There was a time in from the mid-1960s until the early 1990s when the 727 was flying passengers across the planet. The 727 was the first commercial airplane to break the 1,000-sales mark, but it started out Dec. 5, 1960, with only 40 orders each from launch customers United Airlines and Eastern Air Lines.

The trijet was designed to service smaller airports with 5,800 – 8,300 feet runways. The 727 had a distinctive appearance, with its super-swept T-shaped tail and three rear-mounted engines. The first 727 rolled out Nov. 27, 1962, but by the time of its first flight, on Feb.9, 1963, orders were still below the estimated break-even point of 200. To spur sales, Boeing sent a 727 on a 76,000-mile tour of 26 countries and it entered service with Eastern on Feb. 1, 1964.

Boeing planned to build 250 of the jets; however, they proved so popular (especially after the larger 727-200 model, which carried up to 189 passengers, was introduced in 1967) that a total of 1,832 were produced at the Renton, WA, plant.

In September 1984, after a 22 year production run, the last of 1,832 727s was delivered. The 737 did not overtake the 727 in terms of deliveries until 1991, 25 years after the first of the twinjet had been delivered and seven years after production of the 727 had ended.

Airfix issued the first injection molded 1/144 727-200 in 1983, a year before Boeing ceased production of the full size product. It was a re-work of the Airfix 727-100 first issued in 1966. Despite molding a completely new longer fuselage, it retained the inaccurate tailfin shape of the original -100 kit. Next up was the Minicraft 727-200 released in 2004. Despite being 21 years newer, some issues still remained. The wings were impossibly thick and the engines were oversized. I built this kit, warts and all, and was satisfied until the CRM kit was released in late 2024 with JAT decals. The CRM 727-200 is a short run kit sold out of Germany, but I think it was tooled in Ukraine. At least, it has the hallmarks of kits released by X-Scale, for example the seam line on the bottom of the wing half runs across the control surfaces to make razor thin trailing edges and avoid sink marks. My X-Scale DC-8, 707 and Electra have this same characteristic. This is a short run kit that doesn’t fit like a Tamiya kit, but has tremendous features: quality plastic, photo-etched parts, S-duct for the tail, paint masks for the clear flight deck and cabin windows, alternate engine fan blades, optional rear airstair, HF antenna or tail strobe light and the most complete instructions I have ever seen in an airliner kit, jammed packed with tips and hints.

Two cardinal rules when building this kit: follow the instructions and test fit five times before applying any adhesive. I first wanted to get two chores out of the way: those troublesome seam lines on the bottom of the wings and the installation of the clear cabin windows. Before applying thick black cyano-acrylate glue to the seam lines, I first deepened all the affected engraved control surfaces with my scriber. I knew sanding to obliterate the seam lines would render the engraved control surfaces hard to see, so deepening those lines beforehand was essential. For the clear cabin windows, I drilled out the recessed areas and razor-sawed the areas the instructions indicate to remove. I left, to the best of my ability, the recommended .5mm frame in the recess for the clear part to sit in. I could have been more careful in testing fitting these pieces, as I was left with some careful filling around the clear window strips. I added some thin plastic strip to address a gap between the wing and the fuselage as pointed out in the instructions. I did so and was rewarded with virtually no gap. The anti-collision lights, top and bottom of the fuselage, are aftermarket red resin from CRM.

Bob Leonard

15 January 2026

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