Skymonster

Lovely build of a lovely aircraft. The story goes that the aircraft, flying under the airline’s previous name “Gibair” went in for a maintenance check and the engineers christened it by scrawling “Yo” ahead of the titles - so “YoGibair” (as in “YoGi bear”). The nickname stuck - it was known as Yogi Bear from thence on - and was officially carried by the Viscount post repaint.

Absolutely lovely - though per topic title I think it is an EC-135N rather than an ECN-135 🤔

Same designer who did the Trident with a nose undercarriage leg under the centre of the fuselage maybe… When he was finally made aware of his mistake, he presumed every kit needed something offset from the centre. 🤪

Good luck with the build - it looks like it’s off to a great start. I’d love to do an Airfix Sea Vixen, but not at the prices currently being demanded on eBay and the likes (I don’t already have one and I’m saddened that Airfix has chosen not to rerelease it but I live in hope). So I guess at some point I’ll have to bite the bullet and have a crack at the Dynavector I have in the stash.

Great to see good old Spotty-M remembered with such a nice build.

Well there were AMT kits and AMT Coffee shops, so nothing really original from Airfix 🤨

Not sure I’m interested… Now if Airfix was to introduce its own gin, things might be different 🤪

Wow, what a kit! Your plans for the power cart are interesting. If you’re going to rearrange the aircraft on your ceiling to make space for this(as you suggested in the original post), you’re gonna need one hell of a long lead from the power cart - unless this is going to be a new type of flying power cart! 😜

Very nice job. I so very nearly didn’t click on this topic as the last time I looked at a Westland Whirlwind on here I got an obscure twin-engined World War Two era fighter. I’m glad I did look now - this is a proper Whirlwind in my opinion, and very well executed too.

Splendid… I did George a couple of years early - plenty of Phantoms and also quite a few “Prams” (the nickname we used to give to OV-10 Broncos). One day I’ll get around to scanning my slides too!

Yep, a 1/24 Carvair to go with the DB5 would be magnificent 😋

If only they’d do a version with a tank, a snorkel and Erickson Air Crane decals… Wishful thinking maybe.

You have a rather splendid collection of One-Elevens there

…and further to @Timo’s advice, ideally you need a 747-400 kit with CF-6 engines as the Rollers that come with some look quite different. This means if you go for a Revell, British Airways is no good but Lufthansa and KLM are OK (I don’t believe the BA issues include CF-6 engines as well as the RRs).

Watching with interest as I have a Zvezda C-130 near the front of the stash. Unlike you though I’m not brave enough to do the flaps - the Combat Conversions “Snoopy” conversion is plenty for me!

Best looking trijet ever, and a beautiful build. By the way though, the engine is the RB211 (not the RB12).

Ah, sorry, I read this again… Custom decals… Fair enough, thanks

Blummin’ beautiful @Paul J where did you get the decals?

Oh have fun with the Orion - I built one many years ago as a US Navy bird but I’d love to do another as a fire bomber in Aero Union colours. The retardant tank is, I believe, fairly straight forward as the P-3s had a standard Aero Union tank (I believe they took them off the DC-4s as the older type was retired) but the decals for Aero Union would be an issue. Anyway, work is underway on the C-54 - first update in the next couple of days.

I’ve been a WIP virgin until now so please go easy on me this time. First a bit of background. I’m an unashamed aircraft fan who doesn’t really care for grey Bunsen burners grey and green warplanes - it fact, its fair to say, civil is my strong preference. Within that I like the entire gamut, but if push comes to shove its piston- and turboprop-engined airliners that really light my fires. The classics of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s are the absolute peak to me, although within the genre its the operators and operations of the elderly pistons in their final years that fascinates me - and myself and my cameras have spent many days and pounds chasing them around the world. In the past I’ve done kits the Heller 1:72 DC-6 (Securite Civil, France), Heller 1:72 Super Connie, 1:72 Ju-52 (Hot Air, Switzerland), even a couple of Heller 1:72 707s, etc., etc. But chancing on a Revell 1:72 Douglas C-54 Skymaster on a Veteranus auction got me thinking - and reaching for the wallet. With the kit snapped up at a very good price, I started to think about what to do with it. I had no interest in doing it as a USAF C-54 (or any other military C-54 for that matter), so my attention turned to after Market decals that could turn it into an airline-operated C-54. There were a few options around but nothing struck a chord until I noticed Red Roo Models did a fire bomber tank for the C-54/DC-4. That was more like it, right up my street. While I paused before pulling the trigger, I had a quick ferret through the box and hit a bit of a snag… Sealed bags, but one of the prop blades was missing (top right). I pings off a message to a Revell - they couldn’t help, kit out of production, no spare parts left. I thought about trying to make one from scratch from sprue and discarded the idea as I felt it unlikely I’d get a perfect match with the other two blades on the hub. I also considered building the kit in an al fresco maintenance diorama with one engine exposed, cowls off, props off the hub and ladders near by. This seemed to have significant potential. But I also posted on here, asking which other types might have the most suitable Hamilton Standard props that I could buy aftermarket - B-17 and B-25 seemed to be the consensus. Coincidentally, @Ed Russell from Red Roo answered my BM query about blades, saying they did DC-4 conversions and he might have an odd spare hanging around. What a perfect alignment of the stars that proved to be, and so I placed an order for the fire bomber conversion. A week after I placed the order, the kit arrived from down under (remarkable service from Red Roo) with the promised blades also included (a set of three actually). Lovely, and thank you again to Ed. The Red Roo conversion includes not just a very nice tank and its fittings in resin, but also decals for a Buffalo Airways (Canada) C-54 fire bomber and a Conair (Canada) DC-6 fire bomber. Again, lovely stuff. So, if you’re still with me you’ll recall I have travelled the world in search of weary piston engined airliners, and one of the places I’ve visited is Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The remote town is hallowed ground for enthusiasts such as me, as it is home to the infamous Buffalo Airways and its irascible owner Joe McBryan, which came to much wider public attention six seasons of the TV reality show Ice Pilots NWT. I’ve seen and photographed the carrier’s C-46s and C-54s and had the privilege of a flight to Hay River in a C-47/DC-3 on the “Sched” - I’d even photographed some of their C-54s in their former lives as fire bombers with Aero Union in the USA. And so the stage is set. Revell’s 1:72 USAF C-54 Skymaster will become Buffalo AIrways C-FBAP / Tanker 15 in its striking red, white and black colour scheme. In the next instalment, work will have started. I might still do the diorama with one engine exposed and the cowls off - we’ll see - but thanks to Red Roo it’ll feature a fire bomber I’ve seen with a full set of blades. Thanks for your interest if you’ve stuck with me so far.

Yep, works fine. On the upload page, click on the “mobile friendly” option, then when you go to select an image it offer the option of the photo library on the iPad - just done it myself, quick and easy.

Huge thank you to @Ed Russell and Red Roo Models, who not only helped with my propeller problem but also got their excellent DC-4 fire bomber conversion to me from Australia in around one week (and no customs charge!). So thanks very much again Ed, I’ll be back to you for more stuff soon. Now I’m off to start my Buffalo Airways DC-4.

Thanks @Moggy - as long as all four propellers look the same and are fairly true to shape and length, I’m not too bothered by a millimetre or two here or there. DC-3 props may well be a way forward.

Thanks for the suggestion @viscount806x - I’ll see if I can find a set. I can live with a small scale variation from reality, as long as all the blades look similar.

OK, I’m in need of an expert on DC-4 Hamilton Standard propellers…. I’m just about to embark on building the Revell 1/72 DC-4 and have discovered one of the propellers is missing a blade - the hub and the other two blades are there complete on the sprue, but one blade is missing and it isn’t loose in the bag / box 😬 I reached out to Revell but they say the kit is out of production and they haven’t any spares. I bought the kit several years back and really can’t send it back to the retailer as its sold out with them too (I accept I could try sending it back and ask for a refund which would probably be denied at this stage, and anyway buying a replacement kit from a supplier than still has it in stock would cost quite a premium). So, I’m kind of stuck. Fabricating a well shaper blade myself, such that it wouldn’t be noticed compared to the other blades, seems to be too much of a challenge. I’ve looked at the Quickboost blades on a UK retailers site and I’m quite prepared to but a replacement set, but which ones? Wikipedia says the DC-4 has 13’ 1” (3.99m) diameter Hamilton Standard Hydromatic props - several other aircraft have similar Hydromatic props of differing sizes, but I can’t find any that use the same size as the DC-4 (although wiki doesn’t mention sizes for some aircraft). I guess one approach, if I can’t source a suitable blade (or set of blades) is to do it with one engine exposed and with the prop off, and set it in a diorama with work stands, etc. But I’d prefer it complete. Hence why I need an expert. Anyone any ideas? Is there another aircraft type that uses 13’ 1” diameter HS props - ideally a type which I can acquire 1/72 blades for? Bear in mind I really only need one blade, but that must match the other two on the hub once glued on and it should also match the complete sets on the other three engines Thanks in anticipation