DC-4 WIP

Pilot, co-pilot, navigator, radio operator.

Probably most significant is that the aircraft did not have a FE station.

The Boeing 307 did.

Don, did a Google-search and found this:

Don Stauffer

Does anyone know if the -4 had a flight engineer position?

I became curious and did some snooping. Found some things that suggest it might have been a radio compartment, or radio operator compartment, or radio officer compartment.

I'm not sure, just passing along some Googling results.

Here is a mockup of how the cockpit with seats will look against the rest of the interior. I guess that compartment right behind the pilot/copilot section is for the flight engineer- though the jump seat in it looks more like what a stewardess would use.  There is another section yet to put on the floor, before the seats, and that looks like a stewardess section.  Does anyone know if the -4 had a flight engineer position?

Next will be a tedious job.  There are 44 seats, each with five colors.  Largest area is blue, which I will airbrush.  Remaining colors are brown, beige, white and silver.  Way to small to mask off easily.  I will be handpainting these remaining colors.  However, the seatbelts, molded into the seats, the beige and silver, are very narrow (toothpick details) and I may hold up the side against the floor with a couple of seats in place, to see how visible the belts are.  I am not one to paint or install detail that cannot be seen, just because I will know it is there.  In fact, I have left off a little radio piece in that flight engineer(?) station because I don't think it will be able to be seen.

Don Stauffer

 

 

Greg

Pretty excited to watch this. This is the first WIP I recall seeing from you.

I'm not familiar with the DC-4 and am in process of reading about it. Didn't know there was a tricycle DC.

Your cockpit looks good. Keep the pics coming, please.

 

 

 

 

The DC-6 and DC-7 were also tri-gear.  There was a DC-5 prototype which never saw production that was sort of a follow-on to the DC-3 (twin engine), and that was a trike also.  Douglas seemed to cede the short haul, shorter route to others (Martin and Convair).

 

I sort of forgot about the DC-6 and 7 too. It seems our local airport had mostly short haul Convair 580's, maybe why I am not remembering.

Thanks for the additional info, always eager to learn and take a trip down memory lane, where I often get lost.

Pawel

Hello!

I would like to build a HC-54 from Vietnam one day - usuing the Revell kit as a base...

Don, will you try to balance this baby on its undercarriage - that can be tricky with all that heavy interior - or will you go for the tail stand?

Good luck with your build and have a nice day!

Paweł

 

I sure will try for balance.  A lot of the interior detail is up front, but the interior walls probably will make it tail-heavy.  However, fortunately Revell shows the amount of weight needed in the instructions, and I have a postal scale to weigh it out.  Also, the instructions show exactly where to place the weight.

Greg

Pretty excited to watch this. This is the first WIP I recall seeing from you.

I'm not familiar with the DC-4 and am in process of reading about it. Didn't know there was a tricycle DC.

Your cockpit looks good. Keep the pics coming, please.

 

The DC-6 and DC-7 were also tri-gear.  There was a DC-5 prototype which never saw production that was sort of a follow-on to the DC-3 (twin engine), and that was a trike also.  Douglas seemed to cede the short haul, shorter route to others (Martin and Convair).

Hello!

I would like to build a HC-54 from Vietnam one day - usuing the Revell kit as a base...

Don, will you try to balance this baby on its undercarriage - that can be tricky with all that heavy interior - or will you go for the tail stand?

Good luck with your build and have a nice day!

Paweł

Pretty excited to watch this. This is the first WIP I recall seeing from you.

I'm not familiar with the DC-4 and am in process of reading about it. Didn't know there was a tricycle DC.

Your cockpit looks good. Keep the pics coming, please.

I have the Minicraft 1/144 scale DC-4 in my stash. Might do it up later this year. Of course not nearly the detail of your Revell kit, Don. I'm thinking M.A.T.S. livery.

Hi,

I can't wait to see how your build turns out.

Pat

fotofrank

I'll be following this build too, Don. The DC-4/C-54 has always been on of my favorite airplanes. I know it's going to be a while, but what livery will the finished model have?

 

It will be American Airlines.

This thing is really testing my 81 year old hands!  And the seat belts are molded into the seats.  Not so bad doing crew seats, but then there are forty plus passenger seats with belts to paint.  I am tempted not to paint the seats.  The belts look funny-like you'd have to be sitting sideways in the seats to buckle the belts.  The pilot and co-pilot seats are an assembly of three parts.  The frames are a real challenge to handle.

Very little flash on any parts, and molding is crisp with great detail. 

A neat feature of this kit is that the fuselage has interior panels along sides.  Windows are sandwiched between outer skin and the interior side panels. No luggage shelves above, but it still will look neat.

I'll be following this build too, Don. The DC-4/C-54 has always been on of my favorite airplanes. I know it's going to be a while, but what livery will the finished model have?

I'll be following this one.

You'd know more than I, the aircraft has been described as a joy to fly.