Finnair's DC-9-14 and MD-82 in 1/144

[Einar]

Finnair have a history of 35 years in operating various DC-9 to MD-80 variants. The company started to use the short DC-9-14's in 1971 and the last long fuselage MD-82's went out of service in 2006. The growth in the size of the DC-9/MD-80 sub types during those years has been massive. The length grew by 13 metres, the wing span by 6 metres and the passenger capacity by almost 70 seats.

 

In all, Finnair have been a very McDonnell-Douglas oriented airline throughout the years. Their fleet has consisted of DC-3, DC-6, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10, MD-80 and MD-11 planes. The only Boeings have been one 737-200 and seven 757-200's. The Airbusses have started to take over the Finnair fleet from 1999 onwards.

 

I built the 1/144 scale DC-9-14 from an Authentic airliners resin kit with 26Decals livery set. The MD-82 is a Minicraft kit with Draw Decals markings.The both kits were of very good quality and in my opinion the Minicraft MD-82 is one of their best kits.

 

One of the most interesting details I scratch built to the MD-82 was the odd looking splash guard of the front landing gear wheel that prevents foreign articles from flying into the engines. History has it that people have sometimes called the air controllers very worried because they saw that that some rubbish had been stuck to the front wheel of the plane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[busnproplinerfan]

They look great.

[Einar]

21 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

They look great.

Thank you

 

Einar

[Jeff Thomsen]

Fantastic work!

[Zigomar]

Having spent 32 years in commercial Airliners, I salute your great rendition! Cheers.

[Einar]

Just now, Zigomar said:

Having spent 32 years in commercial Airliners, I salute your great rendition! Cheers.

Thank you Zigomar

 

Einar

[Skodadriver]

You have been busy recently Einar!  Thanks for sharing a beautiful Finnish pair.

 

I don't know the Authentic Airliners DC-9-14 but I have always liked the Minicraft MD-80. It's not flawless but it still builds into an excellent model.

 

What is coming next from your production line?

 

Dave G

[Einar]

1 hour ago, Skodadriver said:

You have been busy recently Einar!  Thanks for sharing a beautiful Finnish pair.

 

I don't know the Authentic Airliners DC-9-14 but I have always liked the Minicraft MD-80. It's not flawless but it still builds into an excellent model.

 

What is coming next from your production line?

 

Dave G

Thanks Dave!

 

The models I have displayed lately are not brand new. I have built them during the last few years. I still have quite many models on my shelf that I could display but maybe I have posted models  a little too often. I'll pull the brake for a while.

 

Let's see which is the model I'll choose next. I also have a United Boeing 720 under construction. Maybe it'll be the next model to be posted.

 

Cheers,

Einar

[SAT69]

You've produced two very lovely airliner models. Congratulations!

[Spitfire31]

Superb modelling. I'm anything but a civil aviation enthusiast, but I kept admiring these two models for a long while.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Alex1978]

Wonderful builds of those Douglas classics.

The MD-80 is together with the DC-8 the best airliner kit that Minicraft produced.

You have done a superb job on both but the DC-9-14 is my favourite.

[Challenger350Pilot]

Beautiful work as always, Einar! The baby -9 catches my eye especially. Really like the detail of that little bird, and displayed next to big brother is really effective. The MD-82 is very very nice indeed. I do like the Minicraft kit quite a bit, but it certainly isn't without its unique challenges and inaccuracies. I started one last year, but put it away when I discovered the Eastern Express Md-80 was a better kit, and had greater and more accurate detailing. Nice work with both of these beauties. Thank you for sharing! 

[Einar]

7 hours ago, Challenger350Pilot said:

Beautiful work as always, Einar! The baby -9 catches my eye especially. Really like the detail of that little bird, and displayed next to big brother is really effective. The MD-82 is very very nice indeed. I do like the Minicraft kit quite a bit, but it certainly isn't without its unique challenges and inaccuracies. I started one last year, but put it away when I discovered the Eastern Express Md-80 was a better kit, and had greater and more accurate detailing. Nice work with both of these beauties. Thank you for sharing! 

Thank you very much!

 

The next Md-80 kit I'm going to build will be the EE one👍

 

Cheers,

Einar

[Einar]

8 hours ago, Alex1978 said:

Wonderful builds of those Douglas classics.

The MD-80 is together with the DC-8 the best airliner kit that Minicraft produced.

You have done a superb job on both but the DC-9-14 is my favourite.

Thanks Alex

 

Einar

[Einar]

9 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

Superb modelling. I'm anything but a civil aviation enthusiast, but I kept admiring these two models for a long while.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

Thanks Joachim

 

Einar

[Einar]

9 hours ago, SAT69 said:

You've produced two very lovely airliner models. Congratulations!

Thank you

 

Einar

[RCI]

very nice, both are looking classy and allthough finnair is not my area, both schemes are very attractive. I think you are right, the MD8X is one of the best minicraft kits - the only critique i have is the windshield, which is one of the few incorrect decals from authentic airliner decals.

Looking forward to your next builds!

all the best

[Viking]

Two lovely models, I agree the Minicraft is good, one is a one of the best airliner models available. It's a shame the real DC-9.MD-80 family is disappearing from the skies.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Einar]

Thank you very much for your comments! It was also interesting to hear your critique concerning the AA windshield decal. Could you tell me what kind of flaws there are in your opinion.

 

Cheers

Einar

[Einar]

2 minutes ago, Viking said:

Two lovely models, I agree the Minicraft is good, one is a one of the best airliner models available. It's a shame the real DC-9.MD-80 family is disappearing from the skies.

 

Cheers

 

John

Thanks John,

 

I fully agree with your comments

 

Einar

[RCI]

2 hours ago, Einar said:

Thank you very much for your comments! It was also interesting to hear your critique concerning the AA windshield decal. Could you tell me what kind of flaws there are in your opinion.

 

Cheers

Einar

 

Hey Einar,

 

i studied the DC9/MD80 cockpit windows very long for making my own clear part. I checked a few hundred photos and compared them to various decals.

it took me a couple of weeks to get it right. The Problem with the AA windshield is, the geometry of all windows except the center one is incorrect. In very few words, all windows have too much of an angle, they look more like a 737 than a DC-9, you can see this at the outer window, which is supposed to tilt down at the top corner a little bit. I attached a few photos, hope you can see them. If it is not clear what i mean, just tell me and i will make a direct comparison with red and green lines.

 

As a comparison i used your photo and found one with a similar point of view. Its worth noting that the the MD80 is sitting quite high on its MLG, making a DC9 cockpit window with a lower gear look even more pointing downwards.

I attached some photos of my work when i printed and tested my own decals on the Eastern Express DC-9.

 

edit: maybe the easiest way to see the issue is the height of the outer window compared to the first door...

 

 

 

i hope this helped a bit and i didnt exaggerate this whole topic. I was going quite an extra mile on this subject, but i fully understand if it is neglected

all the best

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by RCI

[Einar]

16 minutes ago, RCI said:

 

Hey Einar,

 

i studied the DC9/MD80 cockpit windows very long for making my own clear part. I checked a few hundred photos and compared them to various decals.

it took me a couple of weeks to get it right. The Problem with the AA windshield is, the geometry of all windows except the center one is incorrect. In very few words, all windows have too much of an angle, they look more like a 737 than a DC-9, you can see this at the outer window, which is supposed to tilt down at the top corner a little bit. I attached a few photos, hope you can see them. If it is not clear what i mean, just tell me and i will make a direct comparison with red and green lines.

 

As a comparison i used your photo and found one with a similar point of view. Its worth noting that the the MD80 is sitting quite high on its MLG, making a DC9 cockpit window with a lower gear look even more pointing downwards.

I attached some photos of my work when i printed and tested my own decals on the Eastern Express DC-9.

 

 

 

i hope this helped a bit and i didnt exaggerate this whole topic. I was going quite an extra mile on this subject, but i fully understand if it is neglected

all the best

 

 

Thank you very much for your explanation. You're dead right! The AA window decal is clearly of the wrong shape. I have three DC-9 models in which all the winshield decals are the incorrect AA ones. I could try to change them to a correct one if there is such a decal available on the market. Do you know if somebody makes correct ones?

 

Cheers,

Einar

 

 

[RCI]

1 minute ago, Einar said:

Thank you very much for your explanation. You're dead right! The AA window decal is clearly of the wrong shape. I have three DC-9 models in which all the winshield decals are the incorrect AA ones. I could try to change them to a correct one if there is such a decal available on the market. Do you know if somebody makes correct ones?

 

Cheers,

Einar

 

 

i do the correct ones haha but they are only made for clear windows, thats the bad news if you wanted to use photorealistic windows. 8Adec got a few designs from me and uses my MD8X cockpit design with slight changes as a photorealistic decal, the only downside is - it is laser printed, so you get grey instead of silver and i dont know why but the design varies on certain sheets plus it has some black outline which does not exist on the real thing. If you want the silver or white frames with the screws for clear windows, give me a PM.

 

 

[Einar]

2 hours ago, RCI said:

i do the correct ones haha but they are only made for clear windows, thats the bad news if you wanted to use photorealistic windows. 8Adec got a few designs from me and uses my MD8X cockpit design with slight changes as a photorealistic decal, the only downside is - it is laser printed, so you get grey instead of silver and i dont know why but the design varies on certain sheets plus it has some black outline which does not exist on the real thing. If you want the silver or white frames with the screws for clear windows, give me a PM.

 

 

Thanks for the info. The thing is that my DC-9/ MD-82 models are made from kits that have no clear windows or windshields i.e. they have to be done with decals. If I tried to change the cockpit windows they should be dark grey or black. The MD-82 is the only one that has silver frames.

 

Could you print such window decals and how much would you charge for them?

 

Einar

[RCI]

1 hour ago, Einar said:

Thanks for the info. The thing is that my DC-9/ MD-82 models are made from kits that have no clear windows or windshields i.e. they have to be done with decals. If I tried to change the cockpit windows they should be dark grey or black. The MD-82 is the only one that has silver frames.

 

Could you print such window decals and how much would you charge for them?

 

Einar

Hey Einar,

 

mate, i wish i had time to do that! sadly i have too many projects, so i can't promise anything. But if you do another DC9/MD8X in the future and it is plastic, i can help you out with the clear cockpit stuff.