Hello everyone,
Here is my completed DC-9 model. This one is special to me because it represents my first flight as a child during a family vacation to Orlando 26 years ago. It was one of the first experiences to spark my interest in aviation and surely influenced me to pursue such a career. And during this time of not flying, it's nice to have a reminder of that spark!
I built out of the box from an Airfix kit. Scale 1:144 (forgot to mention before). I split off the elevators and repositioned them in a more "free floating" fashion as is notoriously seen during taxiing. I took out most of the raised details and scribed lines instead. Various small details were added such as spray deflectors, aileron actuators, thrust reverser sleeve holder thingys, elevator feel pitot probe, and turbine blades (although you can't see them lol), and other things. The USAir insignia comes from FlightDesigns decals. However, I decided to paint all of the red and blue stripes instead of using decals. I made decals for some details like static ports, lights, and an outflow valve. The windshield lining was edited but came from an old TWA decal sheet I had laying around.
Paints were a combination of Tamiya lacquers and acrylics followed by a TS13 clear coat. Then Alclad chrome was used for the main polished aluminum airframe. I sealed with Aqua gloss and then used AK Xtreme metallics to add some panel shades. Decals were added and then another coat of Aqua Gloss (I hated to do it but figured the model needs the protection). Then came some weathering.
The most tedious part was four rounds of wet sanding. The most strenuous part was the multiple iterations of masking lines!
Comments and critiques are always welcome.
