Author Topic: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor  (Read 10306 times)

Offline Spey Phantom

  • 1/144 addict
  • the modeler formerly known as Nils.
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #50 on: July 28, 2020, 08:13:32 PM »
Finished  8)

Back History

In 1938, TWA was looking at improving the flight safety over long ranges, especially transatlantic crossings. the most succesfull plane to do that was the twin engine Douglas DC-3, but TWA's founder, Howard Hughes, wanted a third engine on the aircraft for added safety factor. taking the exaple of the Ford Trimotor, engineers from Douglas and TWA started converting one of the TWA DC-3's to accomodate a third engine on the nose. in 1939, flight tests were conducted and proved to be satisfactory, however, fuel consumption was increased a third, reducing the aircrafts range by 33%. the project was eventually abandon and the trimotor DC-3 was put up for sale.

in early 1940, the aircraft was sold to Alaskan Airlines, and was outfitted with a fixed and enclosed landinggear, this added to the weight of the aircraft, but the 3rd engine made up for the extra power needed.

it only served until 1941, when it was inducted by the USAAF, where it served as a Ju-52 lookalike and served as a simulation aircraft and was featured in many propaganda films (in german colors) until 1944. during its service, it recieved various nicknames like "Three-see-three", 3C3 and "Trikota" among others.

after the war, it was stored away, awaiting to be scrapped, until Pratt & Whitney bought the aircraft for testing purposes.
it served the company well until 1970, when it was sold once again to Canadian based Buffalo Airways, who then sold it to Marlin Air Services in 1996. Marlin continued to fly the aircraft until 2009, when it was finally retired. its currently stored at a museum depot in Reno, Nevada, awaiting restoration for static display.









on the bench:
-various models

on the drawing board:
-various 1/72 TinTin aircraft
-1/72 Eurocopter Tiger (Belgian Army)
-various other 1/72 and 1/144 aircraft

Offline Robomog

  • ...had a very bad experience with [an] orange...
  • Would you buy a used kit from this man?
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #51 on: July 28, 2020, 09:13:53 PM »
Absolutely perfect, well worth waiting for.

Memorial to Brian is a finishing touch.  :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*

Mog
>^-.-^<
Mostly Harmless...............

Offline Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #52 on: July 28, 2020, 11:02:35 PM »
Great job on both build & back story, Nils! 8) :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Frank3k

  • Excession
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    • My new webpage
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #53 on: July 29, 2020, 01:01:16 AM »
It looks fantastic! Great job on the decals and the c-bash!

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #54 on: July 29, 2020, 01:35:14 AM »
Yep, great job  :smiley:  And I can just see C-BASH on skis in an earlier incarnation  ;D
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline Kerick

  • Reportedly finished with a stripper...
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #55 on: July 29, 2020, 02:00:26 AM »
I love the memorial decal as a finishing touch. Very well done all around!

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #56 on: July 29, 2020, 02:24:58 AM »
 :smiley:
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline elmayerle

  • Its about time there was an Avatar shown here...
  • Über Engineer...at least that is what he tells us.
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #57 on: July 29, 2020, 03:12:44 AM »
Great build and a beautiful finish.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
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  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #58 on: July 29, 2020, 03:43:52 AM »
Great work Nils!  I agree, Brian would be proud and blushing if he could see your model. 
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline ericr

  • He's like some sort of Dr Frankenstein of modelling...
  • Has something for red, yellow or blue...
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #59 on: July 29, 2020, 03:48:59 AM »
 :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Offline Antonio Sobral

  • Building and painting tiny little things!
  • Greetings from Portugal
Re: 1/72 Douglas DC-3 trimotor
« Reply #60 on: July 29, 2020, 02:42:47 PM »
Beautiful job!

Great choice of decals :)