foresterab
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Posts posted by foresterab
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Chris,
Question re: Saskatchewan markings. Are you custom making yours or did you find a commercial source?
Ontario and Newfoundland are out there commercially as aftermarkets and I think the one kits has Quebec as a -415 (Amodel 1/144?) but don't see much for the other provinces/territories.
Also Croatia, Italy, Malaysia and a couple of others floating about.
foresterab
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Pretty much in awe of the small scale brass work. Not something in my talent house.
Well done.
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Hi Chris,
This kit goes together pretty quick and solid other than the tail sitter aspect you're already correcting.
In regards to the differences between the CL215 and CL415 is the obvious turbine but this also leads to a slightly faster plane and much better performance scooping/dealing with elevation/ peeling out post drop. Load capacity is similar but the avionics and controls are generations apart. For reference the CL-215T Alberta uses is a -215 with upgrades bringing it to very very close capacity of the -415's. I've seen the -215's dropping every 5 minutes on fire due to scoop, bank, bank, drop, bank, bank, scoop....three in pattern and some very happy crews on the ground. But you don't normally have fires on the shore of your scooping lake either.
I checked my photos and I don't have any of Saskatchewan planes in use. Bunch of Alberta, some Quebec but was am not often able to play photo tourist on deployments...plus tend to be at command post rather than airstrips. But the Saskatchewan fleet is pretty simple paint jobs. Check out the history of the Convair 340 they use...used to be Air Force One at one point.
This is also a bit of a slow time of year so a good time of year to ask about photos from Lac La Ronge or Prince Albert if you're trying to get more recent photos...they may allow visits come spring but I know it was a big issue last year and this upcoming season is also up in the air in terms of facility restrictions.
Always glad to see another water bomber in progress
foresterab
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welcome aboard,
Enjoyed my time working in NE BC many moons ago and now sit on the other side of the rocks in Alberta.
Welcome to the forum,
foresterab
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welcome aboard GPSChilliwack. Some nice country down your way.
For what it's worth if you ask in the off season you might be able to tour Con-air's facility in Abbotsford if you call ahead and their schedule permits. The didn't have any DC-6's left when I was there but had a bunch of the Air Tractors around.
Missed on the Martin Mars in 2011....was on the wrong end of the fire when it was working in dogsbody's area to see it in action.
welcome to the forum,
foresterab
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welcome from the prairies. Okay so the big pointy rocks are in the view as well. But welcome aboard from Alberta.
foresterab
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Thanks for the clarification of whats in the box guys :).
I'd seen didgeridoos shipped on helicopters but not martians. Dreams of martians for all. Sounds like they're all set for camp for a long long long stay in the woods away from people.
Looking good Moa,
foresterab
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Looking good Moa. I liked the cargo manifest on the higher class passenger. Made me think of the odd collection of self sanity items lookout observers have packed into towers for the summer. The fellow who packed a highend tape recorder and would layer instrument over instrument all summer ala Mike Oldfield was especially talented.
Only thing I keep thinking with your big red box is what's inside and what would be center of trim for the aircraft? unless it's filled with pillows it seems off to me but the rest of the interior is bang on for layout including small cramped seats in the back. But advantage of sitting in back is you don't have to work radios and can sleep?
Looking good and it's coming along great.
foresterab
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12 hours ago, dogsbody said:
Jumping from a Norseman. We Canadians did it too!
Chris
Thanks Dogsbody,
I used to see the lawndarts practicing in NE BC before I got into the fire fighting side of things and always wondered why the left the perfectly good airplane behind. Was able to tour the smoke jumper museum in Missoula, Montana which is great for USFS history and thank a few of the guys for coming up to Fort Mac earlier that season but a pregnant wife meant I could not dawdle at the time and give it all justice. Did get to see the guys take off on the new Sherpa's they have for a jump machine but the crews there preferred the old DC-3's due to more jumpers per plane.
There are some fuzzy recollections of jumping trials out of Edmonton as well but I believe that was RCAF and the earlier predecessors to the SARTEC role and not smoke jumpers. Still not much luck finding Norseman pictures for Alberta in forestry.
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I checked my photos of the same Norseman dogsbody had already posted pictures of. While the hinges are visible I do not see anything to prevent the door from slamming back if you were in any kind of air stream. It appears the same basic set was also on the front door. I'm guessing this was part of the briefing of "don't open the door unless you want to pay for repairs" talk many pilots still give today. While I work up in Canada its the same work as the USFS and in some cases the same aircraft work across the border.
In regards to the rails on the back a couple of options come to mind but the initial one is cargo securement - easier to mount a rail for lashing odd ball shaped equipment down than to try to use eyelets in the floor. There were a lot of Norsemen used on the Alaska highway construction for example where you would flying in men, hack out a bigger strip, fly in small equipment in pieces so it could be reassembled and clear a bigger strip....and eventually get a rough track going for the main crews to follow. I'm not immediately familiar with the Norseman being used as a parachute aircraft but I know the DeHavilland Beaver was used to drop bags of water before the float system initially pioneered on the Norseman was perfected and is still used today on Twin Otters. That being said the immediate time period post war had a lot of odd and unusual work going on from parachuting beavers (yes...in Idaho) to aerial seeding to early water bombing trials. Small plane strips were the method of choice for many operations until they started to get replaced by helicopters.
One comment on the interior...the floor in back, if carrying men in western states, most likely had a replaceable plywood floor. This was due to the caulk boots men would wear in the mountains but they are unfortunately an engineers nightmare for chewing up aircraft floors. Plastic trays are put on helicopters now and may have sacrificial boot steps to get into a machine...or take the damn boots off. I did check the other aircraft photos I have for similar transport type machines and unfortunately do not take many pictures of the interior floor or was unable to enter the aircraft.
I'll check into the archives if time allows tomorrow to see if there are any more pictures I can find to help but off memory they are either pre-WW2 RCAF or post war helicopter dominated by far.
foresterab
P.S. Had to laugh the fictional cargo - mail coming in - yes, pay coming in - yes, steak coming in - yes, music - yes. The seafood order was a bit much as even steak is only a weekly treat :). But I want to be at that camp when the cook gets to work.
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nice progress on this Konrad. Looking forward to seeing final build
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Some great photos here.
My second wildfire I was ever on had a group of these flying in support...low, slow, and beautiful. Especially when we were digging guard by hand and had limited resources. I got to see them in action a few more times that summer but the fleet had been retired by the time I returned to the role.
Most of the fleet Air Spray had was sold off and/or donated to museums. I visited in 2015 and have photos of what was left of the fleet so if you're interested I can send them via email.
I've been slowly working on Tanker #11 (crashed in High Level, AB) but one thing it also taught me to not just get fixated on the tanker number but also look at the year of operations as the nose configurations and paint jobs changed season over season. For the movie version of Tanker thankfully you shouldn't have too many issues.
But always nice to see another water bomber and especially a B-26 build.
foresterab
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Greetings from out west in Alberta. Some nice country where you're at there in shield country.
foresterab
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Welcome aboard,
Greetings from just the other side of the rocks. Some great plane museums near you but not sure what you have on the armour front.
foresterab
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no worries man,
Was watching a -205 carrying crews around today and thinking how much better it was then walking. But then it would mean trying to keep up with a bunch of super active 18-22 year olds who like running and decided my role was better.
Grey with maroon trim design. Sharp but nothing like your ship.
foresterab
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Always nice to see one of these built. Tend to see the Aero Commanders overhead all summer as they bird dog out the water bombers for forest fires. Great platform for the work they're doing.
foresterab
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Hello Robert_,
Greetings from Alberta...there's a few of us on here from coast to coast.
Cheers,
Foresterab
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I've seen some pretty crazy Bell - 205 paint jobs but this takes the cake. Nice job and you've got the details down right.
Cheers,
foresterab
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Oh lordy the Hat is invading...
Joking aside welcome aboard. There is an amazing range of skills and interests here and you're sure to find a reference or two for the latest project.
Welcome aboard and greetings from northern Alberta in sight of the rocks.
foresterab
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Yvan S...nice start on this and greetings from down the highway from you,
I think I built the same kit back when I was a teenager....hopefully my skills have improved a bunch. Keep your eyes peeled because you never know what will be flying through...the Confederate Air Force flew theirs through Edmonton and northern Alberta many moons ago and offered tours. So who knows...it might pass through again enroute to Alaska.
Kit is going together well. Seem to remember both props and wheels movable as well but I built it "wheels up" so didn't have that option. Or I glued them in place. Can't remember.
Keep it up and looking forward to seeing more.
foresterab
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Hello starseeker,
I'm late to the party but welcome to the forum from the foothills. I remember some of the shops you are mentioning from the youth but we hardly came to Edmonton as kids and if so, was for things not available up north like car parts. Not quite the same for fueling the model maker.
foresterab
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Greetings from Alberta. Always good to have another Canadian here.
foresterab
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Salut Francois,
I spent a couple of weeks working the Fort Mac fire with the SOPFEU guys out of the Quebec along with a bunch of other agencies. Thankfully their English was much better than my very poor French. Please give me regards to Montreal as I have fond, abit fuzzy, memories of McGill and the pubs there.
Welcome to Britmodeller...there's Canadians from the Wet coast all the way to the East coast here.
foresterab
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Greetings from the snowy hills of Alberta,
Mother comes from just south of you (Windsor area) so was in your neck of the woods last fall.
Welcome aboard,
foresterab
CL-215 fire bomber
in Work in Progress - Aircraft
Posted
Green shade looks pretty close. It's pretty striking with the white pattern on the planes
foresterab