I’m going through a “planes with skis” phase, having already built a DHC2 Beaver, Auster AP2 and Antonov An-2 fitted with skis. This time it’s a Noorduyn Norseman, built from a 1/72 Matchbox kit.
The Matchbox kit was old but nice, with everything fitting together quite nicely. All the blemishes are my doing. I decided the decals were past their use-by date, so I made up my own paint scheme for it, using the same Tamiya rattle can orange that I have used on my other Arctic/Antarctic planes. They’re starting to look like a corporate fleet all together on the shelf.
I’m a bit of a newcomer to both aircraft and to modelling, taking up the model-building hobby when I involuntarily entered semi-retirement two years ago, and at the same time beginning my interest in older, civil aviation aircraft.
I really enjoy getting onto You Tube and checking out lots of videos of each plane I am bullding as I go. It adds so much pleasure to the build, and I learn a lot along the way. If you’re interested in Norsemans, this 22-minute documentary on Canadian Bush Pilots, featuring a guy doing his rounds on a Norseman, is full of good footage, including some nice old historic stuff.
Looks great! I have seen several nice builds of that kit- I’ll have to pick one up. Is that still available from vendors or would that be a flea market item?
Following my retirement in 2001, my brother in law and I splurged on a fly-in fishing trip in the Canadian North. Only way in is by floatplane, very isolated lake environment. Our flight was on a turbine conversion Otter, other planes were Cessna 185’s, Beavers and one frequent arrival was a Norseman.
The Norseman pilot was one of the owners of the flight service, I chatted him up about the old bird, it was obvious he had a strong respect and affection for it. He said it had over 14,000 total flight hours logged, with good care he says it can go on for many more years. It had been wrecked a couple of times, but always capable of being rebuilt. I have to wonder what do you do for parts, make them?
This prompted me to read further on the Norseman, and I ended up in Wikipedia, which told me two things I didn’t know about them.
One is that my own military, the Royal Australian Air Force, had some Norsemen for a while. (I wonder if any ever made it to Antarctica, where we’ve always had a pretty active presence?)
The other factoid is that Norsemen were originally designed and fitted with floats, then came the skis, and finally, last of all and probably a rare design sequence for most planes … wheels!
Really nice build Ozmac, this is one of the few Matchbox kits I haven’t built over the years and your model has inspired me to have a go at it. I have a couple of vac-form Bellancas in my stash (CH-300 Pacemaker & CH-400 Skyrocket) which would sit alongside nicely.
