1/144 Lufthansa Junkers G.38

Junkers G.38 was the largest land-based airliner in the 1930's and it was used on the international routes of Lufthansa. So, when Revell issued this new kit I knew I had to build it, because it a) is an airliner, b) is in 1/144th scale, and c) has Lufthansa decals!



This model adds to my Lufthansa collection, though the it would have been more pleasant to build in 1/72nd scale. Revell has done well with all the details present in the kit, but they go kind of wasted in this scale and the 1/144th scale corrugated surfaces are a nightmare when the decals are concerned.


G.38 was quite an advanced plane in 1929 when the prototype flew for the first time. It had 4 diesel engines mounted on a spacious flying wing with a passenger viewing deck.




If only there weren't those large wing registration markings, the decals would have been very nice. I simply couldn't make them conform to the corrugated sheet metal simulation and still don't know how it could be done.




The original von Hindenburg visited Malmi, Finland in 1937 and I tried to make this model look like the original plane was in the newspaper photos. Thus there are tail swastikas on the actual model for historical accuracy, but in these photos I have smudged them out intentionally. It's nice to have a 30's Lufthansa plane in the 1/144 scale too, but from now on I'm concentrating on more contemporary Lufthansa planes and liveries.

1/144 SAS McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 Airfix

The biggest bird in my 1/144th DC-series is the intercontinental version DC-10-30 built from the Airfix kit. It wasn't an easy build at all, but I like the finished model nevertheless. The Airfix kit may be old and somewhat inaccurate, but still it looks very much like a DC-10 in the end of the day.


I had planned on using the American Airlines decals provided with the kit, but the window cheatlines were a disaster. Thus I had to give up with the perfect silver finish and build up a white fuselage instead for the SAS decals. That wasn't easy to do either.



All painting was done with my workhorse Iwata HP-C airbrush and mostly Revell enamels, paint codes are gloss 04 white, semi-gloss 371 gull gray and Miranol enamel silver. There is a light finishing coat of Johnson floor wax on the fuselage and engine nacelles too.



The ground clearance for the engines is way too low in this kit, but as there was no easy way to correct it in the later building phase I decided to let it go. I like to build out of the box anyway!




Despite the fact that the fittings may be lousy and mouldings less than perfect, I still can't stop loving Airfix kits. They may be somewhat challenging to build sometimes, but always a lot of fun and that's what it's all about.