DHC-6 Twin Otter (PK-127) Yeti Airlines +++FINISHED+++

[Ray S]

Hello all! My contribution to this Group Build will be a Twin Otter from Yeti Airlines in Nepal. I was going to continue with a part-started Twin Otter where I had built an interior and modified the windscreen to get it's profile better, but I had forgotten that I had sanded off the strengthening plates to protect the fuselage from ice flying off the props - I had started it as a Maldivian Air Taxi. I have opted to do my 4th boxing instead, as an unmodified version, and will get the upgrade parts for the other Maldivian Air Taxi from Aerocraft Models, where they do upgrades for the tail planes, a new cockpit section with the correct windscreen, and propellers. If all goes well with this, I may well build that one too later in the GB.

 

My brother was lucky enough to fly in one of the Yeti Airlines aircraft a few years ago, and thankfully he took some photographs of it!

 

 

 

The kit I have is the Revell boxing, and it is one of four I had bought from Hobbycraft a few years ago, the final two were when they had a Black Friday deal at 50% off, so that worked out well.

 

 

The parts are reasonably well moulded, but there are various sink marks, especially where the location pins/holes are, but at least all parts are still attached to the runners:

 

 

The transfers are some I got from Paul @Parkes682Decals. I have used a couple of other sheets from him, and found they were very good indeed. They are quite translucent but worked well. There are enough markings to do two aircraft from the Yeti fleet:

 

 

By sheers good luck, one of the options is for the very aircraft my bro flew in! Whether I do that or the other one depends on the question - do I splash out for a second upgrade set and then try and open up the doors and luggage bays, and put it in a diorama at Lukla airfield? Anyway, the main issue I can see is how to get the gold/green cheatlines done with that very narrow green stripe splitting the gold into two. I do have some very thin Aizu tape which may do the job.

 

I hope to do another Matchbox kit later in the GB, but at the moment KingKit do not have anything much that interests me (except for the EE Lightnings), so I hope they get something else in soon!

 

I cannot wait for this to start, it is all ready to go.

 

All the best everyone with your builds,

 

Ray

Edited February 4, 2022 by Ray S
Edited Title

[John]

Not something you see every day 😃

Looking forward to following the build. 

John 

[JOCKNEY]

Brilliant choice especially following a real aircraft,  although slightly disappointing that a real yeti isn't planned as part of the diorama  

Best of luck.

Cheers Pat

[Rabbit Leader]

Excellent choice Ray and its nice to read that you are quite versed up on all things Twin Otters and possibly Yeti’s!

Now I’d certainly be going for the same registration example as the one your brother flew in and hopefully he may have retained an original Yeti Airlines boarding pass that would look great alongside and presented on a simple but effective display base. 

 

Cheers, welcome aboard and best of luck.. Dave 

[Ray S]

Thanks for the pre-build comments! @JOCKNEY, The Yeti will have to take a holiday somewhere, I am not sure my modelling skills are up to the mark! @Rabbit Leader, I don't know about him having a boarding pass, but I still have mine from a 1994 flight in a Royal Nepal Twin Otter which was a bit of an epic (and I have built the model with the appropriate markings) The flights were cancelled for three days so we were stuck at Lukla with nowt to do but eat and drink!

 

Anyway, back to this subject! Look what arrived in 't post recently...

 

 

 

 

Three upgrade sets from Aerocraft models ( https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/category/1-72nd ). Alistair was very quick at sending this selection out, I ordered them just after Christmas, and they arrived before New Year, what excellent service.

 

I could have ordered a couple more sets (wheels and brass undercarriage) but I left it at this lot. I now have to think do I use it on this one and still try and work out how to do the glazing on the Air Taxi, or do this one OOB? Choices, choices.

 

I will be starting this shortly after the GB starts, I just need to finish off another kit that is close to completion.

 

All the best everyone with your builds.

 

Ray

[Ray S]

Hello all. First, I have to say I have gotten myself somewhat confused with this and the Maldivian Air Taxi builds, and what I was doing to both. However, I have given myself a stern talking to, grabbed my shirt collar and hitched myself back into sanity, and I think I have remembered what I was doing! The Aerocraft parts are going to be split between the two builds, and, for this one, I will use the replacement tailplanes and the engine parts, while the replacement nose will go towards the Maldivian Air Taxi. I could not justify the cost of getting the two sets, so this will hopefully improve both to some extent.

 

 I have also decided that this one will be the recipient of the scratchbuilt interior I have done already, but has been passed as okay by our kindly hosts. I then had a bit of a brainstorm (again), and it all started with this:

 

 

I was only seeing if it was feasible to make a replacement door my Lord, but all of a sudden I had this:

 

 

In my defence, your Honour, I had accidentally put the masking tape down on some 10 thou card and suddenly this shape had been removed and bent a bit and stacked under a closed door of one of my completed Twin Otters at the appropriate height and I realised that the fates were demanding that I do something drastic:

 

 

A bit of chain-drilling later and I had a rather airey door which needed to go:

 

 

So I thought 'right, now I am committed!' Then I found my pre-built interior was at not quite the right level, so I cut that all up and lowered the cabin floor a touch and tried again:

 

 

I had popped a few seat belts onto four of the seat rows and then I wondered if there were one too many rows in, so a quick google showed 7 rows - phew! Then the big question - would it fit now the floor had been lowered?

 

 

 

Well, almost. It did need a little extra sanding and scraping but I got there in the end. I have glued in the cockpit side windows, and will give them a good shoving before I glue the interior in and close the fuselage up. I will pop a strip of masking tape on the inside of the cabin window openings and the door to help stop sanding debris and help mask the spray later on. I now need to think whether I open up the aft luggage compartment door too, as per the first photo in the thread. Will sanity prevail? Will I succumb? Find out in the next thrilling installment, coming to a device near you soon!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Ray

[Rabbit Leader]

Thats looking superb Ray, the open door was a must to highlight all that excellent interior scratch work. These are coming along quite nicely. Awaiting the next instalment.. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Ray S]

Yesterday, I had great plans. I was going to get my Milliput out, and scratch-build a load of rusksacks and trekking bags etc, then found that my filler had solidified! I had this problem a few years ago, so after that I always cut the stuff with separate knives for each part, and stored them in different boxes, but one still was rock hard this time! My intention was to cut out the rear luggage compartment door, so I had used tape and a pencil to once again make a template, and then produced a door from that and was ready to start chain drilling again, but this put it on hold. I will be popping into town tomorrow and get some more Milliput (or modelling clay) and will have another go. I may well open the door anyway, and have the aircraft as 'ready to load'.

 

Today was a bit more successful. I glued the top and bottom halves of the wings together, and almost eliminated the mis-aligned leading edges. Then had fun putting one of the nacelles together, and as can be seen, the fit is not 'stellar';

 

 

 

This being my third Twin Otter build I was not surprised at this, it is par for the course. (Come on, Airfix, you know you want to!). There will be plenty of Perfect Plastic Putty being used on this section. To save my sanity (if I have any), I added the halves of the long nose option to each fuselage half, having read that this is the way to go rather than joining the halves and then putting them to the fuselage. This is the first time I have tried doing this, and it seems to have worked:

 

 

When I had added the second nose half and did a trial fit, the join was pretty much spot on. I have cut a circle of plastic and glued that into one half of the nose, and that should stop the weights falling out in the future.

 

The main gear fairings are on, and a trial fit of one of the wing struts shows that a little dihedral will still be produced, but I will have to try again, I am sure the struts are supposed to be too short to get the dihedral. If that is the case, I will cut them in half and add a plug to lengthen them. I am now gradually getting a few more bits ready for gluing:

 

 

It was mentioned in another Twin Otter thread that the builder had a problem with their cockpit glazing, so I tested mine and all was well. I was able to tape it to one fuselage half and close the other side up and it all stayed in place okay.. If I tried to fit it when the fuselage was closed, it would not fit. Odd.

 

Anyway, that is it for today, hopefully more soon. Thanks for looking and the comments and likes, they are all appreciated.

 

Ray

[Ray S]

This morning I started my attempt at producing 1/72 scale rucksacks and trekking bags. I got some new Milliput yesterday, and it was lovely sticky stuff mixing this new pack up. Four or five attempts at 'sculpting' later, I had these two items:

 

 

The rucksack has a karrimat rolled up underneath, and two side pockets filled with water bottles. I made them using a pilot from another 1/72 aircraft as my 'sat-down trekker' to try and get the right size. I think it is still slightly too big. The 'sausage' is more like the kit bag I took up into Nepal, and I think that too is a little large. With this in mind, I tried option two with the remaining Milliput, and squashed a lump of it into the airframe, and peeled it back out again. Then, using a wooden cocktail stick, I marked out 'luggage' on the face which will be by the door:

 

 

It looks less tatty in the flesh so to speak, and after painting in suitable rucksack/bag colours and shading the shadows, it may scrub up okay. If not, I will try again.

 

I then decided I was going to cut out the luggage door anyway, and rapidly had this:

 

 

If my luggage does not work out, this will be set in the 'pre-boarding' setting.

 

The little hole under the cockpit side glazing either side have been filled (it is shown in the instructions as requiring drilling these out but are already open!) as it is for the floatplane version. The main undercarriage fairings have had their joints filled (not much!), as have the pair of engine nacelles (a lot!). The nose weight is in too, and been locked in with CA and Perfect Plastic Putty.

 

 

Thankfully the PPP will clean up easily from the gluing surfaces.

 

That is it for now, more soon with luck. Thanks for dropping in.

 

Ray

[Rabbit Leader]

Well done Ray, the addition of rug sacks and open baggage doors will look great on this build. Nice update. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Ray S]

@Rabbit Leader, thanks for the comment!

 

The interior got fitted last night. I was struggling to get the fuselage to close up since I lowered the passenger cabin floor, but removing it from the cockpit bulkhead and fitting both sections individually cured the problem. It turned out that the front bulkhead was being pulled backwards a little and not settling into the starboard side guides. Once that was in, a quick bit of checking allowed the luggage compartment floor to fit, and it was time to take the final photograph of the interior before it all vanished!

 

 

I do not usually do detail if it cannot be seen, but opening the door has helped a bit, and the subject has to be one close to my heart, and the Twotter certainly is that. All the Nepali Twin Otters I have been in (6) have had no door sealing off the pilots, nor was there on the Maldivian Air Taxi I will be doing when this is done.

 

This morning it was time to close the fuselage, and it all went okay but the seams will need a bit of tidying up:

 

 

I let that set for a few hours and then tried adding the front cockpit windscreen. Yesterday, during a trial fit, it went like a dream. Today, it seemed to be more awkward, but eventually it went in and did not vanish into the interior. Phew.

 

 

The only places where this glazing fitted was at the sides, it did not seem to touch plastic anywhere else. Tomorrow it will get a little help from some Glu'N'Glaze to help fill the gaps, then I can get sanding/filling/sanding. Oh joy! (smiley face, honest!). As usual, I am just loving building a Twin Otter.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Ray

 

PS, I must also start doing some paint tests to see which green matches the transfers. I think Emerald or Leaf Green are most likely, but I will find out soon.

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on this Ray, the interior looks fab and the luggage will really add to this.

Chris

[Ray S]

Cheers Chris!

 

This morning I popped some Krystal Klear around the windscreen to fill the plentiful gaps, then later added some putty along the fuselage seams as just sanding had not worked

 

 

I used Revell Plasto filler, and it created plenty of dust when I sanded it later on. The seams are much less visible now. I have added the first wing. Sadly, I have no Lego or jigs, so I used Mk1 eyeball to ensure the wing was at the (almost) correct dihedral. The strut still fits, even if it is just dry-fitted at the moment. I have some awkward masking to do later, so the struts are staying off until that is done.

 

 

I am letting that set for now, and will do the other wing tomorrow.

 

I started my paint swatches too, and will progress with that tomorrow as well. One emerald green looks very blue! I wonder if I stirred it enough...

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

[John]

Loving it. 

John 

[Ray S]

Thanks @John for the comment.

 

I have not got around to using them yet, but I thought I would show you the difference between the Matchbox (light) and Aerocraft tailplanes (dark)

 

 

They are pretty much the same, but the raised lines where the tailplane stubs fit on a floatplane have been removed, and the general look of the Aerocraft parts is much better. There are sink/flow marks on the Matchbox ones, which are non-existant on the Aerocraft. I found when test-fitting them the Aerocraft ones fit much more snuggly.

 

On thing I have done today is fit the other wing, using a different jig this time (still no Lego!) -

 

 

Then I masked the cockpit windows, and filled the small gaps around the Aerocraft engine fronts. These fitted a treat, but my poor sanding of the kit engine nacelles caused the gaps.

 

 

I think I still need to do a little cleaning up of the putty, but in general I am quite happy with how it is turning out. I then got back to my paint swatches. The paints have had a couple of brushed coats, and the four 'Emerald' colours look like this:

 

 

The nearest is the Humbrol Acrylic, but I think I will probably go with the Humbrol Enamel when the time comes. I cannot figure out what is going on with the Revell Acrylic (2nd left), it is way too blue, although the Revell Enamel (2nd right)looks pretty close.

 

That is it for now, thanks for the looks, likes and comments!

 

Ray

[Ray S]

Hello all. I added another colour to the green swatch this morning after I had properly looked at my paint collection. Humbrol 101 Mid Green, and after a couple of coats it looks like that will be the colour which is closest to the transfer's shade of green. I am glad about that because it is a matt colour, and I find I can brush-paint them better than the gloss enamels.

 

On the gluing side of things, I added the undercarriage legs and promptly found that I got the main leg fairings slightly off-centre; it looks terrible from front-on but not too bad from the sides. I have told you because you are my friends and won't laugh, will you? I had to get some new CA Gel as my old tube had locked the lid. I could not find my usual brand and bought some Bostick CA Gel instead. I had quite different setting times! I lost count of the number of times I picked the tailplanes up off the floor after trying to glue them on, Gorilla Glue CA Gel would have done it first time from my previous experience. Lesson learned. Anyway, here is the Twin Otter as it is at the moment, ready for priming tomorrow
 

 

 

I will be adding the blobs which represent the exhausts after it is painted.

 

I read in at least one review that the vertical tail was way too thin and that causes issues for the lamp on the top of it. I am wondering on my next one whether a sliver of card down the fin front would help solve that or cause further issues further down the line. Hmm.

 

That is it for now, thanks for looking.

 

Ray

[Ray S]

Yesterday evening I had a thought (it is true, I really did!) and wondered if spraying Halford's Appliance White over Tamiya Light Grey Primer would cause issues. I was sure it would not, but for the life of me I could not remember if I had done that on any previous builds. So I sorted out one of the spare tailplanes and sprayed that with the primer, and this morning gave it a covering or two of the Appliance White just to make sure. Thankfully, no reaction occurred. The question is, will I remember this in the future?

 

After that little test, I gave the Twin Otter a couple of coats of the primer to unify the surface, and am now letting it dry off before adding the white tomorrow. Here it is with the test part:

 

 

I am quite happy with the result, although it will win no competitions. The surface where I added the filler is better than either of my other completed builds of this subject, so that is a win.

 

More soon with luck, then I can start adding some colour!

 

Ray

[Rabbit Leader]

Plenty of great updates since I last had the chance to look here Ray. It’s all coming along really well and you are giving all of us a good lesson at tackling Matchbox’s Twin Otter. When I eventually buy one, then decide to build it I’ll have to track down this build for all those great pointers. 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Ray S]

Thanks @Rabbit Leader for those comments.

 

I have let the Appliance White set for a couple of days, so it was time to mask the fuselage for the green:

 

 

I rubbed a cocktail stick along the edge of the tape, then gave the lower fuselage a coat of brushed Humbrol enamel matt varnish to hopefully seal any areas which were not paint-tight.

 

I had also been doing an experiment with one of the spare tailplanes. I had sprayed that white to see if the Halfords spray caused problems over Tamiya spray primer (it didn't). This aircraft has a pair of gold cheat-lines with a very fine green line between them, like this:

 

 

I could not work out how to get that thin line. Masking is not my best skill, but eventually I had a brainwave (I know, two in one build, what is the world coming too?). My idea is to paint the green right up to the white demarcation, mask off the whole of the gold area but then pop a thin strip of 0.4mm Aizu tape down to keep a thin green stripe. Would it work? I used the spare tailplane as a test bed.

 

 

I also thought I would try Gold and Brass to see which was better. I used Acrylics for this, and three quick coats showed it should work okay:

 

 

The Gold looks the way to go. I was a little concerned that the green would show through the metallic colours, but it does not seem to have done. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the tape stopped the paint bleeding through, even though it was so thin. I will be using Humbrol 101 Mid Green enamel for the main colour, but it does seem to be a bit thin and does not cover well by brush, so it may be a day or two.

 

Anyway, that is it for now, thanks for looking,

 

Ray

[rob Lyttle]

A great build, Ray, complete with an excellent interior that's above and beyond.... 👍

I m reading the thread and it's interesting to gather info and methods as I may well do another one. Loads of eye-catching civil livery options around the world, if only the manufacturers would include some in the boxes. 

I did an Isles of Scilly Skybus with a sheet from 26decals and got the passenger door opened, stairs scratched and some ground crew. Only did the back 2 rows of seats though..... Ssssh..... 😉

Can I just mention a couple of hoops high up on the tailfin.? They look like handles but are probably antennas of some navigational type. I didn't inspect the photos of the Nepal subject closely but they may well be fitted to the subject. Definitely worth a bit of stretched sprue or wire if they are indeed on there. 

If those after market tailplanes had separate elevators I'd be in the queue for them. I'd love to get those control surfaces deflected but the design of the hinge joints makes it just about impossible. 

A couple of builds have mentioned an issue with the window panes falling in, and I had a bit of the same. Almost seems like a tendency of the kit, although we're all quite lightHANDED with transparent parts these days. So just go steady with peeling the internal tapes when the time comes. 

Really looking forward to seeing this come together. Love the livery and your care and research at reproducing it. 

 

Milliput rucksacks already.....!! 😎

[rob Lyttle]

Oops, forgot to toggle..... 🙄

[Ray S]

9 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

Can I just mention a couple of hoops high up on the tailfin.? They look like handles but are probably antennas of some navigational type. I didn't inspect the photos of the Nepal subject closely but they may well be fitted to the subject. Definitely worth a bit of stretched sprue or wire if they are indeed on there.

 

Hello Rob, thanks for the comments, the hoops are there on the real plane. As it happens there have been two holes pre-drilled by yours truly on the port fin, ready for drilling through fully for those hoops! I am going to make up a jig and bend some thin wire so they fit, then pop them in with some PVA to help prevent damaging the paintwork. I also have to figure out the best way to add some static dischargers too.

 

I saw your Scilly Skybus build, what a great build and scheme that was.

 

I must admit that I wish Airfix or Special Hobby would produce a Twin Otter to their high standards, but I doubt that I would be able to get two for a tenner like I did at Hobbycraft during a Black Friday deal a few years ago...

 

Once I have done the Maldivian Air Taxi (which will also be in this GB) where I will try and add the Aerocraft cockpit section (to partially cure the windscreen issue), I will still collect Matchbox/Revell Twin Otters, but probably build them OOB except for markings and put up with the incorrectnesses.

 

Thanks again,

 

Ray

[Pappy]

Really nice progress Ray.

 

Are the antenna 'hoops' round or flat in profile?

 

Ref the static discharge wicks, what about using toothbrush bristles cut down?

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Ray S]

4 hours ago, Pappy said:

Are the antenna 'hoops' round or flat in profile?

 

Thanks @Pappy, they look like they round in the photo, and they are curved in shape too. You can see the static wick in this image too, I was thinking of using small slivers of speaker core cable, with a blob of PVA on the end

 

 

@rob Lyttle, a good view of the drooped elevators too for you! It is a shame it is tricky to do, but I think I have seen some built like that. Maybe as I now have a spare set it might be worth trying on another build. Hmm

 

Cheers, Ray

[Ray S]

The lower part of the fuselage has now had two brushed coats of Humbrol 101 Mid Green. It is a little streaky, but it gets better with each layer, honest!

 

 

When I had done that, I gave the test tailplane a covering of thinned Humbrol 2 Emerald Green, that covered really well and has a nice, glossy finish. I think I will give the Twin Otter another coat of Mid Green, then see how the Emerald goes on. The nose, by the way, will be black!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Ray