The Grandfather of them all: DC-1 in 1/144

[Jessica]

Do I really need to spend any amount of time detailing the history of the airplane which led to Douglas' domination of passenger aviation for 26 years and a significant fraction of the jetliner market? Oh, all right.

Are you seated comfortably? Then we'll begin.

TWA created history when they attempted to buy Boeing 247s and ran afoul of Boeing's ties with United Air Transport. Turning to other manufacturers, TWA issued a specification for an all-metal trimotor airliner which could take off at any airport along TWA's routes with one engine out. Donald Douglas' young company, filled with some of the greatest aeronautical engineers of the day, met the specification with a twin-engined aircraft, something which nobody else had thought possible. The DC-1 was almost immediately a world-beater, and the design was put into service with TWA as the slightly longer DC-2 which was able to carry 14 passengers instead of the DC-1's 12.

After being used as a test aircraft by TWA and Douglas, the DC-1 was sold to Lord Forbes in the UK in May of 1938. A few months later it was sold on in France and then in November was sold to Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas (L.A.P.E.) in Spain. There it was operated by the Republican Air Force and later on by Iberia. The DC-1 was damaged beyond repair in a crash landing in December, 1940 at Malaga. Legend has it that parts of the DC-1 are used in one of Malaga's churches to carry a statue of the Virgin Mary during processionals.

On with the build. A few months ago, the Postie delivered these

and I wrote a review about them. Now it's time to get building.

The DC-1 was lengthened by 2 feet ahead of the wing to create the DC-2. The kit being a DC-2 will need to be shortened accordingly. In 1/144, 2 ft is roughly 4 mm. I've marked a 4 mm band on the forward fuselage to show where the cuts must be made.

Luckily this area is uncontaminated by panel lines. After cutting, I discovered that there will be a bit of a step given the taper of the forward fuselage. I'll line up the roof line, and confine the fiddling to the underside. This can be achieved by a bit of sanding and polishing given the thickness of the resin in that area. Here's the shortened fuselage as compared to the stock DC-2 fuselage above it. The nose is not yet glued to the remainder of the fuselage. The difference in length is immediately apparent.

This is all that is necessary to convert a DC-2 into the DC-1. Now the task which remains is finishing the kit and painting. I had a custom set of registrations drawn up by Vintage Flyer Decals which will be combined with the TWA markings from the kit to portray the DC-1 during its time with TWA.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Jessica

[Col.]

Excellent choice of subject and kudos to you for bravery by wielding the razor saw towards an expensive kit in order to achive it.

[Martian]

I shall be following this one as it looks very interesting.

Martin

[John_W]

When I hear DC1 I always think of the Bob Newhart monologue about budget airlines

[Wolfpack]

When I hear DC1 I always think of the Bob Newhart monologue about budget airlines

That would be the 'Grace L Ferguson Airlines' then.

W

[Graeme H]

Very intresting model, will be watching this

I have the same kit, but more intrested in thbe DC2's

[bootneck]

Thanks Jessica, will be following this as I have two DC-2's but not thought about building both.

Now, following this thread, I can also do a DC-1

cheers

[Jessica]

Thanks Jessica, will be following this as I have two DC-2's but not thought about building both.

Now, following this thread, I can also do a DC-1

cheers

Michael can do registrations, windows and whatever you like for your DC-1. If you supply him with pictures, he'll probably be able to do it in any of its other incarnations as well.

[VG 33]

Very interesting. It could be usefull to make the same cut in one of the many MPM 1/72 DC-2 kits available.

Patrick

[Jessica]

You'll need to have a plan to deal with the step in the lower fuselage caused by the curve under the nose. In 1/144 it's just about the thickness of the resin fuselage halves so in 1/72 it would be much more pronounced. I think that packing the inside with Milliput would be advised. After everything dries the area can be shaped properly. Of course the section to be removed would be 8 mm instead of 4...

[Jessica]

On to the windows. The fit is less than exceptional, but since I'm going to be using decals it's a moot proposition. Flood in the superglue. Yes, they're supposed to stick up like that.

And check the outside. Lots of room for cleaning up.

A quick little bit of building later and we have a closed up fuselage and the wings are on.

Add the tailplanes and we have an airplane!


Once it's all hardened up I'll give it a coat of primer and see how much filling needs to be done.

[Jessica]

Okay, I couldn't resist putting on some putty first.


As far as it goes, this isn't an extreme amount of putty. I've built several resin kits which require much more than this.

I'm a little worried about engine #1. It looks as though it slipped a little before the glue set up. I may have to pop it off and reposition it.

[Jessica]

Now wearing primer and nose to nose with a DC-2 I'm building in parallel.

[VG 33]

Very good job here on both. I think the DC-2 looks more beautiful with her longer fuselage.

You're right with the windows the best way to reproduce them in 1/144 is to put decals on.

You are fast to build.

Patrick

[rs2man]

That would be the 'Grace L Ferguson Airlines' then.

W

If I remember correctly , it's the Mrs Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company

[Jessica]

Now that I've unpacked the rest of my paint, I got some grey primer on the kit. Here it is sitting beside the DC-2 once again.

There's still lots of room for improvement.

[Jessica]

Oops. The silver reacted with the undercoat.

I think that I need to think about how to solve this. Perhaps some Rub'n Buff over an acryllic barrier coat?

[VG 33]

Hi

Is your silver from a rattle can?

So maybe the flow was too heavy and consequently too much thinner covered the previous paint.

Some times ago I had the same trouble with gloss coat.

For natural metal the best way is from an airbrush, even a low cost one. As I made with my B-18 Bolo.

Patrick

[Jessica]

I think that I didn't let the acrylic primer cure completely enough. I'm going to leave it alone for a couple of days, sand it down, and try again.

[madaboutmodels]

Looking good so far Jess :-)

[Col.]

Hope you were able to save the paintwork Jessica.

[Jessica]

Not without some self-inflicted troubles. The subsequent coat of primer orange-peeled and ran all over the place so I'm probably going to have to strip is all off and try again.

[Martian]

You could well be right about not having let the undercoat cure long enough. The effect you have experienced should not have happened especially f you used an acrylic undercoat I would always us an airbrush in preference to a rattle can as you have much more control.

Martin