Boeing 737-130, Lufthansa D-ABEC 'Osnabrück'

Boeing 737-130, MSN 19015 Reg. D-ABEC, c.1967
(Eastern Express Boeing 737-100, kit # EE14415. ©2011)

Boeing 737-130 MSN 19015 registration D-ABEC was the third Boeing 737 to be built and was used in the Boeing 737 Certification Program. She was ordered new by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and rolled off the Boeing production line at Renton, Washington in April 1967 and took its first flight on July 5, 1967.

She was delivered to Lufthansa on 27 December 1967 as D-ABEC and named 'Osnabrück'. The first three Lufthansa 737s were initially painted with a tail band, but all were resprayed in the blue tail colours before entering service. In 1983 she went to a succession of operators including Far Eastern Air Transport, Asia Aviation Service, America West Airlines (as N702AW), and Ansett New Zealand (ZK-NEB), before being stored and eventually scrapped at Marana in 1993.

The kit was frustrating; well-engineered but very poorly molded, with fine, engraved detail but inconsistent mold quality and atrocious fit, not what one would expect in a kit produced in 2010.
I swapped out the broad engine nacelles that were used on the 737-200s with a pair from the Airfix B732 kit, which has the necessary narrow nacelles (which cannibalization prompted me to complete this model).

Seams were mostly filled with generous amounts of Dollar Store Superglue, while the grey primer and Gloss White topcoat are rattlecan spray paint from Wallymart. Alclad metallic and Tamiya acrylics completed the job. I used the kit decals but wanted the “original” livery with the tail band so I printed those on my inklet printer onto white decal film purchased on Amazon.