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1/72 Italeri C-47 'KG374' , 16AA Bde Gate guardian


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Here is my rendition of the 16AA Bde Gate Guardian - a C-47 re-furbed and painted to depict KG374 as she looked on D-Day.

I sourced the fuselage codes from KitsWorld, but they ended up being too wide in relation to the D-Day stripes compared to the real deal. They're the right height and the D-Day stripes are accurate, it is apparent that the codes on the real gate guardian are narrower, so i have opted for a compromise - just the 'YS' codes.

The Italeri kit provides the KG374 decals as black, which I settled for instead of red, and other photos I've seen show KG374 with just the 'YS' codes forward of the fuselage roundel. The roundel white was rather see-through unfortunately. I decided not to accentuate the panel lines with a wash as it wouldn't look right (esp after the Airfix Dakota-Gate!).

So, without further ado, here she is.

The real plane;

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Very, very nice! I love the C-47 and you've really done that old kit justice. Couldn't you have photographed it with the 1:1 version?! :winkgrin:

Maybe... Just not today! I'll endeavour to get it done though....

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Nice one,....... this is the first Airfix Dak I`ve seen finished so far,....mine is almost ready for paint! Are you brave enough to go to the main gate with your model and take a photo of it next to the real thing? Won`t the lads on guard take the mick?

Cheers,

Tony

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Your photos validate your decision not to do panel line wash entirely: you can't really see most of the panel joints on the 1:1 aeroplane which, unlike most gate guardians these days, appears to have received some TLC. I don't know the full history of the real KG374, but I would imagine that at the time of her loss she wouldn't show the degree of dilapidation that many modellers seem to consider appropriate these days. You've done a super job there: I just can't wait for my new Airfix Dak to arrive.


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Thanks for the positive feedback guys - just want to clear something up -this is the italeri kit!

I will take a pic next to the real deal tomorrow for all of you!

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An outstanding job on this extremely attractive C-47 ! She presents herself in top form in the images and makes a terrific scale companion to her full-size counterpart.

A crisp and clean build of this Dakota that's right in keeping with the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Mike

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Very nice.

I road moved the real one from Aldershot to North Weald where she was pained as she is today then onto Colchester. May have caused on or two traffic jams!!

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Thanks Mike, Jer and Hockeyboy76 for the comments. Interesting fact there Hockeyboy76! I've heard she was in quite poor state when she left Aldershot.

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Pretty bad state, some places the paint was holding her all together!! Will try to find some pictures. It took 4 trucks to move her, 1 stretched low loader for the main fuse, 2 for the outer wings & 1 for centre wing section. Also moved 47AD's from Lyneham to Brize Norton.

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Pretty bad state, some places the paint was holding her all together!! Will try to find some pictures. It took 4 trucks to move her, 1 stretched low loader for the main fuse, 2 for the outer wings & 1 for centre wing section. Also moved 47AD's from Lyneham to Brize Norton.

It would be great to see those pics!

I haven't had the time to get out today and get pics with the real deal.

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Sorry I`d just assumed that it was the new Airfix kit,....I remember you telling me that you were building a model of the gate guard.

Hockeyboy 76- Thanks for the interesting info about the move, I`m not surprised that she was in a shocking state as the Dak had been there for donkeys years, but was painted regulalry,.....typical army really,.....paint it regularly,...keep it shiny and you can keep it outdoors indefinitely,.....only aeroplanes are not old tanks or artillery pieces! It used to be the backdrop for unit and P-Company photos back at Aldershot and here are a few pics from back in the day in the 1980`s to show what she looked like back then before the move;

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Sorry for the condition of the pics but they seem to have aged badly and have scanned awfully,

Cheers

Tony

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Ah, nice trip down memory lane for you Tony, seeing the 'YS' codes as they were show that it's been varies over the years, so I don't feel too bad about my choice!

Stevej60 - I pestishly matched some Humbrol colour chips to the real deal - 117 for topside and 126 for the grey are perfect matches!

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I used to drive past this every day when it was in Aldershot, didn't realise it had gone.

Lovely job, and an appropriate reminder of D-Day.

Cheers

John

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I don`t know whether this is of interest but here is the Dak, KP208 at Aldershot shortly after it was installed outside the Airborne Forces Museum at Browning Barracks;

DakKP208lookslikeBrowningBksAldershot_zp

I think that it had just finished being used as the personal aircraft of the CinC North up in Oslo?

Cheers

Tony

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  • 2 weeks later...

As promised earlier, a photo of the model next to the real deal. You can see the real deal has the KG374 in red, and 'YS DM' fuselage codes. these are hand painted and are much 'slimmer' than war time codes, so I only used the 'YS' codes, which you can see on Tony's earlier photos, ahead of the fuselage roundel.

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Very brave,..........I applaud your courage for taking a piccy of your `toy' aeroplane in the open air at an Airborne barracks!! As I said before you`ve done a great job on this Airborne landmark,

Cheers

Tony

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