Konrad Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 I want to present report from work on my new project - Tanker from "Always" Steven Spilberg's film. I base on Italeri kit - quite old, but not vintage. I hope it's better base than Airfix kit from '70 Unfortunately plastic used by Italeri wasn't too good and a lot of parts have rounded edges (even in places where you'll expect square ones). I have a decal set for "Tanker 59" from Draw Decal, but I plan to build "Tanker 57" - she had a nicer tank on board. Because tankers are most interesting on the bottoms I started some works on landing gears and their wells. Next I decided to replace "engines" to better ones (ok, only front halves), but I see no sense to try find a space for whole. After that I filed cowlings For now one side is ready for assembly 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Looking good Konrad, this airplane is located at the Airspray Hangars in Red Deer Alberta Canada.... http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id39.html Here is some information on it for you, hope this is of some interest cheers Jeff 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Super! I love this film too and have toyed with the idea of building one of the two tankers in 1/48 I look forward to watching your thread. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Biggu said: Looking good Konrad, this airplane is located at the Airspray Hangars in Red Deer Alberta Canada.... http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id39.html Here is some information on it for you, hope this is of some interest cheers Jeff Jeff - to be honest During taking photo to "Always" Tanker-59 was in "bad configuration" I found one photo where N4818E has "a big, ugly tank" 😍 (an one where PROBABLY has) but it is absolutely not from year when "Always" was created. What to do 🙄 Change numbers to T-57 OR build T-59 not exactly from film ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 I took these photos of the Airspray Services A-26's way back in 1986. They were up here, as was usual back then, for their summer service. When you live in the middle of the great aboreal forest, you need water bombers for those yearly forest fires. Chris 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Tanker 59 was an odd TB-26C with a glazed nose but converted to full dual controls which blocked access to said glazed nose! It also had the usual extended and dropped leading edges outboard of the nacelles with extra wing fences added at the ends of the LE extension and at the ends of the ailerons when in usual tanker service for real. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 30 minutes ago, dogsbody said: I took these photos of the Airspray Services A-26's way back in 1986 Chris, That closeup of '14' is very interesting, as you can see it was fitted with the original 6-gun nose with the .50cal's arranged horizontally! Later blocks had the vertically arranged nose guns. Mike 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruskin Air Services Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 How bizarre, I've just started to build the old airfix Invader as tanker 57 from Always 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 7 minutes ago, Ruskin Air Services said: How bizarre, I've just started to build the old airfix Invader as tanker 57 from Always Show it ! 25 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said: It also had the usual extended and dropped leading edges outboard of the nacelles with extra wing fences added at the ends of the LE extension and at the ends of the ailerons when in usual tanker service for real. And this is a next reason (lack of documentation) to abandon T-59 and make T-57 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastor Rich Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 25 minutes ago, Ruskin Air Services said: How bizarre, I've just started to build the old airfix Invader as tanker 57 from Always Indeed, it's TANKER FEVER!!! I'm building Tanker E61 at present but have the Airfix kit in my stash to build Tanker 57 from "Always" as well. Is this a "Corona Cabin Fever Group Build" in the making?! Following you Konrad with great interest! Cheers, PR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janneman36 Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 48 minutes ago, Konrad said: Show it ! And this is a next reason (lack of documentation) to abandon T-59 and make T-57 Hello Konrad Tanker 57 has also the the new stol wing leading edges as tanker 59 ... take a look here as well.. http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id591.html https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/80sfirebombers-2/80sfirebombers-2.html cheers, Jan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 1 hour ago, janneman36 said: Hello Konrad Tanker 57 has also the the new stol wing leading edges as tanker 59 ... take a look here as well.. http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id591.html https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/80sfirebombers-2/80sfirebombers-2.html OK - now I've got what is that STOL modification , BUT ... If you look at https://www.goodall.com.au/photographs/80sfirebombers-2/80sfirebombers-2.html photos N4060A - have STOL wings (am I right?) N4818E - T-59 - have NOT STOL wings BUT have "square big, ugly tank" I cannot see tank, but doors are very similar in look as this from N4060A and (even more) N9425Z (next picture) N9425Z - T-57 - have STOL-26 on board (text next to front landing gear) So again - MAYBE configuration of T-59 with big tank and without STOL mods is correct? What do you think? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastor Rich Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 3 minutes ago, Konrad said: N4060A - have STOL wings (am I right?) N4818E - T-59 - have NOT STOL wings BUT have "square big, ugly tank" I cannot see tank, but doors are very similar in look as this from N4060A and (even more) N9425Z (next picture) N9425Z - T-57 - have STOL-26 on board (text next to front landing gear) Yes, 60A has the STOL conversion in this photo. 18E does NOT have the STOL conversion at the time of this photo. Yes, 25Z has the STOL conversion in this photo. If you want to build Tanker 59 then I'd say you're correct for this time period. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 2 hours ago, janneman36 said: Tanker 57 has also the the new stol wing leading edges Very interesting modifications! I never noticed them before, but then again, I haven't looked at that many A-26 firebomber photos. Thanks for sharing the photos and technical description. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 This is very interesting, I love re-purposed planes that help people! Cheers 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 11 hours ago, dogsbody said: I took these photos of the Airspray Services A-26's way back in 1986. They were up here, as was usual back then, for their summer service. When you live in the middle of the great aboreal forest, you need water bombers for those yearly forest fires. Dang it Chris now i need a 3rd A/B-26 to build. WW2, Vietnam, and Fire bomber. Dennis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Konrad, for reference you may find these of use. If not just enjoy! These were taken at Red Deer Alberta in 2001. Hope these might help. Keith 9 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 29 minutes ago, Britman said: Great! Maybe you know on which tanker was this logo? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggu Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 4 hours ago, Konrad said: Great! Maybe you know on which tanker was this logo? C-FGPG Tanker #2 is an A 26C CN 29177 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 OK - I've spent time considering whether I can make STOL modifications. Faint heart never won fair lady, so... Waiting for your opinions 🥴 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foresterab Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Some great photos here. My second wildfire I was ever on had a group of these flying in support...low, slow, and beautiful. Especially when we were digging guard by hand and had limited resources. I got to see them in action a few more times that summer but the fleet had been retired by the time I returned to the role. Most of the fleet Air Spray had was sold off and/or donated to museums. I visited in 2015 and have photos of what was left of the fleet so if you're interested I can send them via email. I've been slowly working on Tanker #11 (crashed in High Level, AB) but one thing it also taught me to not just get fixated on the tanker number but also look at the year of operations as the nose configurations and paint jobs changed season over season. For the movie version of Tanker thankfully you shouldn't have too many issues. But always nice to see another water bomber and especially a B-26 build. foresterab 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 (edited) Note that many of the Invaders in the posted photos have had their original main wheels replaced with those from KC-135's. This was a common upgrade, especially with those used in SEA. as the KC-135 wheels were in plentiful supply, were stronger, and had bigger brakes. See linked photos to an A-26 with the stock wheels and the other with the KC-135 wheels. Might be something to look for when building an SEA/civil/firebomber model. Mike Well-known A-26C with stock wheel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-26_Invader#/media/File:Invader_MONIE_&_Crew.jpg A-26C with another variation of the stock wheel- same as used on the B-25 and A-20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-26_Invader#/media/File:A-26C-56-DT_44-35982_(5409234163).jpg A-26 firebomber with KC-135 wheel- note the larger disc brake caliper https://447.insidetrackmagazine.com/wwii-aircraft/wwii-american-planes/a-26/#gallery/f910f9c3efa4e380bf90821a9e7eb35f/11398 A link to more photos of the above firebomber. https://447.insidetrackmagazine.com/wwii-aircraft/wwii-american-planes/a-26/ Wartime A-26's were so fast that many times escorting fighters had to ask them to slow down, as they were outrunning their protection, especially after bomb release! Edited March 30, 2020 by 72modeler corrected text 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 Just to document all changes: Cut off place for lights Filed tailing edge Now I'm working on second wing 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 Cockpit painted & second seat added Very slow progress due to "excellent" fitting Now I'm trying to build water tank. Not perfect, but... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 Tank finished and set into a fuselage. Now I have a weekend with putty and sandpaper 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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