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Good Morning again! My second post of the day is actually my very first kit aircraft. Prior to this I had been repainting diecast models, I’d never built Airfix or Revell. At the end of last year I decided I’d like to have a plane model, as close as possible to 1:76, that I could have in the background of layouts displaying airport themed buses. When not used for that it would be kept on a shelf with other models representing Scottish public transport by road, rail, air and sea. G-HIAL, with her Saltire livery, tail and Transport Scotland decals, was perfect for both my needs. Tying in nicely with ScotRail’s similar livery. Looking at the pictures, I realise I forgot to add the pitot tubes, and I believe the wing struts are upside down. Since it’s my first attempt, and that gives me and excuse to do another in future, I’m not complaining too much. She is pictured below at her home away from home, on Traigh Mhor beach, Barra (EVPR). Barra Airport (STOLport) is operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. I have one more Twin Otter to share with you, then I’ll be up to date. I have something else I’m working on at the moment, although I’m worried I may have bit off more than I can chew. I might need to do another Twotter alongside to keep the motivation up!

Good Evening, Today I’d like to share with you what was actually my second DHC-6 Twin Otter kit. Looking back at it there are a couple of things I’m not thrilled with, but that gives me an excuse to do it again. Using the 1:72 kit by (Matchbox casting) I’ve represented G-BVVK. VK was built in 1980 and set to work with Wideroe as LN-BEZ, spending 14 years there before being bought by Loganair. 2018 saw her receive the tartan livery, and be given the name Spirit of Eilidh - named for Eilidh MacLeod, a 14 year old resident of Barra who was killed in the Manchester Arena attack.

Hello again, I’m still quite new to this, but I recently shared some of my work here, helicopters and fixed wing. Last time I shared two British Airways models, a BN Islander and a Twin Otter. Today I have another Twotter to share, and there will be more to come. This is my sixth kit airplane, my fourth DHC-6. It fits well chronologically in my posting history here... Following the end of the franchise agreement between Loganair and BA, “Scotland’s Airline” would sign a similar agreement with FlyBe. Beginning in 2008 it would last until an acrimonious split in 2017, leading Loganair to strike out alone. This rift seemed to have healed 2 years later with talks of a code sharing arrangement, however things were already bad for FlyBe by 2019. They would end operations a year later citing Covid as a factor. G-BZFP is/was a very well travelled plane. Built in 1980, she appears to have flown in Gabon, French Polynesia, USA (Florida, then Hawaii), and returned to Canada where she was painted in British Airways livery prior to delivery to Loganair. Arriving on the 11th of August 2000 at Glasgow, she lasted 15 years with Scotland’s Airline before flying east to Switzerland and her new owners. Foxtrot Papa is pictured here at Barra Airport, a new diorama made specifically for displaying my plane model fleet. Connected to Ground Power Unit at Glasgow Connected to tow bar and tug

Hello again! My second post is to share my third DHC-6 Twin Otter, 1/72 scale by Revell (Matchbox mould). And by the third time round I’ve finally figured it out, finally got the nose weight right, finally got the full thing well fitting. Every kit has required some minor filing/sanding, particularly around the windscreen. I’ve had problems where the top will fit together well, but only if the bottom doesn’t and has a gap. Sanding the cockpit bulkhead and leaving out the rear bulkhead eliminated that issue. I have become used to painting the model before glazing and assembling, so as to avoid masking the windows. I know they are small enough to replace with KrystalKlear but I like the included glazing. Anyway, here is BVVK. My second attempt, my first was in Loganair tartan livery. This time is British Airways Chatham Dockyard, using the transfer set from 26decals.com. The white is a nameless gloss, the blue is Tamiya TS51 Racing Blue. BVVK is a 45 year old Twotter, now named “Spirit of Eilidh” and still in daily use between Glasgow, Barra and Tiree. If you aren’t familiar, there’s a superb Tom Scott video explaining Barra airport. He also has one about Westray-Papa Westray.

It has been in the stash for more than a year (actually, I don’t have a lot of kits in my stash). After deliberating what livery should I use for the twin otter and given the ones that are available in the market, I have finally decided that I shall build it with the “FlyBe” livery and set it in a sandy beach scene. Saw the decal in 26decals but they don’t deliver to Singapore! I was puzzled by this when they can deliver to some places in big Africa but not a modern city at the cross road between Asia and Europe. An email and begging Ray from 26 decals sorted out this shipment. Ray was kind to ship to Singapore citing the reason for not doing so was bad experience of non delivery. So, the decal finally arrived and It got me itching to start another in progress build although I have a few in the midst of building or waiting. The kit details are quite nice but shows a lot of flash. I understand from this forum that the front windscreen and door pillar need some modifications and I am not prepared to pay for a resin replacement part. The plan now is to mod the pillar with good old cut, sand, fill and whatever it takes to make the looks. I want to open the cabin door, so I would need to build the interior too. Hopefully I can find some passenger figures for this. Any recommendations would be helpful. I shall start tonight.

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters 1:72 Iliad Designs (72015A) de Havilland of Canada had their work cut out to replace the DHC-3 Beaver. They did this successfully with the DHC-6 Twin Otter. This is an excellent Short Take Off & Landing Aircraft with the additional range and safety of a Twin engined aircraft. Over 890 aircraft have been built finding homes with many civilian and Military operators around the world. This new sheet from ILIAD is for the DHC-6 300 as kitted by Revell. 6 different aircraft can be built from the sheet; FAE 449 of the Ecuadorian Air Force. C-FCSU as operated by Transport Canada in the coastal anti pollution role. UV-18A 76-22565 as operated by The US Army (be advised this has the short nose). 65-CT as operated by The French Air Force as part of the Multinational Force & Observers unit in the Sinai. HB-LRR As operated by The International Committee of the Red Cross in Algeria and Afghanistan in 2004. S/n 1730 Guatemalan Air Force. The decals look excellent, well printed, colour dense and with minimal carrier film. The white does look dense enough to go over the all red finish of the Canadian example. Conclusion These decals will add something to the already great Revell kit. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Morning Gals and Lads: Here comes the first one of this year (hopefully not the last). The good old Matchbox tooling of the Twin Otter depicting a Chilean machine operating from Antarctica circa 1985. I added the antennas, air scoop, wind screen wipers plus some safety ropes and struts for the skis. I leave you a few pictures: I hope you like it. Cheers Adrian

DHC-6 Twin Otter Update Sets 1:72 AeroCraft Models While the available kit is a good one, it leaves room for improvement which Ali has now addressed. New cockpit Set This is a complete new cockpit section with the windows cast in clear resin with correctly proportioned windows. As well as the lower part there is also a new cockpit bulkhead. Tail Planes Set Most of the versions of the kit suffer from sink/shrink marks in the tail planes and this is a quick drop in replacement for these parts. Engine Upgrade Set This is a new set of engine fronts for a more realistic look, with new spinners and new prop blades. These can now be properly set as feathered when the aircraft is shut down. The casting of the parts is upto Ali's usual high standards. Highly recommended to bring your Twotter up a notch. Review samples courtesy of

Just getting back into building model planes after a break of a few years. I'm kind of learning as I go along and trying to make a decent job, but I'm a slow builder. I like civilian aircraft and trainer planes. Last year I started an Airfix 1:72 Chipmunk but I think I sickened myself of it trying to rub down the rivet details and never got very far. A few weeks ago I saw the Revell DHC-6 Twin Otter and bought it. The Twin Otter is going to be finished in a British Airways livery (like the ones that were flying between Glasgow, Barra and Benbecula. The Chipmunk is going to be finished in the overall black scheme that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had a few years back. I put a coat of NATO black inside the Chipmunk fuselage halves tonight and sanded down some more rivets on the underside of the wings. I managed to scratch the canopy when I was cutting it out of the sprue. Polished it up a bit with toothpaste but now there is a very fine haze, it's not crystal clear. I saw some videos about dipping clear parts in a floor polish to mask imperfections so I might give that a go nearer the time for fitting it. With the Twin Otter I've filled in a few sink marks in the fuselage halves as best I can over a few nights this week. Tonight I started putting in the windows, managed to tip over the small plastic bottle of adhesive, so decided to call it a night before I did anymore damage 🙂 The two models... Filling in some sink marks on the Twin Otter fuselage... The story so far...

Hoping to finally show winter the door with something a bit breezy and tropical: the Revell (ex-Matchbox) DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, in the sunny livery of InterCaribbean (formerly Turks & Caicos) Airlines. As one of Matchbox's better late issues, the kit holds up reasonably well in its current Revell/Germany release. Old options still included are skis and floats as landing gear alternatives, and choice of the blunt short nose (used on military aircraft) or the longer tapered 'shovel' nose I used on my civil build. Build was pretty much out-of-box, with a few minor add-ons. The kit's completely blank cabin got some basic 'seat shapes' to have something visible through all those windows. I slipped several fishing sinkers into the nose, to keep her solidly on all three wheels. The simplified landing gear itself got a semblance of brakes for the main wheels, and scissors for the nose strut to replace the solid triangular chunk on the molding. Remaining additions were mainly assorted exterior bits and bobs such as windscreen wipers, aerials, and slightly more petite pitot heads to replace the large kit parts. Last necessary fix---for a grounded bird---was to remember to feather the props, since they do so automatically once hydraulic pressure bleeds off. Decals were home-made, based on the lovely photo of the same aircraft on the Airline's own website. Paints were mainly Tamiya acrylics, with special Testors fluorescent acrylics for some of the bright tail colors. There are a few things I'll do differently next time...one structural, one cosmetic. As to structure, the kit's main gear axles are especially spindly, and might best be replaced with heavy-gauge wire or even paper-clip sections. The cosmetic fix will be more challenging: the kit's windscreen isn't quite wide enough, and the 'A pillars' (to use an automotive term) consequently too wide; this does much to lend a 'blocky' look to what is supposed to be the Twin Otter's fairly sleek cockpit area. (There are some other problems with this area on the kit, but that's for those far more expert than I.) All in all, a nice winter-beating project. I hope you enjoy the pics.

I decided to combine a current 'civil aircraft' streak with taking a kick back at bleak winter, by doing Revell's (ex-Matchbox) lovely little 1/72 DHC6 Twin Otter, with bright tropical markings suggestive of sunshine, balmy breezes, steel drums...and perhaps a few rum-laced libations. I have never built the kit before, but multiple online reviews uniformly laud it as one of Matchbox's very best late efforts, with much more subtle surface detail than their generally-well-earned reputation for 'trench'-style panel lines would suggest. I have what I believe is the most current boxing from Revell Germany, with markings for the Swiss Topographic Office: The kit still comes with its original options of long or short nose, and floats and skis for the landing gear. All of those will go into the spares box except the long nose. I began by sanding off the molded-in raised panels---what I presume are wind deflectors of some sort---adjacent to the forward cabin window on each side, since the photo I'm working from shows these locations as flush panels. The kit has a reasonably well-appointed cockpit...but nothing at all for the cabin between the cockpit and aft fuselage bulkhead. The clear cabin windows are fairly thick and non-optical...but there are a lot of them...so I opted to rough out a very basic interior, consisting of a simple floor and seats made up mainly from scrap left over from my last project. The seats will be painted a dark color, so no real detail was needed: I just wanted 'seat shapes' to be visible through the plentiful cabin windows. As to these windows...they started the project off with a truly delightful surprise. As I said, they're rather thick...but the fit to the fuselage is better, bar none, than any similar kit I've built in my 5+ decades in the hobby. The windows are molded individually, so there's no 'mounting strip' to obstruct the fit (as they typically seem to do); and best of all, they are cleanly beveled to match the fuselage openings. All I had to do was lay each piece in its little cut-out, and hit the corner with the slightest touch of Tamiya Extra-Thin; the cement wicked cleanly and perfectly around each rim, leaving no worry about water-based clear adhesives weakening and windows possibly popping loose in mid-project, or while trying to mask. That's it for the present. Thanks for looking in.

During the 1980s, the USAF Test Pilot School operated two DHC aircraft. The first was an NU-6A Beaver, USAF s/n 53-2781. This bird was used to familiarize TPS students with the peculiarities of a tail-wheel aircraft and to demonstrate the effects of propeller torque. The other de Havilland was the UV-18B Twin Otter. This aircraft was acquired in early 1982 and was used to demonstrate single-engine operation and test techniques for a twin-engine aircraft. Here is ‘781 as it looked in 1981. A ‘civil’ paint scheme and registration, N384M. The only hint that this is a USAF aircraft is the Air Force Flight Test Center 6510th Test Wing tail band and a very small USAF serial beneath the tail band. It wore this scheme until at least 1985. By 1988, the Beaver acquired the white and red scheme that had become standard for the 6510TW test support fleet The Twin Otter was unusual in that it operated in a civil guise until 1987, displaying the civil registration N300LJ. The only visual indicator that it was USAF was the Test Pilot School emblem on the vertical tail. Interestingly, a bogus USAF serial number was used for administrative purposes, 74-0437 being used on its USAF fuel card. This same serial number appears in my flight records for a couple of hops in the Spring of 1982. When a USAF serial number was issued for the airframe, 87-0802, national insignia were added in the prescribed manner, along with standard unit markings of the USAF Systems Command shield on the tail along with the abbreviated serial number, tail code and tail band. The 6510TW shield is on the outer portion of the engine nacelles and the U.S. Air Force legend was added to the nose. The US Naval Test Pilot School also operated a Beaver as BuNo 150191, shown here in 1982 And an Otter, BuNo 144670, shown undergoing maintenance when my TPS class visited Pax River in 1982. Thanks for looking, Sven

With a few hours to go before the starting gun, time to start my thread. This is Revell's retread of the Matchbox Twin Otter kit, of 1983 vintage. Box art: That rather attractive scheme is not going to be the subject, what with those odd round things hanging off the bottom. The kit's second decal option is for a West Coast Air Twotter in blue and white, an example of which one can see on Airliners.net: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ycp7deeq From what I can see, West Coast kept their aircraft very clean. Sprue shots; Revell haven't gone for the lurid Matchbox colours, so it's all in glossy grey. Revell provide a most bizarre double-ended paintbrush. One end is splayed to oblivion, the other appears to have been dipped in varnish before being sent out. Waiting for tomorrow to kick off!

This is the old Matchbox kit released under the Revell banner which comes with decals for the CAF and West Coast Air. I may yet build another kit in the CAF scheme but this time I opted to go with the Perris Skydiving colors when I found the decal sheet was available from Jbot Decals.

First posting requesting help. My grandson was very lucky to fly from Barra by Twin Otter operated by LoganAir. I cannot find any such decals to model this aircraft https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=loganair+twin+otter+barra&tbm=isch&imgil=RtiEqR6WV3GKlM%3A%3BJPV2KzKJM-VSsM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftwinotterspotter.blogspot.com%252F2015%252F07%252Floganair-wins-pso-contract-n223al-goes.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=RtiEqR6WV3GKlM%3A%2CJPV2KzKJM-VSsM%2C_&usg=__jLQe7RPqYwGgnqtvotrFMUhOhpM%3D&biw=1366&bih=580&ved=0ahUKEwj_78qFn9zVAhVLPFAKHSZJCSoQyjcIOQ&ei=-XuUWb-PGsv4wAKmkqXQAg#imgrc=RtiEqR6WV3GKlM: Hope the link works it should take you to a photo of Loganair twin otter at Barra airport Thanks Tim

Hi I would like to participate in my first group build with this Revell 1/72nd scale DHC-6 Twin Otter The final result should be this... ...and to do that I will use this Drawdecal sheet The real challenge will be to find the exact color matching..

DeHavilland Canada DHC Twin Otter 1:72 Iliad Designs DeHavilland of Canada had their work cut out to replace the DHC-3 Beaver. They did this successfully with the DHC-6 Twin Otter. This is an excellent Short Take Off & Landing Aircraft with the additional range and safety of a Twin engined aircraft. Over 890 aircraft have been built finding homes with many civilian and Military operators around the world. This new sheet from ILIAD is for the DHC-6 300 as kitted by Revell. 5 different aircraft can be built from the sheet; FAE 449 of the Ecuadorian Air Force. C-FCSU as operated by Transport Canada in the coastal anti pollution role. UV-18A 76-22565 as operated by The US Army (be advised this has the short nose). 65-CT as opereated by The French Air Force as part of the Multinational Force & Observers unit in the Sinai. HB-LRR As operated by The International Committee of the Red Cross in Algeria and Afghanistan in 2004. The decals look excellent, well printed, colour dense and with minimal carrier film. The white does look dense enough to go over the all red finish of the Canadian example. Conclusion These decals will add something to the already great Revell kit. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

New from Oldmodels Decals Avro Lancaster BI/III in 1/48, 72 and 144 - 75(NZ) Sqn WWII BAe J31/32 Jetstreams 1/72 - Air National, Ansett Regional, Origin Pacific, Tasman Pacific Connection, Vincent Aviation BAe J41 Jetstream 1/144 - Origin Pacific DC-3 1/200 – RNZAF (2 schemes), James Aviation (2 schemes) BAC167 Strikemaster 1/48 and 72 – Strikemaster Ltd (warbirds) Boeing 247D 1/72 – RAF (DZ203) NZ LAV 1/48 and 72 – NZ Army (2012) Decals re-issued in the Digital range: B757-200 1/144 and 200 – Kiwi International (the NZ airline) BAe J31/32 Jetstreams 1/144 - Air National, Ansett Regional, Origin Pacific, Tasman Pacific Connection, Vincent Aviation BAe J41 Jetstream 1/72 - Origin Pacific DH83 Fox Moth 1/72 - Air Travel NZ DH84 Dragon 1/72 - Air Travel NZ, East Coast Airways, Union Airways DH86 Express 1/72 and 144 – Union Airways DH89 Rapide 1/48 and 72 - Air Travel NZ, Cook Strait Airways, NAC (2 schemes), RNZAF/Warbird, Ritchie Air Services, Southern Scenic, Tourist Air Travel, West Coast Airways DH90 Dragonfly 1/72 - Air Travel NZ DC-3 1/200 – Warbird ZK-DAK, Fieldair, Ministry of Transport, Mount Cook Airlines, NAC (3 schemes), Pionair, Southern Skies Trust, SPANZ, Speedlink DHC-6 Twin Otter 1/72 and 144 – Great Barrier Airlines, Mount Cook Airlines (3 schemes) BN Trislander 1/72 – Great Barrier Airlines Shorts Sunderland MkIII 1/48, 72, 144 and 154 – NAC (ZK-AMK) Lockheed C-130H Hercules 1/200 – RNZAF (4 schemes) Fokker F27-120MPA – 1/96 RNZAF Consolidated Catalina 1/48, 72, and 144 – TEAL Route Survey aircraft (ZK-AMP) Dornier 228-100/212 1/72 and 144 – Air West Coast (-212), Tranzair – Austral (-100 and 212) DHC8-100 1/72 and 144 – Vincent Aviation NZ LAV 1/35 – NZ Army (2012) John www.oldmodelsdecals.com

New releases: DIGITAL At last, after several re-prints, OMD is pleased to announce the arrival of the ATR72-600 Air NZ black scheme in 1/144 A320R Air NZ Black scheme in 1/72, 1/144, and 1/200 The A320R was not previously available in 1/72. The others replace inkjet decals, and in the case of the 1/144 is significantly cheaper. Inkjet versions will remain available on request. More DIGITAL schemes will be released progressively over the next week or so as I find the time to process them. Watch this space. INKJET NEW: DHC-6 Twin Otter - Great Barrier Airlines FQK bird tail scheme and a flight of fancy scheme depicting the same aircraft in the GBA current scheme. 1/72 and 1/144 - can be upscaled to 1/48 if requested for the Modelcraft Canada kit. As always available through my website www.oldmodelsdecals.com John