Doc's Gooney Bird

[Romanator21]

My initial impression in the indoor light was that it was too shiny, but outside in natural light it looks just right! I love the way it is coming along, keep going ;)

[VMI Vince]

I am truly amazed at your aptitude for working with foil. Incredible, simply incredible.

-Vince

[Tim Prosser]

As I understand it, those 'circles' in the windows of a C47 are 'pop-out' plugs (hence the rubber surrounds) to enable the troops inside to shove their M1 rifles through and contribute to the aircraft's defence if under attack! As crazy an idea as it seems, it must have been thought of as a good one at the time.

In any case, the doctor's model would appear to be a DC3, rather than a C47, and doesn't have the plugs.

Doctor, it's a damned fine bit of modelling you're doing there! The crew figures look great and the foil skinning is fabulous! This is going to be very nice indeed when it's finished, and I'll be looking forward to seeing it.

Very best regards from a 'newbie' on the site.

Tim.

[Dr Fester]

As I understand it, those 'circles' in the windows of a C47 are 'pop-out' plugs (hence the rubber surrounds) to enable the troops inside to shove their M1 rifles through and contribute to the aircraft's defence if under attack! As crazy an idea as it seems, it must have been thought of as a good one at the time.

Thanks for putting us out of our misery Tim, still seems like a pretty poor gunship with 14 M1 rifles poking out of the windows!

As for heritage of this particular C-47/DC-3; HR-ATH (cn 6102) Ex USAF 41-18696 (1942), Lansa XA-FIY (1954), Sahsa XA-SAH (1954), Sahsa HR-SAH (1961), Since (2003) HR-ATH has been privately owned.

As for what constitutes a DC3 or C-47 apart from simply a military guise, I was thinking more of the split cargo door instead of cabin door. Which is why I chose the Revell kit of the C-47, the Gooney in question has a split cargo door;

Cheers

Doc

[Dr Fester]

A little update on the GooneyBird;

Eventually got the the whole fuselage foiled, less the joints to be foiled when assembled. To say its a tedious job would be the mother of all understatements, damn Alclad seems like such an easy option now!

Anyhow a few pics;

Rudder hinges have been added and rudder itself requires a re-enforcing plate adding before the whole thing gets sprayed white.

The 2 added windows towards the tail for some reason I have mis-aligned due to me going from another reference photo and guessing. The 2 windows should be aligned but I am leaving it for now.

Scratchbuilt the fairing for the tail strobe by splitting a q-tip stem and after shaping adding to each side of the tail.

The finish is very easily marked with nails etc so a jig is a must when marking and riveting the foil. Next up will be the tailplane which need the elevators split and hinges added.

Cheers

Doc

[Dr Fester]

A little more progress with the tail now and having cut the elevators off I have added the tailplane to the C-47. The rudder & elevators will be added later when I am ready to spray the underside of the aircraft white along with control surfaces.

Top and bottom of the tail have been foiled and now complete.

Foiling as actually overlapped and riveted unlike the rest of the fuselage which is butt jointed.

Next to tackle will be the MLG and installing the rest of the wiring.

More soon.....

Doc

Edited January 14, 2010 by Dr Fester

[Matt_S]

Did you by any chance have a fuselage half in this kit that was warped?

Matt

[Dr Fester]

Did you by any chance have a fuselage half in this kit that was warped?

Only the tail needed some hot bath straightening, the wings are a different matter!

Doc

[Matt_S]

Only the tail needed some hot bath straightening, the wings are a different matter!

Doc

Did you use boiling water or hot water from the tap?

Matt

[Dr Fester]

Did you use boiling water or hot water from the tap?

Both really, filled the sink with hot water a few kettles of boiling. Plunged the tail into it for a minute then massaged it straight.

Doc

Edited January 16, 2010 by Dr Fester

[richter111]

The tail area must have been a major hassle to plate correctly.

[Pete "Pig" Fleischmann]

Also using some conformable white vinyl from work for the nose, this stuff is used for applying to vehicles and is very flexible almost like a thick cling film.

Doc

Hey Doc,

This is so cool! The foil skinning looks incredible!

Could you please tell me more about this vinyl? Sounds interesting and I might have a use for it..

TIA

Pig

[Dr Fester]

The tail area must have been a major hassle to plate correctly.

Yes it was the part that caused the most headaches, glad that job is behind me now!

Cheers

Doc

[Dr Fester]

Hey Doc,

This is so cool! The foil skinning looks incredible!

Could you please tell me more about this vinyl? Sounds interesting and I might have a use for it..

TIA

Pig

Thx Pete,

We use conformable vinyl at work for vehicles which have very curved surfaces. Heated with a hair dryer it can even be applied to spheres (if your good) and can be stretched. Most Sign shops stock it and they might even have some off cuts for free. If you have any problems tracking some down let me know and I'll pop some in the post for you to try out.

In fact if I attempted this livery

I would definitely use conformable!

Cheers

Doc

[Pete "Pig" Fleischmann]

Thx Pete,

We use conformable vinyl at work for vehicles which have very curved surfaces. Heated with a hair dryer it can even be applied to spheres (if your good) and can be stretched. Most Sign shops stock it and they might even have some off cuts for free. If you have any problems tracking some down let me know and I'll pop some in the post for you to try out.

Cheers

Doc

Got it-Thanks Doc!

Pig

[Tim Prosser]

Thx Pete,

We use conformable vinyl at work for vehicles which have very curved surfaces. Heated with a hair dryer it can even be applied to spheres (if your good) and can be stretched. Most Sign shops stock it and they might even have some off cuts for free. If you have any problems tracking some down let me know and I'll pop some in the post for you to try out.

In fact if I attempted this livery

I would definitely use conformable!

Cheers

Doc

Oh my goodness, what an undignified thing to do to such a stately and proud aeroplane!

[B-17 guy]

agreed, I feel embarassed for that plane.

[Dr Fester]

A quick update on the Gooney Bird build.

My attention has moved towards the wheel wells now and scratchbuilding detail within. The kit parts are pretty devoid of any detail apart from some light wire indentations on the surface.

To enable full detailing a fake wheel well was manufactured by taking styrene sheet and surrounding a cylinder of the correct size, in my case a socket which has a good range of sizes.

This had boiling water poured over and left submerged for a few minutes, removed and run under a cold tap and voila x 2 .

After much fiddling, swearing and dry fitting I installed both wheel wells along with scratchbuilt forward and rear bulkheads.

Then adding detail inside including oil tanks acquired from the Trumpeter kit. Detailing using wire, foil, sprue, fluff you name it all got chucked in!

Next to attach will be the main gear which needs detailing and wire run through for the electrical connection to the base.

More soon....

Doc

[Learstang]

Beautiful work! Your foil work is brilliant! Now if only someone would do an Li-2 night bomber in 1/48th. I'm not volunteering - I've already done an Li-2 in 1/72nd, God's scale! To be honest, I used to love 1/48th until I realised that I was only collecting them, never building them. At least with 1/72nd kits I feel I have a fighting chance to build the bl***y thing someday!

Learstang

[Dr Fester]

Beautiful work! Your foil work is brilliant! Now if only someone would do an Li-2 night bomber in 1/48th. I'm not volunteering - I've already done an Li-2 in 1/72nd, God's scale! To be honest, I used to love 1/48th until I realised that I was only collecting them, never building them. At least with 1/72nd kits I feel I have a fighting chance to build the bl***y thing someday!

Learstang

I hear you Learstang, it's incredible the wingspan of this beast in 48th. Still not sure where it will be stored!

Cheers

Doc

[Gambler]

Beautiful work in the Wheel Wells Doc!

Your work is so neat and clean, a pleasure to look at.

Cheers,

Jeff.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Gambler

[Youngtiger1]

Now, that's one big cookie monster......lol

Doc, your doing incredible job on this bird. I love the foil work and those wheel wells.....nice! I hopping someday I will have couple off these bad boys in my collection. So, I'll be following your build and saving everything :D

Mike

[moeggo]

:D Hahaha! Where did you get that pic Doc? That DC-3 is a couple of hours down the road from me! I past every time I go snowboarding.

[Matt_S]

Beautiful work in the Wheel Wells Doc!

Your work is so neat and clean, a pleasure to look at.

Cheers,

Jeff.

What he said.

Matt

[Dr Fester]

Not had much time for modelling of late but thought I would give an update of the work done to the main gear etc.

She now has legs.

Not a straightforward job as wiring through the wheels had to be made. New hubs made from sprue and a pair of humongous calipers scratchbuilt and added. The axle was manufactured using brass rod and although toying with idea of using the spare metal Trumpeter gear legs, these were too far from accurate so the kit ones used.

Another decision was using either the True Details bulged wheels or kit parts. Apart from the bulge being waaaay too much I thought it would be much easier to add wiring to the hollow kit wheels which is the way I went.

So the electrical connection goes through both the main wheels then exits in the hub and is then threaded along the gear and into the wing where it joins the rest of the circuit. With this in place I can now continue to install the rest of the circuit in the wing and close it up.

More soon (I hope)

Doc

Edited February 21, 2010 by Dr Fester