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While all of you guys are building the kerosene convertors and my eye was healing from the last round of injections, I looked through the stash for something truly Canadian and came up with the 1:48 scale Modelcraft kit of the old Norseman. The kit is really a pantographed Matchbox Norseman with some really bad ideas of aerodynamics. For instance, the wing struts are rectangular in cross section and would scale out to 2"X6". The cockpit is very basic needing lots of work.

I started with the main landing gear because these are absolutely terrible. The lower section of the wheel-equipped leg doesn't fit no matter what you do and even if you could mate the 4 pieces the resemblance to the real thing would be very far off track. So why start something like this in the first place? While I was based at Moose Jaw and after retiring from the CAF, I was chairman of the aviation committee of the Western Developement Museum branch in Moose Jaw. One of the many historical aircraft on our want list was CF-SAM, a Noorduyn Norseman which was well known as the Saskatchewan Government Air Ambulance. This old bird served the people well for many years before being sold to a commercial operator.

CF-SAM was supposed to be a write-off in Northen Saskatchewan but one day while I was working MJ Tower it showed up at Westair airstrip on the north side of town. A couple of quick phone calls and SAM was grounded as an historical artifact and the new American owner was offered a deal he couldn't refuse...he wanted the engine and was going to scrap the airframe once he got it home...if it made it that far.

So now we had SAM looking like a rat-bag but it was ours! The gang of restorers eventually refinished the old bird and today it resides in Moose Jaw...and I was very happy to be a part of it.

I'll post a couple of pics later when I get more done on the landing gear

Barney

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Here is the landing gear with brass tube and steel wire but without the torque links which I will add ;later to prevent feeding the carpet monster. I know, they should have been dusted before the photos were taken :chain-gun:

More later

Barney

That plastic blob on the left is the kit piece with wheel

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Flogging a dead horse but this wad of styrene will look something like a Norseman when I finish! The crude instrument panel got the dry brush treatment and a scratch-built throttle quadrant with pieces of old photo-etch for the throttle, pitch, and mixuture levers...then I realized that I had to cut it off and make it really small...it will get painted Grimmy Black.

SAM's floor was natural finish Birch plywood so the models floor got a bit of wood treatment. The seats were very basic blobs so I added some legs and seat belts. Normally SAM would carry two stretchers and a jump seat for the Medic but I've left all of them out as it was being prepared for the Smoke-Jumpers.

The ailerons and flaps have been installed but I did not want to end up in a straight-jacket trying to correct the hinges and oversized wing fabric sag. I did however add gas caps to the top of the wing...look hard, they are there! Some of the windows have been installed and because they are tapered on the edges, they fit quite well.

Barney

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Ahh yes, the early Hobby crafts. While no one else makes them provides a measure of praise, sometimes you really have to wonder about those guys.

I remember my 1/48 Otter for example. As soon as glue touched the windows they melted. Had to use kitchen wrap to replicate windows. Or the Arrow, with upside down wings.

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Here is the Norsepig painted and some of the bigger decals applied. What happens when you try to secure the clear windows, mask, paint then remove the masking? Naturally they fall inside the fuselage and you can't retreave them..GGGRRRRRRR!

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Thats why i use liquid mask for windows!

Tons of patience rolling your model around might get is back is place!!

worst case get some testor window maker its an easy and quick fix

Cheers

Neo

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Neo: If only it were so simple. I did all of the above believe it or not. The liquid mask did not work worth a damn and after an hour of trying to rattle the window out of the fuselage , I gave up. As for the Window Maker, I've tried Old Faithful Krystal Klear without success. Next will be to use KK as an adhesive then stretch Saran Wrap over the hole and when the KK dries trim the SW with a fresh scalpel.. This method works great for landing lights in the leading edge of the wing.

Barney

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F/S Excellent version of this kit I am now no longer excited to have in my garage

Sad...sad..sad...

I was hoping it would be a nice kit. It looks to be a great volunteer for my July 4th fireworks spectacular!!

Thanks for the review!

-Jim

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The Modelcrap Norseman is nearing completion..a true north Canadian product. It has been said that a Norseman on floats, loaded to GTOW, gets airbourne only because of the curvature of the earth. And this piece of plastic came very close to verifying that old adage.

I ran into a real problem yesterday while applying the decals on the right side. Up to this point I had been using a bit of saliva as a setting solution..which works really well. Then I realized that I had a bottle of Testors Decal Setting Solution and of course I had to use it. Only to have the very thin and fragile Whiskey Jack Decals stick like Ca was used then got all mangled when I tried to get them into place. So much for the fuselage stripes on the right side..what to do???? No more spare decals but Gordon had very wisely added markings for another version of SAM's finish..So now we have two versions, left and right.

The struts were made from Evergreen strut material using the kit 2X8s as a pattern and of course if I had slapped these pieces into place the wings would have had 5* of anhedral..so I added a feww MM of the remaining Evergreen material and the new struts fit.

More to come

Barney

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So now it is finished!!!!!! The Norseman tried my patience to the limit but I beat it into submission only through shear won't power..I won't quit!. The cowling does not ever resemble the 1:1 cowling except that it is round; the exhaust was robbed from the spares box 'cause the kit piece was square in cross-section; the tailwheel came from a junked model of some sort; the main gear lower fairings were scratch-built; the main wheels came from my junk box; the torque links are photo-etch from the spares box.

But it is finished

Barney

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