I recently purchased Hobbycraft’s S-2A Tracker in the 1/72 scale and was wondering if it could be converted to a C-1 Trader "COD’’ aircraft. Looking through my aircraft books and magazines the obvious changes seem to be the removal of the retractable radome , re-contour the back of the engine nacelle-landing gear housing where the sono-buoys would go , file off the magnetic anomaly detector at the bottom edge of the tail and add a couple of windows on each side of the fuselage waist level. However most of my reference material state that the fuselage was slightly enlarged on the Trader ; But looking at pictures and schemetics of both the Tader and Tracker the fuselage’s look similar . So apart from the minor changes I’ve mentioned is it still possible to build a reasonably accurate version of the C-1 Trader or are there other major difference’s I haven;t yet noticed ? Any help is greatly appreciated . Helo 53
Falcon made a vacform conversion for the C-1A as part of it’s “Triple Conversion” series years ago and I seem to recall that it included new fuselage halves. So maybe there’s more to it than meets the eye. I know it’s dealt with in the Squadron “In Action” book on the “Stoof” but I’m not near my library at the moment.
The horizontal tail has more span (like the S2F-2 and subsequent models) and the fuselage is deeper. I can’t remember if the fuselage is longer, too, like the S2F-3. The search light wasn’t installed but the deice boot on that wing has a gap as if it were there. I did an article on it a long time ago for IPMS but I won’t be back home until after the 4th to retrieve it.
Neither the Falcon vacuform nor the RVHP resin fuselage have the correct depth to the fuselage. They were based on drawings in a British publication that didn’t get the fuselage deep enough.
Oops - the fuselage wasn’t longer. See:
http://www.vr-24.org/Aircraft_photo_pages/Page_two_TF_C1A_photos.htm
Maybe I remembered wrong about the horizontal tail span too…
OK - the horizontal tail was from the S2F-2 and had a span of 26’ 9 5/8". Here is a profile that shows the depth of the belly:
Wasn’t the fuselage wider also?
You’re right. The lower portion of the forward fuselage is a little bit wider so there isn’t a “crease” going aft from the bottom of the side cockpit windows and it isn’t quite as slab sided under the wing as the S2F. The more oval shape appears to extend past the cabin door.
If you look closely, you’ll also note that the C-1’s side cockpit windows also don’t extend upward as far as the S2F’s. It appears that this may have been changed to allow for a slightly bigger overhead hatch.
Thank’s for the profile drawing Tailspinturtle ; I think I’ll still go ahead with the conversion . Enlarging the fuselage might be beyond my modeling skills ; but adding some extra window’s and cargo doors I can do , I suppose it won’t be a very accurate version of a C-1 Trader , but the kit only cost $5.00 ,and I bought two of them , so i’ll have some fun with one of the kits .
Thanks everone for your help and advice .
An old review I read suggested thinking thickening the sides and body with .10 sheet and blending it in. Sounded good to me.