I picked up several old Monogram civil aircraft models quite awhile back. I finally got around to starting on the Cessna. I remember building it when I was a kid (long time ago) so I thought I would try to do it with some of the materials (Alclad) and things I have learned since then. I started by filling the huge hinge slots for the doors on the side of the fuselage and removing the matching pieces from the doors. I was going to leave the pilots door open but it’s so hard to see inside that I closed it up. I removed the water rudders form the floats and built my own from pictures that I got from references on the net. I assembled the fuselage and floats and removed all of the seams.(quite a task in itself) I forgot how crude these early models were. The worst part about filling and seam removal is the raised rivet detail that gets removed. I have painted it with Alclad shiny aluminum and plan on cutting the painted areas from colored decal paper after making templates for them. I don’t want to try and mask the Alclad and then find I have a problem after I remove the tape. The pictures show where I am to this point.
Oh yeah! It’s about time somebody posts some GA. Especially a floatplane. Looking good so far, be sure to keep us updated. It’ll be quite a few months before I see one of these fly over; everyone’s changed over to skis for the winter…
Hey!!
Good one! That 180 looks great - there are simply not enough pics of GA aircraft posted on this forum. There are some great planes out there, and relatively few models made of them.
Nice job so far - keep us posted as you get along with the build.
Take the floats off, put wheels back on it and I can fly that baby. Or at least I could before the FAA grounded me. Great looking model. What will the final colors be? It has to have the Cessna stripe on it.[:)]
Sheesh, just civil/GA at all. Be nice if somebody would only get the 1/36 moulds from ARII and rerun there Cessnas & Piper’s in that line. Reshots from those mould can’t be that much worse than the stray kits that were on eBay till that source dried up.
Even at 1/36, the kits have a very nice elegance, and are not very large at all, for being “large scale.”
I’ve often wondered why the Skymaster & Birdog were not kitted-up in 1/48 or 1/32; both would be good “youth” sizes, and both have civilian & military applications.
If I remember correctly that kit goes back to the 1960s. She looks great. Very nice finish. Are you going to put stripes on her?
Ah, capn, the Bird Dog and the Sky Master have both been kitted in 1/48th scale. Testors boxes the old Hawk Sky Master, and the L-19 was recently released (a couple years ago) by (I had the name on the tip of my tonge)!! Shoot, nobody tell the FAA about this or they might ground me too.
Ok, now that you mention it, I do now remember the Testors kits. Duh.
I’d still like some large-scale though .
Hmm, I’m now thinking that ther was a vac 1/32 Cessna 150, but that may have been a short run (or short-lived) operation.
Oh well, I’ll still keep my eyes open, in case I ever actually get started on my “stick time” collection (which would make for a motley, but not boring shelf of birds ).
Looking really nice thus far. I sure would like to take a spin or two in one of those - not to many places here in Kansas to take off and land on water! I really like the finish you got, looking forward to seeing it completed.
Looks good. It’s good to see some GA AC appearing here. As soon as I get the pics developed I’ll add my Beech Bonanza here and we’ll have our own “fly in” of sorts.
Model USA did the 1/48 L-19/O-1 in 1/48. By my measure the 180 is 1/41 scale, but never has looked quite right to my eye. Mostly the cowl shape seems a bit off, not spherical enough on the bottom. One of my favorites is the Monogram TriPacer, but I prefer to reverse the main gear and leave off the nose wheel, which makes it a Pacer. Much better flying airplane. Bandai did the 150 in 1/48. But I say nothing negative about the nmf finish on the beginning of this thread,great job! Bare metal was common on the 180/185 series in the early years, into the late seventies. I have quite a few factory brochures from that era.
A 170B could probably be done from the Monogram 180 landplane kit without severe heartburn.
Take a ride around any airport here and you’ll see a lot of bare metal too. The bush pilots say if they strip the paint it saves them 80+ lbs… I have a beaver I’d like to finish in bare metal if I ever get to it!
Great job on the Cessna. Just don’t see many civil aircraft built these days. It’s a classic, along with the old Piper Tri-Pacer kit the Monogram also produced. Looking forward to seeing this one completed.
