1/72 DHC-4 Caribou prototype - Hobby Craft

[72linerlover]

Hallo Everybody
A member of this forum asked me to post here a build report of a model I started some times ago for a “group build” some elsewhere.
Well, the Caribou is not exactly a civil aircraft, but this will be the prototype with civilian markings, so ...

Things in my life went the wrong way and I had to stop modeling for some times.
Now seems that I have a more quiet time-frame in front of me, so here I am.

A very kind guy of the dhc4and5 website provided me some information about the prototype that differs from the production aircraft for few key features.
- shorter fuselage, approx 1,1 meters
- different and shorter exhaust staks
- absence of fuselage strakes.
Other differences will be explained step by step.

First I perepared my own glue by dissolving some sprue in acetone and lacquer tinner.


Then, began to study what have I to do with the exhausts.


Here is where the fuselage has to be shortened.


Last is the fuselage strakes removal. Some preparation to avoid damaging too much the panel lines.


Some sanding and restoring the panels after finishing.


As regards the engines, I'm going to replace them since they are 18 cylinders in the kit, while they should be 14.
I have some left over engines of a DC-3 that match the cowling dimensions.

New firewalls: they have to be 4 mm further back as the original, since the engines are longer.


So I prepared 3 spacers to fit inside each cowling.


Test fit of the engine: it seems to work.


I hope this subject could be of some interest.
I know that the prototype is quite different compared to the production aircraft, but some modification and improvement to the kit are common to both.

Thanks for watching.
Regards
Eugenio

[tor lives]

Very interesting and intriguing build so far......thanks for sharing.
TOR

[RayS]

Thanks for sharing it here Eugenio, I am sure others will be interested in it.

[hrtpaul]

Looking forward to following this mate. Love it so far

[VH-WAL]

nice civil caribou option here:
http://www.aussieairliners.org/dhc-4/vh-bfc/vhbfc.html

[Ansett A330]

nice civil caribou option here:
http://www.aussieairliners.org/dhc-4/vh-bfc/vhbfc.html

Knew about it as have the decals for one but did not about it's history! A Swedish Caribou no less! Definitely know what my second Caribou is going to be now!

Surprisingly there are a number of articles and photos on the Net of it on trial with the Swedish Air Force :

http://www.x-plane.org/home/urf/aviatio ... ribou.html

http://www.dhc4and5.org/ForeignDHC4s-3.html

http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Transpor ... 69Tp55.htm

[Ansett A330]

How about this for a KFC Billboard! :

[Ansett A330]

And here it is! :

-25.444510, 31.927061

and even on Street View! :

https://www.google.com/maps/@-25.444809 ... 312!8i6656

[72linerlover]

Ok, ok, guys, there's a lot of civilian Caribous out there, but I love prototype aircraft as first evidence of studies, research and enginrering and, after all, the fuselage has already been cut.
So, here the second part of the week-end report.

The cockpit interior of the kit is quite crude, so I decided to add something. The separated front end helps a lot.




In order to put the seats rails in the correct position I started working on one of them.






Next week end, something more about the IP.

Bye
Eugenio

[72linerlover]

Hi, everybody.
This WE update is dedicatet to some bits to be put inside the cockpit.

Unfortunately there is no coaming in the kit, and a quick assemby test revealed that through the glazing everyone can note its absence.
So I started from a wooden block to search for the correct form.
After a pair of attempts I got this.


Here in sequence: plunge forming, cut to size and test positioning.






Probably due to my mistake, the control columns of the kit don't fit well with my new pavement.
Since I was at them, I made some other parts for the cockpit:
the central sliding consolle, the control columns, the elevator trim wheel and the front gear steering wheel.


Best regards
Eugenio