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Showing results for tags 'Carvair'.
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Another recent project just completed. I bought the Braz Carvair conversion a few years ago together with the Minicraft C-54 to do. It laid in the 'pile' for a few years, and then Roden obliged with a full Carvair kit. I then thought why not still do it the hard way, So, I managed to get some Sand/Light Blue BAF markings from S&M decals and the project begun. Basically the fuselage of the C-54 is disposed of and the Braz one utilised with the rest of the kit. Braz have a cockpit floor and fuselage compartment but were little more than shapes, so I added ribbing to the interior of the loading bay, nose cone, and a basic cockpit and instrument panels. Most of this cannot be seen, but hey ho, I know its there. The main undercarriage bays had a bit of sprue detailing to busy them up. All went together reasonably okay, but some filling was needed to make the wings blend in tidily. Model was painted in Halfords Acrylic White, Tamiya AS-12 Silver, Alclad II Duralaminum, and various Tamiya colours. The decals went on like a dream, but the paintwork needed careful masking to match the cheatline and stylised 'BAF' logo. I created representation of a 'Hylo Vehicle Lift' from plastic card and Balsa, though I did guestimate some of it as I have not yet found any scale drawings but I keep looking. I have posed the Carvair on a temporary base with some Preiser figures, and some cars awaiting loading. Hope you like my interpretation of the 'Carvair'. Any comments, suggestions most welcome. Thanks, Kevin- 15 replies
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Aviation Traders Limited Carvair. 1:144 Roden kit with Classic-airlines.com decals. The Carvair was developed to replace the Bristol Freighters used to transport cars & passengers across the English Channel to France, hence its name (Car-via-air). Modified from C-54/DC-4 airframes it was considerably cheaper than an all new aircraft would have been. The modifications consisted of a completely new forward fuselage, relocating the cockpit on top, much like the later Boeing 747, and a new tail fin to counter it. Its has been widely thought that the fin was from a DC-7, but apparently this is not true, they were new build units. The Roden kit build very well, although I did have to shim the upper inboard wings to avoid a gap where they meet the fuselage. The main gear legs were way too short, initially resulting in the rear of the fuselage almost touching the ground. I removed them and inserted a platform about 4mm deep to attach the legs to, in order to achieve the 'sit' you see here. I wasn't too keen on the kit supplied colour scheme for British Air Ferries, but found this 'British United' scheme at Classic-airlines.com, which I really like. There are also several others available. They are laser printed on constant film, so you have to cut each subject out individually. I can heartily recommend them though, they went on superbly and were easy to use. Enough chat, time for the photos (ugly innit?) ; 'With something else - an easy choice - A Welsh Models Bristol Freighter. Thanks for looking, John
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Back to the 1960's for a glimpse of a couple of 1/144 scale models.The C54/ DC4 is in the formation livery of Air Ferry who were a Manston based independent.Formed in 1963 by Wing Commander Hugh Kennard the company initially operated Vikings and DC 4s on IT and charter work.G-ASOG was lost at Frankfurt with her crew in early 1967 whilst operating a contract cargo service for BEA.The kit is the mini craft moulding which goes together very well.The decals are by S&M.The inspiration for the build was the book "Twilight of the Pistons" by Malcolm Finnis. The ATEL 98 Carvair was a British development of the C54 by Freddie Lakers Aviation Traders.The model was built in the British United Sandstone livery introduced in 1966.The symbol by the titles was meant to represent an African swallow,but around Southend where the Carvairs were based,it was known as the toppled mushroom livery!The kit is by Roden.Decals S&M.Unfortunately, I failed to add enough weight to keep the beasts nose down.
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