Restoration of Fermo DC-8-63

[Mark Bradley]

Hello All.
My first post on this forum is very similar to the previous discussions on restoration.
I am normally a plastic modeller, primarily older airliners.( I am an old guy )About 5 years ago in a moment of rashness I bought a wonderful Fermo DC-8-63 in SAS colours. I have now finally retired and am looking to restore this beautiful model. The white crown was damaged and the SAS colours are faded and scratched. The joins between the engine struts and the engines necelle are a bit rough.All the aluminium is in good condition.
I have repainted the white crown and made good the engines joins. The SAS decals are the 1/100 scale sheet from Fdcal and very nice indeed.The decals have all the necessary detail to improve the model.
My question is : would it be a 'crime' to paint corruguard and draw/ scribe the flap/ ailerons on the wings and perhaps improve some detail on the engine necelle.
Comments much appreciated.

[Eric Wilson]

Any chance of seeing a pic or two? See what you're dealing with.

[Mark Bradley]

Hi All, thanks for the replies.
I have tried uploading a photo, but getting msg, too big !

Any assistance much appreciated.

Kr
Mark

[Eric Wilson]

I've never uploaded images here myself, but try an online tool like this: https://www.reduceimages.com/ Reduce it to 500 pixels wide, and it should be small enough for this site. If it's still too big, reduce the quality to 60-80%.

[Eric Wilson]

Hi Mark... I just received my Fermo. I love them... lots of polished metal. I still need to clean it up a bit and take some studio pics, but wanted to see if I could upload, and hopefully see pics of your DC-8.

[Henry Tenby]

Hello Mark, I have a 1/100 Fermo DC-8-63 that I am in the process of restoring as well. I bought the model about 20 years ago and these are extremely rare pieces. I have seen them sell on ebay with missing engines for over $500. Mine was in fact missing 2 engines I had them recast at $200 per engine including polishing and that was when I could find a foundry open to doing this work. As of today, I know of not a single foundry anywhere that is open to doing recasting work, the skill and service has vanished from the planet.

My personal view is that these models are so lovely in their manufacture, the wings and engines are so lovely cast and polished, I am only painting the upper crown white to accommodate the colour scheme decals and no other part of the model will be painted.

The beautiful polished upper wing surface is a thing of beauty and rarity. The join lines of the metal engines on the pylons is fine and filling the join lines with putty and painting the engines and upper surfaces of the wings would destroy the uniqueness and beauty of this specifically beautifully cast metal model.

If one wanted high detail and paint detail on the engines and wing surfaces, it would be best accomplish such objectives on a much cheaper plastic 1/100 DC-8-63 model, like a Pacific Miniatures example that values in the $200-300 range. In my view it would be a real shame to paint and putty a Fermo DC-8-63.

[Henry Tenby]

This is a 1/100 plastic DC-8-63 that would be a candidate for repainting and detail work if so desired:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-PACMIN-DC-8-63-TRANSCONTINENTAL-1-100-Model/303953029652?hash=item46c5032a14:g:P-8AAOSwNpxgWPeE

Not that I think this particular example is in need of detail restoration work, I simply provide this model as an example of the type that could lend itself to such work if required, in contrast to the beautiful Fermo metal DC-8-63, which I believe should not be painted on the wings/engines.

[Mark Bradley]

[Mark Bradley]

Hi, finally managed to upload picture. Henry thanks for your input.I agree the polished wings are a thing of beauty, but my modeling gene got the better of me and I added what I hope was a delicate amount of detail.
I am waiting for the decals and protective varnish to harded before I polish the metal with my excellent metal polish paste.