International Scale Modeller

I've decided to build a Douglas C-47 Skytrain because I happen to believe it is one of the MOST iconic aircraft ever built. It made a name for itself and upheld it's reputation time and time again. It is still in active service today 78 years after it first flew.

Here is a brief history of the Douglas DC-3 (civilian) aka C-47 Skytrain (USAAF) aka Dakota Mk.III (RAF):

It was originally designed and built in 1933 which flew as a prototype DC-1. It started out as a civilian airline aircraft and was acquired by the US Army initially for personnel. The next three years saw improvements in capacity and performance which brought about the DC-3. With reinforced fuselage and floor, more powerful engines, the DC-3 entered active military service in 1941.

The C-47Skytrain (military designation) could now carry large heavy cargo or 28 armed and ready paratroops or 18 stretchers and three medics. Some were equipped with a hook/release catch to tow gliders.

The C-47 first truly proved it effectiveness for paratroopers in July 1943 with the Invasion of Sicily, followed then by the invasion of Burma, then the largest airdrop of the time, Operation Overlord (D-Day). D-Day saw the use of close to 1,000 C-47 airframes to ferry and drop allied paratroopers and equipment in support of the beach landings.

After World War II, the DC-3 performed another amazing feat. The Berlin Airlift. Although there were other larger, more powerful airframes, the C-47 still performed admirably dropping supplies into Berlin.

As the sun started to set on the illustrious military career of the C-47, the military had one further task for it to perform. During Vietnam ground forces needed regular close air support. One of the first iterations of this was provided by none other than the C-47 converted into the AC-47 Gunship. With mini-guns the DC-3 was a formidable asset for ground troops.

And plus its a beautiful design...


Specifications:

General characteristics
• Crew: four (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator, Radio Operator)
• Capacity: 28 troops
• Payload: 6,000 lb (2,700 kg)
• Length: 63 ft 9 in (19.43 m)
• Wingspan: 95 ft 6 in (29.41 m)
• Height: 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m)
• Wing area: 987 ft² (91.70 m²)
• Empty weight: 18,135 lb (8,226 kg)
• Loaded weight: 26,000 lb (11,793 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 31,000 lb (14,061 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90C Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial engines, 1,200 hp (895 kW) each
Performance
• Maximum speed: 224 mph (195 kn, 360 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
• Cruise speed: 160 mph (139 kn, 257 km/h)
• Range: 1,600 mi (1,391 nmi, 2,575 km)
• Ferry range: 3,600 mi (3,130 nmi, 5,795 km)
• Service ceiling: 26,400 ft (8,045 m)
• Climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m): 9.5 min

Here are some sprue shots!

The Clear parts and decals:

The clear parts are all in good order and the decals are tacky.

I hope the tackiness of the decals will mean better gumption and durability. They aren't too glossy so I have high hopes...

So there is some great detail in the mold as seen in the kits control surfaces! The ailerons and tail had fabric instead of metal and the kit details that rather nicely.

While reviewing the kit I noticed some "creases" in some of the molds of the plastic. Martin (UKguyInUSA) shed some awesome light on what those were: since larger models have more than one injection point in the mold, those lines or creases called "knits" are where the two injections of hot plastic meet and cool. Cool Knowledge shoutout to Martin!!!

STAY TUNED!!

Love the Dakota.

Best of luck with your build.

nice looking dak good luck with it

Good luck with the C-47...I will be looking out for your build thread....this is on my list of builds after I finish my Stuka.

Okay gang, here is the first build update since the opening.

I started out with the fuselage interior. I did cargo area interior with interior green and seats with green zinc chromate. The flight deck was the same. The detail is lacking for the cockpit...I AM CURSED with poor interior detail, but oh well....

I got the windows installed with no problem. It doesn't look very pretty when looking at it on the inside, but when the fuselage is together you only see it from the outside in so I wasn't too critical of my work.

Now that the interior is ready, its time to button it up. After a few dry fittings, I had to devise a strategy to get an ill-fitting cargo deck to stay put when the fuselage halves have no real supports to attach it to. This step wasn't too hard but just annoying. I didn't want to glue it all together and have it not turn out well and not be able to fix it so I did this in sessions. I applied a small amour of glue to hold it in place while I positioned it, then I clamped both halves together and applied more glue to set the floor into its proper position.

There is still a small gap between cargo bay floor and fuselage half

Will be following this with interest, this was on my list of choices, may even build it sometime soon after I get some other ones done. Great work sofar

Looks like you're off to a great start, History!

Now that the fuselage halves are together, there is a MINUTE step in the top join. The bottom join seems flush. It really isn't visually noticeable, but you can feel it. BUT when you can feel it, it USUALLY shows up when primed for painting, so I decided to get rid of it.

How? I used a chisel bit on my Xacto knife and scraped diagonally starting from the flush side to the raised side. I then put it through the sanding treatment using decreasing grits of both sanding sticks and paper.

I then buffed it out, then I used Mr. Surfacer 1000 to paint over the seam and repeated the sanding process after removing the excess surfacer with a lacquer thinner soaked q-tip.

Results: Flush fuselage with no seam.

While I was waiting for the fuselage to finish and set correctly, I worked on wing assembly and engines.

The wings fit together alright, they are designed to maintain their dihedral when attached to the fuselage. With this in mind, it developed a nasty gap at one of the joins by the engine nacelle. I used a little extra glue as a filler and then adjusted pressure on them to ensure the bond held and gap went away. It was able to maintain the dihedral. COOL

While that was going on, I worked on the engines. I like to use Model Masters Enamel (MME) Jet Exhaust for the cylinders and MME Gunmetal for the connector rods, and Neutral Grey for the crankcase.

Because of the lack of interior detail I decided to go with all doors closed. And because I did THAT, fate decided there to be gaps in the seams where the doors fit. Go figure.....

The C-47 gets another treatment of Mr. Surfacer 1000, followed by a Lacquer thinner q-tip manicure.

End result: Noticeable line between cargo door and fuselage (acceptable in order to show off door) but no hideous gaps

Update for the wings and engines:

The wings took a bit of finagling to get seated right and the joins will require some filler and sanding soon. I used some industrial strength dihedral maintaining straps (electrical tape) while the glue was setting and curing.

While the wings were setting I worked on the engines. I mounted the twin wasps to the firewall and glued the cowlings on. They did not fit as well as I had hoped and will require some gap filling as well. In order to ensure I put everything together properly I made sure I remembered which one went on the right and which one went on the right...oops I labeled the engines.


Next up: Now that wings and stabilizers are on, the engines mounted; it's time for gap filling, masking, and prepping for priming.
I'm thinking video of gap filling process and technique...

Okay gang! Here is another update! I put this one up on video as well. I'm trying to work more into video updates as well. Tell me what you think!

This update is all about Gap filling. Once everything settled down and glue cured, I noticed the results were not as I had hoped. Gaps EVERYWHERE! The underbelly and engine nacelles needed a lot of work. I had to redo a lot of it after my first efforts failed miserably (See Process).

I used Mr. Surfacer 500, Lacquer thinner, q-tips, and lots of patience (Again, see process)...

Here is the video:




Here is the process:

Paint Mr. Surfacer 500 over the gap/seam
While Mr. Surfacer is drying, get beverage
Place beverage next to open lacquer thinner
Inadvertently dip paintbrush covered in Mr. Surfacer into beverage
Go to fridge get another beverage while neglecting to remove tainted beverage
Put another coat of Mr. Surfacer on said gap/seam
Reach for beverage forgetting that the good one is not near lacquer thinner
Before taking a sip of said beverage, realize it smells strongly of lacquer thinner
Put everything down and take a break
Do over CORRECTLY

End results...I can live with it

Anything else will either go away or be further reduced during the priming process.

You made a lot of progress the last couple of days....looking good and ready for primer! Then, you'll be putting some clothes on her!

UKguyInUSA wrote:You made a lot of progress the last couple of days....looking good and ready for primer! Then, you'll be putting some clothes on her!

Heck yeah!! Work got real slow this week so I powered through as best as I could! Thanks for encouragement!

Now that the gap filing is done, I got everything ready for priming.

I was lucky! 1/72 scale C-47 windows are nearly the same size as my Tamiya 6mm Yellow masking tape! Laid down a strip on the fuselage, burnished it with a toothpick, and trimmed off the excess!

For a primer I use the Tamiya rattle can (L)Grade primer, and it seems to do AOK, but I'm wanting to branch out a little bit. I've been reading on here about primers, and it all seems based off of personal preference, so I might just have to go experiment.

The upper surfaces turned out nice, but the primer revealed some uglies on the lower surfaces that will need to be redressed.

Results -

Upper surfaces are a GO
Lower surfaces are FFI (Failure to Follow Instructions)

nice progress mate going well

gaz45 wrote:nice progress mate going well

Thanks Gaz!! The gaps in the mold have been a rum go, but everything else is going well!

Okay kids, time for another update....

Preshading....this was a total Charlie Foxtrot

I use a Badger 360Universal airbrush and it works well with enamels, but for this build I wanted to try my hand at acrylic airbrushing.
I thinned the flat black down with 40% acrylic thinner (Aztek) and had the compressor dialed to about 22-25psi and it was CLOG city...I got splattering, runs, big drops,etc. I had to run the paint through with big shots of air about every minute or so...

Can someone tell me what in the Sam Hill was going on?

Even though I was dealing with that, for SOME reason I couldn't hold a decent line. I swear if you look at it closely, it looks like a jellyfish with Parkinsons


Next step: Neutral Grey, ANA 613
Next NEXT step: Invasion Stripes

So in any case here are the results of the preshading:

Okay, so once the pre-shading was done and had a chance to set, I tried a new thinning technique from a tip from Martin (UKguyInUSA). THANKS MARTIN!!!! I switched from the Aztek to regular old 91% isopropyl alcohol. I was rather disenchanted from my earlier results from the last update, so I was ready to find the manual override and finish the model off that way.

So I used the isopropyl with the acrylic and the Neutral Grey flowed rather nicely through the airbrush and there was great rejoicing BUT it was still clogging but not as bad.

I let the Neutral Grey dry and brainstormed about the airbrush while giving it a thorough cleaning. Then it hit me : The airbrush is aerosolizing the paint, which dries it out, the thinner (Aztek) and isopropyl accelerate that process, which is great for the paint join on the model BUT not for the stagnant paint in the paint cup. It was drying out too fast and causing the clogs within the airbrush....

So my solution was to put it in the siphon feed jar which regulates the amount of air going in and VOILA No clogs and smooth sailing!

So Thanks again Martin for your pointers and insight!

Okay now that the Neutral Grey is laid down and ready, time to mask it up and spray on the ANA 613.

For the soft edge camouflage, I like to use silly putty to mask the areas off. Once silly putty is applied, I masked off the rest of the areas with paper and tape.

Got the ANA 613 thinned to 50/50 in the siphon jar, dialed the compressor to 22psi, and awaaaay we go!

Results: AWESOME!!!

Looking great so far

About preshading with black acryllic, don't know what brand off paint you use, but I've had the same problem like you with Vallejo Air black.
I've even sent an email to Vallejo telling them about the problem and they said it was probably a bad batch off paint, so they send me 2 (!) new bottles off black paint. Very nice off them. But the problem stayed, the black just won't go through the AB.
Same goes for the Vallejo White. Someone told me this was because off the amount off pigment they use in these colours.

Since then I've bought a bottle off Tamiya black. Thinning it with Ultimate thinner, and no more problems. Even when you stop spraying for a few minutes end then proceed.

I love working with Vallejo paint. Nice colours, dries quick, no smell and very easy usage with the bottles, but for pre-shading I only use Tamiya or Mr. Hobby.

Good luck with the rest off the build.

Peter

peppie wrote:Looking great so far

About preshading with black acryllic, don't know what brand off paint you use, but I've had the same problem like you with Vallejo Air black.
I've even sent an email to Vallejo telling them about the problem and they said it was probably a bad batch off paint, so they send me 2 (!) new bottles off black paint. Very nice off them. But the problem stayed, the black just won't go through the AB.
Same goes for the Vallejo White. Someone told me this was because off the amount off pigment they use in these colours.

Since then I've bought a bottle off Tamiya black. Thinning it with Ultimate thinner, and no more problems. Even when you stop spraying for a few minutes end then proceed.

I love working with Vallejo paint. Nice colours, dries quick, no smell and very easy usage with the bottles, but for pre-shading I only use Tamiya or Mr. Hobby.

Good luck with the rest off the build.

Peter

Hi Peter! Thanks for the info! I use Model Master Enamels (airbrush) Model Master Acrylics (brush painting) and now just started using the acrylics for airbrush!



-Nolan

I agree with you- Camo is looking awesome.

Lovely to see.

kutgw.

Willem wrote:I agree with you- Camo is looking awesome.

Lovely to see.

kutgw.

Thanks Willem!! It's rewarding given its previous look!

Hey, Nolan.....she's looking fabulous so far! That pre-shading and the Olive Drab look great,, mate

UKguyInUSA wrote:Hey, Nolan.....she's looking fabulous so far! That pre-shading and the Olive Drab look great,, mate

Thanks Martin!!! It's nearing the finish! I have yet to decide how to do the invasion stripes!

Invasion Stripe Update:

I decided to go for the masking and airbrushing of the white and haven't yet decided how to do the black. I have yet to do the invasion stripes on the rear fuselage. I just wanted to put this up while I still had a shred of sanity.

The kit came with decals and so I used them as a template to come up with a simple tool to get the size right and to be able to ensure the stripes stay straight. I first traced them onto a piece of paper then I compared them to the actual scale size of the invasion stripes for twin engine aircraft (24in). On a new piece of paper, I adjusted the lines to reflect the scale as close as I could (the decals were a tiny bit off, but not really noticeable). I made the paper into a straight edge square to line up with the wings trailing edge to ensure the Invasion Stripes stay perpendicular.

Once the masking tape was in place and all other exposed areas were hidden, I put on the white. I HATE white . After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a couple coats, it finally looked good enough.

Nice idea for the stripes mate

gaz45 wrote:Nice idea for the stripes mate

Thanks Gaz!!! It turned out pretty well as you will see in the following update!! Thanks for the support!!

Invasion Stripe Update Part II:

With the wings done and method tested for laying down the white, I proceeded to do the same for the tail section. Not as easy, not as easy....I had to sit and stare at it for a couple of minutes while scheming in my brain as to the best way to go about masking it...(in actuality it was more trying to build up my courage ) So I masked it with a combination of cling wrap, tape, and paper.

Once the white was thrown down, it looked pretty good!

Invasion Stripe Update Part II

Once the white was all done time for masking for the black.

I used the template I made earlier and light tick marks from an HB graphite pencil, I placed the masking for the black. It was tedious and the tail section was nerve wracking (thanks Gaz!!, the rubber band tip helped me out some ) but I prevailed.

I them proceeded to mask the rest of the Skytrain, and I tell you, a twin engine plane is pretty tough to mask smoothly ....BUT done deal

AND NOW!!!!! Get your it is time for the end results of the Invasion Stripe Update!!!!

HERE THEY ARE!! Best Ive ever done, if I do say so myself.



enough with the bragging.....sorry. Just really stoked

very nice work on the stripes mate

Can I second Gaz's opinion? Stripes look great.

gaz45 wrote:very nice work on the stripes mate

Thanks Gaz!! Much appreciated mate!

Willem wrote:Can I second Gaz's opinion? Stripes look great.

Thanks Willem! It's nice they're done!

Stripes look great mate the whole paint job looks fantastic mate.

Superb job with the stripes, Nolan and overall, the paint job is really good!

great all round job nice recovery with the pre shading .

martin57 wrote:great all round job nice recovery with the pre shading .

Thanks Martin!! It was touch and go there for a bit, while I was doing the pre shading, but I was lucky this time!!

Nige201980 wrote:Stripes look great mate the whole paint job looks fantastic mate.

UKguyInUSA wrote:Superb job with the stripes, Nolan and overall, the paint job is really good!

Thank you Nige and Martin!! It has been quite the rewarding build so far! I greatly appreciate your comments, support and feedback!!

Now for a session of decals!!

Okay guys!! Here is the Final Update before the reveal!!

While putting on the finishing touches there were a couple of incidents. I started decaling the C-47 and was using MicroSet/Sol...who knew that the final flat clear coat (Model master Acrylic) would react poorly with it and there are white stains around the bigger decals. Anyone know a fix for that?

That being aside, the tail wheel is a lousy design flaw in the kit. Only ONE TINY pin holds it into the fuselage and in no way shape or form can it bear any load...snapped twice. So now I have to fix THAT...might try pinning it, but there is not much real-estate for the pin to fit in.

I took a pin vise to the exhaust pipes and hollowed them out a little bit to have a better look
Propellers are ready to go for a spin
Added the deicer boots

So here are a couple of teaser pictures....

STAY TUNED!!