Why aren't civil aircraft interesting.

Would it be a hijack of this thread to put up some pics of the civilian kits I have on my shelf?

I would not think so.

heepey

Would it be a hijack of this thread to put up some pics of the civilian kits I have on my shelf?

Start a new thread!

I for one would enjoy seeing your builds!

hogfanfs

heepey

Would it be a hijack of this thread to put up some pics of the civilian kits I have on my shelf?

 

Start a new thread!

I for one would enjoy seeing your builds!

I concur.  Many of us do not read threads that are old or have a ton of messages- you feel your voice is lost in the clammer.  Even as OP, I seldom check this thread anymore, whereas I almost always read all new ones in this forum.

SInce I just recently flew via American Airlines to San Diego on an MD-80, 737, and a 757. they will be the models I'll  be focused on since I actually flew on them first person.  Even though I worked on the F15, F18, Yf23a, A-12 Avenger 2, and the AV8-B as a detail drafter  I never had a passion to exalt them over civil airlines.

And I have worked at Southwest Airlines on the flight ramp as a baggage handler/loader with the real aircraft.  The real world makes the model come alive to me.  That,s why I relate more to civil models than military.

I really believe that civil aircraft seem uninteresting to most people because they are not pilots, and have no actual experience with the real world of aviation. My friend said that trainers aren't interesting because there was no danger and glory in that aspect of aviation.

Flying even a WWII trainer can be exciting and dangerous. As pilots all flying is a very exciting world and all aircraft are very interesting---even the civil types when you have personal experience with them.

I am old enough to remember the wonder and romance of the propeller airliners. When commerical flying became ho-hum with the jets, I can see why there is no interest in civilian aviation by the general public. There is so much more wonder and excitement with flying than a ticket on Southwest or American-----

Cause they don't drop bombs...

I can think of a few I'd like to see that are interesting and historic. . . . How about Admiral Byrd's Trimotor (not sure if it was the Fokker or the Ford) that he flew over both poles, or, how about Wiley Post's Vega that he flew around the world twice, or, Amelia Earhart's Vega she flew across the Atlantic, or, her Lockheed L-10 that killed her, or how about Post's hybrid that killed him and Will Rodgers? Of course Lindberg's flying gas tank would be a nice one too. They are all small enough that they could be produced in 1/48 scale

I would say recently that the whole civil aviation experience has become so horrible that nobody has any positive feelings about it.

I agree, G. I think the manufacturers kind of forgot that in order to get fighters and bombers there was a whole development process beforehand. Without it the planes of WW 2 and the jets of Korea, Vietnam and those in present service might never have happened. We think of fighter and bomber crews who risked their lives (on both sides) but we never give a thought to those folks who risked their lives just to prove it could (or could not) be done and thus advanced the technology of getting into the air.

Cause they (normally) don't blow stuff up and kill people...

I would build biz jets if there were more out there in 1/48 and newer models than what hasegawa offered.

This one is very intresting!   

Nice Alclad work (I assume that is Alclad).  I have a NWA Stratocruiser in my stash- hope to get on bench soon.

Philo!

Yes, interesting...

I don't think the airline ever thought to put J47's on their civilian aircraft though.

NOA Strats are a hard subject, because they and their UAL brethren had rectangular cabin windows. Which means modifications to the Academy kit, at the least.

That's a wishlist item for me. Dad was put on the "problem" early in his career at UAL (48 years in all). The things were just too slow for the time. Running at high throttle settings made the engines (R4360s) vibrate and over heat. Flying with the cowling flaps open slowed them down a lot. Pan Am had a few where the engines fell off the wings, and having that big engine bulkhead exposed really slowed things down.

United had a First Class flight that left SFO around 9.00 in the morning for Honolulu, and a Coach flight in a DC-7 that left around 11.00 in the morning. They landed right behind each other in the Islands.

Cool!nice background info!

I got interested in civil kits from an article in FSM way back.  I had a few failed attempts, but then started powering through.  Still have a lot to learn, as the couple builds I've seen withe the flaps down and super detailed at 1:200 or 1:144 are amazing.

I like them because of the colorful livery.  I also like to build non-civilian versions of these birds like airforce one, or airforce two.  I also have done a Cal Fire bird.  The colors and markings draw me to these subjects.  And, 1:200 is a great scale - really gets the 'view'/'perspective' of these big birds right. 

And if scale is the issue, why is 1/350 ship building so popular?

Anyhow, each to his own.  I enjoy them as much as my 1/48 fighters.

This is a lot of seam removel sanding thin masking and gloss painting . I REALLY got to get enthused to start one its a car with wings lol

my lastest build is a F2A2 buffalo with yellow wings and its going slow lol