Back to the 60's Carvair and DC4

[jyguy]

Back to the 1960's for a glimpse of a couple of 1/144 scale models.The C54/ DC4 is in the formation livery of Air Ferry who were a Manston based independent.Formed in 1963 by Wing Commander Hugh Kennard the company initially operated Vikings and DC 4s on IT and charter work.G-ASOG was lost at Frankfurt with her crew in early 1967 whilst operating a contract cargo service for BEA.The kit is the  mini craft moulding which goes together very well.The decals are by S&M.The inspiration for the build was the book "Twilight of the Pistons" by Malcolm Finnis.  

The ATEL 98 Carvair was a British development of the C54 by Freddie Lakers Aviation Traders.The model was built in the British United Sandstone livery introduced in 1966.The symbol by the titles was meant to represent an African swallow,but around Southend where the Carvairs were based,it was known as the toppled mushroom livery!The kit is by Roden.Decals S&M.Unfortunately, I failed to add enough weight to keep the beasts nose down.

[russ c]

Very nice pair of builds, love the Carvair esp`

[TonyTiger66]

Beautiful models in very attractive colour schemes.  .

 

Thanks for sharing these

 

 

TonyT

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Carvair is my favourite.

Both excellent though.

Richard

[stringbag]

Nice to see these old piston engined transports in model form.

Both are superb so thanks for sharing with us.

 

Chris

[BerndM]

Both very nice

[Mr Modeller]

A couple of very nice civil aircraft builds there, particularly like the Carvair in the BUA scheme, very nice!!  

 

 

Kev

[Alpha Delta 210]

Lovely pair of models. I love the Carvair in particular because I remember seeing them in British Air Ferries livery at Southend Airport as a kid. I might need to buy one....😉

[Viking]

Oh yes! I like those, really lovely.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Team Aer Lingus]

Beautiful pair of classics nicely finished

thanks for sharing

 

regards

 

Eamonn

[Meatbox8]

A couple of great builds.  The Carvair is my favourite as it is such an unusual aircraft and I've always rather admired Freddie Laker.  However, the natural metal on the DC-4 looks terrific. 

[Don]

Lovely builds.   How did the Carvair compare to the Minicraft DC-4?

[jyguy]

Thank you all for the encouraging Comments.The DC4 was finished with Humbrol acrylic spray. There is a Laker link with Air Ferry as late in 1964 Hugh Kennard sold the Airline to the Air Holdings group part of which was British United whose chairman was Laker.

 

I am not sure if the Roden Carvair has been reviewed on this website.As a layman and non-rivet counter, it looks accurate in shape and scale.The kit is fairly basic but is straight forward enough to build(It has to be in my case!),The flight deck needs a little fettling and the wing construction is such that it leaves a gap between the flaps and main plain along the underside .There is plenty of scope for super detailing it.It is a shame that it was not molded with a floor and open door option.The minicraft kit generally has  better fitting parts and the engine/cowling construction is a superior designed.Minicraft incorporates the same amount of detail on the main gear legs in a much simpler and sturdy manner.The only surprise with the DC4 kit was that there is a cut out in the rear underside for which a blanking plate is provided.One word of caution the DC 4 instructions are wrong as they tell the builder that the nose gear leg should be attached to the hole in the center of the nosewheel bay it should go at the back.

 

Edited November 14, 2016 by jyguy

[kapam]

Beautiful models!

Big DC-4 fan myself - love all of the classic prop-driven airliners, it's fair to say.