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Model-Related Handicrafts
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Topic starter
13/05/2026 4:10 pm
Here is a model of a 1950's Douglas DC-7 airliner that I got (or rather, was purchased for me) at Chicago's Midway Airport (then the busiest in the world) when my parents were taking our family on a vacation to Miami Beach, Florida to stay at the Desert Inn motel right on the Atlantic Ocean Beach.
I was only about 5 years old or so, but it was astounding to fly so high up in in air and see the tiny people and vehicles of the ground below.
This model I think may be about 10 inches long or so and you can see I had done a repair of the tail some years ago.
It featured a place for a stand underneath or a small hole in the top to display the airplane aloft. Also, the small nubs at the front of the four radial piston engines were to put a clear circular piece of clear plastic to simulate a turning propeller. The dad of a close friend of mine was the personal automobile limo driver for the president of United Airlines.
14/05/2026 5:58 am
What a cool old model. I used to build plastic model planes before cars. I remember the clear, round disks that took the place of the propellers. Some of mine were in stands and some on wheels.
Topic starter
15/05/2026 11:49 am
I think my Mom and Dad got this for be at Chicago Midway Airport when our family was getting on board a big four-engine propeller airplane, like this Douglas DC-7 and going to Miami on a vacation.
I think a Hot Wheels 1/64 scale automobile would be too big for this but perhaps a 1/100 scale car or truck might fit in. I should check to see.
David Green and GDH reacted
16/05/2026 1:01 am
Michael, I love seeing old commercial airline models. I also love researching aircraft tail numbers. Your model is of an actual United Airlines DC-7 that was put into service in 1954, decommissioned and scrapped in 1963. Pictures below of the United Airlines aircraft Registration Number N6301C.
Topic starter
16/05/2026 2:58 am
Thank you ! That is very interesting information. One thing I hoped was the the Douglas DC-7 tail number was not that of the United Airlines DC-7 that collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956 with the Eastern Airlines Lockheed Constellation in what was then the worst air crash in the U.S. until the DC-10 accident in Chicago in 1979.
I was certainly thrilled with my DC-7 model airliner and the fact I got to travel on board a real one with my parents on the way to Miami Beach in the late 1950's for my first airplane flight.
19/05/2026 9:35 am
@pete-rovero That is really cool Pete that you could identify the exact plane that Mike's model depicts.
27/05/2026 2:00 pm
In ‘59-61 My Mom took me at 6-7 and my 2yr younger soster to Florida to visit her brother Joe who worked for Pan-Am. We flew a DC7 from Buffalo, NY on Capitol Airlines. At least that’s the info my gray matter is telling me. I loved flying !
Steve
This post was modified 3 weeks ago by Steve Jacobs
Topic starter
27/05/2026 4:08 pm
Yes, as a little kid flying out of Chicago Midway to Miami on a vacation, I was amazed at the tiny people and cars and trains far below !
29/05/2026 11:01 am
After further research I stand corrected. It was Capital not Capitol Airlines and it may have been a DC6 or Lockheed craft.
Steve
michaeldetorrice reacted