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I am looking to buy a complete and un started DC-10. Never built one so I guess it is something I should try. I am interested in the earlier version without the “belly wheel”, but will take what I can get. Decals are not an issue as I will most likely use after market. Thanks-John
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I think I have one in my stash somewhere. Please give me a couple of days to find it.
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFO
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus.Ahmed-I will pass on that, did some looking into that kit and it has more issues than I want to fix. Thanks for your offer but I did not realize its “pitfalls”. -John
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Hello, John,
I was going to write to you last night to congratulate you on your choice of model and encourage you to give it a go. Ah well… Every kit has its pitfalls and detractors.
I got this kit as a birthday gift in 1973 (Delta Airlines) — I loved the box art!
Had you gone ahead to build it, I was going to suggest that you reinforce the joint of the plate that is the underside of the fuselage and the wings where it meets the fuselage halves. There isn’t much surface for glue to make a secure joint, and since this is the foundation for the wings it’s kind of important. I did this on my second model (United in the Saul Bass scheme, although the blue on the decal was much too dark) and it worked better. I used bits of sprue glued onto the plate and extending over the edge about an inch (two toward the front and two aft) which I then glued onto the fuselage half.
The engines in the kit represent the earliest GE engines with the splitter fin at the exhaust. Airlines upgraded these engines to more powerful versions when they became available, which also changed the look of the exhaust. Revell uses the more advanced engines in their DC-10-30 and KC-10 kits. Of course today you have many choices of better detailed aftermarket engines.
The clear plastic strip to be used for the windows (glued inside the fuselage) confused me as a young modeler, but since I wasn’t going to paint the fuselage (it was already molded in white, why paint? Of course I have since learned that decals adhere best to painted surfaces) the problem was solved. Back then, the kit decals were solid strips and the instructions called for using a punch (included as a piece on the sprue) to make the windows — at least there wasn’t a problem lining them up! Had I been more sophisticated back then, I would have used MicroSol to get the loose piece of decal stick to the plastic and made a neater job of it. After the decals were applied and windows punched, THEN you glued on the plastic strips. That meant that while you’re gluing together the two fuselage halves, your hands are all over your decal work. On my second DC-10, I just didn’t use the clear plastic strip.
The nose gear strut is very delicate, but looks great like on a real DC-10.
I always like the look of the DC-10, and of the three 1:144 kits available at the time, to my eye the Revell kit looked like a DC-10, and certainly beat the Airfix and Aurora kits hands down! Maybe it doesn’t have all the detail we look for in models these days. Revell were notorious for bringing their kits to market shortly after the shop drawings became available. It drives us modelers nuts — especially we space modelers — since often the airplane manufacturer made adjustments and improvements that rendered the plastic kit not quite right. I haven’t built the Eastern Express or AMP DC-10 kits, but they’ve had decades since the DC-10s were produced to get the details right!
It’s your choice, obviously, but maybe you’ll consider some day. What are you going to build next?
Cheers!
Tom
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Ahmed-I will pass on that, did some looking into that kit and it has more issues than I want to fix. Thanks for your offer but I did not realize its “pitfalls”. -John
No problem. Let me know if you change your mind. I also might have an Airfix DC-10 that I can spare.
Thanks,
ahmed
KSFO
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus.
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