Revell 1/72 C-54

[gingerbob]

Well, here's my first official attempt for 2017, and it is an ambitious one.  It'll no doubt be a slow build at best, but I'll try to share whatever insights I have along the way.  I saw several other build logs which agreed with my own first impression: "Man, these instructions are confusing and intimidating!"  So, I'll make some notes about the instructions on this first installment [now added], and update it as necessary.

 

Going back approximately halfway to the end of the Second World War, when I was an ambitious young model builder, I bought the Heller DC-6, with some hope toward converting it to a C-54.  Needless to say I never even started (thankfully) and the kit lurks in my "deep" stash to this day.  So, when Revell's C-54 was announced, I was quite excited, despite normally trying to avoid 1/72.  I was even more excited when I heard that my local Hobby Lobby stocked it- finally, a kit worth using a 40% off coupon on!  Well, I had a day off the other day, and had accumulated a number of to-dos in that area, and sure enough there was an example of the kit on the shelf, so what could I do?

 

I'd had a look at the kit once before, but suffice to say that it was "rather large".  Naturally I wasted little time before freeing the two fuselage halves and the full-span (!) lower wing part from the sprues and getting the initial 3D effect.  That's a 1/72 KC-135 at the top, and Monogram's 1/48 DC-3 next

 

 

But how to finish it?  My first idea was a USN 3-color scheme, based on one formation photo of three aircraft in three different schemes.  But was it really the 3-color scheme?  Some flashy postwar C-54/R5D would be fine... Then I saw some nice decals from Lima November, and was quite taken with the idea of "Greenlandair".  In the course of searching online I came upon this lovely shot: (source: http://www.seaboardairlines.org/aircraft/dc4-1.htm )

 

 

Later, I did another search and found a French decal manufacturer who had done a sheet for this (approximate) scheme, apparently for the Mach 2 kit.  It was no longer on their own website, but the Aviation Megastore had two copies in stock, and that settled that!  Oh my, that's a lot of naked metal...  Seaboard and Western has an interesting history, and an interesting website.

 

I've pored over the instructions, done some online research, and even glued a part or two.  I also test fitted the bulkheads to get an idea of how much I can leave out, but the jury's still out on that.  It also occurred to me that, in 1/72 and with most of it never to be seen again by the human eye, it might be a good chance to practice painting interior bits!

 

OK, folks, here's my guide to making sense of the instructions:  (I've done a parallel one for the civil boxing.)

=================================================

Instructions for the instructions:

 

There’s a thick, busy booklet [get it here] with a whopping 100 steps, and the sequence can be a little... unusual... at times. First some good news- 99 and 100 are the two schemes provided for in this boxing, so really we’re only dealing with 98 steps. See, it isn’t so bad!

 

The kit (and for a while, the instructions) make for a Fuselage assembly and a Wing assembly, and it appears that the two can be joined quite near the end (if I’m wrong, I’ll report back.) You do have some essential decisions to make, though, the most important being whether you’ll have the flaps up or down. You may also choose wheels up or down, but that’s a more straightforward path. You have the option of opening crew and cabin doors, which I don’t recommend if you’re going to be doing gear up/flaps up, aircraft in flight!

 

You also get some parts choices: nose, intake style, exhaust stack style, cowl flaps open or closed, tailcone, wheels, and an array of antennae, most of which appear perfectly suited for breaking off of the model.

 

I will therefore break the steps down in an organized (?) manner, and include some corrections, suggestions, and sarcastic commentary along the way. Feel free to convert this to a checklist to help keep you from flipping back and forth trying to figure out what you did last, what you need to do next, and what you forgot to do or weren’t told about yet.

 

Please put your seat in the upright position with seatbelt fastened, stow your table, and make sure that belongings are placed under the seat in front of you or in the overhead compartment. We hope that you enjoy flying with us!

 

 

OK, let’s try a “high level overview”:

 

Fuselage	Wing	Flaps	Landing gear
Steps 1 through 22	(38/39 if flaps down)	Flaps up:	Wheels up:
26-32	33-37	86	mod parts in step 1 (see step 66)
47-49	(skip 35-37 if gear up)		66
62	40		83
88/89	41 or 42
91	44	Flaps down:	Wheels down:
93-98	50-61	38/39	23-25
	87	45/46	63 or 64 or 65
	90	84/85	67-82 (see below)
(wing joins fuselage step 43)			71+76 or 72+ either 74 or 75

 

Fuselage

 

Step 1 puts the nosewheel well side-walls onto the underside of the cockpit floor, and while they don’t tell you until step 66, there’s a choice to be made already! You see, if you want gear up, you are eventually told to cut away the hinges on these two parts. Seems a lot easier to do it now, rather than wait until the parts are snuggled into an already-closed fuselage. Also, when I test-fitted these parts, there’s enough “slop” that I strongly advise some thought about what else they need to line up with, lest you discover much later that you should have done something just a wee bit different... I ended up joining the cockpit floor to the former behind it (step 22) and then putting on the sidewalls.

 

* The main fuselage halves need some preparation:

• Unless your subject does not have a navigator’s turret (astrodome), you need to cut the hole where it fits (see steps 26 and 32; the dome itself doesn’t appear until step 88).

• Attach the nose of your choice to each fuselage half (step 62), being careful that all the parts align. The nose-gear well spans this joint, so it’s easier to get it all smooth now.

• Clean up the mating surfaces, windows, tooling marks, etc, lest some flash inconvenience you later!

• Fit the cargo door insert (step 31) into the port half- some fettling required. You can also add the doors themselves if you’re going to have them closed (step 89).

• If you’ll be closing the crew door (step 26) on the starboard half, might as well do that now, too.

• It might be wise to study your subject to check the configuration of aerials, probes, etc (see steps 88, 94, 95, 96) so that you can make sure the appropriate holes on the fuselage are open. Also, you might check the number of cabin windows- some might need to be eliminated on your subject- if so, leave yourself a note!

• One more bit of surgery: the port cabin liner has a section in the area of the cargo doors to cut away (step 20). Also, remember to clean these liners up- I had flash on one of the fuselage stations and in the window openings, as well as along the edges. Pay attention, too, to the “outside” that nestles into the fuselage proper, especially where the window strips will be sandwiched (you may want to paint those areas flat black, too?)

 

1-16: Whew, what a lot of work. Let’s see, where were we? Ah yes, Step 1! Well, now that we’ve got some loose ends (or rather, beginnings) taken care of, you may proceed merrily along through Step 16 building the flight deck and crew section. Admire your handiwork and the lush detail, take some photos... because once the fuselage is closed up you’ll never see much of it again! By the way, don’t forget about the fuselage sides, which have some cockpit detail (see color callouts in steps 26 and 32) and might be slightly visible in the crew section. Notice also that there’s an instrument panel decal (step 2), should you wish to take advantage of it, and I should point out that the overhead switch panel appears in step 88, with the cockpit window section, so might as well take care of that interior while you’re doing the rest of the cockpit.

 

17-22: Work now moves aft into the cabin. I leave it to you what you do in there. I’m counting on not being able to see very much with the doors closed, but those of you who like to super-detail could really have some fun. If you ARE going to have the cargo doors open, then you’d better think about what you’ll be able to see through the opening.

 

**23-25: If you’ll be having gear up, skip this paragraph. The instructions would have you build the nose gear now, before inserting the interior assembly into the fuselage. I’m hoping that we can instead do this much later...

 

26-32: Fuselage assembly. Step 26 mentions the crew door, and tells you that if you want it open you’ll do it at step 93. They have it opening outward, but on the real thing it opens inward [link to photo].  Don’t forget the nosegear-well forward bulkhead from step 62 (*only for the radar nose- the original had no bulkhead), and get some weight in there somewhere if you aren’t going to rely on the tail stand. (If gear up, you can put the nosewheel doors on (step 66)). You can also put on the parts in step 88, and your choice of tail cap (step 91, though save the bulbs (O85) for the end).

 

The tail surfaces are installed in steps 47-49. The control surfaces are all hinged, with rather delicate looking bits. Note also that rudder, elevators, and ailerons are all fabric-covered, which may influence your painting choices. Speaking of painting, don’t forget to mask all those darned windows. I'm hoping to do a lot of the painting and decaling before joining the wing, though obviously there'll be the belly seam/wing root to deal with then. More delicate bits later, but now, on to the wing!

 

WING

 

Decision time: If you want flaps down, you must cut away a section of trailing edge on the lower wing panel and replace it with different parts (see step 38/39).

 

33-37 puts fiddly bits into the nacelles. They start right out with a minor “gotcha!”- in step 33, the four parts J92 should be turned around, so that the flat end goes forward- the parts in step 34 have a flattened bottom that sits atop that flat end. (If you are doing it wheels-up, I think you can skip 35-37, and this would instead be a good time to get the doors in place- see step 83.)

 

NOTE: One thing to be cautious of is “spread” of the nacelle. I haven’t yet test-fitted top to bottom, but it appears that the firewalls that go IN the nacelle are narrower than the “half-shell”. Remember to leave room for the panels around the exhausts (step 45/45a) though. (Someone also suggested putting the gear bay parts in first, but I haven't really played with that yet.)

 

Wing top and bottom are joined in step 40, and your choice of carb air intakes in either 41 or 42. The instructions would have you join wing to fuselage next (step 43), but I plan to put that off for a bit...

 

And so, back to fiddly bits in Steps 44 and 50- don’t get distracted worrying about the steps in between... just stick with me!

 

This might be a good time to deal with seams, and perhaps even paint the wing (and cowlings/cowl flaps- see step 57). And if you prefer, put the ailerons on first (step 87)- but remember that the aileron is fabric-covered. Paint the flaps separately and set them aside. (Note that there's a different combination of parts for: flaps up/ Step 86, or flaps down/ Step 84/85.)

 

Well, I guess it is about time that we introduced the wing to the fuselage (which you might have already done some finishing on). There’ll be the belly seams and wing root to address, of course, and if you’re doing flaps-up (step 86) they can be added now.

 

If you haven’t already, this is a good time to do the painting and decaling, since the airframe is now essentially complete and any further additions will be in danger and/or in the way of the major surfaces. (Check the steps further below about fiddly bits in case there are any you think should be put on first.) Those of you building gear-up will already be there, but for the rest of us, the nose doors (step 68) and mains (step 82) need to be sectioned and painted, too.

 

Speaking of landing gear, now that your pride and joy is looking like an airplane, you might want to give it legs!

• You’ve got a choice of three different styles of both nose and main wheels (steps 63-65 and 74-76* respectively).

• Main gear are built up in steps 69-82. *Note that step 71 parts go with the mainwheels of step 76, while 72’s go with either 74 or 75.

• Nose gear is back at steps 23-25, then 67/68.

 

What about the flaps-down option? It is now safe to refer back to steps 45/46 and install the hinge tracks (note that you have to trim part K110 for each side- one left, one right), and hang the flaps (step 84/85).

 

51-58 Gentlemen, start [building] your engines! The exhaust collector rings (steps 51/52) can be painted and fitted, along with the exhaust stacks (step 60/61). The rest of each engine can be built up and put in its cowling. If you’re really ambitious you can even put on the props (step 90).

 

Well, I guess that just leaves all the odds and ends!

• Install the clear bulbs from step 91 (if applicable)

• Anti-collision beacon and (if open) doors in step 89

• Part J94 (step 80) under each nacelle, if you didn’t already

• Landing lamps, stowed or deployed (step 92)

• The applicable antennae, etc, on the belly (steps 95-97)

• The applicable antennae, etc, on top (steps 94 and 97) (Note that the pitot labeled 189 is really 191)

• The engine assemblies plug in to the front of each nacelle

• If it flops back on its tail bumper, there’s a stand (step 98)

 

It wasn’t unusual to use that stand (or a different, two-rod type, though it doesn’t look like that normally reached the ground) when people were messing around the airplane.

 

Well, there you have it! I hope that this guide helped you unscramble your brain after trying to follow Revell’s instructions. I welcome any suggestions of better ways of approaching the kit or how I could improve this guide (to me I make sense- to you... well, I hope!)

 

 

bob

Edited January 24, 2017 by gingerbob
added "guide to instructions"

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Nice looking scheme,  I also have a C-54 in the stash but am unsure of what scheme to do it in.

 

Have you any progress to show Bob?

[ROBOT]

Hey Bob !

 

you chose a lovely colour scheme ! How will you do the metallic finish (Alclad or acrylic based metals (AK, Vallejo?) just curious...)

Please keep the pictures coming, (you can't have enough airliner builds in this forum) !

 

Thanks for sharing your build as it unfolds,

Regards,

Olli

 

[gingerbob]

Thanks for the moral support, chaps!  I have to play some back and forth games with Photobucket these days, but I've just shown myself that I've got a method that works, so here's the first "action shots":

 

The door insert "liquid cemented" into place (the doors themselves are just press-fitted as a test).  It looks rougher than it feels, and the whole idea was to minimize the amount of filling and blending required (one of my modeling mantras!)  The bit in the background is the section you have to cut out of the cabin liner. (see second photo)

 

 

 

 

The inside view shows the area I had to trim the most to get it to fit (across the top of the insert), but that'll be covered by the cabin liner.  Note also the two "punch out circles" on the smaller passenger door- grumble.  I'm probably going to close these doors, as well as the crew door up forward, the better to hide any interior laziness.  The door part will fit quite well but this shows the advantage of making your mind up early- you can get to both sides and convince the parts to get along with each other.

 

Also, the way the instructions are arranged, some things are mentioned "at the last minute", such as cutting out the two half-circles for the navigator's "turret"/ astrodome (which I haven't done yet).  It'll make life easier to do all the cuts and clean-ups for any given part at the beginning, lest one overlook something.  The cabin liner "clamshell" parts nestle quite well inside the fuselage proper, but there's also the window strip to sandwich in between.  There are a fair number of tooling marks on those surfaces, and some ragged/flash edges, which could possibly cause trouble.  When I test-fitted the left and right liners to each other, the join down the centerline was surprisingly rough, but I think with some cleaning up it'll be much better.  (I have a feeling that'll come up again later...)

 

This morning I was beginning to find and gather the various parts that go into making the wheel wells and nacelle details- my general plan of attack is to go as far as I possibly can with the fuselage/tail and the wing separately- perhaps even down to painting and decaling- before joining the two "big long parts".  The way the kit is designed lends itself (mercifully) to that approach.

 

bob

[franky boy]

Brilliant. It's about time someone built one of these on here.

 

Looking forward to watching your progress.

 

James

[VG 33]

Hi

 

This is really a very interesting subject and I built one last year in French Navy guise.

 

Patrick

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235001785-revell-172-douglas-c-54/#comment-2345018

 

[gingerbob]

Thanks Patrick, I did see your photos while doing research- looks nice! 

 

On 17/01/2017 at 2:52 AM, ROBOT said:

How will you do the metallic finish (Alclad or acrylic based metals (AK, Vallejo?) just curious...)

 

I'm curious too!  The temptation is there to experiment with foil, but that sounds frighteningly labor intensive.  The other end of the spectrum is to get some Tamiya rattle-can silver, give it all a squirt, and call it good.  I'm open to suggestions.

 

I'm working on the instructions guide (first edition), but did manage to glue on a very few parts yesterday:  (Note: the upper fuselage is not warped, the camera just made it look that way.)

 

 

The crew door on the starboard side is now closed and welded, and she's got a proper nose.  Notice the vertical "shadow lines" on the aft end of the wing-fuselage fairings.  I spotted those the other day, and am not yet sure whether they'll disappear under a primer-coat, or need a bit of smoothing. 

 

bob

Edited January 20, 2017 by gingerbob

[VG 33]

Hello

 

If you want I can give you more in progress pictures.

The natural metal finish I used was Alclad Duraluminium.

 

Patrick

[pinky coffeeboat]

Following this one for sure. Great choice of colours and the Seaboard and Western site is fantastic.

 

Recently I bought the newly released Balair/ Iceland Airways DC-4 version for half price - £27 as opposd to the normal retail price of £54. The shop where I bought it from is a general homeware shop but has a very good model section stocked with Airfix, Revell, Zvezda, Tamiya, Italeri and Ebbro car kits, not dusty old stuff that's been left on the shelf for years but all the modern releases along with good variety of kits. 

 

Now, I'm not particularly interested in Douglas propliners (except the DC-3) as they generally leave me cold. Had Revell chosen to produce a Constellation to the same scale and quality as this, I'd buy dozens but the Douglas stuff...Anyway, I deliberated for a while but couldn't really encourage myself to add it to the stash, even when I saw the price (it wasn't in their sale so somebody messed up on the pricing!!). I downloaded the instructions from Revells site as I stood there arguing with myself and immediately fell in love with the Iceland Airways scheme. Decision made.

 

Since getting it home, I've looked in the box just once. As for the interior detailing, I have contemplated building this separately as a kind of diorama with passengers and flight crew and building just the 'shell' of the model. 

 

Like yours, when/ if I ever get round to building it, it will be a slow build. Good luck and looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Jeff 

Edited January 19, 2017 by pinky coffeeboat

[snapper_city]

Good to see one of these being built.

[gingerbob]

10 hours ago, pinky coffeeboat said:

I downloaded the instructions from Revells site as I stood there arguing with myself and immediately fell in love with the Iceland Airways scheme. Decision made.

 

Hi Jeff, I looked for the airliner instructions and didn't find them- can you point me in the right direction or possibly scan yours for me?  I wanted to compare the two...

 

WAIT!  Thanks to your comment, I tried again and found them here. (scroll down 'til you find the PDF download)

 

I'm not usually an airliner enthusiast (though exceptions can certainly be made).  My interest in the C-54 originally was from the foolish desire to build "one of everything" from WWII in 1/72.  More recently I've expanded my interest zone to include postwar service or types (and I long ago settled on 1/48 for most things).  But when I saw that nice photo, AND found that I could get decals, I acted on it before I could realize the implications of all that aluminium.  I also have a friend who flew for World (not Seaboard World), and the history reminded me of some of his adventures.

 

As for not appreciating Douglas, I'll let that slide since you excepted the Dizzy Three!  (I'm trying to get a particular set of decals for my 1/48 DC-3, too...)

 

Still wrapping up the first draft of the guide to instructions, and coming down with my daughter's cold.  I'm supposed to work today, but I'm rather hoping to have a "sick day"!

 

bob

[72linerlover]

Bob, I wouldn't touch those fairings.

Take a look here and here.

Could be a nice stressed skin effect.

Nice start on that model. I'll be following with much interest, since I plan to build an Alitalia DC-4 soon or later.

Regards

Eugenio

[gingerbob]

Well, I got my wish of a sick day (on another today), but I haven't been feeling up to prolonged fiddling.  I did start building up the nose-wheel bay/cockpit section, and I've also finally added my "Instructions to the instructions" at the bottom of the first post.

 

bob

[pinky coffeeboat]

Yeah, just read through your edit - phew!! Thats one heck of an edit!! I do agree about the busy instructions but reading your post and a careful study of the guidelines should help future builders of this kit.

 

I still haven't looked in the box since this thread started and still don't feel the urge to do so. I even flicked thought a very colourful coffee-table style book this afternoon that was being sold for a ridiculously cheap price but was still unmoved by Douglas propliners (the name of the book too!). Lockheed Connies.....now, that's a different matter....

 

That's  a shame about not feeling up to prolonged plastic fiddling but I had a similar feeling just before Christmas with a full week off just to myself, no one else around, nothing else to do but spent so little time at my bench I could now kick myself for a wasted opportunity!!

 

Jeff

 

 

[gingerbob]

Well, finally beginning to come alive again!  In the interim, a routine servicing of my furnace turned into, "See the steam here?  You basically need a new furnace."  (Psst- anyone want to buy some REALLY overpriced models? )

 

But back to more important things.  I looked at the instrument panel piece today, and found this:

 

 

Umm, what's wrong with this picture?  [Not counting the slight fuzziness, that is!]  The squarish thing to Southeast is supposed to drop into the "hole" there and butt up against the panel.  Somehow I don't think it's going to do that!  Not a big deal to fix, and it'll even make it easier to apply the panel decal, but that's the worst head-scratcher I've seen on parts so far.  Generally, in fact, aside from abundant but minor flash, I've been impressed with the tooling otherwise.

 

By the way, I also slapped some green paint on the wheel wells, etc, in the hopes of getting the wings together, but it's going to need another coat and some flatting (and then some picking out of hoses and such).

 

bob

[AMB]

Well, no update since end of January?  Have you given up?

I have one of these underway and 'boy', I can see why they charge around fifty quid for this kit - it's over-engineered with far too many parts that can't be seen! I have ditched the cabin interior as it's pretty pointless constructing and painting it, only for it to disappear when the fuselage halves are put together! Okay there will be those that will do it 'because they know it's there', but this is a complex kit that I need to get on with. Even each engine has about ten parts each, collector rings, rows of pistons etc. all of which have to be squeezed into the cowlings! This kit will take me a month of Sundays to complete, I can see.......and I have TWO of them!!!   

[gingerbob]

No, I haven't given up, but I've got some other projects going (those Group Builds are great for getting me started, but not so good for getting me to finish!)  Funny to see this thread rise to the surface- I was thinking today that I should put a picture or two of "progress" (very little), but it is a very gloomy day, so not good for picture taking.

 

I was tempted to pick up a second one today, but so far I've said to myself, "Yes, but how likely is it that you'll actually want to tackle this again?"  Not particularly a criticism of the model, but I'm not really one for multiple copies of transports.  Except Dakotas, of course.  And Twin Beeches.  And...

 

bob

[AMB]

Well I bit the bullet and have TWO, but I am really not happy with this kit, as I have said Revell have ‘over-engineered’ it putting far more unnecessary parts in that can’t be seen, which push the price of the kit up unecessarily!  I have left out all the cabin interior and have been working on the engines, which entail about 10 parts in each engine, four rows of cylinders, collector rings etc – absolutely ridiculous as you can only see the front of the engines and they have no provision to allow the propellers to turn – they will be glued/fixed!!!  Great shame as that means they will be vulnerable to break if you’re not careful. Every propeller aircraft I have ever built can have the prop turning!  It was a hell of a job getting the assembled engines into their cowlings. They seem to have done all this just because they can, but without any real thought to ease of construction or what actually can be seen. The c.of.g. is quite well forward and it would have been a tail-sitter had I not driven into town to a local fishing tackle shop to get some fishing weights to pack in the nose with the plasticine.

 

[gingerbob]

Documenting one tiny step forward, I departed from the instructions by starting the crew area with the next bulkhead back:

 

 

 

I figured this way I could squirt the basic interior color (whatever I decide that is) and then build on this both forward and aft.  I did place this in the fuselage during assembly to make sure of alignment- it fits pretty definitely anyway, but I'm always in fear of building up a subassembly and then much later finding an 'oopsie'!

 

I've joined a couple of Group Builds (with my usual lack of accomplishment), and also resumed my seasonal job, left my long-standing other job (deep sigh of relief, at least for the short term), etc etc.  Now that we're settling into the summer rhythm, perhaps I can begin to get distracted by models again...

[RC Boater Bill]

Any updates to share?   

 

I was given this kit, to add to my US Coast Guard collection.  I’m really liking this (no natural metal) color scheme... white with USCG red-orange trim.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by RC Boater Bill

[gingerbob]

Hi Bill,

 

(hanging head in shame) No, in fact I just yesterday moved the box from "right behind me" to another pile in the stash.  This is not to say that I've abandoned it, I'm doing a general shifting about (aka "tidying up") with the intention of trying to sell off some kits.  The engines are still on my desk, in a sorting container where I can keep track of the subassemblies.  I've been somewhat pre-occupied, or at least distracted, with "life" lately, and at best I've been flitting from one kit to another.

 

Your subject looks very unusual for this airframe!  Can you get decals, or are you going to have to customize?

 

bob

[RC Boater Bill]

Bob,

 

Decals are pretty easy. I have multiple Coast Guard generic decal sheets in the stash, and a friend with a laser printer who can easily produce whatever black lettering (AIRSTA name, aircraft number, etc.) that I may need.

 

There are several USCG schemes for this plane. The planes entered service in 1950 as replacements for PB-1G (Ex-USAAC B-17Gs)-  until replaced by the C-130 in the early 60s.  Early schemes are overall NMF with yellow bands (similar to USAF). In the late 50s, the Coast Guard went with more of a unique “hi-vis” scheme, with a mix of white and NMF and International orange markings. The final version, from the early 60s, is the overall white with USCG red-orange trim.  I’m not a big fan of NMF finishes, and the idea of doing one on such a large model is a bit intimidating!  (There’s no avoiding NMF when  I get around to doing my USCG B-17 and DC-3!)

 

If I’m understanding your progress to date, I’m thinking that if I build it closed up, I can ignore a lot of the interior bits..?

 

-Bill