Building a Minicraft DC-8-61

[Challenger350Pilot]

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!

[Graeme H]

Outstanding stuff going on here 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Nice work, that wing looks lovely under paint.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Good building there!

Cheers

[DMC]

Yikes!  Steady hands required with that Dremel.

 

Dennis

Edited July 29, 2019 by DMC
Idiot spelling mistake

[Bronzemeister]

Very nice looking so far!  Is a United livery in the future for this bird?

 

ps.  Love the spray booth!

[Challenger350Pilot]

9 hours ago, Bronzemeister said:

Is a United livery in the future for this bird?

She's going to be finished in Delta Air Lines livery, ca. 1967. 

[Skodadriver]

Some exceptionally fine work going on here although I'm not sure I'd want a Dremel just quite so close to my fingers 

 

I'll follow with interest since I have a DC-8 in my "waiting to start" pile. I'm also glad to find another believer in the "TLAR" principle!

 

I may be missing it but I can't see which PE set you used. I've never been a great fan of PE which I've sometimes found to be more bother than it's worth but the undercarriage really looks amazing and I might give it another go.

 

Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

Dave G

 

 

[Challenger350Pilot]

3 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

I'm not sure I'd want a Dremel just quite so close to my fingers

Ha! That picture was posed for the WIP. My fingers were well clear. 

 

3 hours ago, Skodadriver said:

I may be missing it but I can't see which PE set you used. I've never been a great fan of PE which I've sometimes found to be more bother than it's worth but the undercarriage really looks amazing and I might give it another go.

 

 

Thank you for the kind words! I used the ExtraTech DC-8-63 PE parts, ordered from Hannants. Its a pretty good set, but oh so small. Included are all the gear doors, which are thin and non-imposing. Those will go on nearly last. I use PE parts pretty often, but only if they can be seen, and aren't too small. I saw these on another model DC-8 and decided they would be worth the effort and time, and risk of one small part flipping off into oblivion, which they are prone to do.  

[David H]

Another cool looking project!

 

My friend Steve finished a Seaboard World DC-8 from the AA kit not too long ago. We had a tough time finding good pictures taken from overhead where we could see the upper wing surfaces. We finally found a good photo and at about the same time, we learned that Douglas did not believe in Corrogard at the time, preferring to work with Alclad or Duralumin skins for the wings. There's more to the story than that, but those are the highlights.

 

-d-

[FortyEighter]

Some great detailing and explanations here - have bookmarked for when I get mine out of the "pile".

 

Mike

[Challenger350Pilot]

Finished the fuselage belly with Alclad and SNj aluminum polishing powder, so she started getting "dressed" this weekend.......

 

 

[Challenger350Pilot]

On 7/19/2019 at 1:15 AM, David H said:

We had a tough time finding good pictures taken from overhead where we could see the upper wing surfaces. We finally found a good photo and at about the same time, we learned that Douglas did not believe in Corrogard at the time, preferring to work with Alclad or Duralumin skins for the wings.

I had a tough time, too, finding overhead photos of the wings. I finally did find some old publicity shots that Delta used of the airplane in flight, showing no coroguard, but a few large panels, hinge covers and all of the access panels painted gray. It would be interesting to know the back story as to why or when coroguard came into common use. I had a large time in researching this model trying to find out when and how the over wing escape routes became required, and if they were on this specific airplane. All interesting stuff.  

[Challenger350Pilot]

Spent the day yesterday getting her dressed up.....

 

 

[stringbag]

Some neat and tidy modelling going on here. 

 

Chris.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

 

Nice work from me as well, love the widget scheme!

 

[Challenger350Pilot]

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments....

 

Moving right along.....

 

Got the wings and main gear on this weekend...still to go are all the gear doors, nose gear, horizontal tail planes, antennae, top anti collision light, engine logos, and access panels on the wings. Might say I'm nearing the last turn!

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I don't normally get into airliners not sure why but i don't. However one of my first ever flights was on a Delta DC-8, many thanks for the memories. I will follow because of the memory lane connection.   

 

Dennis

[Challenger350Pilot]

11 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

one of my first ever flights was on a Delta DC-8, many thanks for the memories.

Hi Dennis....one of THE BEST compliments any of us airliner builder types can receive is when someone is reminded of good past memories of their experiences on an airliner. Thank YOU for sharing this! 

[Challenger350Pilot]

Nearly finished...next post will be in RFI...

 

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Looks fabulous Paul, nice finish!

[Challenger350Pilot]

She’s all done! Posted in Ready for Inspection....go here to see her finished:

 

 

[RCI]

actually that WIP is so inspiring, i think i also have to to the 8 🙂

[Challenger350Pilot]

On 6/9/2020 at 5:36 PM, RCI said:

actually that WIP is so inspiring, i think i also have to to the 8 🙂

Thank you, Sini! So get going! A DC-8 from you would be something to really look forward to! How about a clear cockpit cover!?!?!

[RCI]

1 minute ago, Challenger350Pilot said:

Thank you, Sini! So get going! A DC-8 from you would be something to really look forward to! How about a clear cockpit cover!?!?!

i already thought about that, and it is so easy you wouldnt believe. just take the DC9/MD masks and decals, that it. the minicraft clear part doesnt have any panel lines, so its a blank clear piece. 😄