The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Celebrating the 90th anniversary of one of the ubiquitous general aviation manufacturers in the world. Any kit, any scale.
The GB runs 1 to 31 July and your host is Gregers.
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The Great Auk
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The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by The Great Auk »

Hello All!

I don't have a lot of Cessna models in the nest, but after perusing this thread, I was inspired by Stuart's O-2 and I remembered I had a 1/72 Arii Cessna O2A a friend sent me a while back. Here's the box art and if this doesn't get you going, nothing will.

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Luckily, it looks like a pretty simple kit which should align nicely with my skill set.

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While trying to educate myself a bit about this aircraft, I learned there was an earlier variant, the wonderfully spatted Cessna 336.

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As luck would have it, I have three small spats that might allow me to pull off this daring conversion.

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However, my luck ran out when it came to the decals which are cracked worse than a hatched egg. This means my Cessna will have to be a civvie.

Will I be able to successfully complete this model or will I once again end up only gluing my flightless feathers together?

Stay tuned to find out!

The Great Auk
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splash
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by splash »

This sounds like a fun convertion.
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
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Gregers
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Gregers »

This will look sweet I'm sure. You are corect in saying the 336 had a fixed undercarriage and the 337 retracts. Remember though that this one needs a massive amount of nose weight. Even putting crew figures in will make a difference even though slight.

All the best.

Greg
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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by The Great Auk »

I made a little progress last night. First up was tackling the clear parts which were so distorted that tinting them seemed the best option.

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Then I worked on the props. I decided pointy spinners would go nicely with those sleek spats, so I grafted on the front ends of rockets I swiped from a Skyraider.

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Thanks for the tip about nose weight, Greg! I hope this will be enough.

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Uh-oh I just noticed this kit is a Skill Level 6. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew...

The Great Auk
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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

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I made good progress yesterday. First up was inserting the side windows and putting in the nose weight.

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"Other than that, Mr. Lincoln, how was the flight?"

Next I cleaned up those wonderfully streamlined spats.

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Then I buttoned up the fuselage.

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Various holes and sink marks were puttied but the large slot on the bottom for the stand needed its own solution. I decided half of a P-38 drop tank made a passable belly cargo pannier.

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Then I got the wings and tail booms on along with the horizontal stabilizer. This took a fair bit of wrestling and I'm not sure I won. At this point I decided to add exhaust stubs made from hollow tubing.

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Yikes! It looks like someone's whiskers need trimming!

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That's much better. I strengthened the nose gear strut by gluing the kit antenna on the back. Finally, I stuck on those lovely spats and thank goodness it didn't end up a tail-sitter.

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That awful windscreen still needed work. I applied Liquitex Artists' Acrylic Gloss Medium to fill in some gaps and get it all nice and shiny. The side windows were given a gloss coat to match. It's all drying now and hopefully I'll be able to get a coat of paint on later today.

The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Gregers »

That's starting to look superb. Very neat work.

All the best.

Greg
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
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MarkyM607
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by MarkyM607 »

That does look nice, and speedy work!.
Hoping to return to modelling sometime this year!! :lol:
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Gregers
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Gregers »

Hi Auk.

Any more progress on this beauty?

All the best.

Greg
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by The Great Auk »

Apologies for the lack of updates. Things have been busy at the Audubon Society and work has kept me away from the bench. I finished up the painting last night and this bird is ready for decals. I hope to take some pre-decal pics and post them later today.

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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

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Here's the current state of play with the Cessna 336. The props aren't glued yet because I'm sure I'd knock them off or snag them while getting the decals on.

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This was a Model Masters/Testors paint party. Mostly Semi Gloss Primer White applied with the old hairy stick.
The windows were tinted with Testors Royal Blue and the props finished in Model Masters Aluminium.

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The tires and engine vents were painted with Model Masters Aircraft Interior Black. Those vent holes were done freehand and I found it very relaxing, which is odd because typically that kind of work seems tedious.

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Here's a couple of side views. I'm not real happy with the lighting and I might take final photos outdoors.

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And here's a rear view. Those usually aren't very pretty but this angle seems more flattering to a Skymaster than many other aircraft.

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The last photo highlights the leading edge lights in the wings (which fought me like the deuce) and the exhaust stubs.

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I'm hoping to get decals on and have this bird fly across the finish line over the next few days.

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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Gregers »

That's great work. Very nicely done. I really ought to get mine done.

All the best.

Greg
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by The Great Auk »

Pan Am was a storied airline famous for flying large airliners to the farthest reaches of the globe.

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Less well-remembered are the smaller aircraft that worked much shorter routes.

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As the 1960's dawned, Pan Am decided to expand some of its feeder routes and enter the commuter market. Thus Pan Am Express was born.

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Besides the sheer size of its parent company, another thing Pan Am Express was notable for was carefully selecting the best small aircraft for the routes it flew.

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Pan Am Express was impressed with Cessna products and considered buying the twin-engine 310, but needed something almost tailor-made for the demanding executive customers of Rhode Island where service had been expanded in 1964.

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By adding a belly cargo pannier and suped-up Continental engines to their unusually configured 336 Skymaster, Cessna had just the ticket for the particular needs of Rhode Island business commuters.

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Pan Am would eventually order four of the modified special 336s, ultimately making Cessna wonder if it had been worth all the trouble as additional orders failed to materialize and the manufacturer cleared a meager profit of $179.38 on the deal.

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The Pan Am Express 336s provided sterling service under all conditions and made $2,268.07 every quarter even though the parent Pan Am firm was hoping for steep losses as the tax write-off would be far more lucrative.

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Pan Am Express continued flying throughout the 1960's but was eventually done in by the 1973 Oil Crisis. Finding no buyers for their push-pull pannier equipped and spatted Cessna 336s, Pan Am sold them for scrap which incurred a tax penalty of $212.78 even when the most generous principles of amortization and depreciation were applied. This led to the resignation of their Chief Tax Accountant in disgrace.

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While only a few faded photographs of this magnificent spatted piece of aircraft technology still exist today, the Pan Am Express 336 continues to live on in the memories of those who were lucky enough to fly her.

The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Gregers »

That is awesome. A great build and back story. Very well done.

All the best.

Greg
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by The Great Auk »

I was really glad to get this one in on time. I had to paint over some tears on one of the tail logos and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Ironically, those Pan Am decals were from a custom sheet run off for me by the same friend I got the kit from, although the decals showed up eight years earlier.

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The small "Express" part of the logos and the wing registrations were from an actual Pan Am Express sheet from the defunct commuter airline formed when Pan Am's intellectual property was sold off.

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The small U.S. flags and the cargo pannier door decals were all from spares.

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I wanted to take these photos outside but conditions weren't favorable. Here's a comparison with the flash off and then forced.

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I had a lot of fun building this kit even though it wasn't exactly smooth flying all the way.

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I'd like to thank Greg for leading this GB and also express my gratitude to everyone who took part. Your work is a constant inspiration!

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I hope you enjoyed the Pan Am Express Cessna 336 as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

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The Great Auk
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Re: The Great Auk's Aukward Cessna 336 Attempt

Post by Clashcityrocker »

That's a very nice looking Cessna. Well done.

Nigel
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