American 963 crashed into a mountain on 20 Dec 1995 at while on approach to Cali, Colombia, to a navigational error, killing 159 of the 163 souls on board
220211: Initial NMF attempt, after an entire bottle of Alclad II Polished Aluminium with highlights in Chrome. Not happy with the exaggerated panel lines.
220221: Starboard wing root is misaligned despite the kit's wing's alignment tabs; I may have to pin it for alignment on final assembly. Engine intakes look ok, though.
American 963 crashed into a mountain on 20 Dec 1995 at while on approach to Cali, Colombia, to a navigational error, killing 159 of the 163 souls on board
CGI artist’s impression of the final moments of American Airlines flight 965 as it tries desperately to avoid the mountain. (Captain Airplane on YouTube)
On 20 December 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 lost track of their position on a nighttime approach to Cali, Colombia. Confused, they fell "behind the airplane" as they tried to figure out their position and set up for a different instrument approach than what they expected. As they struggled to find themselves, they flew into a tall peak in the Andes. There were only four survivors among the 159 souls onboard.
AA Flight 863 was operated by Tail Number N651AA, a four-year old Boeing 757-223
I bought this kit in 2014 off eBay and let it marinate, expecting that the bard reviews I read would temper over time And the plastic inside would get better. It didn't, but my expectations did "evolve" somewhat. The release of the beautiful competing kit by Zvezda, and my review of the accident report -- a worthwhile "don't let it happen to you" lesson to any IFR-rated pilot -- re-kindled my interest in the kit.
As it turns out, the kit is quite poor by modern standards, especially for a turn-of-the century "modern" kit. Still, it comes together fairly quickly, and, in the end, looks like an airplane, even pretty close to a 757
There was a bit of work to get the thing looking right, though. Fit of the fuselage and of the canopy hood were so-so, but resulted in odd-looking lines around the nose after heavy sanding and filling. The canopy has an odd trench that looks like a heavy eyebrow just above the cockpit windows that I filed and sanded away. Wing trailing edges are a couple of scale feet in thickness, and took heavy filing to get to where they looked reasonable. The horizontal stabs were also somewhat crude slabs that took heavy sanding with 150-grit files to beat into shape.
The engines… although the compressor fan disks are beautifully detailed, the intakes are pretty much hopeless. I was able to get a good workaround by rolling a strip of .005" clear styrene, painted on the outside, into a tube that nestled well around the fan disk and looked ok in the end. The tube was faired in with superglue. Nacelles themselves needed heavy filling, too.
When it came to attaching the wings, I found that their too-clever interlocking tabs were a sloppy fit, and even when meshed as intended, resulted in the right wing's leading edge sitting a few scale feet above the wing-to-fuselage fairing. I used a brass pin to help position the leading edge to avoid separation anxiety in the future.
Paints are Wal-Mart rattlecan grey primer and gloss white, with Tamiya acrylic X-32 "Titanium Silver" and XF-80 "Navy Grey British" for the Boeing Gray. The Corogard on the wings is the grey primer sealed in Future. Alclad Chrome for leading edges and for the metallic areas on the engine nacelles.
The decals were the high point of the kit; they went on easily (use warm water!) and snuggled down well, except for the stripes around the nose. Except that Minicraft omitted the windshield decal, so I had to cobble something together with bits of black decal film and Bare Metal Foil strips for the framing.
The correct registration number, N651AA, was laser printed on clear film and applied to christen the aircraft as a tribute to the souls lost that day, and to the loved ones that still grieve their loss.
