Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Caledonian'.
-
I present my latest creation, a hybrid Minicraft/Roden DC-6B in Caledonian Airways livery. The real G-ASRZ was actually Sabena’s OO-CTN which only carried the Caledonian livery and UK registration between April and November 1964, so the scheme is something of a rarity. The Minicraft DC-6B is a decent kit but it suffers from a lack of detail which is particularly noticeable on the wings. The Roden DC-6 on the other hand has good scribing on the wings but, of course, it represents the early short-fuselage version. When I was building my SAS DC-6 I had thoughts about maybe stretching a -6 to make a -6B and I had gone as far as buying a second kit for that purpose. One day I was in the loft looking for something else when I found an abandoned Minicraft kit, ironically a long-forgotten victim of an unsuccessful attempt to do something about the lack of scribing. A quick check showed that the Minicraft fuselage and Roden wings could be persuaded to fit together with only minimal packing and filling. The hybrid -6B was born. The wings, engines and main undercarriage are Roden and everything else is Minicraft. I had bought a set of HaHen resin engines for the original Minicraft project but unfortunately these were a poor fit on the Roden nacelles so I had to use Roden’s own rather crude parts. White paint is Halfords, natural metal is AK Interactive with some Rub n Buff for contrast. The finish of the wings is “typical” since I couldn’t find any photos giving a clear view. Decals are by TwoSix and I must give a quick mention to Ray’s excellent customer service. When I came to use the decals I noticed that the left cheatline had been printed without the prominent “Super DC-6B” title. I e-mailed Ray who acknowledged the error immediately and sent me a corrected sheet a couple of days later. What a contrast to the saga I’d had with a certain French decal maker a few months earlier and which was never properly resolved! I think the hybrid has produced quite a reasonable result and I will probably do another one at some point. Second-hand Minicraft DC-6Bs are readily available, usually for around £10 which is comparable to a resin or vacform conversion fuselage. If you shop carefully you can often pick up a Roden DC-6 for significantly less than the normal UK price. Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is always welcome. Dave G With the original DC-6. The differences are very obvious