Hasegawa 1/200 McDonnell Douglas DC-9

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell Aircraft to become McDonnell Douglas. Following the introduction of its first jetliner, the high-capacity DC-8, in 1959, Douglas was interested in producing an aircraft suited to smaller routes. As early as 1958, design studies were conducted; approval for the DC-9, a smaller all-new jetliner, came on April 8, 1963. The DC-9-10 first flew on February 25, 1965, and gained its type certificate on November 23, to enter service with Delta Air Lines on December 8.

The DC-9 is powered by two rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofan engines under a T-tail for a cleaner wing aerodynamic. It has a two-person flight deck and built-in airstairs to better suit smaller airports. The Series 10 aircraft are 104 ft (32 m) long for typically 90 coach seats. The Series 30, stretched by 15 ft (4.5 m) to seat 115 in economy, has a larger wing and more powerful engines for a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW); it first flew in August 1966 and entered service in February 1967. The Series 20 has the Series 10 fuselage, more powerful engines, and the Series 30's improved wings; it first flew in September 1968 and entered service in January 1969. The Series 40 was further lengthened by 6 ft (2 m) for 125 passengers, and the final DC-9-50 series first flew in 1974, stretched again by 8 ft (2.5 m) for 135 passengers. When deliveries ended in October 1982, 976 had been built. Smaller variants competed with the BAC One-Eleven, Fokker F28, and Sud Aviation Caravelle, and larger ones with the original Boeing 737.

This kit was released in 1980 as part of their Loveliners series of 1/200 airliner kits. These have done quite well and frequently sell out when issued. For some reason, the scale has not taken off (pun intended) with other manufacturers and it is a bit of a shame as this is a great scale for those who like airliners but don't have a lot of display space.

Three liveries were initially produced; TDA, Garuda, and SAS. Over the years only a C-9B and a white kit have been issued by Hasegawa with Minicraft putting Eastern Airlines decals with their rebox. Hasegawa has released the later MD-90 in several boxings, but the standard DC-9 has not been available since the white kit of 2013.

The kit is quite simple. First off, there are some large plastic pieces to provide nose weight and they are sufficient. There is no cockpit as it would be nearly impossible to see any detail. The kit does come with a display stand and one needs to open a fairly large hole in the lower fuselage to allow for the stand attachment.

Each engine is four pieces and adequate for the scale. Wings and stab are a single piece and once the fuselage is joined, these and the engines can be attached. The last are the landing gear. Painting the wheels will be a bit of a challenge as they are so small. Nose gear doors are molded on the fuselage halves and the main gear legs incorporate the main gear doors. This means that if you want a gear up display, you'll need to cut away the nose doors and use filler or plastic card to fill the gear openings.

Instructions are super simple with four construction steps. The lone livery is for SAS and is fairly easy to paint though you will need to mask, with the upper fuselage in white, the lower fuselage in aluminum, and the wings/stab in a light grey. This light grey also covers the fuselage center section where the wings attach. Note that the leading edges of the flight surfaces are silver as are the wing control surfaces. Considering their age, the decals are in really good shape, probably because the box was sealed until I opened it for this preview.

Back in the day, I built all of the initial boxings and found they made really neat models. Since then I've done a number of 1/200 airliners and can easily recommend them to anyone with an interest in airliners. This kit may not be in the current catalog, but it is still available in the second hand market with a quick google finding various boxings ranging from $14 - $77.00. Not only that, but there are a number of aftermarket decal sheets available that are well worth getting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-9

November 2024