Area 88 1/144: The Upside Down Bomb (DC-10-30 + Kfir)

[PR19_Kit]

Kristal Klear time for those port front windows Greg, you'll NEVER get the clear ones out now.

But the rest looks pretty darn good, despite your problems with it. 

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah, it's getting there!! I have to say, I don't think I've done an airliner yet that didn't get the best of me for weeks at a time so just know you're not alone and that persistence pays.

[zenrat]

F**kin' windows.  A PitA at the best of times.

[TheChronicOne]

I'm a huge fan of "no windows at all, I'll use decals for that."*  Fact of the matter is quite often the kit windows are misshapen and/or wrong size or spacing whereas modern decals with the windows included kind of take care of everything and are correct.  "If we lived in a perfect world....  " and all that, though....     

*Of course, all this goes out the window (lol) if you want to light the interior so I get the struggle. 

[sykotik]

I really love this idea and the lighting is a great touch! 
Looking forward to seeing more of this as it comes together

[strobez]

Thanks gentlemen.  I think this build may have converted me to the "windows as decals" camp of airliner builders.  Man oh MAN what a pain in the donkey they are...

I'm calling this one finally done.... and I'm going to spread my fingers and back away slowly.  This one very nearly kicked my donkey.

After I got over the windows falling inside the fuselage I tried to magic up some new ones using a few methods, but nothing worked and so I've resolved to just leave them as is.

Anyway, I started to get my mojo back and I decided to mask and paint the giant M logo and the cheat line.  I printed out the shape and then carefully cut a piece of tape out.  Then I used some thin (3mm) tape to mark the positive space and then used Tamiya tape to mask out the negative space.



It looked pretty good. So I did a dry fit in the base and then left it to dry overnight.  I had some intentions of adding a few homemade decals... but...



After I did a very light panel wash I decided I didn't really want to chance the decals.  I thought about putty them over the windows to create a film, but I figured it would get torn pretty easily and look worse than having no windows at all.  So I decide to glue the base in and solder up the last couple wires.



Then... disaster! One more time... just for fun.  While I was soldering I must've clipped the wing and the whole model started to go for a tumble.  So I reached out to steady it and luckily caught it gently before it went overboard.  But, not gently enough... because I managed to a) break off the stand post from the underside of the fuselage and thus break the wires right at the surface of the airframe, and b) clip the edge of the wing of one of the Kfirs with the tip of the soldering iron...



So, after I sat down on the floor and had a little cry, I felt better.  I managed to drill a small hole in the fuselage, pop the glued wires back inside, then open up the hole large enough to fish them out and reset the clear plastic post.  I had to made a couple of very nervy solder connections of some very small wires, with very little give, very close to the plastic fuselage, but I got it done... as for the Kfir wing? Well... there's nothing to be done, so we just agreed not to look each other in the eye.

[strobez]

So... here we go.  The final images.  I'd really like to thank Kit for his generous assistance in helping me turn a DC-10 kit from his magical loft into... an upside down bomb~

























And finally, since you can't really get a good sense of the electronic wizardry involved just from the still images, here's my little YouTube video showing off all the lights... blinking and not.

https://youtu.be/hHZ_nEPPmLg

[TheChronicOne]

I dunno man, even for all the drama it gave you, it turned out fantastic. I'd be really happy with it!!!       

Of course I love the Diesel 10 but the lil Kfirs are great....  more so considering the scale.

Logo turned out good!!..... I found when I was doing mine for my gunship that I was pretty freaked out by it because you just can't tell sometimes if it'll look alright until you unmask it.    Rather harrowing experience. 

[Steel Penguin]

wow! 

you are deffo getting better at this.

[Spey_Phantom]

It turned out fantastic, excellent work 

[PR19_Kit]

That looks amazing Greg, you made a super job of it, despite numerous disasters. 

It's still weird seeing that Ten out there in Korea, and knowing that six months ago the self same model was in its box in my Loft.   

[loupgarou]

Beautiful job, Greg. Amazing considering what you had to go through! I think you'd better do something more relaxing for a while now, like defusing land mines...

[TheChronicOne]

 

[strobez]

Thank you, gentlemen. For a first crack at an airliner, I'm pretty happy with the overall result.  I certainly learned a few things along the way, so hopefully the next one will be that much better.

Nils - I took some inspiration from your build as well.  Things didn't go quite right, but you stuck with it, so I reminded myself that if you could soldier on, so could I.

Kit - I can imagine seeing the DC-10 go from your loft to my shelf may seem a bit surreal, but I felt the need to do it proud, which also helped me stay the course. Thanks again... now... about that B-707...

[Old Wombat]

Fantastic work, despite the set backs!



You could still fix the Kfir wing, if you really wanted to; a bit of carving off of the melt ridge, a bit of putty & a paint touch-up, & she's done!