Jackal Island, being
remotely located, is by nature pretty much only accessible by air. One of the
major airlines servicing this remote, forbidding locale is "LuftRitger",
flying one of the oddest variants of the classic Bf-109 ever seen. Using the
basic fuselage shape of the Bf-109G series aircraft, but enlarged several times, and
mating it with DC-4 wings and engine systems, a whole new airliner was created.
Capable of seating 52 in Unter Class, and 12 in the spacious luxury of Uber
class, the DC-109 is a marvel of modern(??) engineering. Using the standard
Germanic cockpit arrangement allowed great visibility for the flight crew, except
in snow, rain, and rear lighting situations. A canopy opening above the pilot's
seat allows him to stick his head out into the airflow and get a better
view for landings during inclement weather.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Here we see a DC-109, the
"City of Jackal Island", taking on passengers at the
Jackal Island main terminus. Note the elevation: 1.09 meters. Jackal
Island Airfield is one of the few major airports in the world where it is inaccessible
during high tide!
This kitbash was
created by using the fuselage of a Hasegawa Bf-109G and the wings etc from a
Minicraft DC-4. The cockpit area was faired in with a block of balsa, and the
new fuselage area was sanded in until it looked "right" It kind of
looked like a Chinook Salmon in profile to me. Next, I vacuformed over the
spinner, and cut that section out and scratchbuilt in the cockpit area. The
glazing was attached, and masked off. The base colour was Testors spraycan
Metallic Silver, with the black being hand painted on with Tamiya flat black.
The airline and door decals were made in my hand dandy inkjet printer, and the
portholes are Letraset dots, applied very carefully, one at a time. The airfield
is made up of poster board, an N scale terminal and several of those pre-made
1/144 scale models. The lil people are "Woodland Scenics" N scale
figures.
Alvis 3.1
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