Am getting sort of burned out on modeling military aircraft and thought i would try to build a fleet of civil airliners. Need info on best scale to model in( build in 1/48 and 1/72 now) companies that make the best models( love Tamiya and Hasagawa but have seen no civil airgraft from those companies) and any other help or suggestion.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Yeah, the big players in the game certainly give little attention to civil aircraft. Revell of Germany doesn’t make that many, but their offerings are top quality. It seems that if you want to build anything other than the very most popular civil aircraft you need to buy either expensive, poor quality Eastern European stuff or garage shop low volume resin.
JBar Hobbies, which does advertise in FSM, handles quite a few of these more obscure models, including some that are not airliners but still civil- business twins, classic private planes, etc.
I have gotten pretty upset lately with paying high bucks for the Eastern European stuff that doesn’t fit well (and that is an understatement), has poor detail, and is sometimes lacking in accuracy. But it is the only game in town for kits of desired subjects.
I don’t mind scratchbuilding now and then, and am trying to find ways to speed up or simplify such jobs as cambering wings and such. My old arthritic hands have a hard job doing much carving these days 
Brownie,
For airliners, 1/144 or 1/200 scales offer the most choices. Revell Germany’s Airbus and Boeing stuff is pretty nice and builds well. I like the airliners I’ve seen from Russian maker Zvezda — fine panel lines and no construction issues. Minicraft hasn’t released any new molds recently, but their MD-80, DC-8, DC-4, and 737 kits are worth looking at.
BTW, Hasegawa has a long list of 1/200 scale airliners which build into nice models.
It’s a great aspect of the hobby.
Cheers, Aaron
Don, thank you for the info. Will start looking for the Revel kits.
Aaron,
Thank you for the information. Will definitely check out the models you mention. By the way, enjoy the work you do in FSM very much. You guys are truely pro’s!!
I would definitely look at 1/144.
There’s next to nothing in 1/48, and although 1/72 is a big scale (my fav) really doodly squat except for the very nice Heller DC-6 (my favorite kit ever, all subjects, all scales), and a couple of Boeing 377 models that aren’t very accurate except for Pan Am. No United, BOAC or Northwestern. All the DC-3’s are with cargo door and most modelers in that scale find vacs. The Heller Constellations are nice. Mach 2 makes a Caravelle that’s great but it’s a “basis” kit.
There was a great era in passenger aircraft kits in the early sixties. Lockheed Electra, 727, DC-9. alas no Vickers Viscount. But they were all box scale.
In 1/144 there’s all kinds of kits. I recently built a DC-4 for Dad, who retired from United Airlines with 49 years seniority, Minicraft makes a lot of models at that scale that are all just peachy.
I have a few more in my stash, and we’ll see because i do not like the scale.
In hindsight however Boyd, I think 1/144 is the way to go.
The big problem (more on that in a minute) is that your " favorite" subject in civil a/c is not available in any scale.
Curtis Condor is but it’s 1/80.
Want a DC-10?
Heck, Concorde is completely under served by the early offerings and at this time there’s one only.
Dad entered the engineering ranks at UAL in 1953 and was asked to figure out why United had lost two Stratocruisers in a year on the SFO HON route. One circled and ditched at the weather ship/ beacon that was mid way.
The big problem was that the R4360’s had a lot of power but also created a lot of drag when they were at full throttle because of the cowling flaps being wide open and the big props at optimum pitch. So the flight engineer had to load them up to get optimum air speed and they would over heat. in both losses, the engine burned and dropped off the wing. At that point the flat area of the fire wall caused the a/c to pitch over and fight the pilot.
At the root of the problem was the conversion of priorities from route length to route speed.
When I first flew to Hawaii in 1959, and I was 4; there were two flights, following the railroad model.
The First Class flight took off from SFO at 9 am in a 377, and the Coach flight took off at 11.15 am in a DC-6. The two planes landed one right behind the other at Honolulu.
Go 1/144
The Constellation (which was a subject of a recent thread here) is a particularly nice kit and still widely available. I have one in my stash and that thread encouraged me to put it in t he workbench queue. Remember, it is Revell of Germany, which is not quite as easy to find as the domestic Revell kits, but still not that hard to find.
It’s been a while since i built the Italeri DC-3, but I think it comes with an insert in the fuselage to built it wieht eitther the C-47 cargo door or the DC-3 passenger door.
The Hawk (now Glencoe) 1/96 scale Viscount is pretty nice, especially given it’s age.
The DC-4 is a gem of kit! Fits well and has just the right amount of detail.
Now if someone would kit the Convairliners in 1/144 scale, I’d be a happy camper.
Cheers, Aaron
1/144 is my new favorite as well. And I said a while back I’d never get into airline kits since they were so simple and lacked detail. Boy was I wrong. I’m workinig my butt off and still not getting the results I would like. A lot of the 1/144 don’t take up any more room than a 1/48 fighter but with good decals they can really show out. I can’t decide which I like best between the jets and props though, so I just do both. I have no problem with “what-ifs” either. I’m doing the RoG A380 in Pan Am colors now, huge kit. Good luck with your choice.
Chris
All of my airliners are 1/144. Pretty good size, well except for the big ones (747, A380). Of course I only do jetliners, and not the propliners.
I finished an A380 in Qantas markings and it is big!
Browse www.airline-hobby.com for lots of options.
Unless you own a warehouse, I’d look at 1/144 - even in that scale, some of these lil’ guys aren’t so, well, little!
Your Dad retired from United after 49 yrs. I started with Capital Airlines in 1950 and retired from United in 1993. Due to display space I have to build in scale 1/144 or smaller. I have just completed building Capital’s fleet, plus there almost buys-----except for the Martin 202 which I wouldn’t pay $60 plus s/h. I’m looking for a Lear 23 model which United used as a crew training aircraft. I started in MKE open JAX in 1959 and then went into Management until I retired. My problem isn’t finding the aircraft, but getting the Capital livery’s.
Much as I would like to build my airliners in one scale, I find 1:144 too tiny for the early ones. For Boeing 80, Fokker Trimotors, the Ford Trimotors, the 247 and such, they get pretty small. So I am glad for 1:72 in subjects from that era (except for the lack of a decent Ford trimotor).
Aha !
There was and is, a Vickers Viscount kit .It’s larger than 1/144 but it ain’t bad .It was originally put out by Hawk .