Minicraft released a few DC-8s recently in 1/144th scale, this is the -63 series in Eastern Airlines livery. I was building the Douglas Commercials from DC-2 through DC-10 and this stretched 8-63 was among the last models of the project.
The quality of the kit was quite good, with just a few fitting problems in the nose area. The clear cockpit part was slightly shrinked in every dimension and didn't sit well in the fuselage.
Wing and tail joints were very good with well designed interlocking tabs. One can easily convert a -62 series with this kit as there areall markings for cutting readily available inside the fuselage halves.
Surface detail is nice with recessed panel lines, almost on par with the best Revell efforts. This model was painted with enamels using an airbrush, there were some problems with white areas in the fuselage so I had to patch up the paint job quite a few times.
The decal sheet was another highlight of the kit, accurately and crisply printed. The decal film was a tad thick or vinyl-like, but then again the decals were easy to apply with no fear of breaking or excessive stretching of the cheatlines.
I left out some of the smaller stencils (hatches etc.) because I thought they didn't make the right impression in 1/144th scale when comparing to the photos of actual planes. A nice building project for a larger airliner and not as difficult as I expected.
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