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As I'm only involved in the Lockheed Group Build over the next two months, I thought that I would try to build my MD-11 alongside the Tristar.

It will certainly be finished as one of those in the KLM fleet that I've flown on - probably PH-KCD "Florence Nightingale" but perhaps PH-KCE "Audrey Hepburn"

 

The kit comes with decals for the later (narrow cheatline) livery but I've also got the 26Decals for the delivery scheme with the wide blue & white cheatline - which would be much easier to mask / paint.

 

So far the four sections of the fuselage have been assembled:

20190413_151026

The two port sections were glued together on a sheet of glass - although this still left a small gap on the outside of the joint.

The two starboard parts didn't fit as well, so I added the tail section to the complete port side first and then the forward section.

20190413_151044

The above photo shows the results of an initial round of filling, sanding, priming and rescribing - not too bad (sorry forgot to take a photo before starting this process)

 

20190413_151416

Looking at the side profile some more filler is needed just above the red ball

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

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The tail section is now almost complete:

 

20190416_144322

 

The front intake ring is just a push fit at the moment - all three can be painted chrome and then just pushed into place - a nice bit of design.

On all three engines the rear disc that the cone fits onto is too large but that is easily fixed.

 

One point to be aware of; the horiz stabs fit into the fuselage with two pegs but there is no mention of opening up the holes in the fuselage sides - luckily their positions could be seen from the outside with the aid of a torch shining inside the fuselage.

 

Most of the sub-assemblies (wings, horiz stabs, wheels, undercarriage legs) are also built and awaiting finishing off neatly.

 

In the background the Tristar is in the process of glueing the fuselage halves together - the MD-11 is a much better fit.

 

Mike

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The centre "underbelly" fuselage section and top wing sections are now in place:

 

20190423_181339

 

I've obviously deviated from the suggested method of construction ie glue the wing halves together and then fit them onto the "spar" …………

 

The centre section was wider than the joined fuselage (and shallower too) but fitting the spar does spring out the edges of the fuselage - although the slots in the spar needed to be filed slightly wider.

At this point a trial fit exerting finger pressure on the centre section to squeeze its sides inwards meant that its curvature increased and just about matched that of the main fuselage, so I cemented one side of the centre section and 24h later fixed the opposite side with a few drops of superglue whilst squeezing (and making sure my fingers weren't near the glue!).

 

Fixing the top wing sections next meant that I could really clamp them to the spar whilst the cement set - hopefully this should give an identical dihedral on each side.  There was a small gap at each root but some Vallejo PPP has filled them quickly.

 

One lower wing is now glued and clamped, so will update again when both are in place.

 

 

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I can’t pass the L-1011, DC-10 and MD-11 builds. The first two are my favorites, but the latter one is a well-shaped, too. It’s a mesmerizing planes, and I’d like to fly them.

 

Nice progress so far! 👍 It looks like these kits from EE are very impressive.

 

Cheers! 😺

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And a couple of photos of the attached wings

 

20190424_17315820190424_173235

 

Underside joints yet to be filled.

Winglets are also attached.  I wasn't sure of the correct angle but diagrams on the net suggest about 110 degrees on the top surface so one of my many thin plastic protractors was cut to size.

 

The next step is to tidy up all of the joints so the next update will probably be sometime next week.

 

The instructions call for the nose gear leg to be inserted before the fuselage is closed; I did and inevitably broke it but think it is salvaged with superglue.  If it breaks again I'll go with some brass rod & tube for the leg.

 

Mike

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Main gear legs held in place with blue-tac to check it isn't a "tail sitter" (and the wing engines are in front of the main gear to add further forward moment)

 

20190425_165433

 

Time to get the canopy section in place and then check all the seams

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On ‎4‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 8:39 PM, Nikolay Polyakov said:

I can’t pass the L-1011, DC-10 and MD-11 builds. The first two are my favorites, but the latter one is a well-shaped, too. It’s a mesmerizing planes, and I’d like to fly them.

 

Nice progress so far! 👍 It looks like these kits from EE are very impressive.

 

Cheers! 😺

 

Thanks Nikolay.

 

There has been some discussion of "how good are" Eastern Express kits here.  This (and the Tristar I'm currently building here) are like a lot of kits from smaller companies (or limited runs) - it's necessary to check the fit carefully and be creative when it doesn't fit!

 

Just to complete the set of wide bodied triples, this is my DC-10 from last year's Anniversary group build.  My first ever transatlantic flight was in an American Airlines DC-10-30 but I didn't find out until after this model was built, otherwise it probably wouldn't have been in Caledonian livery,

 

Mike

 

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3 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

This (and the Tristar I'm currently building here) are like a lot of kits from smaller companies (or limited runs) - it's necessary to check the fit carefully and be creative when it doesn't fit!

Thanks, Mike! I had read some information about their L-1011-200 and MD-11 - these kits is very attractive to me. But I need to build another kits from the growing stash before...

 

3 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

Just to complete the set of wide bodied triples, this is my DC-10 from last year's Anniversary group build.

Checked it - very lovely old Revell kit - turned to a great plane! 👍

 

3 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

My first ever transatlantic flight was in an American Airlines DC-10-30 but I didn't find out until after this model was built, otherwise it probably wouldn't have been in Caledonian livery,

An American Airlines livery is my favorite on these planes, because of a lot of unpainted aluminum there. You’re a lucky one!

 

Cheers!:cat:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Like the Tristar, this one is getting close to the point where a final prime & micromesh of the fuselage is close

 

20190505_190258

 

Once I'm 100% happy with the finish I'll prime the fuselage top and tailfin in white prior to the final paint finish

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  • 2 months later...

After two months some progress:

 

The basic painting is now done; Halfords racking Grey over white primer for the wings and lower fuselage, Appliance White for the tail fin and Tamiya TS-23 Light Blue for the upper fuselage

 

20190804_185347

 

I'm going with the delivery livery ie white and broad dark blue cheat line.  So having sprayed the grey first, I then masked about 4mm above the grey (the width of the white part of the cheat line) before spraying the blue.  As it happens there was almost no bleed under the tape so I might have got away with the doing final livery with the narrow dark blue cheat line.

 

Next task is to mask off and spray the leading edges - not forgetting to paint the horiz rear stabs grey first so that all the aluminium can be done at the same time..

 

Progress will be slow as I have two Phantoms in the STGB and have just realised that the "In the year I was born" GB started yesterday.

 

Regards

 

Mike

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Looking good Mike, hope you've got lots of shelf space for all these widebodies!

I never thought to look at Tamiya for KLM blue I'll have to remember TS-23.

Does this aircraft have coroguard?

Soon be decal time! I've got a spare ready just in case the :poo::phew:!!

Cheers,

Ian

 

Edited by Turbofan
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I've somehow missed this thread until now. The MD-11 is looking fantastic!

 

I just wish I'd seen your way of attaching the wings when I was struggling with the kit a couple of years ago. I found the general fit absolutely awful and I eventually gave up on it when I couldn't get the wings to fit no matter what I did. After about a year in the corner of the loft it was binned in a purge of models I knew I'd never finish. Respect from me for making such a superb job of a "challenging" kit.  I look forward to the finished result.

 

Dave G

 

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Looking GREAT, Mike! Go! Go! Go! Really good to see the TS-23...it looks just about right. How are the gear and engines coming along? I am really interested in this particular kit. So many have said good things about it, and so many have said not-so-good things about it......passionate one way or the other, not much "meh" for the in between. Yours is looking quite fine. :yes:

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20 hours ago, Turbofan said:

🤔😅Looking good Mike, hope you've got lots of shelf space for all these widebodies!

I never thought to look at Tamiya for KLM blue I'll have to remember TS-23.

Does this aircraft have coroguard?

Soon be decal time! I've got a spare ready just in case the :poo::phew:!!

Cheers,

Ian

 

The DC-10 and Tristar just fit in my display cabinet, so this one should too.

 

TS-23 was one of many suggestions found via an internet search, so I went with it as it was in a rattle can - and it went on really well.  TS-10 is also possible but slightly darker.

As the blue in photos online looks different shades in different pictures depending on the lighting conditions, I don't think that the exact shade used is too critical.

 

Coroguard decals are included in the kit but will try to get the doors to slide on this one :thumbsup:

 

Mike

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20 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

I've somehow missed this thread until now. The MD-11 is looking fantastic!

 

I just wish I'd seen your way of attaching the wings when I was struggling with the kit a couple of years ago. I found the general fit absolutely awful and I eventually gave up on it when I couldn't get the wings to fit no matter what I did. After about a year in the corner of the loft it was binned in a purge of models I knew I'd never finish. Respect from me for making such a superb job of a "challenging" kit.  I look forward to the finished result.

 

Dave G

 

Hi Dave

 

Respect from you is appreciated - thanks

 

Mike

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19 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Looks good!

Thanks Phil, it's been waiting in primer for some time whilst I decided which shade of blue to use.

17 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Nice work Mike, have you decided on which KLM scheme to go with? I have read about colour issues with the kit decals, the dark dividing line in particular.

Hi Ray

 

Yes the kit cheat line looks too black to me.  So I've gone for the delivery scheme and decals from Ray at 26.

19 hours ago, Challenger350Pilot said:

Looking GREAT, Mike! Go! Go! Go! Really good to see the TS-23...it looks just about right. How are the gear and engines coming along? I am really interested in this particular kit. So many have said good things about it, and so many have said not-so-good things about it......passionate one way or the other, not much "meh" for the in between. Yours is looking quite fine. :yes:

Thanks.  As I said in my reply to Turbofan the blue certainly matches the shade in some photos I've looked at, so it will do for me.

The engines are painted grey but still need the metal parts to be done.  In most photos they look to be a lighter shade than the lower fuselage so I applied a thinner coat of Racking Grey to them.  They are probably a bit too dark but are lighter than the fuselage - will post some photos when they are finished.

The gear is still in lots of pieces in the box and I broke the nose gear leg yet again, so will need to make one up from either plastic or brass rod & tube.

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Wheels and legs now primed:

 

20190806_151411

 

I cut off all the stub axles on the main gear wheels and drilled into the rear hub on each one, so that I can use brass rod axles.  Also drilled out the axle boxes on the legs a bit oversize compared to the rod I'm going to use; hopefully this will allow the axles to "float" in the bottom of the legs so that all the wheels touch the ground.  Time will tell if this theory works!

 

The white aerial fret in shot gives a clue to a smaller airliner that just needs all the antennae attached before it will appear in RFI.

 

Mike

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36 minutes ago, FortyEighter said:

smaller airliner that just needs all the antennae attached before it will appear in RFI.

 

Daco 737 by any chance Mike? Won't be too long then looking forward to that. Which livery?

Good idea with the oversized holes!

Cheers,

Ian

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17 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Daco 737 by any chance Mike? Won't be too long then looking forward to that. Which livery?

Good idea with the oversized holes!

Cheers,

Ian

I thought you might spot the Daco fret Ian - yes a 737-4Q8 in BA "World Tails" but will leave you guessing which design for now.

 

The oversize holes will only work, of course, as long as I glue the wheels to the axles but NOT the axles to the gear legs.

 

Mike

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