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Eastern Express 1/144 DC-8-30 KLM kit release


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I was surprised to see this announcement on SCM for the Eastern Express 1/144 DC-8-30 KLM kit. What disappointed me was the notation that it is a re-pop of the Minicraft DC-8-60/70 series with new decals.  Does anyone know if this is true?  Or is it a completely new mold of the shorter DC-8 with correct engine nacelles?  Hopefully the -10/-20/-40/-50 will also to be released.  K/r, Dutch

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  • 8 months later...

So, this kit has been discussed pretty well on the Britmodeller thread.  As noted there, it is indeed a new endeavor, designed and conceived by Eastern Express in Russia, but produced by another individual (Vitaly) in the Ukraine.  The 3D CAD looks very nice, as does the first prototype molding.  Vitaly, who claims to have produced the hardware has made a break with his Russian designer (EE) because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February and wants to produce and sell the kit under a new Ukrainian label.  He asked the BritModeller community for help with a company name (no requests for financing yet) and many BM members chimed in with suggestions. However, the EE owner finally chimed in on the BM thread and disputed the legality of stealing his design and selling it without his permission, whatever sanctions are in place.  The BM Root Admin promptly shut the thread down as it got political.

 

"Britmodeller will not participate in, nor be drawn into disagreements between model companies.  We also will not be used as a platform for companies that wish to engage in verbal sniping, so I'm closing this down.  I wish the parties good luck in resolving their differences in a calm and peaceful manner elsewhere."

 

My point: I tend to side with EE on this one. Despite the wanton destruction wreaked upon its neighbor by Russian leadership, the potential Ukrainian victim should not take it upon themselves to punish a Russian entity not associated with the regime.  However, I see Vitaly's complaint as well. How can you continue to do business with a foreign company when it's country attacks your own?  This is one of the unfortunate consequences of the war neither EE nor Vitaly foresaw nor wanted, but is a fact of life.

 

So my question is whether we will ever see this nice 1/144 DC-8-30/50 kit ever produced? I stated somewhere (AirlinerCafe?) that I would buy 5 right off the bat. However, I am doubtful it will now see the light of day, except perhaps as a unlicensed limited run kit on the "black market."  I'll just keep hacking my Revell DC-8-61s down to DC-8-10/20/30/40/50 size and using my Minicraft DC-8s for the stretched versions.

 

I apologize for the negative waves today.  Sigh!

Dutch

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I had started down the path with Revell about 15 years ago of doing an exclusive run of their DC-8 (short body) with the wings and engines from the DC-8-61 kit.  Test shorts were actually run, but then they decided that the original price was going to much higher than what I was initially told so the project stopped.  Atlantis could do this if they wanted I think they got both sets of DC-8 tooling.  Maybe we should talk with the owners of Atlantis about issuing this.

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I was not aware that Atlantis holds the Revell DC-8 (both) molds. That is good news!  I think talking with Atlantis would be a worthwhile project.  Maybe they could add a clear windscreen as well.

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After searching the AirlinerCafe forum, I found in the gallery threads photos of the original Minicraft DC-8 kit test shots. It includes photos of all three engine options for the stretched variants, JT3D-3 fan nacelles, JT3D-7 long duct nacelles, and the CFM-56 engines. So why doesn’t Minicraft release a -61 variant? Cash flow problems?

Just curious!

Dutch

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