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OK, we crossed the Rubicon…
Admittedly, a very tiny one.
What you see here are the Minicraft KC-135 wheels, mated to the X-Scale DC-8 struts.
The X-Scale gear are aggravating. They are beautifully detailed in 144th scale, but in order to accomplish this, they needed to break the gear down into many very tiny parts. The oleo scissors, brake equalizing rods and cross stays/ retraction struts are all separate pieces and the placement instructions are very vague. Whats more, the actual attachment of the gear to the aircraft structure is a but flimsy. It’s gonna take some head scratching to find a way to make the joints stronger.
Bottom line is, it’s just tedious and stressful to manipulate and glue all of these little parts.
I built up and taped together another DC-8 Wing center section to serve as an assembly jig while i figured out the best way to put all of these fiddly pieces together…
I
The Minicraft KC-135 wheels fit the X-Scale axles just fine. Seems a pity to harvest them from the -135 kit, but the X-Scale Wheels honestly aren’t up to the same degree of detail and scale fidelity as the rest of the landing gear.
Hopefully, Braz Models will release their DC-8 wheels soon so this installation can be a one-off arrangement.
Up next- the nose gear.
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I really woulda preferred not to, but having painted and washed the X-Scale DC-8 nosewheels….. they look just okay; not in IMHO real world-beaters.
Film at 11….
Since i’m harvesting KC-135R parts, might be a good thing to mention it includes the extended-span tailplanes, so they would make an easy, though expensive improvement to the Roden 720B…
-d-
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She’s on her feet.
There are a couple of tweaks underway, mainly having to do with the nose gear doors.
I’m not ready to render a opinion on how to install the landing gear because i haven’t arrived at the “right” way to install them, yet.
The KC-135 wheels look good. Due to the construction of the landing gear bogies, i had to sand flat spots on all 4 tyres simultaneously with a sanding block, before i could glue the struts onto the model. Were these struts designed “Old School” (like the Revell DC-8 kits), i woulda glued the struts on first, added flat spots to each tyre separately, then stuck the wheels onto their axles and plugged them into the struts. I like the old method because with a little bit of play in the axles, the flat spots have an easier time of all 8 wheels touching the surface.
I set it on the workbench last nite, endeavouring the get all 8 flat spots to touch the surface, then i went to bed.
Next morning, i double checked everything to ensure the gear set up the way i wanted it to (it did), and then i carefully sanded the flat spots on the nose tyres.
It was at that point where i decided i was not happy with how the nose gears sat in position. So, off they came and they’re in re work now.
Engine pod installation is underway. Tamiya Extra Thin works great for attaching the translating ejectors to the rails, but i got a little bit of liquid cement/paint “ooze” where the pod and pylon came together.
I’m trying to disguise this with my customary wash of water/future and Tamiya Flat Black. We shall see how it looks when fully cured.
For number 2 engine, i’ve attached the pod with Krystal Kleer. Holding off on adding the ejector ring.
Until next time…
-d-
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So, here’s a recap from today’s engine installation op…
Engines 1, 2 and 3 are all mounted and drying…
I think Krystal-Kleer is the beteer way to mount the engine pods, but Tamiya Extra Thin works just fine, for the translating ejectors.
I will probably mount engine #4 before bedtime.
That’s all for now.
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Dave,
My reaction to the photos in your previous section (She’s on her feet.) are beyond words, especially Photos #1 and #6. Photo #1 got my heart racing, and I hope you’ll do another nose-on shot once the engines and horizontal stabs are installed (and nose gear doors corrected). Very dramatic! I like Photo #6 because you can see the white crown and “Northwest” title reflected in the wing leading edge panels. Wow!!
I’m anxious to see this model finished, and the 720B. Will you finally go back and finish the Revell 727-51?
Do you use any sort of base to pose your models on? I purchased a few from KitsWorld (found on a certain bidding website) from a hobby store in the Los Angeles area. They look great and have a self-adhesive base. The downside is that they depict airfield ramps in the UK (I have Heathrow, Manchester, and Norwich) which would look good underneath your VC-10, but the roadway pavement stripes and such details show they are not MSP or ORD.
We appreciate the great job you’re doing on this model and the tutorials you’re providing!
Cheers!
Tom
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Hi Tom,
I suspect i have almost exactly the same bases you have (Coastal?), but i got them in unfinished form: just the printed surface, rolled into a tube to save on postage. They’re in my stash somewhere.
Because one thing i am not lacking, is cabinet-grade plywood to make display bases from.
For right now, i’ve just been photographing my models on my 48th scale, Navy jet display base. Given the angles i normally shoot from, the detail on the base is effectively dimensionless. So it works pretty much for anything.
Most of this DC-8 kit is intuitive, in terms of how the kit parts go together.
The notable exception is the landing gear, which is so fiddly and intricate that a formalized “battle plan” needs to be drawn up to mount everything. The attachment points for the gear struts can get messed up, if the upper wing plank and lower carry thru structure are not perfectly aligned during assembly, f’rinstance.
The landing gear doors that go on the main struts are especially confusing.
After the DC-8 gets finished and posted in all the normal places, i think i’ll mask off the painted areas on the 720B, then take a breather and determine my next move.
Maybe the 727 will pull out ahead, if i can finish rescribing the panel lines and get some primer on it. I have the Brengun 727 wheels and i’m thinking about ordering the CRM 3D printed JT-8Ds for it. The LACI engines are beautiful, but i’m not crazy about building my model with the #1 engine cowl all opened up.
-d-
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A little bit of clarification:
The nose gear assembly is permanently installed and went in OK on the first try (after a lot of careful test fitting!)
It’s the nose gear doors which are requiring the rework. The short, rectangular doors flanking the shock strut have integral mounting tabs which are too long, resulting in too much “daylight” between the door and the adjacent fuselage, and some goofy angles when viewed from head-on.
I’ve chopped down the tabs and am in the middle of re-installing these.
Not depicted here, but the forward nose gear doors are a tight fit. Unfortunately, due to the tight clearances surrounding the drag strut, it’s not practical to glue these doors in place before installing the nose gear. I mitigated the problem somewhat by gluing the two nose gear doors together, and then sanding the edges, truing up the front and back ends and rounding the forward corners, so it would be more of a flush, curved assembly when installed. Let’s just say i was maybe 75% successful. It’s just press-fit in place right now.
Speaking of clearances, i cannot over-emphasize the importance of test fitting all the nose gear parts before assembly. There are multiple locators mounted on the nose gear well sidewalls, for the nose gear strut trunnion, the doors, and the drag strut. It’s important to clearly see what goes where, before you commit to glue.
And when all of these parts start coming together, things get crowded in the nose wheel well, very quickly.
-d-
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Yep, Dave, that sounds like the vinyl bases I have — rolled up in a tube and sent through the postal system. It took some time to flatten them out, and I planned to mount them to MDF for lightness and rigidity but it was one of those projects I didn’t get to before it was time to pack everything up for our move. I’ll retrieve them in a few more years when we return to our home.
I like your technique to ensure the wheels are all touching pavement. In fact ALL your techniques seem pretty ingenious! I’m glad you chronicled them carefully and with great detail and photos so I can adopt them as I get back to the workbench. Salut!
Cheers!
Tom
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All Right, lads- I’m calling this one finished.
The End.
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Oh, this is a extremely perfect model. It looks like a real DC-8.
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Posts: 104Location: Salt Lake CityOccupation: Retired. Twice: Civilian HR manager and US Army officerExceptional work. A master class on the X-Scale kit. I will use many of these tips while building my EC-24A and Braniff DC-8.
Robert V. Leonard
Congratulations, Dave! She’s a beauty. Great job!
I agree with 7074ever; it looks like a DC-8. The only thing missing is the dark smoke trails from the water injection as she barrels down the runway.
Cheers!
Tom
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Speaking of Smoke… there are these Convair 990s lying about in my kit stash…..
-d-
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What a long and interesting journey. Lots of great tips here. Can’t wait to try out the metallic techniques.
I also am trying to finish up a Revell 727 before the CRM 727-100 hits the streets.
Best regards…Duncan
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“a formalized “battle plan” needs to be drawn up to mount everything. The attachment points for the gear struts can get messed up, if the upper wing plank and lower carry thru structure are not perfectly aligned during assembly…”
Dave, that is a formidable line-up of coming attractions and I can’t wait to see your progress on them. But first, you can’t leave us hanging with the X-Scale DC-8 yet. How did you resolve the problem of the main landing gear fiddly bits? Can you share your battle plan with us? We’re anxious to read what you learned and how you got through it!
Thanks!
Tom
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Well Tom, what i did, i’m not sure i’d recommend to other people.
Since the wheels are “hard mounted” onto the axle stubs, the only way to get flat spots on all four wheels and get them to touch bottom is to mount them onto the strut, and sand flat spots with the wheels in situ on the strut.
Before the strut goes onto the model.
If the landing gear struts were designed “old school”, like Airfix and Revell, it would be a simple matter of just fashioning a brass rod axle to pass though the holes in the struts and you would be done. With a brass wire axle, you can put on the wheels more or less at will, and the slight play in such an axle makes it easy for all 8 wheels to hit the pavement.
There is precious little room to install the two lateral side struts, so i glued the side braces to the main shock strut and used a second DC-8 kit to serve as an installment/mounting jig to set the position of the side struts correctly.
The problem is i did not set the angles accurately enough. So when the struts got glued in, i had no problem getting the 8 main wheels to touch bottom, but i had a case where one of the struts had gaps between the inboard wheel well ledge and the inboard end of the extension strut.
A recurring aspect of the landing gear that i keep coming back to, is since the landing gear is accurately scaled and proportioned, all of the contacting surfaces where glue is supposed to go are very small, and there is very little in the way of notches or locator pins/sockets that facilitate proper alignment or a solid joint.
Were i to do it again, i would attach the main strut, all by itself first, into the wheel well socket, set the alignment, and allow it to dry. Then the next day i would glue in the side brace, and then lastly, the side-side brace “Salad Fork”.
The location of the “Salad Fork” on the side brace is vague and the instructions don’t do a good job at depicting where it contacts the wheel well roof. If mine were properly installed, it may or may not have beefed up the strut against side loads. However, you can clearly see it in photos, which is why X-Scale included it i guess.
That would ensure the strut is positively anchored to the model, but it does not guarantee that all 4 mains are on the same geometric plane. The shock strut attachment to the wing structure is such that it cannot take any kind of lateral or shear loads that *normally* happen when i sand flat spots on tyres. However, you just don’t have enough visibility or access to glue on the side braces, with the wheels in the way.
So you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
-d-
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Duncan, i’m thought about ordering the 3D printed engines, to put on the 727-100, but i’m sort of waiting to see if CRM does their -100 engines with clamshell reversers, instead of the cascades…. which was kind of a distinguishing feature when the 727-100s were new.
-d-
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Wow! That is beautiful. A piece of art. Congratulations David, job well done!
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFO
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus.Thank you for the explanation of the foibles of the main landing gear, Dave — great looking in-scale detail vs. engineering a sturdy and simple installation. Did you use Tamiya thin cement to attach the side brace and “salad fork” or something else? How comfortable are you with the sturdiness of the model as it stands on its gear — is it one of those where you dare not breathe or walk too close for fear of it collapsing?
Once again, Congratulations on a job well done!
I have a question about the VC-10 models in the photos above. The BOAC Cunard posed on the frame base (October 15) is different from the one in “coming attractions” on October 17. Same kit? Different techniques? I’m only halfway through all the articles and discussions on AirlinerCafe, and perhaps you did a similar “how to” discussion of that one earlier.
Cheers!
Tom
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Two entirely different models.
The first one built was G-ASGH.
The second, which is technically in the home stretch, is G-ASGD.
G-ASGD makes use of the gold foil BOAC logos from Airliner Hobby Supply. G-ASGH used decals from 26.
-d-
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Tom, i realize i only answered half of your question.
Landing gear…
The gear is “wobbly” if there is nothing working sideways to brace the struts. I filled a gap between one of the extension struts and the wheel well ledge with a slug made from .030 styrene and a punch and die set.
With the diagonal struts actually connected at both ends, the gear is just as strong as that of the VC10.
The biggest problem is the scale fidelity of the gear. There *are* contact points for everything; it’s just that they’re small.
-d-
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Great work on the DC-8, Dave! That will be a strong contender at the next IPMS.
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Dave, Beautiful work on the Northwest DC-8 and all the others in the pipeline. It really does look like an authentic airliner. Kudos! Kind regards, Dutch
Kind regards,
DutchThanks, Dutch!
Technically, this is only the second airliner i’ve gotten over the finish line, although the 720B and VC-10 were started earlier and are close to being done.
The model was a host of learning experiences and new techniques- some of which i’ve been able to plow into the 720 build….and the upcoming Convair 990A.
If i were to build another one, there are a few things i would do differently. I haven’t built a Minicraft DC-8 kit yet, but for the most part i found this to be a good kit. However, it requires some specialty sanding tools and you have to think things through as you put it together.
…And its only the second Northwest Orient DC-8 model out there.
-d-
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Congratulations, Dave! Who built the other Northwest Orient DC-8?
I meant to comment much earlier that you are relatively new to airliner modeling, although I first came across your work in other pages on AirlinerCafe as you described the foibles of the venerable Revell 727-100 and your work-arounds. I can’t wait to see you complete that one (I know you’re waiting for after-market engines). Thank you for bringing your modeling skills, photography skills, and humorous descriptions to us. It makes modeling that just much more enjoyable!
Cheers!
Tom
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Somebody around here needs to be the gag writer, because it doesn’t look like anybody else is trying….
But seriously folks, someone i think in Latin or South America did a Northwest DC-8, i think from the Revell kit. What i cannot remember is if it was done in the first scheme, or the second scheme. I may have seen one of each.
I have an Eastern Express Convair 990A well along in development, but i’m not ready to post it, since i’m trying to get the 720B done. Right now i’m finishing up the horizontal stabs on that one, prior to paint. Might as well do something while i wait for new windshield masks to arrive.
-d-
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Somebody around here needs to be the gag writer, because it doesn’t look like anybody else is trying….
But seriously folks, someone i think in Latin or South America did a Northwest DC-8, i think from the Revell kit. What i cannot remember is if it was done in the first scheme, or the second scheme. I may have seen one of each.
I have an Eastern Express Convair 990A well along in development, but i’m not ready to post it, since i’m trying to get the 720B done. Right now i’m finishing up the horizontal stabs on that one, prior to paint. Might as well do something while i wait for new windshield masks to arrive.
-d-
When I was in high school, I wasn’t a cool kid, I wasn’t a jock, I wasn’t a nerd. I was friends with them all. I played on the basketball and baseball teams, I was in the AP classes (did nothing for my lazy butt), couldn’t talk to any of the girls.
but wow! To have connections to get windshield masks and custom decals. Now, there is one dude to be jealous of!
I only once had a custom decal done, 11 month lead time for a show. It was finished shortly after the show. Never tried before that experience, won’t bother again. Good for you!
I don’t always say “Proceed as requested”
But when I do, it is because I have no clue what you just said.
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