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Douglas DC-8-62CF 'Thai Airways International' - 1:144 Minicraft


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Douglas DC-8-62CF 'Thai Airways International'

1:144 Minicraft with 26Decals.

 

tdc8-4.jpg

 

One of my favourite airliners in one of my favourite liveries, a combination of two classics. The DC-8 is the Minicrfat kit available from S&M models but without any decals. This is not a problems as I expect almost all buyers would want to choose their own aftermarket decals anyway.

 

I've always wanted to make one in the beautiful Thai Orchid livery, and found that 26 decals do a sheet for the the DC-8-63. I could have built the kit straight from the box and the decals would have been perfect for it, as Minicraft provide the fuselage for the stretched -63 version. However they also provide recessed cut marks inside the fuselage to show you where to remove sections forward and aft of the wing to shorten it down to a -62 version. I much prefer the -62 as it looks like a much better proportioned aircraft.

 

The only thing was that Thai operated the stretched -63, but I came across some images of a single -62 Combi Freighter that they used for a while. Being part owned by SAS, Thai used lease/borrow/purchase several of their aircraft. I'm assuming this one was leased as it retained its Danish registration OY-KTE. All I had to do was shorten the cheatline decals, and find some suitable purple letters for the registration, which I did on the Thai A350 sheet I already built (never chuck anything away!)

On with the photos:

 

tdc8-1.jpg

 

tdc8-3.jpg

 

tdc8-2.jpg

 

 

tdc8-5.jpg

 

tdc8-6.jpg

 

'With something else", a Thai 737-400 in the same livery!

tdc8-7.jpg

 

Thanks for looking

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice work, John! A beautiful livery on a beautiful DC-8 kit that leads the pack!  I really am drawn to your attention to detail on the wings, too. This brings out the fine work that Minicraft does on thee models. Thank for sharing...and the 737 looks great too! 

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You really do build great models Viking , well done again . 737 isn't to shabby either ! Thai's Orchid scheme is one of the best .

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That's a gorgeous model John. The DC-8 was a magnificent aircraft and the Thai livery suits it perfectly. I really like your subtly shaded natural metal - what did you use?

 

Hope you don't mind me giving a heads up for anyone buying the S&M re-bagged kit. I have one on the bench at the moment and although the kit includes alternative engines, noses and wingtips for the 70 series, the instructions are only for the 62/63.  It's not a big deal but you can get caught out particularly with the alternative nose. Also for anyone wanting to build a 70 series, the prominent grilles on the forward fuselage were on the Minicraft decal sheet so you'll need to find an alternative for these.

 

Dave G

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Hi John,

That's magnificent! I have to agree with Paul and Dave about the wing detailing and the subtly different panel shades they really add interest, although with a livery as beautiful as that it probably doesn't matter!

No flight crew this time?

Must get around to building one of my Minicraft DC8s one of these days. 

Cheers,

Ian

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You really do put out some marvelous looking civil airliners Matey.

You know my thoughts on the chosen livery so no need to repeat what has been said by Dave and Ian already.

Lovely result John.

 

Chris.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great looking model! I really like it, especially the wings as that is quite a challenging paint job. I would like to know as well what you used on the wings (I assume you painted the corogard as well?)

 

I should really should start building the -63 in KLM colours...

 

Anyway, great work. Looking forward to your other builds.

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Many thanks for the kind comments chaps.

10 hours ago, woody37 said:

Stunning John, not that I expect anything less from you 🤣

 

Hope you're well?

 

Hi Neil, yes bearing up, getting a bit of grief from the day job though. Been to the Warley model rail show at the NEC today, any sort of modelling is great therapy 🙂

 

11 hours ago, desert falcon said:

Top job Viking 👍

 

Next please make a SAS DC-8 (or DC-9, or DC-10) in the old viking livery 🙂 

Already done desert falcon, but I lost the thread pictures in the great Photobucket debacle. Here's a couple reloaded:

DC8-1.jpg

 

DC8-4.jpg

 

Thanks again,

 

John

 

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13 minutes ago, Viking said:

Here's a couple

Sublime ! Those cowlings ! The -62 ,-63 and VC10 ,the pinnacle  of the narrow bodied  long range jet airliners .

Hats off to you !

Edited by bzn20
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19 hours ago, Viking said:

Already done desert falcon, but I lost the thread pictures in the great Photobucket debacle. Here's a couple reloaded:

 

 

What a beauty, looks like she just left the Douglas factory in Long Beach, California !!

 

The reason for my request was that for many years (24 to be exact) I worked for Scandinavian Airlines. When I joined the company in 1985, there were still a couple of DC-8's in the fleet, though I dont't recall seeing any in the old viking livery. I believe the remaining ones had already been painted in the then new "Carlzon" livery and by that time only a few DC-9's were still flying the dragonhead.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing!

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