The recently announced release by Herpa of an American Airlines DC-10-30, has sparked a basic topic for me - the American Airlines livery as it relates to modeling.

I have a basic and simple message to model makers everywhere:

If you can't make bare metal liveries BARE METAL, polished, or even chrome, then don't even bother. Please stop screwing around with silver paint or for Heaven's sake, gray. "Inflights DC-10 mold doesn't allow for bare metal" - then don't make those liveries! They look rediculous! If you want to release American or Eastern, then you better go back to the drawing board and get it right, before you waste our time with this half hearted effort at one of the jet ages best and most unique looking wide bodies(the DC-10)!

I mean listen, IMO the 777 or the 757 sport the AA livery best, BUT the 707, 727 and DC-10 had something even better that none of the other aircraft did- a polished, bare metal tail. Makes those aircraft really stand out in AA colors. To pass the chance to illustrate that up is wrong. ANY/EVERY American Airlines model needs to START with the baremetal finish, master that and the other details are secondary. Gemini jets fully understands this concept. Their baremetal is impeccable.

The only thing a release like the Herpa or Inflight AA DC10 is good for is a donor for a custom. Inflight should've waited to release an AA DC-10 until they figured out how to make it shiny, same thing with their original AA 707 release. They now know how to polish the 707 (see recent Air Force One release), so we should see one heck of a re-do coming. Aviation 200 is releasing an American 707 polished, so I am anxious to see the result. Inflight also delayed the 747SP for a long time even before this recent delay because they were figuring out how to make it allow for bare metal. So why didn't they wait on the American DC-10?

One might say "what about all of the DC10s that are supposed to have baremetal bellies or roofs and are painted?" and I would say that in most of those cases it is either minor or a secondary or lower detail. Take the National DC-10 from IF, the key ingredients to that livery are the mostly white upper fuselage, cheat lines, sunburst logo, title, etc, but the painted belly is hardly noticeable because they 110% nailed the rest of it.

BUT with American the most key detail of the livery more than any other detail to any other airline is the baremetal. Even more than Eastern, because I don't think Eastern had the reputation for shiny airliners like American does, and Easterns key detail is whether the blues are the right shade.

Finally, as with any airline, mold, in any release, from any company, get it right before you release it! Time and time again Inflight has kepts pumping out 727s when the public has been screaming it is flawed. Inflight saves itself with some other fabulous work, such as the 707s, 747s, L-1011s, but some companies don't.