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Berlin Airlift C-47 1:72 (assigned to the shelf of doom) Reborn, and now FINISHED*


Dansk

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I’ve been excited waiting for this group build since signing up in october 2017 for it - and now it’s here 😎🤗

My subject is a berlin airlift c-47 from 1948 - the one closest to camera in this shot (315672)

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It’s gonna be really fun and challenging trying to capture that trashy weathered used old feel


Iliad provide the decals for this aircraft (third one down...)

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The kit is a 1:72 scale hobby boss c-47 that i found on evilbay for a great price 👍

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The obligatory sprue shots:

 

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It has an interesting cockpit glass set-up 

and a mere whiff of PE (50% of which is steps that i wont use) 

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I bought some aires wheels for it  
then i spotted the eduard weighted set (thought they looked better) and bought them.. 


but now I can’t decide which - guess there’s plenty of time to find out.


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I’ll be on holiday on the start date so i hope  its ok to post this now.



 

Edited by Dansk
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I am also considering building the loading tractor/trailer unit for this build.

 

As i noticed that the airfix ww2 u.s. airfield re-supply kit has the same 1:72 scale autocar tractor unit as the tempelhof inspiration photograph (- to my untrained eye) 

 

 

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The trailer would need a whole bunch of scratch building but theres a good chassis base there to start from.

 

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I think the boxes could be sourced out there from a quick search around and it could be fun to recreate the scene.

 

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Downsides are:

 

#1. I’ve never built a car/truck/armour or any vehicle except an aircraft before! 😳

 

And 

 

#2. I’ve only tried scratchbuilding something simple recently in another build thread without much finesse! 

 

So I’m pretty inexperienced all round and i might be biting off way more than i can chew.

 

But hey there’s gotta be a first time - the worst that can happen is it fails.

- and besides theres a forum of experts here to help advise so now might be the perfect time to try this?

 

Maybe it’s best to see how i get on with the plane first? 🤔

 

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks

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8 hours ago, GrimReaper09 said:

Going to follow this avidly. I’m aiming to build my first diorama this year and have never built WW2 vehicles either so I’m going to watch this for inspiration! 

Not sure if i actually can (or will) do the truck yet but it’s nice to have you along for the ride 👍

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9 hours ago, Dansk said:

The trailer would need a whole bunch of scratch building but theres a good chassis base there to start from.

Abstract thought here but check out the model railroading stuff ? That trailer sure looks like a wooden boxcar ? I would think you could find a boxcar & chop the top off. Mate that to the chassis and you should be good ? The length might require two to be mated together. I think its double oo/ho scale (1/87) that would be the closest in size. 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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45 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Abstract thought here but check out the model railroading stuff ? That trailer sure looks like a wooden boxcar ? I would think you could find a boxcar & chop the top off. Mate that to the chassis and you should be good ? The length might require two to be mated together. I think its double oo/ho scale (1/87) that would be the closest in size. 

 

Dennis

Brilliant idea - i’ll dig into this Dennis thanks!

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4 minutes ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good evening Paul

Welcome aboard with this  very interesting subject I am looking forward to see the start of your build ..

 

Cheers

Patrice

Thanks a lot Patrice - I’ll be back from a vacation abroad in just over a week when the games can commence

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2 minutes ago, Dansk said:

Thanks a lot Patrice - I’ll be back from a vacation abroad in just over a week when the games can commence

Enjoy you vacation and see you in a week ...

Patrice

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14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

 

Dennis

Hey Dennis

I’ve been emercing myself in the model railway world for the last hours 🤓🧐

Theres some pretty awesome stuff you can get in that world. i was considering using fence parts you can get for railways at one point also to build the trailer sidewalls.

 

Then i happened upon a 1:72 scale wwII u.s. trailer that exists anyway already by pst models - it differs only slightly to the reference shot trailer (- i can live with that) so i reckon lets make things easy, building a vehicle will be hard enough anyway - so thats ordered together with some figures and crates that will both pass fine i think. That pst trailer coupled with the airfix tractor unit will give a convincing look. 👍

 

Here’s the stuff:

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So after all this expensive mucking about i can now park all the truck stuff and primarily concentrate on the actual plane when i’m in the man cave again which was the original intention. 🙂

Edited by Dansk
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I’m still not back from vacation to begin this build but am itching to start.

 

As I will have the cargo doors open i’ve been delving a little into interior cargo references for the airlift plane:


The C-47 cargo in the berlin airlift included milk - but I pictured metal urns rather than individual bottles! 😳


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Quite interesting to see the flour sacks tied down with rope also.
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Crates storage ref from the pathe film:

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Of course the seats are always folded away (i dont think the hobby boss has an option for this - they looked fixed in the seated position but it looks straight forward enough to modify.

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The US troops in europe got their news from the stars and stripes european edition from 1945 onwards. 

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This copy from 4th July 1948 during the airlift I intend to print to scale and fold up (and have lying around in the navigator’s station perhaps). 

 

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Maybe i could also make a small photograph of a pilots gal back home thats been fixed to a spot on the IP? 😘

 


Of course most of this wont be seen but it’s fun to do when i get to it.
It’s fun seeing the other builds in the meantime.👍😎

Edited by Dansk
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5 hours ago, CliffB said:

Really interesting about the milk.  They must have hauled more glass than white stuff!  Maybe it made it easier to distribute in Berlin.

Wonder if they hauled cows too? 😀

Edited by Dansk
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On 2/17/2019 at 5:02 PM, Dansk said:

Wonder if they hauled cows too? 😀

My first thought was mucking out aircraft. Then it occurred to me that cows wouldn't have lasted very long in Berlin...

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22 hours ago, dnl42 said:

My first thought was mucking out aircraft. Then it occurred to me that cows wouldn't have lasted very long in Berlin...

Interestingly they did actually ship cattle in india in c-47’s - just stumbled over this in the haynes dc-3 manual 

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Edited by Dansk
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Don't forget there are well-known pictures of a camel in the "Camel Caravan to Berlin" aircraft. Another great theme aircraft would one of Gail Halvorsen's C-47 or C-54 dropping candy on his way in.

 

BTW, an excellent book on Operation Vittles is The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny.

 

I have 1/144 markings for Camel Caravan to Berlin from Rocketeer Decals. I believe Minicraft also had 1/144 had markings for this. Google tells me diecast models are also available.

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23 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Don't forget there are well-known pictures of a camel in the "Camel Caravan to Berlin" aircraft. Another great theme aircraft would one of Gail Halvorsen's C-47 or C-54 dropping candy on his way in.

 

BTW, an excellent book on Operation Vittles is The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny.

 

I have 1/144 markings for Camel Caravan to Berlin from Rocketeer Decals. I believe Minicraft also had 1/144 had markings for this. Google tells me diecast models are also available.

Some great references there. 

I never knew about Gail Halvorsen before googling him from your post

but wow operation Little Vittles is just so wonderful! What a fantastic heart warming story.

Edited by Dansk
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Work has started on the kit.

i’ve been constructing a few parts for the interior.

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There are some really lovely details in it, really really tiny.

 

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I love the jerry can :)

 

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It’s a shame so much will be hidden away.

but its slightly overwhelming as there is so much to do on the interior  - i’m afraid my goal for this GB may be too adventurous.

 

 

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to make my life even harder for some reason i bought a cockpit PE set a while back.

 

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The kit seems really nicely made so sharp and precise but all the parts have these huge (what are they called?) bits / tabs on them 

and those bits are fairly hefty on thick hard plastic so it requires a bunch of trimming and sanding.

 

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i’ve been sanding off a few ejection pins also.

 

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and this window is not needed on a c-47 so it will be filled.

 

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and a bunch have been given a primer coat

 

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the fun has started!

thanks for reading!

Edited by Dansk
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Hey @janneman36 if you see things that should / can easily be fixed (that’s do-able for a happy amateur) then feel free to shout out loud - i’d appreciate your expertise. Stuff thats too hard / impossible then let’s pretend we didn’t see it :)

Edited by Dansk
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Hi @Dansk

 

Great start and I like your choice of theme and all the background info!  

On 2/23/2019 at 5:33 AM, dnl42 said:

Another great theme aircraft would one of Gail Halvorsen's C-47 or C-54 dropping candy on his way in.

There's a nice section of a documentary from the 1980s ("Reaching for the Skies", narrated by Anthony Quayle) in which Gail Halvorsen talks about the Airlift. It's on Youtube here (see 32:05 onwards). 

 

Good luck and I am also interested to see how your Dakota turns out!

 

Matt

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