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Curtiss CW-20


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I have the little Platz C-46 kit and would like to try converting it to the early twin-tail version but so far have only found 3 pictures of it. Trying to find a 3-view image so I can see how the tail planes look from above. If anyone has seen other pictures of this plane, please post a link.

Thanks,

Chris

84D9F483-F9E4-4459-9309-932561CF2D20_zpsbbozmo2h.png

3022FFA6-C97C-4745-842B-6294485C28CC_zpsonuzqc2a.jpg

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Best info I know of would be Skyways Magazine 53 and 54, from early 2000. There's a small three view (sorry, it's not a Bentley scale plan). Check this LINK which shows they have issue 53 as a PDF download.

Best of luck - Jim Maas

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Well crud, guess that puts that idea to bed. I'll just have to find a unique scheme then. Thanks for the info guys.

Not so fast - from Bowers' Curtiss Aircraft 1907 - 1947: "CW-20T - as completed in 1940, the prototype CW-20 was a twin finned transport....the fuselage cross-section was of the double-lobe type, with two circular sections intersecting at the level of the cabin floor..."

There are a lot of things to change to get a prototype, but the cross section is not one of them.

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Not so fast - from Bowers' Curtiss Aircraft 1907 - 1947: "CW-20T - as completed in 1940, the prototype CW-20 was a twin finned transport....the fuselage cross-section was of the double-lobe type, with two circular sections intersecting at the level of the cabin floor..."

There are a lot of things to change to get a prototype, but the cross section is not one of them.

They must have faired over the double-lobe then, look at the pic of the CW-20 he posted (the one photographed from below and in front) compared with a C-46. The Commando has a very large crease at the junction of the lobes that the CW-20 clearly does not.

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Well, Lance and Jennings are right - in the Skyways articles there's a beautiful shot of the CW-20 under construction that shows the fuselage in cross section, with the distinctive double bubble crease. But in the text [memo - must actually read the text!] it states that the crease was plated over to reduce drag. The AAF thought that was unnecessary (along with many other innovative features) so the C-46 didn't have the overplating. That overplating is probably what looks, to me, like a crease line.

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Found a bit more.

Forward fuselage pic

Main page

Lots of good pics there, but no three-view plans. This pic seems to show the plating over the crease pretty well.

There might be enough from this site to work out how to make the different cowlings of the CW-20, and I think (especially in 1/144) some putty work would sort out the fuselage contours, that leaves the tail feathers as the missing bits of the puzzle.

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I've always heard that the crease was intended to be faired over on the production airliners, but since the aircraft ended up being built pretty much exclusively for the military the fairings were eliminated. The reason for the "double bubble" configuration was ecause the plane was originally intended to be pressurized. Looking at that first CW-20 photo, it appears the aft fuselage has a more tapered "teardrop" shape than the single-tail production planes. But that may just be an optical illusion due to the fact that the production versions had a pronounced dorsal filet.

SN

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