1/72 Lockheed Model10 Electra (Wisconsin Central Airlines)

[billn53]

Having recently built three supersonic hotrods of the Wisconsin Air National Guard

 

 

 

I am finishing off my Wisconsin theme with a civilian bird, definitely subsonic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am aware that Moa has posted a WIP for this kit, which he modified to represent Amelia Earheart's Model 10E. I'll be following his pathfinding in my build, although I'm sure mine won't compare with his excellent work.

 

Here's what's in the box: two main sprues, some resin bits (cockpit details and engines), some clear plastic for the passenger windows, and a vacuform windscreen (mine is yellow with age).

 

 

 

For the Wisconsin Central markings I will be using decals made by Pointerdog7.

 

 

who thoughtfully included this short history of the Wisconsin Central Electra:

 

 

 

I've not had much luck finding reference photos, and am looking for more. Here is one of the better ones:

 

 

 

The Special Hobby kit does not include seating for the passenger compartment, so I'll have to do some scratchbuilding. I found this drawing, which should be a help. It even shows the toilet location!

 

 

Also, I haven't yet decided whether to go with the kit's resin engines, or to use the much more detailed Small Stuff kit. If I use the aftermarket engines, I'll probably need to enlarge the nacelle cowlings to fit them in.

 

So, that's my plan and I'm sticking to it (until I come up with a better one!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

What a wonderful project, Bill!

Will be following the journey.

Cheers

[billn53]

3 hours ago, Moa said:

What a wonderful project, Bill!

Will be following the journey.

Cheers

Thank you, Moa. I am, in fact, in Madison, WI as I write this. I had a home inspection today on a house I’m buying for my retirement. 😃

Thus my recent focus on Badger-state aviation. 

[rob Lyttle]

Oh I'm in for this.....! 

Did you have trouble finding the kit? 

Is it currently in production?? 

This hardly much bigger than a Beech 18, is it? 

Lovely bit of research already, Bill. 

The logo with the duck flying through the hoop looks related to one I used for North Central Airlines. Were they related companies? 

I WILL get one....... One day 😎

[Vesa Jussila]

I will take my popcorn and follow this.

[billn53]

1 hour ago, rob Lyttle said:

Oh I'm in for this.....! 

Did you have trouble finding the kit? 

Is it currently in production?? 

This hardly much bigger than a Beech 18, is it? 

Lovely bit of research already, Bill. 

The logo with the duck flying through the hoop looks related to one I used for North Central Airlines. Were they related companies? 

I WILL get one....... One day 😎

Wisconsin Central changed its name to North Central when they expanded outside Wisconsin & moved their headquarters. This from Wikipedia:

 

North Central Airlines was a regional airline in the midwestern United States. Founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, the company moved to Madison in 1947. This is also when the "Herman the duck" logo was born on Wisconsin Central's first Lockheed Electra 10A, NC14262, in 1948. North Central's headquarters were moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul in 1952. 

Following a merger with Southern Airways in 1979, North Central became Republic Airlines, which in turn was merged into Northwest Airlines in 1986. Northwest Airlines was then merged into Delta Air Lines in 2010.

 

The kit is one of Special Hobby’s older ones, and I found it on eBay for a princely sum. 

[rob Lyttle]

8 minutes ago, billn53 said:

for a princely sum. 

That's what's holding me back. 

I think the box collectors are on the case. 

 

I wouldn't mind, they can have the box when I'm finished 😅‼️

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

 

 

 

All these came from Flickr, on the SDASM photostream

The last one was a post on the SDASM flickr stream from user "Batman", commenting on their images of the Electra.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

 

and a book I just found

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=l01yDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=N17375+lockheed&source=bl&ots=AIlUnW3FLp&sig=ACfU3U2_mLNs76X4fjSgdldXooBeAh49cQ&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwieqcaHrc3oAhXHqZ4KHWEoCXMQ6AEwA3oECAsQKA#v=onepage&q=N17375 lockheed&f=false

 

 

[billn53]

Excellent! Thank you Moa.

- Bill

[billn53]

2 minutes ago, Moa said:

and a book I just found

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=l01yDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=N17375+lockheed&source=bl&ots=AIlUnW3FLp&sig=ACfU3U2_mLNs76X4fjSgdldXooBeAh49cQ&hl=en&ppis=_e&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwieqcaHrc3oAhXHqZ4KHWEoCXMQ6AEwA3oECAsQKA#v=onepage&q=N17375 lockheed&f=false

 

 

Doubling down on my Thank You’s 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Hi Bill

From this same kit I did Earhart's plane (which required mods).

I posted the WiP and completed model here at BM and on my blog.

The posts may have some bits that could help Re tricky parts and such.

Cheers

[billn53]

First thing I did (before even opening the box) was to check if you’d done an Electra. (I had no doubt, of course  )

[RidgeRunner]

A nice project! Bill . I'll be in the hover, watching.

 

Martin

[Tail-Dragon]

These plans may be of some use to you. They were drawn (and used) by the restoration team at Air Canada when they rebuilt CF-TCC, based on original manufacturers plans and actual measurements.

 

Hope you like...

 

Colin

[Roger Holden]

6 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

These plans may be of some use to you. They were drawn (and used) by the restoration team at Air Canada when they rebuilt CF-TCC, based on original manufacturers plans and actual measurements.

 

 

They were drawn by the great Douglas Anderson, who made some of the most accurate vintage aircraft drawings ever.  Also, ex-Air Canada 747 captain, Stinson Reliant owner and very good large-scale modeller.  

[billn53]

6 hours ago, Tail-Dragon said:

These plans may be of some use to you.

 

Thank you so much, Colin!

[billn53]

I just got back from a quick trip to Madison, Wisconsin, to do an inspection of the house I'm buying for retirement. I must say, living here in Alabama which was one of the last states to officially order "stay at home", the trip was an eye-opening experience. Airlines must be bleeding money! The airports are deserted, shops are closed, and there were only four other people on my flight up. Madison is 600 miles away as the crow flies, yet my round-trip ticket cost only $176. Barely enough for me to rent a Cessna 172 for an hour.

 

Anyway, back to my build.

 

I began, not with the cockpit as is usual, but rather with the rear bulkhead leading to the toilet. The kit part must be bent in two places, thoughtfully Special Hobby provided scribed lines to aid the bending:

 

 

 

I reinforced the bend points with thin styrene rod, which I'll sand to shape later.

 

These are the main parts that comprise the interior: a nicely detailed resin piece that includes the instrument panel, consoles, rudder pedals, and sun shade; a forward bulkhead that separates the cockpit from the passenger compartment; the floorboard; and the aforementioned rear bulkhead:

 

 

 

There are also some resin parts (seats and control yokes) for the cockpit, but passenger seats are not provided.

 

Test fitting revealed that, without some work, the floor piece will not fit properly. In particular, the rear would sit noticeably higher than the front. What I wanted was for the floor to run parallel with the window line. This entailed some sanding & grinding, mostly where the floor part meets the rear fuselage:

 

 

 

Here is how things look now, with the main parts blu-tacked in place:

 

 

 

Before I sign off, let me show you some interior pics of the Electra:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay safe, everyone!

 

😷

 

 

P.S. I forgot to mention this... I checked the kit parts against the drawing Colin provided, and everything looks to be good there. Thanks again, Colin!

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Excellent start!

[billn53]

Plodding along...

 

Painted up the instrument panel, etc. I used a decal for the largest instrument dial, but the smaller ones got only a bit of black paint. Then, all the dials received a treatment with clear UV acrylic gel to simulate glass.

 

 

 

I then spent a lot of time (and, I mean a lot) working on getting the floor to fit properly in the fuselage halves. I added bracing to help guide and hold the floor in position when I glue the fuselage halves together. I also added alignment tabs to the inside edges of the fuselage halves:

 

 

 

Here are the parts temporarily set in position with help from a bit of Blu-Tack:

 

 

 

Lastly, I painted the pilot and copilot seats, trying my best to replicate well-worn leather:

 

 

 

In the above photo you can also see the resin control yokes. I'm very doubtful that I'll be able to successfully separate these from the casting block, so I'll probably have to do some scratchbuilding.

 

The kit does not include any passenger seats, and there's nothing in my spares box to help, so I ordered a set of these which should do the trick:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Nice!

[Graeme H]

Missed the start of this, but now in the gallery 

[billn53]

Here's this morning's update:

 

I'm holding off on any more work with the interior until my passenger seats arrive. So, let's move on to another area.

 

Take a look at this photo. Notice how thin the tail surfaces are:

 

 

 

Here's the tip of the kit's horizontal stabilizer. Much too thick!

 

 

 

My first thought was to thin down the tip, like so:

 

 

 

But, it really didn't look right. I realized that the entire horizontal stab is too thick. Thus, I decided to build my own from sheet styrene. I used the kit part as my template:

 

 

 

To turn a flat sheet of styrene into a streamlined airfoil, I made use of these tools. The first is a set of miniature woodworking scrapers. This I used for general shaping and to create the required thin trailing edge and tips. The second is a tool designed for removing mold lines from tank model barrels, which I used to round off the leading edge.

 

   

 

My first attempt turned out fine in all respects, except I had started with styrene sheet that was too thin. I selected a slightly thicker sheet and repeated the process. Here's a comparison. The too-thick stock part is on the bottom, my too-thin first attempt at the top, and my final "Mama Bear" part in the middle:

 

 

 

I still need to scribe panel lines and separate the elevators, so I can display them in their typical parked position. I might even try riveting for the first time!

 

The kit's rudders are also too thick, so I'll probably be scratching those as well.

 

Lastly, take a look at this beautiful photo of an Electra in flight, and notice the wingtips. The kit's wingtips are too thick, so I have some work to do there, too.

 

 

 

And to think I was expecting this to be a relatively straightforward build!

[Marklo]

On 4/5/2020 at 4:00 AM, billn53 said:

Airlines must be bleeding money!

I was working in the aviation industry during the first gulf war and the reduction in civil aviation activity caused a slowdown in the overhaul and repair market that lasted years. This near shutdown is going to have a huge effect, expect many airlines and associated industries to go out of business.

 

Nice work in the electra so far. I got a rivet-r for riveting and it works well. Rosie the riveter  also seems to be well recommended but is pricey.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Marklo

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Fantastic work, Bill, but beware...

you may end up scratching a whole Electra at this pace!

P/S: nice tools!