AIRCRAFT - Civil Aviation Group Build, 8/21/2004 to 12/21/2004

Modeling Subjects Group Builds
1

Heres the guidelines:
1). Any Civilian Aircraft that ISNT an airliner.
2). Any scale.
3). Any Manufacturer
4). Start date of August 21, 2004
5). Finish date of December 21, 2004
6). Have Fun.

Aerialresponder, Your O-2 would be fine as a fire fighter. The California Department of Forestry has (had?) several in their fleet.

By freighter, I meant the mom and pop type operations that can barely afford the upkeep on their plane. I’ve seen several DC-3s’ and Twin Beeches operated this way. I don’t want to see any multi-trillion dollar companies. They get enough free promo time from other sources.

By the same token, NO warbirds. Yes they are civilian operated, but that would defeat the purpose of this build.

I’ve given enough lead in time on this for people to find a kit (I hope) and four months should be enough time to build one or several and still give people time to work on other projects.

Who’s In:
Roadkill_275
Minicraft 1/48 Piper Cherokee 140

Aerialresponder
Testors 1/48 Cessna 337 (aka O-2)
Minicraft 1/48 Piper Cherokee 140

Gregors
Airfix 1/72 Dehaviland Chipmunk/glider Combo

Oldhooker
Modelcraft 1/48 Cessna 172
AMT 1/48 Beech D17S Staggerwing
Hobbycraft 1/48 Piper J3 Cub
Aurora 1/72 Aero-Commander

Aaronw
Heller 1/72 DC-6B Firebomber

ewc2003 Fujimi 1/48 Bell 206

2

CDF might have a few 0-2’s left up in NoCal, mostly there changing to OV-10’s

So i’ll try 2

all 1/48
O-2A
Cherokee 140, and if time permits, maybe maybe the OV-10

3

Hi Roadkill. i’m definitly in with a 1/72 dehavilland chipmunk / glider combo.
Greg

4

Hi Roadkill,

Count me in… first one will be a 1/48 Modelcraft Cessna 172, highly modified in order to be accurate, modeled after the plane I took my wife of 22 years out on our first date in; 1976 172M N9690H.

2nd will be an AMT 1/48 Beechcraft Staggerwing.

3rd will be a Hobbycraft 1/48 Piper J-3 Cub, modified to a Clipped-Wing.

About time for something like this, Roadkill! [;)] Thanks!

Take care,
Frank

5

oldhooker, you’re welcome and I agree with you 100%. Its about time someone did something positive for GA.

6

Did I give everyone enough lead time on this? I know how hard and frustrating it can be trying to find GA kits. Which is one of the reasons I’m not ruling out the DC-3 or the O-2. BTW the planes don’t have to be of US manufacture. I seem to recall a Saab Safir being out a few years ago.

7

Roadkill,

Yes, good lead time for me! I’m currently working on the Skyhawk, probably have it finished before the August 24th start date, I had it started through step #2, but got serious with it after reading the thread over in the Aircraft Board about the Group Build.

On a related note; I was able to get my grimy little fingers on a real gem through E-Bay today; a 1964 Aurora 1/72 “Aero Commander” … in a sealed box, no less! [:D]

“Niner Zero Hotel, double yellow lines and holding”
Frank

8

would love to have that commander in 1/48! beautiful. amazing how big a plane and it only seats 6 including crew!

9

That is just awesome. Didn’t even know this one existed. There are more out there than I thought. Found out yesterday that Minicraft makes a 1/48 Cessna 172 with floats. I’m gonna need that to go with my 180 on floats!

10

Hi Kyle,

Yes, a 1/48 example of that plane would be great… maybe someday some company will mold Bob Hoover’s “Shrike” in 1/48… (yeah, whatever)

Besides the Aero Commander, Aurora made several very cool GA models back in the day, including an old
Cessna 310 “Skynight”, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1189&item=5906524303&rd=1,
Jet Commander, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1189&item=5906248637&rd=1,
Piper Apache, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1189&item=5906151170&rd=1,
and a Piper Cherokee 180, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1189&item=5905899889&rd=1, although the picture of the kit itself look like a “140”… all of which are currently listed on E-Bay

I just looked up the Minicraft 172 on Google, and it appears to be the same mold as the Modelcraft kit. The kit has the long Dorsal Fin, which indicates it’s a post 1970 version… however, the wheel pants, aft cabin and side window frames are from a pre-70’s version. I’m building mine as a 1976 172M, so if you are too, and the mold’s are the same, the Minicraft kit is going to require quite a bit of alteration to make it accurate. I’m going to include a diagram of the modifications when I post my finished product to the GB, but in brief;

(1) Center fuselage wing mounting surface must be lowered (bottom of the wing is too far above the tops of the door windows), which basically removes the solid roof over the back seat, which must be scratched/sanded/filled back in.
(1a) Dropping the wings means the kit supplied windshield is no longer going to fit, so a new winshield must be vacuformed using the kit supplied one as the mold, then the appropriate amount trimmed from the bottom edge.

(2) Back and side window frames must be altered, which requires the use of scratch built window transparencies.
(2a) If the door windows are going to be positioned open, you can use those supplied in the kit.

(3) The wheel pants… (it is better to not even speak of them) Grrrrrrr [xx(] The plane I’m modeling it after, however, had the wheel pants removed not too long after it was purchased, so unless I’m re-inspired, the model will be “pant-less” also.

I’m going to display it diorama style, about 1 scale ft. above blurred runway numbers, with blurred prop, as if it is in a “Flare”, just about to touch down. Written on the bottom center of the display case will be the words; “On the Numbers”

Take care,
Frank

11

oldhooker, that diorama sounds good. I’ve spent the better part of the day trying to decide how I’m going to display my PA-28 and the P-47 for the Monogram GB. Gave serious thought to doing a pre-flight on the Cherokee, but that would mean doing figures and my figures turn out looking really crappy. I’ll figure something out though.

12

FYI: hobby linc (?) is listing several GA and Golden Age aircraft on their site. This includes a Lockheed Model 10 with markings for Amelia Aerharts (I know I spelled that wrong) plane. Just thought I would pass this along. If I can talk Dwight into it would anyone else want a badge for this?

13

I would kill for that Aurora C310, but I’m not willing to mortgage the house for it. Thanks for the ebay links.

14

Are you referring to a Group-Build badge?

On a side note; here’s another kit I’d love to get my hands on… the “Rice-Rocket”!! I had one many moons ago that was unopened, but it got lost during one of my Army moves. (bet that’s never happened before!) [xx(]

Take care,
Frank

15

Yes, A group Build Badge. Dwight said he would do one when he got caught up on a few projects.

16

Hi Roadkill, there was a Saab Safir in 1/72nd, it was by Heller and was the later version. its getting a bit hard to find now though. the wing fuse joint needs some filler and the fit of the canopy is a little suspect but these are not insurmountable. it does look very nice when built too, especially in the all yellow scheme.
just out of curiosity, does no warbirds mean no air racers?. i got a spare P51 that i want to do something a bit mental with and my razor saw is looking like it needs using [;)] .
Greg

17

Technically speaking, most of the air racers are warbirds. The only ones that aren’t are the flying death traps, I mean homebuilts that fly the Formula heats.

18

Greetings,

Thought I’d post an “in-progress” collage of the 1/48 Modelcraft C-172 I’m working on. I finally gave up on trying to modify the kit supplied wheel pants, and just carved new ones from balsa wood. Nine Zero Hotel was without wheel pants most of her adult life, but she had them initially (until Benny Messick done that unsheduled rough-field landing near Axton, Va in 1976!). [;)]

Here’s one of the real plane…

Should be finishing this thing up in the next week or so, as I must finish a 1/570 “Titanic” for my Daughter’s Birthday at the end of this month… then it will be on to the Staggerwing & J-3! [;)]

I agree, roadkill; Warbirds painted in civilian colars are still Warbirds. There’s more warbird group builds than one can shake a stick at, lets keep this one “General Aviation”. [8D] Anyway, most Warbird pilots first experienced that Inability to Breath (solo) in a GA aircraft! [;)]

Take care,
Frank

19

thought that would be the case on the unlimited racers, still gonna do something crazy with the stang though. not sure exactly what tho.
thats one sweet looking C172 Frank, brings back memories of spannering on them. thanks for sharing.
Greg

20

Take a look on this site, They are listing several Cessna twins in resin and in 1/72

www.jbarhobbies.com

The prices are a little steep for me and I’ve never done resin before, but it caught my eye!