**** DONE: GB-46 1:72 C-46 Commando - WW2 Eastern Front / Twin Engine A/C, Transports and Gliders (1 Viewer)

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T Bolt

Colonel
13,238
2,950
Mar 24, 2010
Chicago, Illinois
User Name: T Bolt
Name: Glenn
Category: Advanced
Kit: Williams Bros C-46
Scale: 1/72nd
Accessories: Eduard masks and decals from my spares box


The C-46 Commando was the lesser known and more capable of the two main twin engine transports used by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. It could fly higher, faster and farther than the better known C-47 (DC-3). Because of these abilities it was used mostly in the China-Burma-India and Pacific theaters of war where it received much less "Press" than its Douglas brother.

I will be doing this build straight out of the box except for maybe decals if I find some I like, in either olive drab over neutral gray or (if I feel like some self-torture) natural metal finish.

I would like to thank fellow member Mozit for finding a PDF of the instructions for this kit for me without which I would not now be building it.

Will C-46.jpeg
 
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I started cutting parts off the sprues and test fitting. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time cleaning up parts and working on them to get a decent fit. It's been a lot of years since I've assembled a Williams Bros. kit and I had forgotten what a pain in the a$$ they are.

Here I've taped the main structure to see how much work I have ahead of me. Its going to bi a big model when done, about the size of a 4 engine bomber in the same scale.

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The work starts. The gear wells were molded shut so they have to be opened up. Here one is done with one to go.

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A little size comparison
I opened up a 1/72nd Airfix C-47 I had in the stash to compare size to the C-47 and was surprised how little the C-47 looked

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Next I pulled out an unfinished Boeing 307 (Airline version of the B-17) and compared it to the Commando. The C-46's fuselage was longer and the wing span looked to be about the same.

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Certainly a big aircraft.
Something I have yet to learn - is the lower fuselage a cargo hold ? Always seemed strange that the cabin floor seemed so high, compared to the bottom of the fuselage.
 
Certainly a big aircraft.
Something I have yet to learn - is the lower fuselage a cargo hold ? Always seemed strange that the cabin floor seemed so high, compared to the bottom of the fuselage.
The lower fuselage is indeed a cargo hold. The C-46 was originally designed as a pressurized airliner with a double bubble fuselage just like the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. The floor located at the junction of the two bubbles added strength to the fuselage for the pressurization. In 1940 Gen. Hap Arnold was visiting the Curtiss plant and saw the airliner prototype and had to have it so it became the C-46. The fuselage pressurization was dropped but the double bubble fuselage remained.

Photo from the internet
C-46.jpeg
 
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