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Hi,

 

After  my first jump from a Dakota, I became really keen to build a couple.

Once I found out that there are kit-world decals for "Drag 'em Oot", it was pretty clear that the 4x Phantom build for this GB was going to experience some delays.

At the IPMS Belgium National Convention, I found a couple of kits.

Looking at Scalemates, I see that the 1/100 scale Nitto C-47 dates from 1974 and that it has been re-released by Entex and Doyusha.

I see that the Italeri C-47 dates from 1979 and has been re-released by a host of other manufacturers. It looks really great in the box.

I plan to make these quick, simple builds. The interiors are going to be kept really simple. My impression of "Drag 'em oot" was that the entire interior was OD.  

edMocu7.jpg

 

The Italeri one is going to be "Drag 'em oot" and the Nitto one will be in the Eastern Airlines decals that you see below the boxes.

The Nitto kit also has the option of adding ski's to the landing gear. The box I bought at the Nats includes 2 kits (one very much started).

I'll probably build that one as one of those colourful USN Antartic Research Dakota's.

 

My inspiration for the builds.

gwVZRbB.jpg?1

 

There is also a video on YouTube about our jump. I'm not in it as I was on "Chalk 6" and this was filmed on "Chalk 5"'s jump. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ye9RwwIT4M&t=405s

Cheers, Stefan. 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hi,

 

Although I haven't reported back here, I have done quite a bit of research and some building.

 

With the "Drag 'em oot" build, it's always going to be a bit of a mix-up of the aircraft as she was in 1944 or as she is now. Now she has airline seats on the port side. I have several Italeri kits and one of them has the airline seats on both sides. I went with the 1944 paratrooper seats for this build.

In 1944 she had the equipment to pick up gliders: it is the reason for her name and it's the reason why the RAF got her (they also wanted to start recycling used gliders). I do not know exactly what that equipment looked like and I'm building her with the simple glider towing hook that I saw on a picture of her as she is now.

The Italeri kit comes with a choice of 3 types of scoop that go atop of the engine. "Drag'em Oot" has the smallest one.

 

The Nitto kit only has the biggest type of scoop. For my Eastern Airlines build, I also need the smallest one. I'll have to find some spare scoops for that. 

For the Airline build, I also shaved off the base for the astrodome, the cargo door hinges  and the base of the anti-collision beacon on top of the tail.

The tail wheel of the Nitto kit is interesting: it's more detailed than the Italeri 1/72 part and there seem to be attachment points for several positions. Strangely, there is nothing inside the fuselage to attach it to. So, I glued it in a position that seemed about right and I put a blob of milliput around that to keep it there.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Hi,

 

The builds are progressing.

These are the Nitto kits. The nearly complete one isn't part of the GB, I'm just finishing this one that the original owner started. The 2 objects below it are the ski's. I intend this one to have ski's and an arctic scheme. I've looked at some pictures of real aircraft with ski's and they seem to have fairings that these ski's retract to, probably for aerodynamic reasons. I'm not going to attempt to scratchbuild that.

I have test-fitted the windscreen and I wonder how that's going to go. Maybe it will snap into place when I apply much more force? Maybe it's better to cut the windshield into separate pieces and glue them in place.

2RFzJbX.jpg

 

This is the Italeri kit with the underside sprayed in Tamiya XF-23. This was done to see where some putty would be welcome and I wanted something lighter than the kit plastic to spray my Neutral Grey onto.

 

ppzq58V.jpg

Test-fitting of the windscreen on this one revealed that it's not going to be easy either, something that I can also see on my first Italeri Dakota from over 30 years ago.

The corona virus got a lot of activities canceled. Next week-end, we would have done a commerorative jump for Operation Varsity (26th of March 1945). I'd have found it very special to do that with "Drag'em Oot" as she was there for Varsity in 1945 as well.

So, there is nowhere to go for the moment and I have an 1/72 Airfix Dakota on the way. I wonder how the windscreen will fit on that one. 

 

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited by Stefan buysse
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Thanks for het kind word of encouragement after my long absence, Kurt.

 

Work on the Italeri Dakota has continued…

 41rJhg9.jpg

I found it a lot easier to attach these antenna's from an Italeri Dakota that's moulded in white plastic. With everything in dark Olive Green, it was very hard to see the shallow holes in the antenna's that I had stick onto the mounting stubs. 

Suddenly, the windscreen slid exactly into place. I see from the picture that I'd better check my masking on that.

You can see that there are no fuselage windows. I hope to make these with Kristal Kleer. I feared that while attaching or removing masking tape, I'd push the windows into the fuselage.

 

The Airfix Dakota has arrived. It looks nice in the box. It will probably build into a nice replica, but it does not exactly eclipse the Italeri model. For example, the Airfix one does not have cooling ribs on the cilinders.

One big reason I wanted to try this one is that all windows can be installed from the outside.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

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Looks like you are almost to paint with the Italeri kit. If I recall correctly the windows were in groups of 3 or 4 with enough room for glue in the area between the openings so they could probably stay in there with regular model glue applied carefully. The windshield looks like it fit very well. 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

The windows on the Italeri kit are indeed in those groups as you described, Kurt.

 

I painted the underside of the C-47 with Mr Paint  Neutral Grey 43. That looks beautiful, great paint.

I then painted the topside with MRP138 Olive Drab ANA 613. The result looked way too pale to me, toylike and as if the aircraft was painted in primer.

Luckily, I also have a bottle of MRP-217 "Olive Drab 325 Swedish Army". That looks much better.

 

The new Airfix kit  is going together very well. I'll build that one as "That's all, brother". They'll look great together, both from the same squadron.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

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Hi,

 

I really didn't like the lighter OD, I do have some variaton in the finish already because I painted the control surfaces Tamiya XF-62 and masked them off.

I'll also be using a wash to break the monotomy.

There will be pictures before the wash. :thumbsup:

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

 

 

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Hi,

 

Some touch-ups will be needed, knocked-off antenna's will have to be re-glued,...

 

Yq7wKpD.jpg

 

 

I'm thinking of adding another Dakota: a 1/48 Monogram AC-47 with the Laotian option from the Caracal sheet.  

 

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited by Stefan buysse
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Thanks, Kurt.

 

This morning, I tried to make the fuselage windows on the Italeri kit with Kristal Klear...and failed.

After several attempts, I thought that these windows are too big for that method.  I considered building the Airfix one as "Drag 'em oot" and giving the Italeri one another set of D-Day markings. Not a really happy thought.

This evening, I tried making the windows on the Nitto kit, just to see if I could still do it on smaller openings. It worked like a charm.

I then made another attempt on the 1/72 kit with a really big blob of Kristal Klear and it worked this time.

They're still white stuff now, but tomorrow morning they should be neat windows.

Getting close to decals now.

 

Cheers, Stefan. 

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That is too bad about the windows on the Italeri kit. I Think I managed to make windows with Kristal Klear on the Italeri kit when I built the testors AC-47 but i had to glom so much of it on that it looked worse than no window.

 

Thanks for the update, see ya next time.

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Hi,

 

Soon, all the decals will be in place. Then, I just have to add the antenna's, the astrodome and the props.

The D-Day stripes went well enough on the wings. The ones on the rear fuselage were a bit of a disaster, I think they don't take into account that the fuselages gets narrower there.

The plan is to paint the invasion stripes on the fuselage of the Airfix C-47 "That's all, Brother" and use decals for the ones on the Wings.

pGJRXZX.jpg

 

PLo6Zuk.jpg?1

 

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited by Stefan buysse
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