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DC-9-30 "Big Bunny"


The Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Heffner used to have an all-black DC-9 with a white rabbit head on the tail. I found that a black airliner looks very different so I had to build one. I used the 1/144 scale Airfix DC-9-30 kit for this.
(Model finished 2002)




I rediscovered it in the basement an took it up for some pictures.






Airfix conversions


I found out that I could build a DC-9-20 and a DC-9-50 from two Airfix DC-9-30 kits if I lay the cuts in the fuselage right.



This is models that took a long time to finish. The oldest picture I could find was from 2004 when I had joined the fuselage parts.
This build really fought me. What good is planning if you don't follow it. I brought out my almost finished bodies and realised that I forgot to remove one window in front of the wing on the shorter plane. But I was not too sad as the fuselage joint between the right and left halves was to weak, so they split. That gave me a chance to reinforce them. But this is typically me. Don't think too much just bring the saw out and get to work. Redo it right later. More building time for the money this way??
So, I've cut the fuselage apart, removed the offending window, reinforced the weak joints, glued it all back together and puttied the joints once again. Back at square one.
Then it took five years before I brought the kits out again, and while sanding the longer DC-9-50 a final time I broke the rear joint. So I had to redo the job on this one as well.



Then it took another five years before I looked at them again just to find that the decals I had bought for them had printed windows, so I had to fill the windows in the kits. It was back to putty and sanding again.



I lost the front wheels for both planes and needed to find four wheels. In the end I used the main wheels from a 1/144 Viggen.


SAS DC-9-20




I used LN-decals for the DC-9-20. They were hard and a bit brittle, I don't know if they are old. I have had them for some time now.
(Model finished 2018)







Finnair DC-9-50




TwoSix decals was used on the DC-9-50. They were soft and flexible but a little bit on the thick side.
(Model finished 2018)





The last pauses in the build didn't last as long as the previous. While not perfect I'm happy to finally have finished them.




Stockholm May 15, 2005 Updated October 08, 2018
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