Air Canada 1/50 DC-9 BEFORE and AFTER restoration

[Henry Tenby]

I got received the 1960s era 1/50 Air Canada Douglas DFM model in trade from another collector. It was rather beat up and beyond the point where it could be restored with the existing original artwork. So I decided to do a complete restoration.

Luckily I had an original DFM KLM DC-9 decal, so that was the chosen livery for the job. First we did a complete paint strip and then polished the exposed metal to bring it back to life. The white crown was then painted, and I applied the decals, which was a very difficult and tedious task. The decals were 50 years old (almost!) so they were ver hard to work with, with lots of shattering, cracking and non adhering to the model surface. It took hours to apply each side of the aircraft.

The model is very close to being completed, but it is not 100% finished yet. But I wanted to share these "before" and "after" photos. I think the KLM 1960s livery is more attractive than the Air Canada livery.