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A Silver Swede - Roden 1/144 DC-6 in early SAS livery


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I finally present SE-BDB “Agne Viking” my Roden DC-6 which began life as part of the Airliner III Group Build last year.  Very near the end of the GB I messed up the finishing and had to strip the model back to the bare plastic and start again.  As I admitted at the time I was fed up with it, other things got in the way and the DC-6 languished for about six months before I got round to re-finishing it.  

 

I used the “Independence” issue of the kit because it includes the round-tipped Curtiss Electric props fitted to early SAS DC-6s. The build is more or less out of the box apart from the radar fairing on the lower left front fuselage and the astrodome for the over-water version. The fairing was guesstimated from photos and sculpted from Milliput and the astrodome was based on a part salvaged from a deceased Minicraft DC-4.  Both took a bit of fiddling to get right although we’re talking awkward rather than difficult.  Generally the kit went together well although some bits - notably the engines and the undercarriage - are a trifle crude.

 

Roden have been generous with scribed panel lines but the quality of the scribing on the fuselage leaves a bit to be desired, particularly for a natural metal finish.  After several abortive attempts at improvement I ended up filling quite a lot of the scribing and leaving an effect similar to the Minicraft DC-4.  I know that was a cop-out but if I’d done anything else I doubt if the model would ever have been completed.  

 

The finish is AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Aluminium with Rub n Buff to provide a little contrast. Rub n Buff is a medium which has rather gone out of fashion but I’m fond of it, not least because it is very easy to use. The only problem is that decals don’t stick to it very well unless it’s over-coated with Kleer or something similar. Exhaust and weathering was done with pastels and a Tamiya weathering set.

 

The F-DCAL livery decals looked beautiful on the sheet but applying them was a bit of a nightmare.  Luckily I started with the windscreen which disintegrated as soon as I tried to position it.  That forewarned me and I coated the rest of the sheet with Microscale Liquid Decal film which helped but at the expense of the decal film becoming more prominent against the natural metal. I quickly came to hate the way F-DCAL had printed the windows, doors, stripes, titles and everything else as a single decal, one for each side.  That approach might work for laser decals but with fragile silk-screened ones it just made everything twice as difficult as it needed to be.  By cutting the main decals into more manageable sections I got there in the end but I still had several heart-in-mouth moments and at one point I thought I was going to have to buy a second sheet. Fortunately that turned out to be unnecessary but I won’t be posting any close-up photos!

 

After I had committed myself to the SAS scheme I realised that all the registrations were missing from the decals.  Unfortunately F-DCAL’s customer service had a major hiccup and failed to sort this despite repeated e-mails. Viking very kindly helped me out with some spare Lima November registrations.  Many thanks John.

 

My apologies for the lack of spinning props.  The fit wasn’t great and they had to be fixed in position. I have been told that the Swedish-registered DC-6s had their blade tips painted blue-yellow-blue rather than the white-blue specified by F-DCAL.  If anybody has photos to confirm this on the natural metal scheme I’d be interested to see them with a view to updating the model.

 

Final thoughts?  It’s nice to get to the end of what turned into a lengthy and occasionally fraught build. With its blunt nose, short fuselage and round-tipped props “Agne Viking” looks quite different from the ubiquitous DC-6B and from some angles can almost be mistaken for a DC-4. Overall I’m pretty pleased with the result and I hope you like it too.  It would be nice if one of the decal makers gave us “photo-real” windows for some of the classic propliners. 

 

Thanks for looking and as always constructive criticism is welcome.

 

Dave G

 

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Dave,

 

A very, very nice build! I especially liked the job you did on the exhaust stains and the metal toning... what's next, an SAL/KLM Connie or DC-3, perhaps?

Mike

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Hi Dave,

 

Definitely worth the wait! Your problems are not noticeable at all with this one. I love the exhaust staining, aerials and the subtly varied NMF.

 

It's a classic livery on a classic airliner. I'd go so far as to say this is one of your best yet Dave!

I agree with you about the lack of classic photo realistic windows. Still at least they're not blue or have that awful lighter band through the middle! I might email Werner and see if he can add some to the range over at AA. Malair is a dab hand with realistic windows, maybe he could step in. 

 

I want to do another all metal classic airliner now!

 

Cheers,

Ian

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I agree with others regarding the quality of your metallic finish and exhaust staining - made your model DC6 look very effective.

 

Regards

 

Dave

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I've got to join the chorus praising your natural metal finish and the exhaust staining Dave, they are beautifully done. Agree with you on wanting some photo real windows for this (& the DC-4, DC-7 & Connie).

 

There is very little that looks better than a 'Big Doug' in a classic scheme from the 50's/60's, as this little stunner proves!

 

Cheers

 

John

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Thanks for your comments everybody - really appreciated :)

 

7 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Dave,

 

A very, very nice build! I especially liked the job you did on the exhaust stains and the metal toning... what's next, an SAL/KLM Connie or DC-3, perhaps?

Mike

 

As usual I have several models at different stages.  Next job will be to apply decals (KLM white top) to a DC-4 which is painted and ready.  I have a B757 in the paintshop and when it emerges it will be finished as either Martinair or Transavia, still to be decided.  There are a couple of long-term projects trundling along - a Revell B747-100 and a Mikro-Mir MD-11 (I'm not enjoying the MD-11 at all) plus a couple of refurbished A319s.  One of the A319s is planned to become the Germanwings Park Inn logojet but I'm not setting any timetable for that!  

 

6 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Hi Dave,

.....

I agree with you about the lack of classic photo realistic windows. Still at least they're not blue or have that awful lighter band through the middle! I might email Werner and see if he can add some to the range over at AA. Malair is a dab hand with realistic windows, maybe he could step in. 

 

.....

 

Cheers,

Ian

 

It would certainly seem logical for Werner to do windows for the propliners that AA produce - the Electra, the Viscounts and the Convair twins.  Otherwise the popular ones are probably Constellation(s), Douglas four-motors, DC-3, Britannia, C-46(?) and, just possibly, the IL-18.  We can always hope!

 

Edit - I forgot the F27 !

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Beautiful-looking DC-6. I think its the first Roden one i've seen completed. I know more than one model builder who gave up on that kit...something to do with how the upper fuselage halves mate together....

 

-d-

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Very nice,lovely build and classic livery from the golden age, just what airliners should look like.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Cheers Michael.                 

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Thanks again everybody - glad you like the model :)

 

On 7/18/2017 at 11:15 PM, David H said:

Beautiful-looking DC-6. I think its the first Roden one i've seen completed. I know more than one model builder who gave up on that kit...something to do with how the upper fuselage halves mate together....

 

-d-

 

I find that a bit surprising David.  As I said at the very start of this thread, the model was originally part of the Airliner III GB and you can follow the link to the build. Apart from a minor issue with the left engines the build itself was pretty straightforward. The delay was due to finishing issues rather than any complications with building the model.  In fact the worst part of the entire build was trying to fit the main undercarriage doors which were a total PITA!

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Wow!  That is an absolutely stunning build.  Not only an attractive scheme but an amazing nmf.  I immediately thought this kit must be 1/72nd at least.  The finished product gives no indication of the troubles you had in the build.

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