McDonnell-Douglas KMD-11

[PR19_Kit]

When I started this I was going to get a Revell KC-10 and use the IFR boom from that kit. No go, they're extinct on eBay and anywhere else. So I looked to see if anyone else did one. Yippee, AMP do, seemingly. So I looked up AMP and found they're some sort of offshoot of Eastern Express so I'd be keeping it 'in the family' 

But looking at an AMP kit on eBay I found that it was a) expensive, like £57.00 expensive (!) and b) It wasn't a KC-10, it was a KMD-11 already!

Looking at the pic below you can see the chisel tail, which was only fitted to the MD-11 and not to any variant of the DC-10 or KC-10. So all they've done is added a boom to the MD-11 kit which I've already got. So stuff that for a bowl of cornflakes!

(Looking at reviews of their KC-10 later shows that they must have changed the kit contents as their original versions were based on the correct DC10-30 kit, but now they're based on an MD-11, which is wrong for a KC-10 in SO many ways, not just the tail!  )




So I decided to scratchbuild the boom, after all it's only about 3" long and it's sort of rectangular in cross section. What can be difficult, eh?

WRONG!

It's a VERY complex shape, with all sorts of bulges and bumps on it, and my version has TWENTY SEVEN parts! Shades of the Monterey's beaching trolley!

Anyway, it's done now, as far as it's going anyway, apart from the paint.

[Tophe]

Congratulations for this uneasy little part

[PR19_Kit]

Got the boom nestled nicely in place under the tail now.



Next stage is filling those blasted gaps (and the subsequent PSR ) in the upper wing roots, and then it's painting time....

[kitbasher]

Kit you're a modelling hero - prodigious output!

[PR19_Kit]

I just haven't got anything else I'm allowed to do at the moment. Might as well build plastic kits, eh? 

[Rheged]

I just haven't got anything else I'm allowed to do at the moment. Might as well build plastic kits, eh? 

What a good idea.   I'm trying to write a set of backstories, as I've nothing better to do.

[NARSES2]

Well done mate, but how the heck does it have 27 parts ? 

[PR19_Kit]

Well done mate, but how the heck does it have 27 parts ? 

It's all made from sandwiched 20 and 30 thou styrene, 3 layers for the main boom, 5 layers for the bulged bit at the rear, 5 more layers for the fairing where it's attached to the fuselage, 2 more cheeks for the bulge at the rear (it wasn't quite thick enough...) 2 parts for the 'control wing' mounts, 2 for the wings themselves, 2 for the fins and 2 more for the tiny fairings on the ends of the fins. 1 for the pipe sticking out the back, and one for the control ring on the pipe plus two extra bits to fair the main boom into the hinge area.

LOTS if little parts.

[NARSES2]

Right, mind boggling. 

I suppose in 10 years time (Or now for some of our fraternity) you'd just turn to your home 3D printer ?

[PR19_Kit]

Given half a chance, yes.

If I'd ever have time to work out how to programme it.....

[Gondor]

If I'd ever have time to work out how to programme it.....

And then spend more time getting the image and printer just right so that it would have taken less time to build it the old fashioned way 

Gondor

[chrisonord]

That very well could be the future of our hobby.  We go online and  purchase  a program  to run out  a kit of our  choice  through our computer and  3D printer.  We could  design  new/replacement  wiff parts as a separate  add on program.
Chris

[jcf]

That very well could be the future of our hobby.  We go online and  purchase  a program  to run out  a kit of our  choice  through our computer and  3D printer.  We could  design  new/replacement  wiff parts as a separate  add on program.
Chris

Not any time soon, and the big manufacturers have no interest in going that
route as it would take a very long time get their development money back.

The big problem is the ongoing serious rate of piracy of model files and the
douche-canoes who demand that the designers put their models up on the
various download sites for free. There is currently no way to guarantee that
someone won't just steal the model files.

[Captain Canada]

So good ! 27 parts is insane !

[PR19_Kit]

27 parts is insane !

Dead right, it is.