1/72 C-47 HARS collection FINI

[Airframes]

Sure is.

 

[N4521U]

Again thanks.........

The tail does not have the pointed fairing, and there is a little angle to the elevator ends, so I have put them in and a bit more slope up to the rudder.

 

[Wayne Little]

Damn, that's good work Bill..!

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Bill. The 'blunt' tail normally indicated a C-47, instead of DC-3. There was a tail light here and, on the actual aircraft, there might be the remains of an attachment point for a glider-towing link.

 

[N4521U]

THAT'S what that is!
I was a bit confused why there was no light back there.
Attached a pic of the tail of the HARS C-47.
Thanks so much for that, now I know how to proceed!

 

[Airframes]

Yep, that's the strop connection eye. Many 'civilianised' C-47's had it removed, and a new tail light fitted. This area, and the 'para' door, normally indicated the military origins of many 'Dakotas' in civilian use as airliners or freighters, along with the astrodome, or blanking plate where it had been.

 

[N4521U]

Well............... Here's one I didn't think I could pull off..........

Tail wheel ass'y and well...... There is a plate on each side of the wheel strut that is not attached on our C-47 and you can easily see the shock absorber sticking upwards attached over the wheel. The well is just a sheet metal cone up into the fusey and the wheel has a lonnnng pivot shaft that has a nut at the top. The shaft fits inside a lonnnng tube, nut at the top.

I first cut the strut up, removing the tiny shock. Made a new one that looks more to scale for the real thing. I then cut out the Dent in the fusey. Then made a Plug shaped to fit. I used an old piece of leftover flat sheet from somewhere and heated it over the electric stove top till it really sagged. I crossed me toes cuz my fingers were a bit busy. Pushed the plug into the plastic with an old kitchen towel and forced the plastic over the plug......... Holey SH!T.......... it worked!!!!!! I then chamfered the edge of the hole, glued that baby in......... and waited about an hour. Filed off the ugly edges, sanded them sorta smooth, drilled a hole for the wheel... and walah! Just a tiny bit of filling and done!

Holey crap eh????

 

[Airframes]

Great work there Bill. The shock absorber on the tail wheel strut is normally at an angle. I can't find my reference pics at the moment, but here's a pic of the 'quick-build' version I did on mine.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[N4521U]

ahshit

it's not attached, I can still modify it.

 

[woody]

Nice work Bill.

 

[fubar57]

Great mods Bill.

Geo

 

[N4521U]

thanks guys................

I've done a rebuild of the tail wheel.
And the beginnings of an antennae forward on top of the fuselage.
And a picture of the tail in flight.
Thanks for another heads-up Terry. It will be a more accurate build.

 

[Airframes]

You're welcome Bill.

 

[T Bolt]

Beautiful scratchbuilding there Bill!

 

[Tony Hill]

Nice Bill!!

I watched these a lot when the great Nullabor flood happened in '76 or so...

We were just handing a lot of them over the the PNG Airforce at that stage IIRC.

 

[N4521U]

I been picking away at the C-47, little bits.
Wings attached, modified collectors over the engine mounts, added better looking rods to the gear where they Should be.

finish of the wing seams and close to spraying some white and silver.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Bill.
It's worth doing a lot of test-fitting of the windscreen, before committing to a final fit as, from memory, it's a very tight fit, and can be awkward to keep aligned with the edges of the opening - it wants to either sit 'proud', or flip inwards.
I recall one I built about 35 years ago, where I cut off the 'sliding' side windows to allow a better fit, and inserted a sliver of clear sheet at the rear of each opening, to represent the forward edge of the open windows on each side.

 

[T Bolt]

Looks like it's coming along good Bill. I love that idea Terry. Make a difficult situation easier and making it look better to boot!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far Bill!