1/72 Italeri Douglas C-47 Skytrain

[flyjoe180]

I started this a little while ago, but held off posting until the forum was sorted. I have two of these kits, the first here will be represented as a USAAF D-Day machine. That machine is C-47A 43-15109 ‘The Argonia’ of the 94th Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier Group, USAAF, 1944. This aircraft, flown by the C.O, at 0111 Hours on 6 June 1944 dropped some of the first elements of the 101st Airborne Division into Normandy.

There are many variations (guess work) on the exact marking of this C-47, but I'll just stick with what's in the box, or I'll never get anything finished this year.



The windshield was a pest; the fuselage, and underside wing-to-fuselage areas, required a lot of filling. The cargo door was not a great fit. But overcame those and assembled per the instructions. Medium sized photos because there's nothing amazing to show yet.


Engines, not going to town on them, this is it. Most of it is hidden inside the cowl and behind the propellers anyway.


Eventually I ended up with this, primed in flat black.

[flyjoe180]

Landing lights fitted, not a great fit so used PVA to fill the gaps before masking.


Leading edges masked:


Because I primed in black I then masked off my black D-Day stripes and painted white. Some bleed, easily fixed with black paint. I also added some mottle for the OD



Found out I really dislike D-Day invasion stripes. Once fixed up, I masked them off for the main event:


I sprayed the Neutral Grey, then masked off the demarcation lines and applied my OD. The mottle on the top of the fuselage worked quite well. The photos, as usual, don't show it that well.

I've since unmasked, and there are bleed and other touch-ups to do, but nothing that won't take an hour or so. Then I'll move on to messing the thing up a bit. I'm a little concerned about those cockpit windows when unmasking them comes.

[Steven000]

Looks great Joe, already a lot of work done ?. An older kit, so lots of filler but you managed that well I see. Have fun, cheers

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Steven, it isn't too bad really

[Richard48]

Wow amazing Joe.Really looks the part

[flyjoe180]

Thank you Richard

[Ernie]

Looks good, nice paint work!

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Ernie. I like your avatar

[Jim R]

That's come out very well Joe. Considering the fit problems it looks a neat build.

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Jim, it's coming along

[flyjoe180]

Thanks guys, appreciate your comments. I haven't had much time at home for model making this year, so I'm determined to get this done soon.

[colin m]

Great work Joe. It sounds like there's a few issues to deal with, but you've kicked them into shape.
The skytrain (Dakota over this side of the pond) was a massive step forward in aircraft design. I like the old Engineering saying, 'if something looks right, it probably is right'
General Eisenhower said that this aircraft was one of the four most important pieces of equipment that led to victory in Africa during WW2 - we can't say much more than that can we ?

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Colin.

[flyjoe180]

I spent a few hours today tidying up the paint work. Quite happy so far, although when fitting the oil coolers, both decided to vanish into the exposed wheel wells and stick inside the wings somewhere. You know that feeling when it all seems to be going rather well...? ?

Anyhow, here it is at close of play for the day. I've fabricated new oil coolers from 3.5mm sprue runners and will fit them tomorrow before starting the landing gear and glossing the aeroplane.

[boatman]

HI Joe very welll done on the dac always loved this plane was always depenable when it was needed nice build an finish
chrisb

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Chris. Yes, it is an iconic aeroplane for sure

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Great representation of an iconic aircraft

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Steve. It's getting there, not long to go now

[Geoffers]

Looking good Joe ?

I've got this in the stash so handy to see it go together and the problems to expect.

Geoff.

[flyjoe180]

Cheers Geoff. I've got another one which I will make more colourful. It's not a bad kit, just needs attention to detail.

[flyjoe180]

Skytrain is on it's feet and glossed:


I had doubts about the strength of the landing gear and associated struts, but it's surprisingly robust, even with a repair to a leg which was broken out of the box.

Next on the menu are the decals, and some weathering to dirty it up.

[Geoffers]

Very nice Joe ?

Geoff.

[Jim R]

Glad she doesn't buckle at the knees. Decals and a bit of weathering will really bring this to life.

[flyjoe180]

I got the decals on finally. I had a few issues. Firstly, I should have checked the port 'D 8' code, as it had to fit either side of a protrusion in the fuselage. It didn't even occur to me until I was fitting the decal. Ended up slicing the centre portion of the decal and treating it as two individual pieces. Secondly, the stars and bars came out a little translucent over the invasion stripes:


I opted to cut a spare decal from a second Italeri C-47 kit into sections and apply them over the affected portions. There's a very slight difference between the blues on the decals, but under a varnish I don't think it will be very noticeable. The second kit's decals are, despite being a little grubby from storage over the years (it's an older issue), were much easier to manipulate.


I'm going to Gloss varnish next, followed by some pin washing, then a flat finish with some staining etc.

[Geoffers]

Looking great Joe ?

Clever fix with the decals too.

Geoff.

[Steven000]

Nice progress Joe ? funny how I got the exact same problem with the invasion stripes on my p-47 this week, you managed to fix it though ? well done