The Douglas DC-9 was one of the more successful of the Douglas twin jet short/medium range airliners ever built. Hundreds of them are still plying the skies of the world providing reliable service. When McDonnell bought out Douglas, the DC-9 nameplate was changed to MD-80 (the MD standing for McDonnell/Douglas). Regardless of what it was named, it was still a DC-9 in heart. As aircraft design improved, mostly in the area of avionics and engines, the DC-9/MD-80 also improved. This resulted in the MD-90 that is currently being flown by a number of the world's airlines. 

Hasegawa has been well-known for its production of 1/200 airliners. These kits are small enough to allow those airliner enthusiasts with limited space the opportunity to get involved in the hobby. Over the years, the kits have been transforming themselves. This is an example of the latest design by Hasegawa. It is actually getting closer to the 'Wooster' type of airliner with few parts and those parts basically snap together. 

You will notice in the image above, that the fuselage is now split top and bottom instead of side to side as in 'standard' kits. There are no window holes as most airline builders will fill those in and use decals in their stead. Wings and tailplanes are one piece moldings as are the engine bodies. The landing gear are still like the older kits, however the option of closed gear doors is given where it wasn't before. Previously, the hole for the mounting stand had to be opened in the bottom of the fuselage. Now that hole is permanently there and a plug given for those who do not wish to mount the kit on it's stand. There is also a large nose weight provided for those that wish to display their kit on its landing gear.

The decal sheet with this kit is really impressive. It offers two different schemes, both of them extremely colorful as is the norm with airliner paint jobs nowadays. The more colorful of the two is illustrated on the box top. As it is with most Hasegawa printed decals, they are a bit thick, but should be able to survive the frequent handling that is required to get it just right!

As you can see, the wing walks and anti-glare panels are offered as decals. From looking at the box top, the aircraft is in white, whereas these items are in an ivory color.

I bought my kit on the second-hand market so that is why there are few sprue trees in the kit image.

I then sanded down the fuselage to help find low spots. There were quite a few of them on the top fuselage half, mostly because there are a number of 'ribs' on the inside to give it strength. Where there are thick sections of plastic, it is not unusual to find sunken areas. While the filler was drying, the engine pods, which are one piece, were cleaned up. I found that the mold was slightly misaligned for these pieces, making cleanup a bit of a chore. 

I still had one scheme left on the sheet, so used that one instead. This one wasn't as bad. I used diluted Solvaset on a few areas without too much problem, though it did cause some spots to permanently wrinkle. The key, I guess, is to not use the kit decals if it covers a lot of compound curves. Too bad as I like the scheme. Unfortunately, I cannot find any aftermarket decals for the MD-80/90 series  in 1/200 (at least, not as of this writing in July 2000) :(  In case you hadn't guessed, I am really less than pleased with the final outcome of the decals. There were a number of areas that needed patching and I used bits and pieces of the original scheme that I screwed up to provide those patches. A contest winner this will never be. I'll take it to our monthly club meeting, show it to them and then stick it on my 'shelf of shame', an area reserved for kits that just didn't do well.

Heck, there really isn't much more to construction on this one. I simply snapped the wings and engines in place and then stuck it on the stand that came with the kit.