1/144 Lufthansa Boeing 707-430

Boeing 707 was the first jet airliner for Lufthansa in 1960. A year later this particular plane entered Lufthansa's fleet with the registration D-ABOG. Minicraft has released a kit of the long distance version of the 707 with Rolls Royce Conway turbofan engines.


I knew I had to build this model when I first saw the PR photos of the Lufthansa 707 from the 60's. Trouble was, it wasn't easy to find the kit and I had to order it from Netherlands in the end. The quality of this kit was a bit disappointing, details were somewhat soft and the recessed panel lines were too wide for my tastes.


Likewise the decals were otherwise okay, but they were slightly transparent and didn't fit too well on the fuselage. I decided not to touch up the decals afterwards, despite the differing shades and few mismatches.



It's not a showroom stopper model, but I still like the scheme and overall shape. There wasn't much I could have done otherwise even if I had known the problems in advance. There just aren't any good 707 kits in the market, so I'm still satisfied I got this far with it.


A modern Revell 707 kit with one of their excellent decal sheets would be a treat, but meanwhile this will do fine.

1/72 UTA Douglas DC-6B

One of the latest models I've finished is this French Union de Transport Aeriens (UTA) DC-6B in 1/72 scale. It's a large bird and built from the Heller kit. I choose the French operator over the Scandinavian Airlines System option, because I thought the decals for SAS looked somewhat odd in my opinion.


I knew the landing gears were fragile, yet I trashed the nose gear completely by accident. That's why this model is on a display stand, besides large (around 40 centimeters long) it's pretty heavy too for a plastic scale model.



The decals were sharply printed, but very, very fragile and that caused me a lot of grief during the final phases. Fortunately I was able to patch most of the cheatlines with matching Revell enamels. The white roof was airbrushed with several coats of enamels, other areas were done with a paintbrush.


I had high hopes and expectations for this kit, but despite my best effort it turned out to be more like a travel agency resin model, which is still nice. Maybe I am actually spoiled by all these new Revell and Minicraft kits after all!

1/144 United DC-3 "Mainliner San Francisco"

Minicraft has released the famous Douglas DC-3 in various liveries in the 1/144th scale, this is the United Airlines Mainliner "San Francisco".




Building this kit was quite straightforward and easy, despite the diminutive size of the model. As usual with DC-3 kits, the bottom seam of the fuselage and trailing edge needed special attention.
The overall shape is acceptable, the only thing I corrected was the top of the tail which I sanded down to a more rounded style.


I tried a new method here with the fuselage and wing bottom seam, using cyanoacryate and baking soda as a putty. It hardened quick for sure but wasn't too easy to sand down afterwards, it is a technique I have to practice more with some another projects.



I airbrushed this model with Tikkurila Miranol Silver decoration paint, it contains real aluminum particles and looks nice with any scale. The decals were pretty comprehensive for such a small scale, unfortunately the ''United Airlines" and "Mainliner" were printed in an odd looking shade of red. I'm no expert here, so they may be correct after all. I was quite satisfied with this DC-3 when it was finished, but nowadays I think I could do even a bit better with it. So, maybe if I find a nice livery to go with the good quality basic kit, who knows...