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Hopefully a BEA DC 3


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Hi guys look what arrived this morning :D

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Now all i need to do is build it and then find someone who supplies the all metal finish BEA decals in 1/144 as recently seen in the BA ad I have done a quick search with no joy and....(I promise this is the last question on this build) does anyone know which engines BEA used in their DC 3's the kit has a Pratt and Whitney and a Wright Cyclone? Will carry on looking but if anyone knows it would be very helpful. Off to finish some more jobs round the house and then hopefully get a start on this tonight. Thanks for the help and hopefully I can get up to the standard you chaps have already set with the current builds in here

Cheers

Graham

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Hi Graham

Not an expert but I would hazard a guess that they were P&W engines as they would have been mostly war-surplus DC-3/C-47 aircraft in the BEA fleet, which was formed immediately post-war?

Andy

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Graham,

Firstly welcome aboard, the more the merrier and all that! And I love that BA advert so you have made me very merry for even suggesting a BEA DC-3

The cyclone engines were only used on the earlist examples of the DC-3, the Pratt and Whitney engines were far more common, especially on the Dakota, BEA was formed in 1946 and used surplus ex-RAF Dakotas converted back into DC-3's that flew with the P&W engines, there is two exceptions however you dont need to worry about them, but for the sake of being informative two of BEA's DC-3s became the first ever passenger airliners to be fitted with the Dart engine conversion making them the first turboprop passenger airlines, in 1951.

Decals are an issue I have seen the scheme done for the 1:72 scale DC-3, however Liveries unlimited classics did a set of BEA decals, ( the white over metal set) a while back and if you stick a request in the wanted section you may get lucky, I would also suggest asking Kev1n and Richellis as they two , in my opinion, are experts in 1:144 scale airliners and may be able to point you in the right direction, my last suggestion would be to have them custom made if you really want to do that scheme.

James

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awww shucks col......you are such a nice guy.....Rich is more likely to be able to help than me when it comes to whats available tho'

I do have a BEA DC3 as it happens -

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minicraft's slightly accurate 1/144 scale kit, using the Welsh decals set, so if it helps, if you can find a set, the welsh decal is fine.

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You guys are fast, Kev1n I had seen the welsh models ones and considered that scheme although i'd really like to do the all metal finish, yours looks great though. I may give Paul Parkes a call he has made some decals for me before. I saw an article in AMW a few months ago were they built the dart powered DC3 using a conversion set and a set of am decals which first gave me the idea of a civvie one rather than an RAF one for this build.

Thanks for the help guys lots for me to consider watch this space

Graham

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Ok, got some building done now and these kits seem to go together fairly quick (after sanding like mad to get the wings trailing edges to close up)

Plastic in the box shot

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Airframe complete from the front

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From the back

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And from underneath

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Now some sanding and then it should be ready for the primer. Although a bit of a pain to get the wings to join correct this build has been pretty easy so far and I am quite looking forward to adding a few more of these 1/144 airliners to the collection ( I got a connie at the same time as this). On a general note are the Minicraft kits pretty good for this area of modelling or is there a better supplier i should be checking out? (in particular for 737 (-3 -4 and -5), 777 and 747)

Thanks for looking and for any advice that you can give

Graham

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(in particular for 737 (-3 -4 and -5),

The best kits of these 737's in 1/144 are the Daco ones. He's been selling them off 'cheap' at the IPMS Nats the last few years though, so whether he has any left in stock....???

Nice looking DC-3, I hope you manage to get some of those BEA decals, as it will look great in all NMF!!

Keef

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The best kits of these 737's in 1/144 are the Daco ones. He's been selling them off 'cheap' at the IPMS Nats the last few years though, so whether he has any left in stock....???

Thanks for the heads up got a 300 and 400 ordered with some etch that he is doing for them, I have a minicraft 400 that needs some serious rebuilding following a hashed, pre britmodeller spraypaint and primer attempt at building it so I am going to hack up this one to make the 500 and this will probably do for the next airliner GB, now back to the Dak

Edited by Graham77
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Little more progress, some primer and some sanding

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And then a quick bit of colour and drybrush added to the engines before adding the cowls and then another coat of primer.

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Thanks for looking, now back to my decal search.

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  • 5 weeks later...

After a few weeks of searching the decals are being made by Paul Parkes as I type. The DC3 has also had a couple of coats of Citadel Silver and it seems to have come up quite well. I have a couple of other metal paints from citadel to pick out a few panels and then it just needs some sealing before I can add the decals. This kit also seems to have lots of panel lines so will give it a go and make it look grubby as the pics all seem to show the early BEA aircraft as well used. Here are some pics so far

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Hopefully the odd imperfection here and there will help to give the aircraft the well used look. The other DC3, C47's on here are really good so fingers crossed this one can keep the same high standard.

Cheers for looking

Graham

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Just a quick update, I have started to add the generic decals from the kit and Paul Parkes is working on the BEA decals so they should turn out really good looking at his other work and I am really looking forward to adding to this little airliner.

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Getting closer to finishing with days running out now :o

Cheers

Graham

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Am on the case, aerials are painted as are the exhausts, tail and the windows will hopefully be finished by tomorrow and then I am just awaiting a delivery from Paul Parkes who is making the BEA decals for me (and doing a great job too may I add, in case anyone else needs decals he is very thorough and very helpful), a quick varnish and maybe a bit of weathering and its done...... and more airliner builds will start to follow

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Nearly there now made the windows from Trim film and started adding some wash (very watered down black paint) to the engines etc to dirty them up. Here are three piccies

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Just have to put the BEA decals on and seal and splash some more wash over, add the aerials and exhausts, generally tidy up and varnish the model to call it finished. Seems like a lot but I think this will be done on time.

Thanks for looking

Graham

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It looks like Paul is nearly finished with the decals but not sure if I'll be able to get them and get them on her in time for the deadline, I think I left it a little late getting in touch with him.

As for the grubby look, all the photos I could find had them looking a bit grubby so it was a good chance to have a go at messing up an airliner instead of doing them nice and neat as most of my planned ones will be.

Cheers for the comments and fingers crossed for the postman arriving on time

Graham

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The only way I will be able to call this one complete is if I claim she has just been stripped of her war insignia and is now being prepared for the spray shop to have the BEA livery added. I'll put some pics on here asap otherwise it will be one of the first completions of the KUTA IV GB

Thanks to all for their comments and help and to rowmk9 and RAF Col. for hosting the build

Cheers

Graham

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dont worry about it - I routinely go mad with GB's, enter and dont finish things :)

I pretty much just do GB on here and think they are a great way to focus on particular projects with a group of like minded people for a few months...

...now if only I could finish one on time.

Thanks again guys, I have had a good time with this little airliner and now have plenty more to add in the year to come.

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