McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30

[Gimme Shelter]

Something I have been hiding in amongst all the other builds I am working on is this beautiful old Hasegawa 1/200 original Love Liner200 series McDonnell DC-10-30. At the time of release and despite the 1/200 scale, I felt this to be above and beyond the accuracy of both Revell and Airfix's 1/144 DC-10 kits, and to date, I still do however Welsh Models and Authentic Airliners DC-10s have both far outranked the likes of Revell and Airfix.

 

This particular kit is one of 10 Hasegawa DC-10's I have in my stash, one of which was purchased part (and very badly) built which makes it a spares kit in case any of my stash turn out to be missing parts from storage and their previous owners.

 

Starting life as an Alitalia DC10, I am building this as in a 'What-If' Livery and are using the assembled tail fin and centre engine assembly from the model I have that was supplied already part built, as a guideline for a new tail plane livery. I was also glad it was supplied part built as it immediately highlighted the centre engine and tail fin interior crusty looks which needed attention.

 

I've purchased 3 sets of Nazca Decals detailing sets for some of these stashed DC-10's of mine and will be using one set on this along with the collection of bits I have in mind for the 'What-If' finished livery.

 

So if you are a DC10, tri-jet or 70's widebody civil fan, sit back and enjoy please...

 

 

 

 

The picture below starts to highlight the issue with the tail fin and centre engine as 2 parts prior to assembly - the insides of the tail fin are hollow and the M & F joint lugs will all become very visible when joined.

 

 

Using the parts from the half assembled spares kit of the same, I took these photos to show what the centre engine would have looked like without any attention - the hollow tail fin and lugs very much visible even in 1/200 scale.

 

 

 

 

So with 2 options to follow i.e. fill the tail fin hollows and remove the M&F join lugs before assembly, or fit an infill skirt, I chose the latter. Inserting the infill tube also left the engine intake with a nice and smooth inner surface as the kits engine interior was horrific.

 

Using some Evergreen 0.5 inch tube, an inner sleeve was made easily, snug and looks great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not sure if the extra tubing might make this a tail-sitter so I popped a couple of blobs of lead up front as a make-safe

 

 

 

 

I know its lazy using corroguard decals but it is also a challenge getting them in place and flat so I prefer to have a bash if I have the correct decals in stock

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am actually one main wheel short now as I swallowed one by accident while eating tic-tacs from the work bench at the same time as un-masking these - my hands got out of sink

 

 

 

 

So that's where it is. With the BA Negus 737 and TU144 both on the go at the same time, I am unsure how soon this will progress but I really love the kit - just as much as that Hasegawa L1011 I completed a week or so back.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

John

 

 

[pinky coffeeboat]

I'm replying before even reading your post - love it!!!

 

OK, now read the post. I like the intake tube, much better looking than those horrible locating pins. I've used the Nazca corrogard decals on my Hasegawa DC-10 and L1011 joint build a few years ago; wasn't totally convinced...

 

 

 

This was as far as my DC-10 got

 

 

This was when i still had optimism that the kits windows would "kinda" match up with the decals but as you can see they don't. I will strip it but Ray 26decals doesn't currently have the BCal sheet listed, so I'll wait. The TriStar was to be in the rival BA colours, just like the one you've just done!!

 

 

 

So I'll be following this one again, sorry for the hijack!

 

Jeff

Edited February 20, 2019 by pinky coffeeboat

[Gimme Shelter]

38 minutes ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

I'm replying before even reading your post - love it!!!

 

OK, now read the post. I like the intake tube, much better looking than those horrible locating pins. I've used the Nazca corrogard decals on my Hasegawa DC-10 and L1011 joint build a few years ago; wasn't totally convinced...

 

 

 

This was as far as my DC-10 got

 

 

This was when i still had optimism that the kits windows would "kinda" match up with the decals but as you can see they don't. I will strip it but Ray 26decals doesn't currently have the BCal sheet listed, so I'll wait. The TriStar was to be in the rival BA colours, just like the one you've just done!!

 

 

 

So I'll be following this one again, sorry for the hijack!

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff

 

Thanks for joining in and I 100% agree about Nazca Corroguard - they make superb detailing sets but the corroguard elements are fickle and don't fit the contours of the kits surface detail. You either have to smooth off the surface detail and use the Nazca corroguard decal, or use the type I used on my DC10 which have a 100% fit but lack the beauty and shading of the Nazca set.

 

Looking forward to your BCAL DC10 and the photo of your BA Negus L1011 is identical to mine was when at the same stage - that's when I decided to fill the doors in on future kits as most decals sets don't fit the kits. I was in correspondence with Ray at 26Decals on the 18th about the BA BOAC 747-400 and he has knocked me out 2 sets - so get in touch directly as he can be very accommodating if you are happy to have a laser variant of something specific.

 

Here is his test mock-up which I ordered from him - fresh from the day of the 747's arrival at LHR too - I'd also like to get my hands on Ray's test kit as that was the only variant of the 747 that Hasegawa made with RR RB211-5's engines.

 

 

Hijack away all you like, the more civil stiff going on here the better...

[pinky coffeeboat]

I may be wrong (again) but I saw on ebay a set of resin RB211 for the Hasegawa 747. They may be from Braz or ToptierHobby (check seller kitshobby2011 based in Hong Kong). Recently I bought a Hasegawa QANTAS boxing confident in it having the RB211 engines; be careful as it included GE engines instead. (I think QANTAS have a few GE engined 747 in their fleet)

I like what BA have done on their retro 747s, well so far and am looking forward to seeing the others. I may give Ray a call to see if he could fire out a set of BCal markings, either early or late schemes. They were laser printed so no problems in that area.

 

Jeff

[Space Ranger]

2 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

I am actually one main wheel short now as I swallowed one by accident while eating tic-tacs from the work bench …

Just wait 24-48 hours and it'll come out all right.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

2 hours ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

I may be wrong (again) but I saw on ebay a set of resin RB211 for the Hasegawa 747. They may be from Braz or ToptierHobby (check seller kitshobby2011 based in Hong Kong). Recently I bought a Hasegawa QANTAS boxing confident in it having the RB211 engines; be careful as it included GE engines instead. (I think QANTAS have a few GE engined 747 in their fleet)

I like what BA have done on their retro 747s, well so far and am looking forward to seeing the others. I may give Ray a call to see if he could fire out a set of BCal markings, either early or late schemes. They were laser printed so no problems in that area.

 

Jeff

Nice progress on your DC-10 John! Looking forward to seeing it finished.

 

I was in touch with Ray at 26 on another subject (BA 757 in the Negus scheme which he said maybe re-released later in the year) but see he already has the 1/144 Retro BOAC sheets on his new release list.

 

Jeff, Hasegawa's boxing stuff pre-empted QANTAS's the purchase of different engine choice by about 7 years which ended up, fortunately, being GEs (9 aircraft as I recall). I was caught out with the initial issue having the GEs in it but managed to get the RR boxed engines eventually. Both long gone from the stash now.

[Gimme Shelter]

14 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Just wait 24-48 hours and it'll come out all right.

one of the spare kits solved that problem!

[Gimme Shelter]

15 hours ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

I may be wrong (again) but I saw on ebay a set of resin RB211 for the Hasegawa 747. They may be from Braz or ToptierHobby (check seller kitshobby2011 based in Hong Kong). Recently I bought a Hasegawa QANTAS boxing confident in it having the RB211 engines; be careful as it included GE engines instead. (I think QANTAS have a few GE engined 747 in their fleet)

I like what BA have done on their retro 747s, well so far and am looking forward to seeing the others. I may give Ray a call to see if he could fire out a set of BCal markings, either early or late schemes. They were laser printed so no problems in that area.

 

Jeff

 

This is a good topic going on here, and one of the main reasons I have not yet started to move onto my 1/200 747-400's which will require shodding up with RR's or converting any of my old 747-100's, 200's and 300's kits into liveries that carried our mighty Rollers on their wings.

 

Mr Braz wont make them any more - I did ask him in person at Telford last year but he told me the market wasn't there for anything in 1/200 scale any longer and is sticking to 1/144 only. So I invested in a few orders from Contrails resin sets of the RR RB211 classic and latter -400 RB211 534 long skirted engines for my 1/200 kits.

 

Ordering them from Contrails in the US, the stock was crisp, however the Honk Kong seller was selling recasts which need a lot of additional heat treatment and rear end tidying up. I have stock enough for roughly 23 kit engine conversions now in stock but I can see that I am going to have to make changes to the engine support arms on any 767 RR conversion  

 

 

1/200 Contrails compared to 1/144 Braz engines below

 

 

 

 

 

[pinky coffeeboat]

Looks like the RR factory.

I got a set of Contrail engines included with a 1/200 777 purchase from eBay. I wasn't too impressed with them and they went in the bin. I didn't know they were being recast in HK, mmmh not good if you know what I mean. 

It's a pity Braz have stopped the 200th range and Jennings Heilig said over on Airlnercafe that he wont produce decals in this scale either - no demand. Another pity as I really like it but a couple of us who model this scale can't sustain what is an already tiny % of the model market.

 

Thanks to you (again) I've dug out my "stalled a few years ago" Hasegawa 773 and am now continuing with it - 

 

 

Many thanks

 

Jeff

[Gimme Shelter]

1 hour ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

Looks like the RR factory.

I got a set of Contrail engines included with a 1/200 777 purchase from eBay. I wasn't too impressed with them and they went in the bin. I didn't know they were being recast in HK, mmmh not good if you know what I mean. 

It's a pity Braz have stopped the 200th range and Jennings Heilig said over on Airlnercafe that he wont produce decals in this scale either - no demand. Another pity as I really like it but a couple of us who model this scale can't sustain what is an already tiny % of the model market.

 

Thanks to you (again) I've dug out my "stalled a few years ago" Hasegawa 773 and am now continuing with it - 

 

 

Many thanks

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff

 

looking forward to seeing that Trippler of yours completed and is that the old A300 wing section in the background too. Our main problem I think with decals is, is that the good old original Love Liner 200 series 727, Tristar, DC10, MD11, A300, DC8 and classic Jumbos are all out of production making the decal market for these very limited.

 

I am sure you know of them but Draw Decals do have a very good range and FDCAL (Phillipe) is very accommodating when you want a specific livery in a specific scale - he did me some great BA Chatham decals for a 773 last month and I ended up using them with Nazca and 26Decal sets from memory.

 

Interesting to see, you assemble the whole of your aircraft first - I do this as standard on 1/144 but find the Hasegawa 1/200 so well engineered that I normally build and paint them in sections and make the wing assembly the last part of the completed assembly process

[pinky coffeeboat]

Thanks John,

 

The 773 was started about 2 years ago and got as far as everything ready for primer - the main wings are the only bits attached, engines and tail planes just added for the photo. You're right in saying that the models are so well engineered that all parts can be added after painting, that's the approach I used with my DC-10 & L1011 posted earlier - don't you just love that? Cheatlines can be positioned more accurately without those blasted wings getting in the way!

The intention for this one is to become an American Airlines example using DrawDecals, really great decals. Philippe has rescaled a couple of decals to 200 for me (one was Gulf Air TriStar, can't remember the others).

In the back ground is a set of wings for the Revell 737-800 - for all its faults, compared to my Zvezda 737s it doesn't have warped wings like they all do and I've got quite a few Braz replacement engines for it and the dozen or so other Revell 738 I've got. It should end up as SpiceJet (8a decals).

The Roden 720 lurking in the background too will become either Maersk or Ecuatoriana (both 26decals). Like the Revell 738, for all its apparent "faults", I like it too. Its just the right size and easy to make - just like Hasegawas Love Liners.

 

Jeff

[Gimme Shelter]

19 minutes ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

Thanks John,

 

The 773 was started about 2 years ago and got as far as everything ready for primer - the main wings are the only bits attached, engines and tail planes just added for the photo. You're right in saying that the models are so well engineered that all parts can be added after painting, that's the approach I used with my DC-10 & L1011 posted earlier - don't you just love that? Cheatlines can be positioned more accurately without those blasted wings getting in the way!

The intention for this one is to become an American Airlines example using DrawDecals, really great decals. Philippe has rescaled a couple of decals to 200 for me (one was Gulf Air TriStar, can't remember the others).

In the back ground is a set of wings for the Revell 737-800 - for all its faults, compared to my Zvezda 737s it doesn't have warped wings like they all do and I've got quite a few Braz replacement engines for it and the dozen or so other Revell 738 I've got. It should end up as SpiceJet (8a decals).

The Roden 720 lurking in the background too will become either Maersk or Ecuatoriana (both 26decals). Like the Revell 738, for all its apparent "faults", I like it too. Its just the right size and easy to make - just like Hasegawas Love Liners.

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff

 

looking forward to seeing the Roden kit done - and the AA 773 - I found some decals for mine last night (the light blue version) but I cannot remember where they came from. I also found a set of Hobbit and Lord of The Rings 777 and 747 sets which need using, and also my Iron Maiden Book of Souls set. I wish the old bright red Qantas 747 Wunala livery was available, and perhaps some of those beautiful old SA decorative liveries too

[pinky coffeeboat]

Warning thread drift - saw this beauty this morning

 

 

Looked very nice (even from 28,000 feet below!). 

 

Jeff

[Gimme Shelter]

21 hours ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

Warning thread drift - saw this beauty this morning

 

 

Looked very nice (even from 28,000 feet below!). 

 

Jeff

I've seen her in our LHR skies only once so far - she stands out a treat

 

[Gimme Shelter]

The DC10 is complete in her 'what-if' livery. I wont spoil the surprise until the home made registration decals have been applied and she has been photographed ready for the RFI pages, but as a sneak peak, here you go

 

 

As soon as it is photographed properly, I will stick it on the RFI forum pages

 

[FortyEighter]

That looks like a well known airline's current livery to me!

[Gimme Shelter]

57 minutes ago, FortyEighter said:

That looks like a well known airline's current livery to me!

its just about to go up on the RFI pages - no hiding anything from you I see !

 

[kitshoby2011]

On 2/21/2019 at 5:47 PM, Gimme Shelter said:

 

This is a good topic going on here, and one of the main reasons I have not yet started to move onto my 1/200 747-400's which will require shodding up with RR's or converting any of my old 747-100's, 200's and 300's kits into liveries that carried our mighty Rollers on their wings.

 

Mr Braz wont make them any more - I did ask him in person at Telford last year but he told me the market wasn't there for anything in 1/200 scale any longer and is sticking to 1/144 only. So I invested in a few orders from Contrails resin sets of the RR RB211 classic and latter -400 RB211 534 long skirted engines for my 1/200 kits.

 

Ordering them from Contrails in the US, the stock was crisp, however the Honk Kong seller was selling recasts which need a lot of additional heat treatment and rear end tidying up. I have stock enough for roughly 23 kit engine conversions now in stock but I can see that I am going to have to make changes to the engine support arms on any 767 RR conversion  

  

 

1/200 Contrails compared to 1/144 Braz engines below

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, I am the ebay seller kitshobby2011. Do you mean I am selling recasts (or copied) Contrails resin engine set in eBay? Please allow me to explain. I NEVER sell any recasts (or copied) products. All Contrails products were direct imported from Contrails Model. If there is significant quality different between the resin you bought from me and Contrails Model. Can you take some photo of both set? I will talk with Contrails Model what is going on........

 

For you information, I also selling Braz products. Before I imported Contrails resin engines, I was selling Braz and I did sell Braz 1/200 747 engine in 2014 but all were sold out within a year (2015). However, I unable to restock Braz 1/200 engines anymore because Braz already stop the production. In Hong Kong, 1/200 scale is more popular than 1/144 and Cathay Pacific 747s are using RR engines. That's why I imported Contrails Model to fulfill Hong Kong modeler. To be honest, compared with Braz. Contrails product's quality is not good but it seems the only 1/200 747 RR engines in the market. 

 

Please excuse my poor English.

[Gimme Shelter]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:59 PM, kitshoby2011 said:

Hello, I am the ebay seller kitshobby2011. Do you mean I am selling recasts (or copied) Contrails resin engine set in eBay? Please allow me to explain. I NEVER sell any recasts (or copied) products. All Contrails products were direct imported from Contrails Model. If there is significant quality different between the resin you bought from me and Contrails Model. Can you take some photo of both set? I will talk with Contrails Model what is going on........

 

For you information, I also selling Braz products. Before I imported Contrails resin engines, I was selling Braz and I did sell Braz 1/200 747 engine in 2014 but all were sold out within a year (2015). However, I unable to restock Braz 1/200 engines anymore because Braz already stop the production. In Hong Kong, 1/200 scale is more popular than 1/144 and Cathay Pacific 747s are using RR engines. That's why I imported Contrails Model to fulfill Hong Kong modeler. To be honest, compared with Braz. Contrails product's quality is not good but it seems the only 1/200 747 RR engines in the market. 

 

Please excuse my poor English.

Here is the photo of the engines you supplied me which did not pass any quality control wherever they were made

 

 

Being a modeller, I have no issues with some sanding and filling but the above is a bit and beyond the limits anyone would expect for the price paid

Bei

[kitshoby2011]

On 3/11/2019 at 5:17 PM, Gimme Shelter said:

Here is the photo of the engines you supplied me which did not pass any quality control wherever they were made

 



 

Being a modeller, I have no issues with some sanding and filling but the above is a bit and beyond the limits anyone would expect for the price paid

Bei

Thanks for you reply. I checked the remain stock on my hand. Also found 2 engines have same issue. I apologize for this. I can send the replacement to you, please send a message thru eBay messages. Please allow me to clarify again that I never recasts (or copied) products. I run my eBay store after work. It already occupied my time. If I have time, I wish to spend it on building model.

 

FYI, before I imported Contrails resin engines. I discussed with Toptier Hobby for producing 1/200 RR engines (Toptier Hobby made a 1/144 A330 RR Trent 700 engines). However, they turned down to produce any resin engines because it is not profitable than producing resin car models. Contrails become the only one in the market.