HO scale airliners...a pipe dream...

[Steel Wheels]

i have a couple of B717 and one B737 that I won at work. they are 1/200. I still have them in the box and will probably just hang them with light weight fishing string in a line like they are on final approach to an airport that is not on my layout. maybe put some led lights in them or something.

 

[statelake174]

Collect airliners, but more of a 1:400 collector. Sorry.

Through Skymarks does have some nice releases close to 1:87, easy to build too....

If you like discussing model planes, here's the best place to do it; http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/ (if ya want to look for me, just look for a user in the 1:400 section that has 300-something posts and has a user title aka.statelake174)

 

[Southwest Chief]

Some years ago, Walthers released an HO scale DC-3 (I think) in both civilian and military guises. Anyone ever get one of those?

Yep we got one lettered for Pacific Southwest Airlines. Nice model and a real eye catcher. Although not the easiest of kits to build. And the decals were a real pain.

Our DC-3 used to hang over the layout until somehow the string holding it gave way and broke. I think a small earthquake might have helped, since about a week after the quake I found the plane crashed into our desert scene.

I fixed her up as best I could but she just sits on a shelf now. Some interior windows popped out and I'd have to break the glue joints to get back inside. When I built the model I added props "in motion", basically just clear plastic circles to give the illusion the props were spinning. These broke off in the crash and it now has the original props, although unpainted.

As you can see she has some battle damage and the wheels are retracted, but she's still a nice model:

 

[V&AL]

One of the first models I ever built to completion was the previously mentioned Revell Tri-motor. It suffered a similar fate as the above DC-3, and as a result I built my first, and so far only, diorama. I built the Tri-motor in the arctic expedition variation, and in the fall, the port ski was broke, and the motor on that side also took some damage. I grabbed a square sheet of blue-board, and some plaster. I smeared the plaster across the sheet with a spatula, whippin it to look like wind blown snow on ice. While the plaster was still damp, I brought the trimotor in for it's "crash landing" complete with parts scattered across the landin path, and a ground loop where the port ski "broke" and the port strut collapsed. The dog sled, dogs, and crew were placed around the wreck loading up the sled for the trip home. Hope they had enough supplies!!