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AIM 1/72 DC-7 B and C Resin Conversion Set


wallyinoz

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Great to see you posting here Neil and thank you for doing all these conversions. As I said, I will have two DC-7C's to be built as fire bombers... something I have wanted to build for a long time. 

 

All the Britannia stuff is also great too... very tempted by the CL-44J! 

 

PS, Any chance of a Carvair conversion for the Revell DC-4? 

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- ref. TWC72034 - Douglas DC-7 & DC-7B Conversion (3350 turbo-compound engines) for Heller DC-6B kit

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TWC72034

 

TWC72034-1.jpg

 

- ref. TWC72035 - DC-7C conversion set - (designed to be used with the Heller DC-6 kit)

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TWC72035

 

TWC72035-1.jpg

 

- ref. TWC72036 - DC-7 non-radar nose - (designed to be used with the Heller DC-6 kit)

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TWC72036

 

TWC72036-1.jpg

 

- ref. TWC72037 - DC-7B long range fuel tanks - (designed to be used with the Heller DC-6 kit)

Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TWC72037

 

TWC72037-1.jpg

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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As a thought on the water bomber DC-7 conversion, it seems that there are probably more 7 or 7B conversions than 7Cs.

 

Also, anyone using the Heller Douglas DC-6 Securite Civil variant will get a water tank for the belly in the kit, although I do not know how close it is to the DC-7 size.

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There were x4 7C airfames converted, one or two used different registrations duing their service and tanker numbers but I know them as these listed below. Two sold and went to Spain but never got a contract, one then scrapped & the other one was restored and is now on view in Cordoba. Not sure on the two that stayed Stateside... none flying though sadly.

 

N9734Z Tanker 32 DC-7C

N90804 Tanker 28 DC-7C

N90802 Tanker 15 DC-7C

N5903 Tanker 35 DC-7C

 

As for tanks, the 7C's used larger tanks similar to the Heller tank but longer with x2 more doors and a tank that is quite long and different shaped to the Heller tank (more square). I'm using a Cloudmaster kit as a base and scratch built tanks....

 

If I had the time, I'd build all 4, but I will settle for two for now... maybe I could pick up 4 conversions and hope I get the time.... 

 

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On 10/19/2018 at 11:06 PM, Radleigh said:

There were x4 7C airfames converted, one or two used different registrations duing their service and tanker numbers but I know them as these listed below. Two sold and went to Spain but never got a contract, one then scrapped & the other one was restored and is now on view in Cordoba. Not sure on the two that stayed Stateside... none flying though sadly.

 

N9734Z Tanker 32 DC-7C

N90804 Tanker 28 DC-7C

N90802 Tanker 15 DC-7C

N5903 Tanker 35 DC-7C

 

As for tanks, the 7C's used larger tanks similar to the Heller tank but longer with x2 more doors and a tank that is quite long and different shaped to the Heller tank (more square). I'm using a Cloudmaster kit as a base and scratch built tanks....

 

If I had the time, I'd build all 4, but I will settle for two for now... maybe I could pick up 4 conversions and hope I get the time.... 

 

@Radleigh i found a little more info about those tanks you mentioned!

Tanker 28 NN90804 is the only 7C with that longer tank and more short drop doors you referred too.

This aircraft is fitted with two rows of drop doors in the full lenght and those rows consisted 6 smaller doors in each row.

Whereas the Aero Union tanks have four rows of drop doors on the ful lenght and each row consisted two doors.

https://www.air-and-space.com/19811230 GBIRMA/34 DC-7C N90804 tanker 28 left rear l.jpg

 

Tanker 32, tanker 35 and tanker 115 are 7C's with the Aero Union unit similar to the Aero Union/Securite Civile DC6 tanks they even have the same drop doors.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/egcb_egcc/6783164661/

 

 

The DC-7 in general was certified for carrying a total load of 3000 gallons and the DC-6 with that same tank was restricted to 2450 gallons...

This is a logical thing when you look at the difference in power...

That there only where 4 DC-7C's converted in the tanker role was due to the fact that it had the same weight restriction as the DC-7b  .

Therefore the extra weight carried by the DC-7c due to it's lenghtend wing and fuselage made it an economically impopular conversion..

So if you want a 7C tanker you can still use the Heller tanker version except for tanker 28 that needs to be build from scratch.

The Heller tank however is not entirely correct as the inlet on the underside at the front of that tank should be placed reversed ( forward air inlet to the rear )

 

Cheers, Jan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by janneman36
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No drawings from my side, i never have seen these anywhere..sorry!!

I only have the Heller tanks  in my posession and for me that is good enough..

The thing is that there was enough variation in thanks fitted to those DC6 and DC7 tankers, so you need to have some reference of the actual aircaft built ..

 

Hope it helps, Jan

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Work continues on the DC-7 B and C conversion set designs, Neil Gaunt of AIM has sent me these for broader dissemination.

Firstly on receipt of new reference material, the engine nacelle and saddle tank design previously published is being tweaked to more accurately represent these items.

The centre section design is quite complex and is still a W.I.P.
45458916101_5018de2402_h.jpgDC-7 centre section-bottom
45458915771_c019001647_h.jpgDC-7 centre section-top

Two propeller designs, round and square tipped with deicers incorporated.
43641846410_75d46372e1_h.jpgDC-7 prop-rnd tips
45458915541_e47a50364c_h.jpgDC-7 prop-sq tips

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42 minutes ago, Admiral Puff said:

Mine will be done as an SAS DC-7C. Am I right in presuming that SAS aircraft would have had the saddle tanks? It appears so from the photos I've seen, but they're not clear enough to confirm.

The  SAS 7C had those fitted as all DC-7c's these were optional on the DC-7b..

 

Cheers, Jan

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On 10/17/2018 at 11:43 PM, tnuag said:

A Carvair is possible, when I have time !

 

That would be fantastic if possible. I have a big BAF Carvair shaped hole in my collection!

 

Best regards;

Steve

 

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I was thinking about Carvairs a long time ago, and lost interest because it was one of the projects I shared with my late wife.

 

Interest is stirring again, but first we need to deal with the Douglas and Canadair models.

 

Here are a couple of early screen shots:

 

Carvair%202.jpg

 

Carvair%201.jpg

 

 

 

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On 10/17/2018 at 10:44 PM, janneman36 said:

The upperside of the fuselage at the rear is also wrong, the Revell DC4 is more correct in that area..

But in the end i don't mind it, as it is almost neglectable if your plane is build up and shining to enter your cabinet....

As Neil's friend said, it still looks like a DC6..

I have reached the last item in the conversion, i.e. the fin and rudder. I am working from a general arrangement drawing which checks out well against photographs and the fin shape matches almost exactly. I then put a scan of the Heller rear fuselage into the drawing and I agree that there are numerous discrepancies around the rear fuselage. It almost looks as though the rear fuselage should be cut off and rotated to drop the point of the tail cone by 4.9mm, which is a lot of work and is also error prone, so I will ignore that aspect.

The DC-6 leading edge profile is slightly too great in chord and very rounded.  I will therefore do a complete new fin. The leading edge can have the profile modified to improve accuracy for the 7 and 7B (which will also apply to the DC-6 kit itself)..

 

The decal options I am considering are:

DC-7
Braniff

DC-7B
SAA - saddle tanks, non-radar nose
Pan Am - saddle tanks
Delta
Eastern

DC-7C
BOAC
KLM
SAS
DC-7CF
Affretair

 

                                                                           The following table gives the parts in the conversion sets plus optional parts.

 

Components                                             DC-7 & 7B                                           DC-7C                                           Remarks

Wright 3350 engine                                   FOUR                                                    FOUR

Propeller - round tip blades                        FOUR                                                    FOUR

Propeller - round tip blades                        OPTIONAL                                            OPTIONAL

Saddle tanks                                               OPTIONAL                                            FOUR                                            Pan Am & SAA only

Fuselage plug                                             ONE                                                      TWO

Taller fin & rudder                                       NOT APPLICABLE                                 YES

Extended centre section                              NOT APPLICABLE                                  YES

Non-radar nose                                          OPTIONAL                                            NOT APPLICABLE

 

 

 

 

 

                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by tnuag
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The design is now complete and for interest I have been looking at what I wrote, when Aircraft In Miniature reissued the J & L kit a quarter of a century ago.

History of this kit

It was originally issued by J+L in the seventies, as a set of vac-formed parts, together with decals for Northwest Airlines.  In the early eighties the moulds were acquired by MHW models of Leeds, England and were issued as one of their `Formaplane'  range.
Aircraft In Miniature Limited purchased the moulds in mid '93 and it was felt that this kit would be significantly improved by the use of heavy (2mm) plastic, together with the addition of those features which have made Transport Wings kits so popular -  highly detailed metal parts and high quality decals. Because cowlings are always a weakness of vac-formed kits, we have added injection moulded examples and to complete the package, injection moulded engines.

About the real aircraft

The DC-7C was the ultimate developement of the big Douglas piston-engined airlines. Powered by four Wright Turbo-Compound engines, these aircraft were displaced at an early
age by the first generation of jet airliners (707 and DC-8). Consequently, many examples were converted into freighters and it is in this guise that they may still occasionally be seen today. The decals provided with this kit are for two DC-7C/Fs operated by Air Trans-Africa during the Rhodesian UDI period.

 

This is the screen shot showing all the components (without duplication) for the new conversion set.

DC-7%20conversion.png

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