Photos by Noel Carpio
This is the 1/48
scale C-47A Skytrain released by Trumpeter in 2008 (Kit No. 02828). The
kit is made up of crisply-molded light gray styrene, clear parts for the
windows, cockpit windshield and instrument panel, photo-etched details, rubber
tires, and a set of white metal main landing gear struts.
The joy with this
kit is that it comes in the now-standard Trumpeter recessed rivets with finely
scribed details. Not only does it look exquisite on the outside, modelers
will be impressed to find a nearly complete flight and cargo compartment, with
individual bucket seats and photo-etch lap belts for the paratroopers. To
top it all of, an overhead lighting system is also incorporated. The only
thing lacking, which the old Monogram kit has, is the rear compartment bathroom
or honey-bucket compartment.
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As with all my
Trumpeter builds involving clear instrument panels, I carefully drilled each
dial face to do away with painting around them, I then sprayed the panel flat
black and installed the film on the backside, carefully aligning the dials with
the bored-out holes of the panel. As a final touch, i
put droplets of
Future on each dial to simulate glass lenses.
The installation of
the kit's photo-etched seat/lap belts for the 27 bucket seats inside the cargo
compartment was probably the most grueling process. However, it was well
worth the effo rt
as evidenced in the photos. The clear parts for the windows are meant to
be installed from the inside so I opted to pre-paint the OD color for the
exterior around the window sills first to eliminate masking the clear parts
later in the build.
This
was purely an OOB build but the engines were just begging for some extra
detailing, So, I added ignition wiring harnesses made from fine copper
wire.
This
plane was a commission build for a client and I could say it was a delight to
make owing to the excellent engineering and quality molding put in by Trumpeter.
I'm looking forward to start on my own kit. Highly recommended for
big plane enthusiasts.
Dennis
Robert Ferriol
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