I’m mainly an armor guy, but have always been very interested in Vietnam era aircraft and helicopters.
Deciding to branch out, I just picked up the Monogram AC-47 1/48th scale kit and am pretty excited about modeling that aircraft as it appeared during the Vietnam War…
Can anyone point me to a website with good walkaround photos (both interior and exterior)? Even a straight C-47 would be good. I’m interested mainly in painting the proper colors inside (for example, the instructions have you paint the floor “Interior Green” but I would have thought it to be a shade of aluminum… Same for the cockpit — I want to be as accurate as possible without going too crazy. Like I said, I’m an armor guy here stepping out to see how the other half lives…
Any recommendations on colors would be appreciated.
Also, not having taken the kit out of the bags yet, it looks like you can only model it wheels down, but what would I have to do to model it in wheels up configuration (I know the wheels retract into the engine nacelles) — is wheels up an option with this kit?
Does anyone know of any additions I can or should make, especially to the interior, which seems a little spartan. Also does anyone make appropriate pilot (seated) /flight crew figures?
Can anyone point me to a website where I can find some good tips on filling seams?
Lastly, where do the treads and turret go?!! Just kidding!
Apologies for the rookie questions and thanks in advance for the help!
Probably the best reference for the AC-47 is the book “Gunships: A Pictorial History of Spooky” that was available through Squadron but is no longer. It is still out there somewhere. I have it and it is very informative and has the best collection of pictures for the AC-47, AC-119, AC-130 and other gunship projects that were used in Vietnam. Not many color photos but tons of good ones of everything in b&w. For color pictures I would run a Google Images search possibly or check out some websites like the AC-119 organizations website. There are some just ok sites on the AC-47 out there and some Vietnam airplane sites that possibly could help.
I do not have this kit on hand to look at but from what I have seen, here are somethings you could think about. As for the interior, the cockpit could maybe use some work. I am not sure if the kit comes with a sight for the right hand side of the cockpit put it is the same as the one from a A-1 Skyraider. You could buy some PE like belts and random things. The radio compartment will be pretty much hidden so don’t worry about that. The guns could maybe use some work but I am not real sure. Possibly some drums for spent casings.
All the colors were the same unless you build an early version of the AC-47 when it was mostly white and silver. The colors are easily found in pictures and the instruction sheet(most likely).
I believe most pilots of Spooky did not were what pilots of jets or other pilots were wearing. From what I have seen they wore just regular OD fatigues and headphones. No fancy flightsuit or helmet. I could be wrong on this one though.
No problems with the questions. Everybody has them. Good luck and have fun with this build.
Read this <>. I use the DC-3/C-47 in my tutorial. Be sure to also clink the link at the beginning of the article…it will take you to an indepth article. Enjoy!
Send me a PM and I’ll pass along what I know. I was doing some work on mini-gun references for Meteor Productions/Cutting Edge before it went TANGO UNIFORM.
One piece of public advice. Beware of “AC-47s” in museums/air parks. For example: The “AC-47” at the Hurlburt Field air park (home of the Air Force Special Operations Command) is NOT an AC-47 but a C-47 used by the French AF to haul senior officers around. (I got inside it once when they were doing some maintenance on it.) The maintenance guys made a few cosmetic modifications, fabricated some “mini-guns” and VOILA! It sort of, kind of looks like an AC-47 which is good enough for most people.
There were differences in the mini-guns used as well as their locations in the aircraft depending on exactly what point in time your model subject is. Poded guns = early variants. “Bare” miniguns on the aluminum frame mounts = late variants.
You’ll have to put in a small rectalgular window on the left side aft of the cockpit and forward of the cabin windows. Both Monogram’s C-47 and the AC-47 kits left it out although it’s clear to see on most photos of that area of the aircraft.
