C-46 Commando at the time of the hump

Hello!

One of our friends here in the forums - John - finished the kit you mentioned and it turned out just fine. It was shown in this thread here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/167582.aspx

Good luck with your build, and have a nice day

Paweł

I looked and it sounds like he has had an entirely different expeience than I have. But I still don't know what the hole in the nose is!     

It is easily the most dismal kit I have ever attempted and I will be nominating it for the Worst Kit Ever award.      

This thread may be of interest. http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/108266.aspx?sort=DESC

pathvet9

I looked and it sounds like he has had an entirely different expeience than I have. But I still don't know what the hole in the nose is!     

It is easily the most dismal kit I have ever attempted and I will be nominating it for the Worst Kit Ever award.      

 

It's not at all the worst kit ever but I did spend maybe 7 years building it. 

Don't know anything about C-46 kits, but I wanted to pass along my compliments on your photo of the dogs waiting in line for the tree.

I don't think it's a bad kit. The detail is good, the fit is ok, the instructions have one ambiguity regarding the main gear. I found that not including the cargo floor greatly simplified the kit. And when finished, it's good looking.

That is an air intake. There was a gas powered APU under the cockpit floor, to charge the batteries and start the engines on the typically remote and generally primitive air fields in China. Later that was moved to a shelf in the cargo area.

GMorrison

I don't think it's a bad kit. The detail is good, the fit is ok, the instructions have one ambiguity regarding the main gear. I found that not including the cargo floor greatly simplified the kit. And when finished, it's good looking.

That is an air intake. There was a gas powered APU under the cockpit floor, to charge the batteries and start the engines on the typically remote and generally primitive air fields in China. Later that was moved to a shelf in the cargo area.

 

 

Didn't you get this info from som Bondoguy???

Yeah just a retread.

There's a really good book "Flying the Hump" by Don Downie and Jeff Ethell. Downie was a pilot in CBI.

Stik you'd enjoy it, lots of WW2 color photos.

I came across it in a roundabout way. There was an obit some years back in the paper for a guy over in Oakland named Norman Spitzer. His family had the good sense to include a photo of him in front of his C-46. I tracked the photo back and found the book, which also has it.

His in the pic is an NMF with the big ATC badge on the side. For a while I thought the new Williams kit was going to included that livery, and spoke with the new owners abt. it, but they didn't end up doing it.

Anyone modeling a C-46 should look this one over.

Mr Ethell does some great books. I have a few of his works. Absolutely fantastic collections of old color photos, as well as some great writing. Somewhere in the Life/Google photo archives are some good C-46/Hump photos in a photo essay, but since they revamped the search engine on the site it is VERY hard to find (Sound familiar?). More beautiful Life WWII color photos. 

Gene Autry, the singing cowboy of the western movies and early TV, was a Staff Sgt in the AAC and a crew member on either a C-46 or C-47 flying the hump (can't remember which at the moment and forget where I put the pictures). There was a John Spitzer in the crew ( I knew his one son), but I don't know if it is the same Spitzer as mentioned above. The route over the hump was referred to as aluminum alley because it was littered with aircraft wreckage. What those guys did was nothing short of heroic. There are several C-46s still flying up in Canada and Alaska. The Williams brothers kit has been around for many decades and is an OK kit. I would like to see A 1/48th kit of this great old bird. 

With all due respect, you and I must have a different kit? I bought mine about 5 years ago and it was touted as the commemorative kit with a certificate of one of 400 and a price of $45 or so.

Anyway, I have not found one surface that did not need major repair. Bondo would be one way. As Stikpusher knows, I am in New Guinea tonight or I would start posting pictures of my kit and build from Dropbox account. I will do it when I return as the wings and nacelles are especially outstanding. I put a dihedral in the wings because the gaps were so bad but now I am not sure about whether this is correct or not. No clue from the "instructions". What a rip. Flash on the flash.     

PS. I did add the quote. My authorship.  

Here's another thread on the subject...

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/118272.aspx

My model is in there...

Edit: sorry I can't seem to create hot links anymore.

 Anyhow Pathvet9, my point is to encourage you to stick it out. I think you will be pleased with the results, and it's a big impressive model when finished.

Here's the photo of Norm Spitzer from his obit in the SF Chronicle, and the Downie book page 48.

I can't find reference to a John Spitzer in the book, who was Autry's crew mate.

As threatened, I am back from PNG and still livid about the quality of this overpriced, overhyped C46 kit. Guess if you have no competition?   

Anyway, here are 4 pictures of my progress. In order to get any closure on the wings, I had to put in a dihedral to leav just large gaps below to fill. Lots of strip styrene and used up my Squadron white putty. Yeah!  

Nowhere di I get a closed seam but the nacelles were especially bad in spite of every attempt to fit. In sanding, I end up with these fusiform structures.

The sprues had flash everywhere, including on the flash itself.

I WILL FINISH ONE DAY and post the results. Thanks for the support.    

Jake - OK, it's bad. But there is some detail - the parts in the last photo would be OK after the cleanup...

I'd suggest you concentrate more on how the parts should look after you're done and not on how they look now. What I mean it's not only about joining them, but it's about getting a definite shape that should be there. So in addition to sanding you're sometimes better off adding some material, in form of plastic sheet or stretched sprue. Then you have less sanding and filling and you get a better shape on the finished parts.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Jake - I wouldn't want to discuss here if the kit is bad or not. If you feel it's bad, I won't tell you that it isn't. Fixing it's flaws would be interesting for me - I have enough bad kits in my stash! What exactly is the problem with those nacelles? I can't quite follow. You mean the parts molded together with the wings, is that correct?

Good luck in your struggle and have a nice day

Paweł

Stop whining and fix it.

Constructive comment. I quit "whining" long after the money was spent. 

But to answer Pawel's question, the nacelles fit on stubs and do not come close to a fit. I could either build up the stubs so the whole thing looks out of proportion or stand down and have an hour glas appearance --- or somewhere in between. I guess I shouldn't expect a Tamiya fit but the price is Tamiya-like.   

Thank gosh I get to leave now.  

I think you can actually count the number of kits without any kind of problem or flaw.  A terrible kit can give you a headache, but done right, IMHO, is the most rewarding feeling.

I do enjoy bashing a terrible kit now and then, though.

Tell you what - Go on Ebay and find a vacuform kit of a multi engine aircraft - Buy it and assemble it.  And then tell me which was easier to get a good build out of, the Williams Brothers kit or the vacuform kit.  When they were first produced the WB kits were of subjects that were either being produced as vacuform kit or only likely to be produced as a vacuform kit. See how far you can get with the vacuform kit.  Not very I bet.  And as far as it goes, there are a bunch of 1/72 kits out there that I remember being produced when I was in grade school and selling 39 to 49 cents each.  Several of them are still in production today and are selling for 15 to 25 bucks each.  Which I consider highway robbery.

And your point about a $45 Williams kit is?

I agree. I hope not to make the same mistake twice - don't we all?

Hang in there buddy. I have never built this kit so I can't offer any pointers on this puppy. But I might suggest that you take it to the next IPMS chapter meeting and see if any of the gurus there who have built it can offer any pointers. In our crew, somebody there has to have built one...

Thanks for the support. A great idea and I will bring it to the November meeting.