zebra Posted August 21, 2022 Share Posted August 21, 2022 Now that the Sabre is ready for painting, and I'm struggling to work up the enthusiasm for the Buffalo (I'll get to it), it's time to start another build. This is the Minicraft DC-8 which I'll be building as a CP Air DC-8-53 using Two Six decals and Bra.Z resin engines. First job is to shorten the fuselage. The kit represents a DC-8-71 with a stretched fuselage, but there are engraved lines on the inside to help with shortening to both the original fuselage length and the slightly longer -62/72. So the job of cutting the fuselage up is fairly straightforward - here's what I've ended up with: I've not started reassembling the fuselage halves, that's the next job. More soon Julian 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roginoz Posted August 21, 2022 Share Posted August 21, 2022 Oh nice !! I remember watching the DC-8s in the livery of CP and others in my spotting days at LHR [when it was just known as London Airport.......} Gonna enjoy following your build Julian @zebra. Rog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted August 21, 2022 Author Share Posted August 21, 2022 Thanks Rog. This has always been one of my favourite liveries and I've been wanting to build something in this scheme for years, so it's about time. The downside of doing it on a short-fuselage DC-8 is the natural metal lower fuselage means I'll have to take a lot of care to get good smooth joins when I reassemble the fuselage halves. I remember seeing CP Air aircraft (mostly 747s and DC-10s I think) at Manchester. In fact there's a photo somewhere of me, aged 8, in the cockpit of one of them - my Dad had a client who worked at the airport and took us on a tour, including inside a few aircraft. I think one of the others was a Transamerica DC-10. Dad's client later made the news - he was the pilot of a HS748 that suffered a catastrophic engine failure on take-off from Stansted, carrying the Leeds United team back from a match, and got it safely back onto the runway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 A great choice, Julian :). Those of a "certain age", like me, will remember these fondly Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 On 8/21/2022 at 12:52 PM, zebra said: he was the pilot of a HS748 that suffered a catastrophic engine failure on take-off from Stansted, carrying the Leeds United team back from a match, and got it safely back onto the runway. Ah, John Hackett!! I was at Dan-Air, like John, and it was pretty much HS748 Central! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 4, 2022 Author Share Posted September 4, 2022 I seem to have forgotten to post updates again. Fuselage is together and seams dealt with, I've done an ok job of preserving the panel lines, and assembled the wings. One problem with the kit is the pronounced droop in the wings - they're not warped, it seems to be moulded in, as it's always there - which I can't live with, there are inaccuracies etc that I can look past but this is one that I can't ignore. So I straightened them out with the help of a hairdryer and they look ok now - probably not spot on, but much better. It's in the garage for a coat of black primer now, along with the resin engine parts, so I'll be painting this one soon. thanks for looking Julian 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 That CP Scheme was great . Looking forward to this Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 14 hours ago, Grandboof said: That CP Scheme was great . Looking forward to this Martin H Thanks Martin. I have high hopes for this scheme - plenty can go wrong with it though! The fuselage has had a coat of AK Extreme Metal aluminium and I'm leaving it for a couple of days before I mask it off for the orange. I'm in two minds about that part - do I rely on the decal for the red stripe to be opaque enough that I don't need to worry about how precisely I mask the demarcation? I think I will, it'll make life a bit easier - I think I've found 26 decals to be pretty opaque in the past - and if it doesn't work plan B will be to mask and paint the red stripe. The other bit that needs some planning is how to deal with the engines - I don't really want to mask and paint them attached to the wings but I suspect they won't be a good enough fit to be able to paint everything separately either. In particular there's a part of the pylon that goes on top of the leading edge of the wing and I expect it'll need some filling. So my plan is to assemble and paint the engines separately, paint the undersides of the wings, then attach the engines and do any filling necessary, paint the top sides of the wings and do any touching up of the engines that may be needed. more soon Julian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Coming along nicely Julian. I've one of these to do as an Air NZ one, one of these days, so keen to find out about any pitfalls. I'll be watching keenly. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 You've done a great job on shortening that fuselage Julian. I've heard no shouts of dismay from you, so I'm assuming that it's looking equally as nice under its new metallic coat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26Decals Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 On 9/10/2022 at 12:59 AM, zebra said: The fuselage has had a coat of AK Extreme Metal aluminium and I'm leaving it for a couple of days before I mask it off for the orange. I'm in two minds about that part - do I rely on the decal for the red stripe to be opaque enough that I don't need to worry about how precisely I mask the demarcation? I think I will, it'll make life a bit easier - I think I've found 26 decals to be pretty opaque in the past - and if it doesn't work plan B will be to mask and paint the red stripe. Hi Julian. I can confirm that all of the white parts on the decal sheet including under the red stripes and tail logo are all double printed so they should be very opaque All the best Ray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26Decals Posted September 15, 2022 Share Posted September 15, 2022 Here is my completed CP Air DC-8-63 from a few years back: 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 Fantastic looking DC-8 Ray. Meanwhile I keep finding imperfections in the fuselage - funny how a metallic coat will do that! - so there's been a fair bit of fill, sand, prime, repeat. But hopefully I'm past that now and can get on with painting. more soon Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 22, 2022 Author Share Posted September 22, 2022 Aluminium on the fuselage is done. Next job will be to mask it off and paint a white undercoat for the orange. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Orange done, and I finished painting the engines so attached them to the wings. The orange initially gave me a bit of trouble. I was using MRP international orange but the coverage was so poor it was clear that the jar was going to run out long before I got a satisfactory finish. So I cut my losses, headed to the LHS and bought some SMS paint instead. Much, much better - SMS has become my go-to. more soon Julian 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted September 24, 2022 Author Share Posted September 24, 2022 First few decals on. I think I should have used a slightly lighter orange to get a bit more contrast with the red. Next time... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 She's still looking good, Julien James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Nice paint work Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 Final assembly tomorrow! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 That's looking great, Julien! Looking forward to seeing the finale James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 Calling this done. I'll take some photos for the gallery over the next few days, here's one on the bench for now: cheers Julian 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 That looks fantastic, Julien! Time for aeroplane noises? James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swamp Donkey Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 That looks great, one of my favourite liveries ever. Super job SD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 Looks great . Awesome livery Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 Thanks everyone! On 10/16/2022 at 10:18 PM, 81-er said: Time for aeroplane noises? Definitely. Loud, old-school noises from before the days of noise restrictions and high bypass turbofans! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now