Hasegawa

1/200 MD-90

Kit Number: 10738

Reviewed by  Walt Fink, IPMS# 2447

MSRP: ¥2200 (~ $24.00) Imported by Dragon Models USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Hasegawa Website: www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/e-w/E-index.htm Hasegawa's new release of the "Boeing MD-90" is a re-box of their MD-80 series of airliner, but with the official licensing by Boeing and new decals for Japan Air Lines' most recent livery. The kit comprises 30 parts, with the upper and lower fuselage halves and vertical fin molded in white, and the rest of the kit in gray. A display stand is part of the kit, and optional parts are included for building and displaying the model gear-up, There are no clear parts, with window decals being the only option there. A metal sabot is included to prevent the model from being a tail-sitter, and is a bit of overkill in terms of weight. The instructions say to affix the weight in place with double-sided tape, but this isn't required as the compartment for it will prevent its moving around. The flying surfaces have nice recessed detail, but the fuselage is mostly devoid of detail other than the joint line for the radome. Very faint raised lines are present on the fuselage, but this isn't consistent with the excellent detail on the wings and tail. The wings had little flow marks in the plastic on both upper and lower surfaces toward the roots (which I'm guessing came from the injection molding process) which needed to be filled and sanded out. Looking at the box art photo, I reasoned that the finished model would be better served if I made an attempt at some additional detail on the fuselage to prevent the "long white tube" appearance up front with all the detail toward the tail. I used some photos of JAL MD-90's from airliners.net for reference purposes. After gluing the fuselage halves together and scribing some circumferential panel lines around it, I added small sheet plastic bits for the TCAS and ADF antennae and the airflow strakes below the cockpit windows; the three VHF antenna blades are molded with the fuselage halves. The kit fits together really well, with no problems. I used a little putty around the joints of the horizontal and vertical tail, and some on the longitudinal fuselage seam. I painted the engines, wing, and fuselage separately which made masking a lot easier. When painting the gray belly, the instructions are a little misleading in showing straight lines when viewed from below. The belly bulge just doesn't permit that---photos of the real aircraft show that the line between the white and gray is horizontal when viewed from the side, so when it's masked, a double-curve results when viewed from below.

The instructions also specify that the horizontal stabilizer is painted gray, but it should be white---the photo on the box top even shows that. The lack of fuselage panel lines and detail makes positioning the long window decals a little iffy. I installed the wing before decal application and then positioned them so the overwing exits were located over the wing emergency exit routes. Likewise, the engine nacelles were put in place so the fire panel, civil registration, and "MD-90" logo decals could be positioned correctly. The decals are great, and fit the model perfectly. They all snuggled down and conformed to surface detail nicely. In this scale, the wheels are pretty tiny and I got them painted and installed on the nicely-done struts before I goofed and let one fly into space by itself for the rug monster to devour. The belly fairing was added and the gear installed last. Despite the somewhat plain markings, the kit builds into a striking model. Thanks to IPMS/USA, Dragon Models, and Hasegawa for the opportunity to review this kit. Highly recommended.