Roden DC-7c Pan American Airways kit

[richellis]

Douglas Dc-7c Pan American World Airways

1/144 plastic kit from Roden.

Following WW2, air travel became more affordable for the masses, and the American airline PAA (Pan American Airways) was working with the aircraft maker, Douglas to improve the DC-6 airliner, the result of his was the DC-7, with the first being delivered 1953. The DC-7 had a limited range, only allowing domestic flights, Pan American Airways waned to expand its nework, and needed a longer range, Douglas responded with the DC-7c nicknames the 7 seas, as it allowed PAA to fly intercontinental flights with its 4 turbo radial propeller Wright engines with Pan Am having 37 DC-7s in its fleet. The jet age put an end to the DC-7c but the aircraft continued as a cargo aircraft, and with the US military.

Pan American World Airways was founded in 1927 as a mail carrier, and grew into the unofficial flag carrier of the USA until its demise in 1991. Pan Am is credited in being a pioneer in the airline business, being the launch customer for the 747.

This kit is for one of Pan Am's DC-7, N749PA Clipper Defender, all Pan Am aircraft carried the Clipper name after the airlines call sign. This DC-7 was delivered to Pan Am in Feb 1957 and sold in June 1966, and finally scrapped in 1972.

The kit is injection moulded and ahs some nice and delicate engraved panel lines. The cabin windows on the kit are solid with a clear part for the flight deck. My big criticism of the kit is with the fuselage, here are no locating tabs or pins on the fuselage half’s, and they will be very hard to get lined up. I will be making some plasticard tabs and bulkheads to get it lined up, here is a little flash and warp age on the review kit but nothing too bad.

The wings are in 3 parts, a single lower part with the fuselage belly in the middle, and 2 separate upper pairs. Again they have fine engraved panel lines. The undercarriage bays are simple and would benefit from some work here.

There are 2 identical sprues in the box, I have only shown one in this review. The propellers are all separate and there are 2 types included, square and rounded tip, so looks like some other versions will be released. They are well moulded and there is a little flash on the review sample but nothing a swipe with a sanding stick wont sort.

The final sprue is the same quality as the rest of the kit. There is no flash on the review sample and the panel lines are fine, with good detail.

The instructions are black and white diagrams, and are clear and simple to follow.

The paint and decal instructions are on a separate colour sheet and are very clear. The decal sheet is well printed but there are no flight deck windows and I feel that that is a bit strange, I would rather they made all windows solid, or all clear.

Conclusion

This is a nice kit, but one for the more experienced modeller, here are areas that will need some work, joining the fuselage is the main issue for me, but here are extra bits on the sprues so let’s hope that means more versions coming along!

Review sample courtesy of

[Paul A H]

Looks nice! I must admit I quite like the look of some of the classic airliners.

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Nice review, it's certainly tempting me. I might see what price I can get one for at Southern Expo.

[richellis]

I am so close to starting to glue this together, but i have too much on the bench at the min. It will be made soon. I love that PAA livery. It looks sooooooo good!

[Test Graham]

I'm a little taken-aback by the reviewers comment that without location pins it would be "very difficult" to get the fuselage aligned. Not half as hard as it is with misaligned locating pins....methinks this reviewer has had a very sheltered modelling life.