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G-DCIO British Caledonian DC-10


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My entry for this Group Build is as the title says:  a 1/144 Revell DC-10 finished in British Caledonian livery as G-DCIO with decals from Ray at 26.  So that's two references to the tenth anniversary via the aircraft type:) and also its registration:)

 

Box shot and first fill on windows:

20180128_144541

 

The rest of the parts:

20180128_144634

 

and finally the decals:

20180128_144714

 

I'm intending to build with no afterparts or any major surgery - if the shape is slightly "off" anywhere I can live with it.

 

Regards

 

Mike

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All those windows gone! Was the original idea to punch these through the cheat line decals and fill with clear parts a la Airfix? I can see windows on the decal sheet for the more up to date methodology....

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4 hours ago, Ventora3300 said:

All those windows gone! Was the original idea to punch these through the cheat line decals and fill with clear parts a la Airfix? I can see windows on the decal sheet for the more up to date methodology....

 

The original kit came with clear inserts to glue inside the fuselage and a cheatline decal with clear window apertures.  

As different airlines have different window configurations, I prefer to fill  the windows and use decals - I might order some windows from Kurt at Authentic Airliners rather than use the 26 windows.

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Well, I did say no major surgery but this one must be corrected:

 

20180131_164606

 

Top engine is as Revell supply the parts, with a peculiar "exhaust cone splitter" with vertical fins (on the DC-10-30 the engines are GE CFM6-50).........

 

........whilst below is a spare CF6-80 (from a Revell A330 kit) which matches (in general shape) all of the pictures I have looked at - although of course the front sections will be a little different and pylons are aircraft specific.

 

As the DC-10 is a Trijet, I would need to make at least one new cone - so might as well make all 3 from sprue and keep my spare pair of engines intact.

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Nice looking build. I spent some time in the cockpit of one of these talking to the pilot and flight engineer while flying to Hong Kong back in 1983. I must build mine some day as I have the Airfix kit and looks like the same decals.

 

Julien

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:popcorn: for me.

 

I have a Revell DC-10 and DC-10-30 kit in the stash ( as well as a KC-10). So looking at your parts shot Mike I assume this is a -30 kit as it has the centre gear leg included.

 

Ah, just looked at the decal shot and see it is for the -30. Right all sorted. I will have to check the engines on my kits now. I also have spare A330 engines so I  might keep those in mind when I tackle mine.

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5 hours ago, dadofthree said:

nice choice and nice livery :goodjob: if it helps I have some spare revell 747 engines you could cannibalise (8 to be precise)

Thanks for the offer re the engines - I may PM you if my fabrication skills are proved to be lacking 🤔

As for the livery, choice of decals for G-DCIO (well it had to be that airframe for this group build) was limited but that nice wide cheatline should make masking between the white / metallic fairly easy?

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On 2/1/2018 at 7:45 AM, zebra said:

That splitter is weird. I don’t recall ever seeing anything like it on the real thing, but I may be wrong. What were they thinking?

The old Revell kit depicts the early engine variant of the series 10 & 15. The "splitter" was part of an external guide system for the thrust reverser cascades to run on. You can see it clearly here on the #2 engine:

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/68/58/936858ddec6129825fdadc0d03e821bf.jpg

 

A subsequent redesign eliminated them leaving the smooth conical exhaust instead that became the standard configuration from the series 30 onwards. The series 10 and 15 were retrofitted with them later on. 

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I'll watch this with interest.  Thirty two years ago my wife and I flew to Hong Kong (Kai Tak in those days, of course) on G-BEBM "Robert Burns" and I will never forget making what the captain laconically called "the curved approach"!  I've always promised myself that one day I will use an Airfix kit from my stash to build a B Cal DC-10 so it will be interesting to see how the alternative Revell route develops.

 

It's up to you but I think Authentic Airliners windows would be a worthwhile investment.  The cockpit windows on the DC-10 are large and the "photo real" effect should make quite a difference.

 

Dave G

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2 hours ago, Scott Garard said:

The old Revell kit depicts the early engine variant of the series 10 & 15. The "splitter" was part of an external guide system for the thrust reverser cascades to run on. You can see it clearly here on the #2 engine:

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/68/58/936858ddec6129825fdadc0d03e821bf.jpg

 

A subsequent redesign eliminated them leaving the smooth conical exhaust instead that became the standard configuration from the series 30 onwards. The series 10 and 15 were retrofitted with them later on. 

 

Thanks for that link Scott, it's the first picture I've seen that reflects the kit.

 

I had wondered if it was a feature of the series 10 aircraft which never got changed in the moulds for the series 30

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32 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

I'll watch this with interest.  Thirty two years ago my wife and I flew to Hong Kong (Kai Tak in those days, of course) on G-BEBM "Robert Burns" and I will never forget making what the captain laconically called "the curved approach"!  I've always promised myself that one day I will use an Airfix kit from my stash to build a B Cal DC-10 so it will be interesting to see how the alternative Revell route develops.

 

It's up to you but I think Authentic Airliners windows would be a worthwhile investment.  The cockpit windows on the DC-10 are large and the "photo real" effect should make quite a difference.

 

Dave G

 

Hi Dave

 

I totally agree about the Authentic Airliners windows - unfortunately they didn't take any DC-10 ones to Telford, so will probably order (and MD-11 windows) in due course

 

Mike

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5 hours ago, Scott Garard said:

The old Revell kit depicts the early engine variant of the series 10 & 15. The "splitter" was part of an external guide system for the thrust reverser cascades to run on. You can see it clearly here on the #2 engine:

 

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/68/58/936858ddec6129825fdadc0d03e821bf.jpg

 

A subsequent redesign eliminated them leaving the smooth conical exhaust instead that became the standard configuration from the series 30 onwards. The series 10 and 15 were retrofitted with them later on. 

Interesting - never knew about this - and also thought thrust reversers on the hot section of a high-bypass turbofan sounded unusual, so did a little googling and found this at airlinercafe which illustrates all the differences. Also sounds like it was a nightmare to maintain and removing it improved performance, so no wonder they got rid of them.

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22 minutes ago, zebra said:

Interesting - never knew about this - and also thought thrust reversers on the hot section of a high-bypass turbofan sounded unusual, so did a little googling and found this at airlinercafe which illustrates all the differences. Also sounds like it was a nightmare to maintain and removing it improved performance, so no wonder they got rid of them.

 

Thanks Zebra, it never ceases to amaze how much members of this forum contribute! Again, this was a reference that I'd not found.

 

Mike

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Some work done trying to improve the No2 engine.....

 

Original "outer cone" shortened and a new inner made from sprue - a bit small in diameter.  Still to experiment with the A330 parts and also now some 747 parts courtesy of "DadofThree"

 

20180207_183711

 

Meanwhile a suitable length of brass tube used for the intake....

 

20180207_183722

 

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On 2/3/2018 at 6:12 AM, zebra said:

Interesting - never knew about this - and also thought thrust reversers on the hot section of a high-bypass turbofan sounded unusual, so did a little googling and found this at airlinercafe which illustrates all the differences. Also sounds like it was a nightmare to maintain and removing it improved performance, so no wonder they got rid of them.

Great reference article. I have all 3 variants of the Revell DC-10. This will come in handy

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Fuselage now closed up and am in the process of seam removal

 

20180211_143041

 

There was an annoying "short fill" on the rear RH above the engine but nothing that can't be filled.

 

The kit requires the centre underwing section (which doesn't locate positively) to be added first and then to attach the upper / outer lower section to each side. I've removed the bottom of the slot for the upper wing sections, so it would be possible to assemble the whole wing and then attach it if that gives a better fit.

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Having done a trial fit of wings to fuselage, there are GAPS on both sides...

20180213_110312

 

the design doesn't allow this to be closed, so have glued in the centre underwing and will try some plasticard shim on the inner edges of the upper wings before adding them.

 

Hopefully, this way will give a neater joint when finished but the next instalment will show if I'm correct!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Main airframe is now complete...........

 

20180304_151448

 

The upper wing root joints have worked out quite well - Strips of plasticard glued to the inner edges and then sanded to profile before attaching them and then Vallejo plastic putty to fill any small gaps

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