Clunkmeister

Beautiful finish, Peter! Can I post it on our FB site?

John, which GSB are you using? My kit is calling to me now, although I have the open rear gunner area and bomb bay. I think I’ll forego the folded wings for now as well. Plus, can you possibly drill the plastic flaps to maybe add some relief and detail? It might go a long way towards giving those some “pop”.

That takes cojones, no doubt! I remember cutting that first RCAF rear observer window out of that very expensive HK Lanc plastic a d thinking “well, I ain’t turning back now”. 🤣 Gotta have a little faith, baby!

Awesome build, John! Kit pit, or Aires?

I have two booths.. the first is a 12 ft by 14 ft area that a has a fan.. on the ceiling, and contains my bench. The second is a mobile vent: 5 ft 9 inches, two legs, slow moving, and extremely ugly. It takes the fumes in, then goes outside and vents them out.

My kind of history with the DC-3… Did you know that if you park a DC-3 between the hangars and the parked aircraft at Churchill airport, you could sneak EVERY freighter that operated there except a C-46? And they knew it and STILL did it! Pricks

That’s All Brother. If you attend the Nats next year, it’s based at San Marcos. An absolutely priceless treasure.

Hubert, Kitty Hawk offered a stellar 1820 on their T-28 kits, except that the company is now defunct. Resin2Detail may offer a decent engine plug to be used for the HK B-17, which might make it a bit more date specific than the late 50s when the T-28B was first conceived. Looking at Mirek’s build photos, the HPH passenger internals look promising enough. One thing’s for sure, the Day Plane will be a much easier build than the C-47 in WW2 troop carrier trim. My ULTIMATE dream is a DST. Almost nobody has even heard of a DST. Now, everyone who reads this thread certainly does… Funny thing, there was an article a couple years back about a guy who located a DC-3 that was threatened with turboprop conversion. What made him notice it was the odd placement of the door.. During his examination of it, he then noticed skin riveted on in patches above the passenger windows. Yep, it was an actual DST. He had to find and swap out a similar regular C-47/DC-3 in order to rescue the DST from the modifiers knife, but he got it done with plenty of time to spare and the ultra rare Douglas Sleeper Transport is now on its way to a full, accurate, and flight worthy restoration. They literally have to reconstruct the entire interior from scratch, and source all the early Douglas production components that have long been tossed to bring the airplane up to C-47 standards. And yes, a cargo door had been Mickey Mouse’d into the fuselage side.

Notice the differences between the DST and the DC-3 day plane? DST has one extra window per side plus the distinctive upper eyebrow windows for the upper berth sleepers. Also, American Airlines insisted in right side doors to standardize with their Fords then in service.

THIS is an actual, original, never screwed with, American Airlines DC-3 that was rescued and restored to brand new. Notice the cowls and exhaust. Hamburger door generally stays closed. Another thing. Notice these aircraft always have the flaps UP. They are raised immediately after landing because the props toss gravel and detritus into them, damaging them. NO DC-3 pilot who wants to keep his job dares taxi his airplane off the runway with the flaps down.

Haha Hubert. 🤣 To model most of our postwar DC-3s in the USA and Canada, we need to start with the C-47 kit because of the cargo doors. They are very noticeable on postwar aircraft, even if they’ve been rendered inoperable. I’m going to contact HPH and see if they’ll sell me the passenger compartment castings to use in my C-47. If not, I’ll scratch them, no biggie. Speaking of the DC-3,….. if you’re a purist like me, most DC-3s are prewar production, and ALL prewar DC-3s used single row Wright R-1820 radials, the same as used on the B-17. C-47s we’re re engined with double row Pratt R-1830s because the Army was worried about Wright being able to supply enough engines for the B-17 and the C-47. I guess they thought Pratt could manage B-24 and C-47 supplies…. The single row Wright engined DC-3 had VERY different and unique cowlings. Flagship Detroit Foundation is flying an original Wright engined DC-3 today. If you’re doing a prewar DC-3, OR a DST, you will need Wright cowls for some AM engines.

One area I’d consider improving, if I decided to open the hamburger door, is to improve the cockpit bulkhead rear. That mess on there is the hydraulic control system for your landing gear and flaps. That is all molded on the bulkhead. It would be a fairly easy thing to redo that entire mess in brass wire and Evergreen shapes. Have it stand proud and detail the snot out of it. It’d look stunning, but a total waste of time unless you open the hamburger door for viewing.

It doesn’t look bad at all. Hubert, you and I, heck, EVERYONE here has struggled with, and powered through, fit issues much worse than that. Just wondering what all the fuss is about? So many expect Tamiya drop fit build ability right OOB, but that is not always the case. Adapt and overcome. John’s Helldiver build is a perfect example.

I looked at Mirek’s build, and it’s stunning. I’m not afraid of a bit of filling and shimming at the wing roots and nose. It’s doable. What does strike me as odd is his choice of a Russian cockpit green in the radio room, and armored pilot seats for a Continental Airlines DC-3. Those pilot seats are unlike any I’ve ever seen on a civilian DC-3 🤣

As I think Peter said, I think many of the issues being experienced are built in for converting molds designed for resin into proper IM molds. My bet is that the Vampire will be a whole new ball of wax. And the Vampire is a model we desperately need in 1/32. John, I blazed the way on the Kitty Hawk T-28. And the Kitty Hawk F-5F. My T-28B first was possibly the very first production kit built, period. I found the problems and workarounds, and it’s a great feeling to be able to attempt it and complete it. I guarantee you that you’ll find the same feeling at the end, and will experience the same joy in being able to show others the way. And, I expect you’ll soon be building another,… YOUR way with all the bells and whistles.

Sounds like a good idea. I’ve seen all these negative comments, (not here, but on other forums), and it gets me to wondering. The main airframe dry fits perfectly. It’s a resin kit, so some very small gaps are to be expected. If there’s big gaps afterwards, then you didn’t do YOUR job as a large scale modeler when fitting the internals. Speaking of internals…. I’d have the cargo door open, and maybe the hamburger door as well. That way, some of the front internal detail can be seen. But if you have gobs of internal detail that’ll be invisible forever once you close it up, do what we do with ZM kits: eliminate it. It’ll make the build quicker, easier, and less stressful. I think the PE flap option is absolutely necessary on the C-47. Because included with that set is a gorgeous stepladder for the cargo door. DC-3’s and C-47’s are never parked with the flaps down, but that stepladder is ubiquitous. That, and wheel chocks.

I’ve seen a few comments both here and elsewhere over the years about how horrible a build the HPH C-47 is. I’ve done several Google searches, and other than a couple LSP threads that barely got past pre fitting the big parts, there’s absolutely nothing out there. Ive heard stories that the internal bulkheads are too small, (ok, shim the edges), to things are cast backwards. 🤪 (hard to believe), but nothing that sounds insurmountable or earth shattering. Can someone point me in the right direction here? I think there’s many C-47s just waiting to be built around here,…..Mine included.

Never let a crisis go to waste! What a great recovery!

Hold on a second. Not saying you’re wrong, but did you check references? The Brewster Buffalo has an overhang like this that drove me insane until I saw it in a picture. But what I’d do here is simply just carefully sand the edge down to fit. No muss, no fuss, and 5 minutes out of your life. I DO agree it’s a bit much to expect, but the rest of the windscreen looks decent, so, onward and upward. That being said, John, you’re kicking some serious donkey on this one! Keep it up, I’m really liking what I’m seeing. The one thing you’ve convinced me of though is that I’ll be using the entire Resin2Detail cockpit on mine. That aftermarket pit is just loaded with detail. So much so, that if you’re not careful, you’ll cut off pipes, not sprues

Great advice and duly noted, Andy. Thanks!

John, I’ve seen some guys use the Tamiya or Barracuda P-51 seat as a close stand in for a Helldiver seat. I bought the Resin2Detail cockpit set and it’s absolutely phenomenal. As in mind blowing. EASILY worth the money. And it’s made in the USA, so you’ll have it in a day or two, not the normal week or two from Czechia or a month plus now from Ukraine or Russia.

Good to see you onboard, Andy. I have this as well and will be giving it a go once I wrap up my MiG-29 and D.Vll. Gonna be epic, John, just starting to read through now.

Unexpected. Jerry and Judy did so much more beyond what we see. Research books on Luftwaffe paint, his artwork hangs in pretty much every single US military aircraft museum, and is one of the hop few on WW2 Luftwaffe schemes. Judy does to the old American West what Jerry did to the Luftwaffe. Research and record. Her artwork is truly brilliant. Plus, she can shoot the hair off a horsefly’s arse at 500 yards.

It is with a heavy heart that I have to inform you that Jerry Crandall, co founder of Eagle Editions which specialized in WW2 decals, resin upgrades, aircraft fine art, and Old West vine art and collectibles, has passed away. To say that I am personally gutted would be an understatement. I have considered Judy and Jerry both friends and kindred spirits, and this was most unexpected. Jerry was relentless in his research of WW2 German paint schemes, which then resulted in world class decal,sheets. Jerry also has curated several aircraft museums and lead the research for aircraft restoration projects Jerry and Judy were both passionate lovers of the American West, with Judy being an accomplished and acclaimed artist. They were both passionate about large bore long range Buffalo gun competition, using the 1874 Sharps rifle, Highwall, Remington Rolling Block and similar, and could outshoot me even when still asleep. Judy will continue the business as best she can, and we’ll support her the best we can. Jerry C. Crandall 04/01/1935 - 06/12/2022

Those look great! I’m not sure I’m up to painting 1/48 figures. 1/32 is bad enough…