SPA Modeler

I have about 7-8 of these. Either the DC-3 or the C-47. Love this airplane and this kit...(kit, well sort of.). Some great pics here:

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/mikae ... 3_finnish/

and a lot of history, pictures, manuals, and assorted "stuff'' here:


http://www.douglasdc3.com/

I've spent hours at this site, just reading through all the material. Anyway, the little bitty Culver Cadet is waiting to be painted (trip to the store for paint) so I dug out one of these. Several things I'm trying: 1) wiring the engine, 2) adding brake lines, 3) larger size NMF and 4) decanting a chrome paint to use.

I did not worry about the interior as 97.3526 of it cannot be seen. Here is where I am so far.

The IP - was able to dab some Testor's clear plastic glue on the dials.



I was trying to make some controls for the throttle quadrant....could not get them small enough. But the process worked.



Interior...yawn.





OOOhhhhhh...detailing! I did paint the curtains white because I had the paint.





measured and cut tape for the windows and then closed it up. Gave a bit of a fight...



Here a gap, there a gap, every where a gap gap....











Wheels and engines started. Whees are Lifecolor Tire and Rubber Worn Rubber and the engine is Gunze Burnt Iron over flat black. The push rods are "chromed" by decanting a wee bit of the chrome and brushing it on.



Sprayed the props from the can. Promptly lost one (yes, it fell into a 45 gallon garbage can.....sheesh.) I robbed one from the stash kits as well as the tail wheel well cone. Sent Revell the kit info and asked for replacements. They said the kit was too old. I resubmitted using the latest C-47 kit number. I think they are sending them. Duh.



this is the first time I've ever dared to try to "wire" an engine. Using speaker wire. Not bad for the first time.





And finally, trying my hand at adding some brake lines. Using .45mm black beading wire.



That is where I'm at. Sure would appreciate any ideas, criticisms (helpful, of course) and such.

Thanks for looking.

You go, Lyle. That looks dandy.

Thanks, Paul. I appreciate that.

Yep, the clear stuff is CA. I also used Bondo on one. I'm still not have a great deal of success (much mixed results) with the Mr. Dissolved Putty, though. Top of the fuselage looks ok to me, bottom has a few rough spots and I think I finally got the wing roots filled and smoothed. I'll hit it with some gray primer in a bit. I've been masking control surfaces.



smooth as a baby's, well you know.

Very nice Lyle!

it looks good what you've done so far.

It's quite a big beast so it's allowed to have big gaps

Have you ever thought about using Milliput or even better - well in my eyes - Apoxie Sculpt for such big gaps? It's easy to form in and it dries hard and can be sanded, sanding these sculp is easier then sanding rock hard ca, again at least for me.

That engine wiring looks good!

I have that kit in my stash and seeing all those gaps does not make me want to pull it out.

Martin loves this because it has tons of sanding.What are you using for the NMF?

Actually the gaps at the wing root filled pretty well, without much of a headache. I did sacrifice the slight panel detail on the top of the fuselage in sanding that out and the belly is pretty looking. Not sure what I'm going to do there. Oh, wait....field repairs! Yeah.

I have some Milliput, my first attempt at using it a while back didn't go so well. I don't think I mixed it enough. That would be good, though. I knocked the CA down with some 100 grit and then skim coated with either Bondo or Squadron Green. Still some wee, small little pock marks that need attention. . . according to the gray primer.

Paul, I will use either decanted Krylon Chrome (what the props are done in) or Alclad Airframe Aluminum.

Borg, thanks! The first one took over an hour, the second about 20 min. Now, what to do with all that stuff?

Thanks for the comments.