Douglas DC-9 series 32 1/144 AZ model
The DC-9 was designed specifically to operate from short runways and on short- to medium-range routes so that the speed, comfort and reliability of jet transportation could be extended to hundreds of communities previously served only by propeller-driven airliners. There are five basic DC-9 versions, designated Series 10, Series 20, Series 30, Series 40 and Series 50. Several models in each series provide operators maximum efficiency for diverse combinations of traffic density, cargo volume and route distances to more than 2,000 miles (3,218 km). All models use variants of the reliable workhorse Pratt & Whitney JT8D engine. Fuselage of the Series 30 DC-9, actually second developed, is nearly 15 feet longer than the Series 10, at 119.3 feet (36.3 m), providing seats for up to 115 passengers and cargo space to 895 cubic feet (25.3 m3). Series 30 wingspan was increased to 93.3 feet (28.4 m), and a high-lift wing system of leading edge slats gives the Series 30 excellent short-field performance. The first of the type began airline service in February 1967.
DC-9-32 kit AZ model LPK14409
AZ kit comes packed in a box with inspiring color art on the cover and color information on the back. Kit is well molded with nice and crisp engraved panel lines, no sink marks or flash is spotted. Box contains 40 parts molded in white plastic, small photoetched fret with 5 parts to represent antennas, decals and instruction sheet. Instruction sheet is absolutely clear and is printed on four A5 format pages. Windows on this kit are meant to be represented as decals and if you like to open them there will be some additional work for you. Since I don’t fancy open windows on my airliners my construction begun with adding some weight in the nose section. As I tested the fit of the fuselage I noticed that it is not such a great fit, but I have easily solved it by gluing section after section of the fuselage using the liquid glue, and it turned great, with minimal sanding and filling. The rest of the assembly went straightforward no problems at all. I decided to glue wings and horizontal tail at the mere end of my build in order to ease my work on painting and masking the model.
AZ model offered two marking options, first one for Swissair DC-9-32 and the second one that was far most interesting for me DC-9-32 Jugoslovenski Aerotransport or JAT with registration YU-AHT. JAT Yugoslav Airlines Flight 367 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 aircraft (registration YU-AHT) which exploded shortly after overflying NDB Hermsdorf, East Germany, while en route from Stockholm to Belgrade on 26 January 1972. The aircraft, piloted by captain Ludvig Razdrih, broke into two pieces and spun out of control, crashing near the village of Srbská Kamenice in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). 27 of 28 of those on board were killed upon ground impact; but one crew member, Vesna Vulović, survived. If you decide to build this particular sample do not use photoetched part marked as 4, since this sample didn’t had this antenna. After priming the kit with mr Surfacer 1.200 I painted few coats of Gunze gloss white color. After that I masked the fuselage and painted Aluminum for high temperatures from tin can produced by Cosmos, and polished aluminum sections were painted using Model Master metalisers. AZ model provide decal for whole tail section but it is a bit small so I had to paint the top and leading edge of vertical tail in the same blue color. For this I used Humbrol enamel 25 with a few drops of white in order to match exact shade. After a few coats of Future it was time to apply decals. I must say decals are great, they fit great, and no decal solvent were used, decals are thin enough and in perfect register. I applied one more coat of future and finished my kit with final coat of Model Master acryl semi-gloss varnish.
I really enjoyed building this kit, so I can recommend it to all modelers no matter on level of experience. Dc-9 is one of the most widely used airliners so you can find the livery you fancy, since many aftermarket decals are produced. I plan to build few more of these, since I really like the plane and the model.
This product is highly recommended !
Darko Mladenovic
Sample kit is provided by Jaroslav Osten from AZ Models
