and persistence paid off! So the wings are as straight as they're gonna get! Then its time for the PE parts.....into the main gear wells, onto the wheels and hubs, and gear struts. I chose to use the kit gear, molded in styrene plastic. they are sufficient to support the weight of the model, since its not heavy at all. The metal gear are nice, but unnecessary. Here are the Braz engines. you can see that they are quite nice..... And the Authentic Airliners JT3Ds. The inlets are larger and more to scale than the Braz engines, and the stators and fan blades are much more detailed and visible. Next, it was time to prime and spray. The primer is Tamiya surface primer. the wings were then sprayed with the Alclad black surface primer, engines were sprayed with Tamiya TS-26 in preparation for at least three different sprays of metallics for different shades along the fan and hot sections. While all these parts were curing, I moved to finish the landing gear. The more I studied, the more I disliked the kit's molded nose gear. The actual airplane did not have such a wide set gear; there was no way the nose gear would have retracted into the gear well. So with a little surgery, I corrected the wide set to a more "normal set" for the airplane. Then finished up the PE parts, painting, and assembly. Now they are awaiting attachment to the model. Completed kit gear..... After corrective surgery.... And the completed gear.....(nose gear pre-surgery): Time for engine work. I taped them up and airbrushed different metallic shades for the fan, hot sections, and exhausts: Then finished up the painting, but the detail work is yet to come. Wings sprayed Alclad airframe aluminum and engines attached: And now its time for detail work to begin on the wings and engines. I'm using a heavy base with clips to hold the wings while I work, since touching the painted wings from here until finished is prohibited...fingerprints just won't make for a nice finish! On the specific airplane I am building, and for the era when it was new, coroguard on the wings was not a "thing;" the wings were all aluminum while the access panels, trim tabs, and some of the hinge covers were painted gray. I'm using different cuts of gray coroguard decals for access panels and trim tabs, and metallic decals from 26 for the variance in aluminum panels on the wings and engines. The real tedious part requires cutting out each and every access panel along the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. Far from finished! Lots more detail work to be accomplished. And this is as far as I have come this summer. More posts as she progresses! Thanks for browsing!

Douglas DC-8-62CF 'Thai Airways International' 1:144 Minicraft with 26Decals. One of my favourite airliners in one of my favourite liveries, a combination of two classics. The DC-8 is the Minicrfat kit available from S&M models but without any decals. This is not a problems as I expect almost all buyers would want to choose their own aftermarket decals anyway. I've always wanted to make one in the beautiful Thai Orchid livery, and found that 26 decals do a sheet for the the DC-8-63. I could have built the kit straight from the box and the decals would have been perfect for it, as Minicraft provide the fuselage for the stretched -63 version. However they also provide recessed cut marks inside the fuselage to show you where to remove sections forward and aft of the wing to shorten it down to a -62 version. I much prefer the -62 as it looks like a much better proportioned aircraft. The only thing was that Thai operated the stretched -63, but I came across some images of a single -62 Combi Freighter that they used for a while. Being part owned by SAS, Thai used lease/borrow/purchase several of their aircraft. I'm assuming this one was leased as it retained its Danish registration OY-KTE. All I had to do was shorten the cheatline decals, and find some suitable purple letters for the registration, which I did on the Thai A350 sheet I already built (never chuck anything away!) On with the photos: 'With something else", a Thai 737-400 in the same livery! Thanks for looking John

This is the 1/144 MInicraft DC-8-63 kit modified to into a DC-8-55F by shortening the fuselage and using JTD-3B engines from an old Welsh Models kit. The original aircraft was purchased by Affretair (Rhodesia) in 1972 from Seaboard World Airlines but registered as TR-LQR in Gabon. In 1977, it was repainted in the colours of CargOman and re-registered as A40-PA in Oman as a flag of convenience. This effectively allowed the aircraft to continue being used on sanctions-busting flights from Salisbury to Libreville (Gabon), Muscat (Oman) and various points in Europe. Flights in and out of Rhodesia normally took place in the dark of the night and the aircraft was usually kept well out of sight, behind the Affretair hangar. In 1982, it officially reverted back to Affretair (Zimbabwe) ownership and re-registered first as VP-WMJ and then as Z-WMJ . It was eventually sold to Trans Air Cargo Service in 1997 and was scrapped in Kinshasa in 2005 after suffering an engine failure during landing. The decals are home-made. There's a sort of build in progress thread and a couple of additional photos here : http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234937676-minicraft-douglas-dc-8s-in-1144-one-down/ (I'm afraid it's all a bit messy, as I'm trying to build three DC-8s at the same time - not the brightest thing I've ever attempted !) Hope you like it. mike

Plasticart's interpretation,thats all I can call it, of the famous DC-8 was by far the worst kit I had/build so far from that manufacturer. Totally wrong noseshape,cabin windows much lower on one side of the fuselage than at the other,twisted parts...and so on,this one gave me more than once nightmares.It's on par qualitywise with Heller's DC-8 kit that I built some time ago. More than a year in the making,I finally got it finished. Most of the work went into the correction of the nose,to get it as accurate as possible.I reshaped the whole cockpit area,flattened and widened the "witch-nose",sanded it back as it was also too long and rescribed the air-intakes.. I rescribed also some panel-lines and flaps on the wings The rest of the look was created with decals. As the model looked very poor on its landing gear,I decided to make an inflight model,somehow like one of those from travel agencies. The display stand was obtained from a Revell 747 Panagra was a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping company and was formed in 1929 and operated throughout South America until it merged with Braniff International in 1967. I found the livery quite appealing so I ordered this decal set from F-DCAL. It matched on the kit with only little adjustments. Hope you like it, Cheers

Douglas DC-8-62 1/144 Minicraft (converted), Lima November decals. After the VC-10, the next best looking airliner is the Douglas DC-8, and the best looking of those are the shorter fuselage versions. The Minicraft DC-8 series of kits are amongst the very best airliner kits you can get, they are beautifully moulded, accurate, and have flawless fit. It's a funny thing about the Minicraft range, all the Douglas aircraft are really good, and all the Boeing ones are... well, I don't buy them. This is the 'Hawiian Air' DC-8-63 boxing, with the fuselage cut down to convert it to the shorter -62. Very helpfully the kit has engraved cut lines inside the fuselage to show you where to cut. Other than that, the construction is pretty much straight out of the box. The wings and tailplanes are such a good fit I haven't even bothered to glue them in. They just fit nice and snug on their own. I've used multiple shades of Alclad on the metal areas, and Halfords appliance white on the fuselage top. The Lima November decals come in the Longboat scheme for the versions of the DC-8 that SAS used, the 55, 62, 63, and Freighters. A huge number of fleet names & reg's are provided, along with enough cheat line for the longest, that you may need to cut down for your chosen version. That's what came out of the fuselage fore and aft of the wing; And finally, the 'With something esle' shot. This time the Airfix Caravelle generously given to me when I couldn't find one, by that true gent, Martin Hale, and finished in 26 deacls SAS scheme. Thanks for looking, John [EDIT] 11/08/2014 Wow, thanks for all the kind comments folks, it is very much appreciated. I thought airliners were very much a minority interest Thanks, Gary I can do one of those. The DC-9 & decals are in the stash waiting its turn, and the Viscount is planned, but I have this one; And then it's predecessor, the DC-7C [/EDIT] Thanks again everyone.

Well, my long term relationship with the DC-8 family has finally come to an end with my Zambia Airways DC-8-71. (Special thanks to Keefr22 for letting me have the engines on the never-return basis - now I've just got to convince him to let me have his unwanted C-17 on the same loan scheme .) Markings came from 26Decals sheet 144-145. and here's the whole "Famn Damily" built over the last year and a half : (Apologies for the quality of the photos - seasonal disorder struck big time with the lighting !) Thanks for looking. mike

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Ruben Husberg can consider himself to be well and truly flattered ! http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/18440-air-afrique-dc-8-63-1144/?hl=afrique I've always liked Air Afrique's colour scheme and Ruben's build in 2008 was an absolute corker - so much so, that I hadn't actually planned on trying to build my own. Thankfully, a right stuff up with the paintwork on my original Zambia Airways DC-8 lead me to a tough decision - either bin the kit or strip the paintwork down to the plastic and have another go with a different scheme....! Stripping the paint won the day (although it was a close call), so here's my take on TU-TCF : Air Afrique's DC-8-63F (1/144 kit by MInicraft) As for the Zambia Airways DC-8, well I ended up buying another kit anyway, and as my comparison shot, here's a "Tale of Two Tails............" (I'm hoping the Zambian 8 will land in RFI in the next week or two.) Thanks for looking. mike

December 1973, and I made my very first flight in a four-engined jet from Johannesburg to Rome - Alitalia's DC-8-43 I-DIWM "Ugolino Vivaldi" This is the 1/144 MInicraft DC-8-63 kit modified to into a DC-8-43 by shortening the fuselage and using replacement resin engines from F-Rsin. (I know they're actually engines for a DC-8-30, but they look close enough for me, and besides, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do) Fitting the engines to the wings was most unpleasant - you'd think I would have learned my lesson from the DC-8-55 build ! The Registration Codes, engine logos and "Ugolino Vivaldi" titles are home-made. The rest of the decals came from the Two Six Decals Sheet SHS4485 and lovely they were too ! There's a sort of Work in Progress thread which can be found here : http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234937676-minicraft-douglas-dc-8s-in-1144-two-down/ but because I've been building three 8s at the same time, it's all a bit messy. So there we have it. I'm pretty sure that if you use your imagination, you'll be able to see the face of a 10 year old pressed against one of the windows with excitement - that would be me. Thanks for looking. mike ...and of course, the "with something else" :

Back in July 2010, I started designing some decals for the CargOman Douglas DC-8 on this very web-site. While scratching through my lap-top recently, I stumbled on the unfinished design and with the re-release of the Minicraft DC-8, I figured out that it would be rude not to have a go at building one. Unfortunately, I deliberately ordered two of the blighters and then "accidentally" ordered a set of Ray's excellent Air Zaire decals as well (if you get my drift) !!! So here we have it : DC-8-63 of Air Zaire, DC-8-55 of CargOman and a DC-8-43 of another airline (Couldn't stop myself from ordering another Minicraft kit - they look brilliant !) So while I'm waiting for the resin engines to arrive, time to cut up the fuselages : DC-8-63 on top, fuselage cuts made (to make a DC-8-55) in the middle, and one I already glued together to make a DC-8-43 at the bottom. This is going to be madness (and slow)...... Wish me luck.