Swissair | Douglas DC-8-62 | HB-IDL | Aeroclassics

When it comes to Douglas products Aeroclassics has the best. Be it a piston propliner or a Diesel Nine you can't usually go far wrong with an Aeroclassics version, which is just as well because of the 1,963 Douglas / McDonnell Douglas models that have been produced in 400 scale 979 have been made by Aeroclassics. I own 117 of their DC-8s alone so always keep an eye out for new ones. Three were announced in February and I picked up two of them including this Swiss example.

---

---

Each review is to split into three key areas:

• The model mould
• The paint and livery reproduction
• Printing and quality control

Each section can get a maximum score of 10 for a maximum combined score of 30

---

---

MOULD

As I said Aeroclassics has made a lot of Douglas machines, and the totals become even starker when you narrow it down to DC-8s. Aeroclassics has made 283 DC-8s of 374 that have been made and 148 of the 188 DC-8 Super 60s.

Aeroclassics have an impressive collection of DC-8 versions covering the early turbojet water wagons through to the series 50s and beyond. They have a 100% monopoly on the DC-8-62, in fact the only part of the series not touched by Aeroclassics are the re-engined series 71/73s.

The DC-8-62 mould first appeared in 2004 with static gear, but was used only three times prior to 2008 (once by Gemini for a Braniff Calder). Usage of it really kicked into gear in 2008, by which time it had been updated with rolling gear with smaller tyres. This was the same time period in which Aeroclassics replaced their original DC-8-61 with a mould sharing the same characters as the super 62.

The Aeroclassics DC-8s kick the old Gemini versions to the curb, but they never had their own series 62 anyway so for this review that isn't relevant. I'm a big fan of the Aeroclassics Eights. The basic shape of the fuselage barrel is excellent. I have heard some criticism that the nose is a little pointy, but I don't see it. To me it looks accurate, although the nose intakes could be a little more obvious. They are moulded in, but tend to be hidden by the paint.

The mould is a cradle mount rather than slot in effort, but it is very well done, with the seam following the natural fairing line and being quite innocuous. The wings are solid,  have excellent dihedral and the engine pylons attach nicely, especially considering the mould's age. It is worth also mentioning that this is an accurate series 62/63 wing mould, different to the series 61 with its less streamlined pylon.

The undercarriage of the mould is good with a well sized nosegear door set (unlike the updated Gemini series 71/73s) and well detailed and suitably slight gear legs. The tyres and wheelhubs are simply rubber rings on spigots but with the DC-8 it makes very little difference given the size of the gear. Having said that the tyre hub is actually less detailed than the original trio of releases with static gear.

There's definitely room for some aerials to be added, but it isn't a big deal. If you were to improve this mould I think the only way would be with a slot in wings edition with more detailed tyrehubs. Otherwise it is one of my favs.

SCORE - 9

---

---

PAINT & LIVERY

Swissair operated 15 DC-8s including 8 series 62s (7 bought and 1 leased) delivered from November 1967 to February 1970. The last of these was HB-IDL, named 'Aargau'. Swissair adopted the chocolate stripe scheme with the introduction of the DC-9-81 in 1981. By this time it seems only HB-IDF, IDG, IDI and IDL remained in the fleet and were being used on routes as short as to London Heathrow.

The two chocolate stripes are well positioned and coloured, in fact the whole scheme is well done. The tail looks great and the registration is correctly placed under the wing. The engine nacelles and nosecone are also correcly light grey.

One minor issue I think is real is that it seems the engine rims on these DC-8s were painted chocolate too (here's a lovely photo of HB-IDL), and they aren't on the model (although the rims of the Pan Am release at the same time does have painted rims).

SCORE - 9

---

---

PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL

The mould detailing does a lot of the heavy lifting for detailing on the DC-8 mould. So on the underside the maingear doors and all wing detailing is mould only. On a positive I love the unusual silver printing of the overwing exit markings, which is photo accurate, as you can tell from this image at JetPhotos. 

I would like to see some printwork to accentuate the nose inlets and the printing on the exhausts of the engines isn't always particularly tidy. 

A last criticism is the colouring of the engine fans. The inner engines appear to have them painted silver but the outer engines are unpainted plastic. They'd all look better if they were darker. No QC issues present themselves.

SCORE - 8

---

---

SUMMARY

This is a high quality Aeroclassics release, and I do tend to think their Douglas offerings generally turn out the best. That doesn't mean there aren't sometimes issues (the recent Air Jamaica DC-8 had real issues with the windowline), but this model looks great and deserves a lot of credit. 

FINAL SCORE - 26/30