DONE @p.2 +++ 1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71, Ozark Air Lines, 1986

[Vulcan7]

Photo session done! 

don't forget the box art     

[Dizzyfugu]

don't forget the box art     

Probably not in this case. But here it is, the McDonnell Douglas MD-71, operated by Ozark Air Lines in the USA in the mid-Eighties. 


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Some background:
The McDonnell Douglas MD-70 was a series of single-aisle short-haul and regional airliners. Already in August 1973, Douglas launched a new 70-seat regional airliner project, the Model 2066, to fill the gap between turboprop-powered airliners such as the Hawker Siddeley HS.748 and the Fairchild-Hiller/Fokker F.27 and small jet airliners such as the company's own DC-9 and its rival, the Boeing 737. The chosen configuration had a fuselage very similar to the DC-9, but it featured a high, only moderately swept wing with a bigger area and a T-tail to give good short-field performance. The aircraft was to be powered by four turbofan engines in the 6,500 lbf thrust class. In October 1974, all work on the project was halted, as a result of the 1973 oil crisis and the ensuing global economic downturn.

Nevertheless, MDD believed in the concept and low-key development proceeded. In 1978, after economic recovery, MDD officially relaunched the project under a new label as the "MD-70", a smaller alternative to the re-branded an upgraded MD-80, which had become a mid-sized airliner with almost twice the passenger capacity of the original DC-9-10/20 series. MDD marketed the aircraft as a quiet, low-consumption, turbofan aircraft, which would be effective at replacing the previous generation of turboprop-powered feeder aircraft like the Fokker F27, which was quite popular among regional American airlines and about to reach its life span.
The first type of a planned aircraft family with different cabin sizes, achieved by modular extensions. The basic MD-71 model made its first flight on October 18, 1979, quickly followed by two more prototypes. The MD-71 was certified on August 25, 1980. By 1981, an assembly line had been completed at St. Louis, Missouri and the first MD-71 was delivered to launch customer Canadian Pacific Air Lines on September 13, 1981, which introduced it into commercial service on October 10, 1981.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


MDD promoted the MD-70 as a dedicated "feederliner" for regional short-haul duties, especially for remote areas with smaller airfields and for operations in harsh climatic conditions. The airframe of the aircraft and many other key areas were modeled as closely as possible after the DC-9/MD-80 to save costs and use equipment and maintenance synergies with its bigger brethren. The airframe was designed to be as simple as possible, with easy access from the ground, and with a good margin of sturdiness. Making the aircraft easy to maintain and keeping operators' running costs as low as possible were considered high priorities from the start of the design process. Factors such as design the internal use of firm cost targets and continuous monitoring became a vital asset for the type's success. MDD also adopted a system of cost guarantees between component suppliers and the operators of the MD-70 to enforce stringent requirements.

As a consequence the MD-70 was a conservative construction and featured only a low amount of composite material, used in parts of the secondary structure only. Initial production aircraft were outfitted with a conventional cockpit and manual flight controls. Both the fuselage and wing were carefully designed for a reduced part-count and complexity. A high-mounted wing was adapted with an uninterrupted top surface. Compared with the DC-9 the MD-70 wings had less sweep (only 20° at quarter-chord vs. 24°) but were deeper for more area to promote shorter take-off distances and a slowed landing speed, both important factors for operations from small regional airports. The low undercarriage of the aircraft was toughened to resist damage and stability, making it possible to operate the MD-70 even from rough airstrips. The engines' position under the high wings, with good ground clearance to avoid FOD, were also helpful for this operational task.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The MD-70 was powered by four Avco Lycoming ALF 502 turbofan engines with thrust reversers, which were fixed on pylons underneath the aircraft's high wing. Advantages of adopting the four-engine configuration included greater redundancy and superior takeoff performance from short runways, as well as in hot and high conditions. The aircraft had full-width wing spoilers, which were deployed immediately on landing and drastically reduced lift for steep landing angles on short runways.
Another factor that favored the four-engine layout was the single engine's small size, which made maintenance and handling at small workshops with limited space and equipment in remote areas easier than bigger and heavier engines. Electrical power was primarily provided by generators located on each of the outboard engines. For independent operations, the MD-70 had a highly fuel-economic APU (at launch, the onboard auxiliary power unit consumed only half the fuel and weighed only a third as much as other contemporary models) and a retractable stairway under the aircraft's tail as well as an integrated retractable ladder at port side for direct boarding from the airfield.

With its small turbofan engines, the MD-70 was renowned for its relatively quiet operation, a positive feature that appealed to those operators that wanted to provide services to noise-sensitive airports within cities. This was primarily achieved using geared turbofans, because the gearbox allowed the fans' blade tip speed to stay below the speed of sound, dramatically reducing the aircraft's noise. Other sound-deadening measures included a high bypass ratio compared to contemporary aircraft and additional sound-damping layers built into the engine itself.

The aircraft proved to be most useful on "high-density" regional and short-haul routes, but its good range and fuel economy made it also suitable for low-volume routes at medium to long distances. In economy class, the MD-70 could either be configured in a standard five-abreast layout or a high-density six-abreast layout, making it at its time one of few regional jets that could use a six-abreast layout in economy class. The first variant, the MD-71, had an overall length of 108.5 feet (33,12 m), a fuselage length of 95.75 feet (29,23 m), a passenger-cabin length of 60 feet (18.29 m), and a wingspan of 89.6 feet (27,36m).


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The MD-71's cabin offered space for 90 passengers in a dense 15 row all-economy layout, but 72 passengers in 12 rows with more space, also for hand-held luggage, were more common, with a typical mixed-class layout with 12 first and 60 economy-class passengers. Reportedly, the aircraft was profitable on most routes with only marginally more than half the seats occupied.
A passenger/cargo version of the MD-71, with a 136-by-81-inch (3.5 by 2.1 m) side cargo door forward of the wing and a reinforced cabin floor, was certificated on March 1, 1983. Cargo versions included the MD-71MC (Minimum Change) with folding seats that could be carried in the rear of the aircraft, and the MD-71RC (Rapid Change) with seats removable on pallets.

Two stretched MD-70 versions followed soon: The first flight of the MD-72 with a 7 ft 11 in (2,41 m) fuselage extension and reduced cost per seat mile occurred on 3 September 1982, with deliveries commencing in 1984. Convertible passenger/freight versions (MC and RC) were available, too, and seated 80 passengers five abreast, 96 six abreast or 112 in high-density configuration.
The MD-73's fuselage was to be stretched by 10 ft 6 in (3,2 m) compared with the MD-71, allowing 122 passengers to be carried at 32-inch seat pitch and 134 at 29-inch seat pitch. More powerful engines would be used, and winglets were to be fitted to the aircraft's wingtips. However, due to airlines favoring a lower initial price rather than minimizing seat-mile costs, and fearing over-capacities, the MD-73 did not enter production and was eventually dropped altogether in December 1988, also because simpler narrow body jet airliners like the Embraer ERJ family with even lower operational costs were entering the market.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The MD-71 and -72 were widely used for passenger services in Canada and North America, primarily with regional/domestic airlines, and from the late 1980s also in Australia until the early 2000s. One of the prime American operators was Ozark Air Lines, a regional airline that had been founded in 1943 to fly services from Springfield, Missouri. Ozark's introduced its first jets in July, 1966 with the Douglas DC-9-10s. The DC-9-10s were later augmented with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s (DC-9-31/32) and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-40s. The airline also ordered two Boeing 727-200s but never took delivery.
In 1984, larger McDonnell Douglas MD-80s were added that replaced the old/smaller DC-9s. In late 1980, Ozark retired its last FH-227 prop aircraft and went all jet with an all DC-9/MD-80 fleet, which was then augmented by new MD-71s for connections with several smaller cities including Burlington, Fort Dodge, and Mason City in Iowa, Decatur, Marion, and Quincy in Illinois, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A total of twelve machines were operated.

In the mid-1980s Ozark and TWA had a de facto duopoly at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, a hub for both. Ozark accounted for 26.3 percent of boardings at STL in 1985, while TWA accounted for 56.6 percent. On March 1, 1986, the two airlines announced plans to merge: TWA would buy Ozark for US$242 million in cash (equivalent to US$646 million in 2022). Shareholders of both airlines approved the merger by late summer, and the United States Department of Transportation gave its approval on September 12, 1986. Ozark ceased to exist as an independent company on October 27, 1986. The Ozark DC-9/MD-80/MD-70s were gradually painted with a modified paint scheme with "TWA" in the tail. Over the next couple of years, the sixty Ozark airplanes were repainted in the TWA livery. On December 1, 2001, TWA was merged into American Airlines.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


General characteristics:
    Crew: 2 (+ 2 or 3 flight attendants)
    Length: 108.5 feet (33,12 m) overall
                  95.75 feet (29.23 m)  fuselage only
    Wingspan: 89.6 feet (27,36m)
    Height: 27 ft 7 in (8,4 m)
    Wing area: 1,448 sq ft (135.7 m²), 20° sweep
    Empty weight: 56,530 lb (25,640 kg)
    Maximum take-off weight: 97,500 lb (44,225 kg)
    Maximum payload: 25,970 lb (11,781 kg)
    Fuel capacity: 12,901 L (3,408 US gal)
    Cabin width: 123 in (312 cm)
    Two-class seats: 72 (12F@38" + 60Y@34")
    Single-class seats: 90@34" (maximum pure economy setup)

Powerplant:
    4× Avco Lycoming ALF 502L turbofan engines, delivering 7.500 lbf (33 kN) each

Performance:
    Maximum speed: Mach 0.739 (426 kn; 789 km/h)
    Cruising speed: Mach 0.7 (404 kn; 747 km/h)
    Range: 3,340 km (1,800 nmi) with 90 passenger configuration
    Service ceiling: 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
    Rate of climb: 2,000 ft/min (10 m/s)
    Take-off run at MTOW: 1,535 m (5,036 ft)
    Landing run at normal landing weight: 1,270 m (4,170 ft)


The kit and its assembly:
This fictional airliner was inspired by a Fly 1:144 DC-9-20 kit which I had bought as basis for another what-if project. This kit (and I assume many other Fly DC-9s) is basically a DC-9-30 and came with the shorter -10/20 sprue as well as with resin wing tip extensions. I had a surplus DC-9 fuselage!

When I thought about the ideas for my DC-9-20 project, locating it in Canada, I wondered if the DC-9 could be turned into a kind of "bush airliner", like the BAe 146/Avro RJ 85 - with four small engines, high wings and reduced passenger capacity?
This conversion, however, became a major kitbashing stunt, since I only had the DC-9-30 fuselage, but no wings, engines, or even a landing gear.
Work started with two cuts in front of and behind the original wing root fairings to reduce the overall length to the short DC-9-20 fuselage (the respective parts in the Fly kit were very helpful!). Since it was clear that the wings would be mounted high the landing gear had to go somewhere, so that I added bulged fairings (wing tip tank halves from an Airfix BAC Strikemaster, IIRC) to the wing roots and covered the slits in the fuselage that held the original low wings. PSR helped to blend everything into each other.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The wings and stabilizers had to be procured elsewhere, and I fell back onto the cheap Mistercraft Sud Aviation Caravelle kit (a re-boxing of a Sixties kit!), which is a rather primitive thing but good enough for a chop job like this. The stabilizers were taken OOB, just adapted to their new home at the fin tip. The wings were reduced in span at their roots and beveled to achieve a better hold on the round DC-9 fuselage, and their tips were cut for a less rounded shape.
The Caravelle wings were directly glued onto the fuselage, and then started the long and tedious work to build a dorsal section between them that would house the common wing spars above the passenger cabin. Took five or six PRS turns.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The engines came from a Revell 1:144 SpaceShipTwo/WhiteKnightTwo kit set - a gigantic box with lots of air inside, available at a reasonable price. The four engine pods on pylons were taken OOB, they only had to be tailored slightly to fit under the rather flat Caravelle wings.
From the WhiteKnightTwo I also procured the main twin wheels and their struts, while the twin front wheels were taken from the Caravelle, mounted on a shortened strut for lower ground clearance.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


A styrene tube as a display adapter was inserted into the fuselage for the eventual flight scenes, and the nose section was filled with lead weight to ensure a proper stance on all wheels at once.


Painting and markings:
A potential operator caused me some headaches. I originally favored a Canadian company, either CP Air or a fictional one, but to avoid duplicity with my DC-9-20 project I eventually "allowed" other options, too, and when I found that Karaya from Poland, who print the decals for all of Fly's DC-9 incarnations, offered the respective sheet separately and I stumbled across the Ozark Air Lines Sheet (with options for a DC-9-20 or a -30) for late machines in the mid-Eighties before the company's sale to TWA, I short-handedly settled upon this livery. Despite some major challenges, like a white hull and trim in areas not fully available on the high-wing MD-70 fuselage.

The completed model received a coat with a highly opaque white acrylic paint from the rattle can, then the lower fuselage and the wings were painted in RAF Light Aircraft Grey (Humbrol 166). A narrow green-white cheatline decal was used to define the lower waterline, then came the windows to define their relative position and the 'Ozark' tags. The broader green cheatlines behind them - running through the wing roots - were tough to create, though. I initially considered to omit them altogether but found that the aircraft would lack corporate ID and eventually created them step-by-step.
The original decals were cut in length to fill the spaces before and behind the wings, down to the tail, with the plan to achieve a mutual lower line. Then I painted the light green area under the wing roots and cut the thin white and dark green part of the trim off and connected the lower line from the sections in front of and behind the wings. This worked better than expected, despite the uneven underground in that area. But the high wings and the engine pods hide most of it, anyway, and the overall impression is quite good.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

To add some variety I painted the wing tips in bright red and flaps and leading edges in aluminum. Unlike the real Ozark DC-9s the radome tip became black (emphasizing the aircraft's DC-9 ancestry), and I added a black anti-glare panel (a decal for a 1:144 DC-8, but it is a perfect match) in front of the windscreen.
Another design element that caused some headaches were the engine pods: I thought about painting them in aluminum/NMF first, then in white (with some trim from surplus decals), but eventually went with dark green, as a contrast to the white and light grey fuselage.

Finally, the model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish (Italeri) and the wheels were mounted.


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


A challenging build, but I think that the outcome looks pretty plausible, despite the tiny engines. However, instead of the BAe 146 the aircraft rather reminds me of a juvenile C-141 Starlifter, probably due to the wings and tail shape?

[Vulcan7]

Beautiful build, construction, paintwork & photos       ( no box???    )

[PR19_Kit]

LOVE it Thomas! 

That's a model that's right up my street, being both an airliner AND a DC9 fan! And it's very plausible too, Ozark had a number of DC9s and your MD-71 would fit their fleet a treat. It occurs to me I could build one of those from 'stock', as I have umpteen DC9 kits of various lineage and more than one BAe 146 as well! 

And somehow I just KNEW there'd be a stretched MD-73 in the mix somewhere. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot! 

[zenrat]

Good job Dizz.

 

[NARSES2]

Terrific work Dizzy 

[Dizzyfugu]

On popular demand... 


1:144 McDonnell Douglas MD-71; 'N570M', Ozark Air Lines, 1986 (What-if/kitbashing) +++ fake box art by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Rheged]

Terrific work Dizzy 

Agreed!  It was well worth waiting for!

[Wardukw]

If three wasn't any build pics Diz I wouldn't have known that this was a wiffy as I know absolute dodo about civiy aircraft.
In 72nd this would have been a good build but in 1/144 ..utterly stunning 😍 🤘🤘👍👍

[loupgarou]

Very very good, Dizzy. Even more appreciable as it's in that ridiculously small scale...

[PR19_Kit]

Very very good, Dizzy. Even more appreciable as it's in that ridiculously small scale...

It's the normal scale for airliner modellers. 

[Wardukw]

Very very good, Dizzy. Even more appreciable as it's in that ridiculously small scale...

It's the normal scale for airliner modellers. 

 

[Vulcan7]

Looks great on a box  

[Dizzyfugu]

Again, thanks a lot, everyone!