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A beauty from The Emerald Isle! - Douglas DC-4


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Douglas DC-4 - 1:144 Minicraft

 

Aer Turas decals - classic-airlines.com

 

turas8.jpg

 

This is the lovely Minicraft DC-4 kit, with decals from classic-airlines,com. The decals are laser printed on constant film, so need individually cutting out.They do some wonderful schems from the 60's and 70's, I just can't resist buying them!

I'm deveoping a real liking for Irish aviation, as well as the smaller independant airlines of the 60's, so this one scores on both counts. Having seen Ian Turbofans beautiful British Eagle Brittannia, which he photographed using a hairdryer to spin the props, I thought I'd do a couple of photos like that myself!

 

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'With something else' - its' close relative the ATL Carvair, in real life actually converted from a DC-4. Also has classic-airlines.com decals.

turas7.jpg

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

John

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Lovely ! I'd forgotten about their C-54s and DC-4s and can't remember this scheme at all, saw this one in 67 at Heathrow. Just checked my 1967 Civil Aircraft Markings. It wasn't as good looking as your model, its really smart ! Seem to think it was nearly  NMF but its a while ago ! They had three C-54/DC-4F but one crashed at Shannon that year. Aer Turas also used to fly in a Bristol Mk 31 Freighter to Heathrow , shifting race horses IRC. 

That Carvair is a belter too.. You ever thought of doing one in Aer Lingus colours? Sounds like that would be right up your street !

Well done, thanks for showing

 

Edited by bzn20
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That is beautiful John, lovely NMF and prop blur!

 

I do like the DC-4 and have a couple in the stash which I must get around to soon. 

 

Any idea what the black lines are for on the top of the wings?

 

And where do you put all these models?!

 

Cheers,

Ian

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Brilliant, growing up in the sixties and seventies in Dublin I saw these aircraft regularly flying overhead I distinctly remember one evening while out playing seeing something four engined passing overhead the alternative flame from the exhausts marking their passage. Then at night while lying cosy in my bed hearing the evocative throb of the engines passing into the distance. So different from the noisy jets.

I count myself lucky to have been born in between the times of the jets and the last of the prop liners.

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Thats a really lovely build, cant beat the old liveries,great job                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   cheers Michael.                      

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A beautifully rendered model.  The metal finish is terrific and a very attractive scheme.   Interesting to see it parked next to the Carvair (which also looks great).  

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Very nice build John. The Minicraft Douglas kits turned out to be their best (apart from the DC-3, Rodens is better but still not perfect). I'm currently putting together their DC-6  and have a DC-8 almost finished. Shame their Boeings weren't great.

 

That's a great choice of colours, you just need a couple of horses stood by it ready to be loaded - Aer Turas became well known for race horse movement around Europe. 

 

Two great models, thanks.

 

Jeff 

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Another masterpiece John, wonderful as always.  :clap2:

 

I agree about the addictive qualities of Classic Airlines decals.  I just wish Nick would do photo-real windscreens.

 

The prop spinning thing seems to be catching on.  I blame Mitchem for starting it with his SAA DC-4 in the Group Build last year.  I'm hoping to finish my SAS DC-6 in the next few weeks (yes, really!) but I'm not sure if I'll have the nerve to point a hairdryer at it.

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Fantastic model of a very charming aircraft.

Great attention to detail, stunning paintjob.

I think it's the very first model of this type I've ever seen built.

Greetings from Vienna!

Roman

 

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Thanks all!

 

On 5/20/2017 at 8:09 PM, bzn20 said:

 You ever thought of doing one in Aer Lingus colours? Sounds like that would be right up your street !

 

I certainly did bzn20, couldn't  find a decal sheet though!

 

On 5/20/2017 at 9:22 PM, Turbofan said:

Any idea what the black lines are for on the top of the wings?

 

And where do you put all these models?!

 

Cheers,

Ian

 

Ian, they are from the kit decal sheet, and I assume to be wingwalk markings. I did 'um and ah' a bit about putting them on as I couldn't find any photos one way or the other to show if there were there or not. In the end I figured that they helped break up the silver areas. But I am not so sure I would use them again on my next DC-4.

 

Cheers

 

John

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A bit weird for wing walk/don't walk markings. The wing root should be okay its that thin strip between the engines, can only imagine what it must be like to hop across with flapping toolbox . Those wings are/were slippery places at the best of times. I ,must have been 14 ish, went on Lebanese outfit Trans Mediterranean Airlines DC-4 and DC-6 Freighters outside the Fields Hangar ,Heathrow in the good old 1960s,just rode my tredder on to the pan and asked the two blokes there if I could have a look around. The wings were greasy and oiled up,they were hosing it down with 100 Octane AVGAS to degrease it. Even I knew that was dangerous.

Forget the lines......Wing walking was a no go !

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