Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I asked this in the airliner forum, but thought I'd post here as well (hope that's okay) Planning a gear-up desktop model for my dad of a North Central Airlines DC-3. Not sure if the Minicraft or the Roden is the better approach. Also, I know one of the Minicraft releases has two engine choices, the P&W and Wright. Not knowing the DC-3 well, would anyone know what the North Central DC-3's had? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DrGlueblob Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Hello, fellow Zonie, I've built a couple of the Minicraft DC-3s, and they are accurate enough. I'm not too into AMS with that scale, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Roden by light years. There is nothing about the MC kit that's really close Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Kewl, glad to know; couldn't really tell for sure from the reviews I'd found. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) The new Roden kit is definitely the best, but also the most expensive. If you don't want to drop the extra coin, the Minicraft kit should be fine for your purposes..the worst part of that kit is the landing gear, which you won't be using anyway. I don't think the kit offers different engines though. Every kit I've ever seen in any scale of the DC-3/C-47 came with twin-row P&W R-1830s. I've never seen a kit offered with the single-row Wright R-1820s I did a quick Google Image Search of North Central DC-3s, and all the results had the Wright engines. If you want to be picky and make a conversion, you could rob a couple of engines from a B-17. SN Edited January 31, 2014 by Steve N Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) Well, I was able to find one that was affordable on eBay; total price including shipping was about $19. About the Wrights, I haven't been able to find the site again, but somewhere I did run across a dual-engine type release; might have been the Lindberg special release or something.... EDIT: Found the reference to the kit: http://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/flaviation/Minicraft__FAA_DC-3_N34.php Edited January 31, 2014 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 See my detailed answer over in your other post. It's a little harder to build but I recommend the Minicraft kit because you can build a Wright powered plane right out of the box. Most folks won't know or notice the minute size errors in this kit. http://www.internetmodeler.com/2007/november/first-looks/dc_3.php Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 The MC kit doesn't have Wright engines. Far from "minute size errors" the MC kit is rife with major errors of shape, proportion, dimension, and detail. Considering you're talking about a few $ difference, the Roden kit is far and away a better choice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) I have to admit I'd never examied the MC kit that closely, but after checking that review, the undersized tail is rather noticeable... probably best to go with the Roden, and scrounge some Wright engines somewhere. I just dug my MC DC-3 out of The Stash, and discovered it's an older issue that only includes the P&W engines. The sprue shots of the newer release shows the larger-diameter cowls for the Wrights, but the only actual engines are the P&Ws, which would have too few cylinders for the Wrights (on the visible front row, that is.) SN Edited February 1, 2014 by Steve N Quote Link to post Share on other sites
agboak Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 For the Wright cowlings, the Eastern Express Li2 might be a better bet than the Minicraft. There might still be the passenger door difference to deal with, and the kits aren't that great anyway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 The MC kit doesn't have Wright engines. Jennings my friend, the later issues of the MC kit have both engines and cowl options. Follow the link in my post above and you can see just how small the dimensional differences are in the tail. For the purpose of the OP's build the MC kit will be the easier to build as an airliner. He's going to have to do a lot of filling, sanding and re-scribing on the cargo door on the Roden kit to get it back to an airliner. And then he still doesn't have Wright engines and nacelles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Jarvis Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 He's going to have to do a lot of filling, sanding and re-scribing on the cargo door on the Roden kit to get it back to an airliner. And then he still doesn't have Wright engines and nacelles. Greetings! Actually, no, he won't. The Roden kit has been issued as a DC-3 (as I mentioned on his other post) with a passenger door on the left side (TWA markings). He can modify the cowlings far easier than he can fix the numerous faults in the MC kit. I believe that the MC kit is so bad that the Roden kit is the best choice, but that's just MHO. Regards, Jeff Jarvis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
agboak Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I don't think that you can simply "modify" the cowlings, for the P&W ones are longer and taper, whereas the Wright ones are parallel sided. You need to make/find new cowlings altogether. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 You could filch B-17 cowlings (sans the cowl flaps). In 1/144 nobody's going to know the difference. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Jarvis Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Greetings! Modify or make new ones, either way, would still result in a lot nicer looking model, especially in 1/144 scale, and with a minimum of effort. The Wright cowlings are parallel sided because it's a much bigger diameter engine than the R-1830 is, and that means plastic (or brass) tubing of the proper diameter could be used to make a Wright cowling. There were a few types of Wright cowlings, and the North Central airplanes had the cowlings with cowl flaps. The Wright R-1820 packed its displacement into a single row of nine cylinders while the R-1830 had two rows of seven, thus a much smaller diameter engine and cowling. If you ever see and hear a DC-3 from a distance, you'll know which engine it has. The Wright engines are much louder and throatier sounding, somewhat like the R-985 engine, and they make a chugging sound when idling. When I was in Daytona at ERAU in the early 1970's, Mr. Willman at Trans Florida Airlines told me he preferred the Wright R-1820 simply based on the cost of parts and overhauls. Both engines were pretty reliable. I watched the launch of the last Apollo moon mission from one of his DC-3's in the middle of the night. We were in the air more than four hours because of launch delays, but that ride was well worth the $10.00 I paid! Regards, Jeff Jarvis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Greetings! Actually, no, he won't. The Roden kit has been issued as a DC-3 (as I mentioned on his other post) with a passenger door on the left side (TWA markingsRegards, Jeff Jarvis Sorry, I missed that, good point. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Andrew, if you go with the Roden civilian DC-3, I'll be happy to send you a set of Wright engines, cowls and props out of one of my MC kits. Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KAGNEW Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 old! old! 1/100 Entex kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 Andrew, if you go with the Roden civilian DC-3, I'll be happy to send you a set of Wright engines, cowls and props out of one of my MC kits. Tom Ooh! Thank you! PM incoming.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 old! old! 1/100 Entex kit. Jeez, but that's nice...the world just isn't the same without Herman the Goose flying. I have very fond memories of flying their DC-9's and 727's in their final days before becoming Republic...and even then Herman was still flying. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stenkabg Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 The Roden kit is really nice to work with and definitely looks like a Dakota. This is what you can have OOB. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff Jarvis Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 (edited) Greetings! Oh-oh............ Looks like Roden has the props backwards.......... Please....tell me it's an optical illusion! But, no, it is not an illusion. I checked one of my kits, and the props are molded backwards so they would spin the wrong way. This is really a bonehead mistake on what is otherwise a pretty nice kit. Unbelievable! Regards, Jeff Jarvis Edited February 6, 2014 by Jeff Jarvis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 We can't win for losing, bacwards props! What were they thinking?!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 If you can tell while the engine's actually running, THEN you've got yourself a novelty! :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stenkabg Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 They probably did it as on Li-2. The Russian engines rotate the other way opposed to the western ones. Just cutting costs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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