Airfix Dakota. 1/72

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Chuck E
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Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by Chuck E »

Just a few sprue shots before an early night. This time it's the super new Airfix DC-3 straight from Airfix at a wonderful Easter special price of £10!!!!!!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23594891@ ... 6438262242;

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iggie
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Re: Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by iggie »

Agree with your comment on Flickr in that the moulding is very fine and it looks to be a great kit
Best wishes

Jim
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Brickie
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Re: Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by Brickie »

snapped one of these up too, along with the new Eindecker - both look like cracking builds.
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airjim
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Re: Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by airjim »

So I am a little confused. They list it as a DC-3, but isn't it just a C-47 with civil markings, as in it still has the cargo door?

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Re: Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by rob_van_riel »

airjim wrote:So I am a little confused. They list it as a DC-3, but isn't it just a C-47 with civil markings, as in it still has the cargo door?
The majority of aircraft we know as DC-3 were surplus C-47s (or any other C-xx based on the DC-3; there were quite a number of designations) converted back to civilian use. I don't know if they were officially re-designated or if this was just an unofficial renaming.

Sometimes, for freighters, this was a minimal conversion (probably no more than removal of some on board military equipment, although adaptions to specific cargos might be done), and this is what the Dan Air ship is supposed to be. For passenger configurations, the large cargo door was sometimes rivetted shut, with only the inset smaller door remaining funtional, or the door was just permanently bolted shut. The interior was also rebuilt in those planes. In general, that door is a fine way to distinguish a 'native' DC-3 from a converted military plane.

I haven't looked into the details of the BOAC plane, so I don't know how it was configured. Apart from the interior (where I cannot comment due to lack of information), I guess both are accurate enough. Keep in mind that where interior configuration and avionics were concerned, the DC-3 family was pretty much built or converted to requirements; not counting the large number of 'regular army issue' machines, I sometimes wonder whether there weren't more configurations than airframes. It's rare to see two that are exactly the same..

EDIT: did a spot of digging. The DAN air machines were all C-47s. This also applies to the 'real' BOACs, of which the kit decals represent one. The first Dakotas to fly for BOAC were actually KLM machines and crew that fled to the UK when the Germans overran the country, and these were actual DC-3s (they were built before the C-47 designation came into being..)
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Eric Mc
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Re: Airfix Dakota. 1/72

Post by Eric Mc »

I used to have in my possession part of the parachute static release mechanism from a C-47. It had been removed by my uncle who was a technician with Aer Lingus when they were converting war surplus C-47s to post war airliners. I also had an oil filter somewhere from the same source.

Aer Lingus had taken delivery of "proper" DC-3s in 1940 but topped up their fleet with C-47s post war.
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