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Nord 2501 Noratlas Heller 1/72


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My first “work in progress” here is the Heller 1/72 Nord 2501 “Noratlas”.

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The Noratlas is a French military cargo plane from the 50s, including the German and Israeli air forces had placed orders. The later version Nord-2501 Noratlas looks similar to the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar.

The Noratlas wil be build in the colors of the Luftwaffe. What attracted me were the versions with a white roof. A mix of the standard green-gray camo, orange and white panels, resulting in a striking color palette.

Something like this example from FSX Flight Simulator:

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On youtube there is a corny instructional video "Sicherheit im Lufttransport Noratlas".

 

You can study the Nora from all sides despite the black and white images.

A device with registration GA + 253 or 252 is in my opinion possible with the decals.

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The Luftwaffe decals I have purchased from “HaHen Aircraft Accessoires”.

http://www.hahen.de/

Within two days they were already here. Properly packaged in a sturdy cardboard envelope.

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It is Immediately a bit of an unusual story because it is my 2nd attempt to build this nice beast.

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In the end phase of the previous one the paint job protested by many difficulties and side effects.So I decided to start all over again.

Some components of the first attempt can be reused. An example is the engine with the propellers.

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So the second attempt begins with washing the sprues.

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The cargo plane has a lot of length behind the main landing gear. From experience I know that a lot of weight should be mounted in the nose section. The 20gram as shown in the construction manual seems too little to me. But there is also little room for the placement of weight in the nose.

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In my sprue spare box I found a box that fits exactly between the two partitions. Which is filled with lead and closed with styrene.

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The last time I had filled the wheel bays with tin cubes. These blocks are now clamped next to the wheelbay. In case of emergency I can always later fill the wheelbay. In front there is a 2nd box filled with lead.

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And the total looks like this. 60 gram weight in the nose section. Three times as much as the instruction recommend.

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The doors are precisely aligned with the outer side and fixed with additional styrene.

The access stairway door is filled with styrene to eliminate a seam.

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And under a colour coat it looks already quite different.

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Thanks for watching.

Edited by Grover 27
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Great choice and good work so far. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I had one of these in the stash for years (the original stash, which went up in flames in a storage unit fire 10 years ago). Next time I see one on sale I'll snap it up.

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Wonderful!

I love the Noratlas and unfortunately never was able to find the kit. One day maybe.

It has been a love/hate relationship between that plane and I, what with having to guard them on lonely airbase parkings at night  in freezing cold, to jumping out of them with a parachute at altitudes that seemed oh so ridiculously low...

But what a beautiful plane!

JR

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Thanks for the encouragement guys!

 

Some people find kits with raised panel lines by definition not worth to buy.

In itself, I'm not that one.

In fact if you compare the overlying panel lines of the kit with photos of a real device then Heller has done it very nicely.

Try comparing this:

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and this:

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With the plastic:

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It’s not even wrong in my opinion.

However, the disadvantage of those small rivets and raised panellines is the vulnerability to filling and sanding.

Restoring raised panel lines is very difficult. That's why I want to avoid that as much as possible.

And like the photos of the real machine a smooth surface is also not my intention.

Hopefully this tactic works for me.

 

So not really a big update yet but an important one as a proper construction minimizes sanding an filling.

 

The wing root on the body with adequate strength to prevent seams.

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In spite of the clamp (and my good intention to prevent) there is a seam along the length of the fuselage.

So work to do. First protective tape for the rivet and the raised lines before filler was applied.

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This is the result after a putty and sanding. As said compared to the real plane not quite 100% tight and smooth. But still having the details in place.

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The two cargo doors are a different story.

The bulging of the doors at the top and bottom are not equal with the fuselage.

The pencil line shows where what needs to be sanded down from the surface of the door.

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At the lower side of the fuselage the bulging is increased with putty to get equal with the doors.

Again, the panel lines are protected with tape.

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Glued additional are plastic strips In the doors to improve the positioning to each other and the fuselage.

Because of weight savings in the tail, I I have deliberately not placed the floor (part 34).

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And this is the result. There's quite a stress on so I leave that to cure for a day.

Deliberately not quite seamless nevertheless the cargo doors are aligned and pretty reasonable with the fuselage.

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The reinforced landing gear of the previous kit can be re-used.

It had already an additional reinforcement. On top of that I made an extra brass tube as a hinge due to the high weight.

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Edited by Grover 27
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I'm in here. Want to see how it goes together. Always liked the thatplane. My father flew in it, when he served in the Bundeswehr. and I was once in one in the eightees on the ground. A nice looking plane. I wish Revell would do a new one, although the the Heller is a very good base.

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Thx gents.

A small construction update. The reconstruction of the headlight behind the glass in the nose and the strengthening of the main wing.

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I used a screw. The head is drilled and then a little rose painted.

Then it is covered with a clear lens (from the sparebox).

The pictures do not show it super clear.

But I hope that after the painting of the nose section the headlamp is noticeable better.

 

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I also mounted an aluminium profile from the hardware store on the roof.

Because of the large wing span and on top of that, the weight of the tails.

The impact is huge. I am happy with that.

 

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Edited by Grover 27
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  • 2 weeks later...

I am loving this......I have one which I want to start soon and make into something a bit unusual.........

 

one of my favourite aeroplanes.............as can be seen in my model room with inspiration adorning the wall above my table................

 

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great progress so far Grover..............and well photographed too

 

Adrian

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Thanks gentlemen for all your likes and your motivating replies.

 

On 12-2-2017 at 8:42 PM, bbudde said:

Always liked the thatplane. My father flew in it, when he served in the Bundeswehr. and I was once in one in the eightees on the ground. A nice looking plane. I wish Revell would do a new one, although the the Heller is a very good base.

I agree with that it’s a very tough looking plane.

This Heller kit needs some extra attention to build.

Well perhaps the Revell or Airfix manufacturers see this and decide to develop a future model.

This plane deserves it.

 

13 hours ago, adey m said:

I am loving this......I have one which I want to start soon and make into something a bit unusual.........

 

one of my favourite aeroplanes.............as can be seen in my model room with inspiration adorning the wall above my table................

Totally agree Adrian

I will be interested in your future build of this nice plane.

"Please don’t ‘forget to put extra weight in the nose, (more than the instruction says). Furthermore, it seems necessary (to me) to strengthen the main wing. Maybe even more than I have done."

 

And yes, you have  a nice work space indeed.

 

 

So.. time to share the latest weekend progress.

A lot of sanding and filling. But sorry I have no photos from that intensive work....

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As answered to Adrian special care is taken to prevent a tail sitting model by adding additional 60 gram weight in the nose.

Combined with the extra weight of the profile in the wing I thought it was better to strengthen the landing gear and the inner bay also.

First by adding a simply sprue construction to compensate for the upwards force.

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So that this brass replacement will be well supported.

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I hope I do not disappoint you all but I completed the wheel bays with some phantasy.

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The same is done to hide the aluminium profile in the wing. This time by adding a styrene base and copper wires.

Again it's some phantasy and not correct compared with a real plane.

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An overview of the landing gear reinforcement work.

A brass support with a pin hole connection. And a Messing o,8 mm axis for the future wheels, (More on that later).

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Alignment of the opposite side with help from very advanced equipment.

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Except that the plastic is relatively soft, it was also somewhat bent.

This front view shows that the left wing tip hangs down and to the right is pointing upwards

During the gluing of the two wing halves I failed to noticed that. Also the stair profile Is not filled complete in the wingtips.

Have needed some thinking time to this.

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But ultimately this bother me too much.

I needed some medieval torture equipment or so......

And in no time the victim was already strapped!

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Engine and wing disconnected and filled with styrene. The intended effect, it is somewhat lifting upwards the wing.

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The (left side on the photo) tip is also disconnected and re-glued under pressure.

With a reasonable result.

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So, the right wing undergoes the same torture treatment.

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Not perfect, but a satisfactory compromise. I hope to you viewers also.

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These are the wheels of the old model.

The idea is to slide the brass tubes in the wheels and then over the brass pin at the landing gear.

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Idea seems to work at first sight.

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A little bit off on the right side. But I leave it as it is.

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Curious about the work result for the overall impression.

With loosely wheels, cockpit loose and the old engine (wrong placed, as the orange is on the inside but this way it remained without falling) and propeller.

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The next phase is to fit the windows, a overall cleaning job and the application of the specific details.

 

As the mysterious black bumps on the roof.

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As well as the two pitot tubes on the roof. The antenna etc..

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These details are not included in the kit.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

Edited by Grover 27
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Hello Grover...........your enthusiasm for this aeroplane is very much to see in the amount of detail and research you are putting into your build........there is some fine micro engineering too in the undercarriage

 

Your build has inspired me to want to start my Noratlas if it was not for the Stratojet taking up my table at the moment

 

regards, Adrian

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Hi Grover........ the version of Noratlas that I am thinking of building may have somewhere suitable for extra nose weight.................

 

Image result for nord  noratlas radar trainer

 

cheers,  Adrian

 

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Aha! Yes Adrian that is a special one.

And indeed a clever way to store some weight.

 

In 2013 I have build a Heller CL215 and converted it into a Italian version, (Just before Italeri made their version).

For the radome I used a plastic pencil.

 

The photos will show it better (I used a red pencil in the end):

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But first finish your Stratojet.

 

Regards.

Edited by Grover 27
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I have just caught up with this. I have the kit right here in my modelling room :).

 

I have always been a little scared to build it, both that and the CL-215 look quite difficult (I have that too).

 

Now I'm inspired that both may one day be possible.

 

Lovely work in this one and a great choice of colour scheme. Adrian's choice of 'nosey' aircraft looks like fun too :D.

 

:goodjob: 

TonyT

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