Roden Boeing 307- Finished!

It is a good time to be a modeler - a friend bought the Maquette(?) kit, and it was BAD!  The two fuselage halves were not even the same length!  The quality of the rest of the kit was very poor.  I think that was the only kit where my friend opened the box, perused the contents, closed the box, then got rid of the kit.

Best wishes for your build!  Roden, despite their variable quality (compare their C-141B to their VC-10), are putting out nice kits these days.

Real G

It is a good time to be a modeler - a friend bought the Maquette(?) kit, and it was BAD!  The two fuselage halves were not even the same length!  The quality of the rest of the kit was very poor.  I think that was the only kit where my friend opened the box, perused the contents, closed the box, then got rid of the kit.

Best wishes for your build!  Roden, despite their variable quality (compare their C-141B to their VC-10), are putting out nice kits these days.

 

Yeah, I bought that Maquette kit too.  Threw away the fuselage, kept the wings with the idea I might scratch a fuselage.  I may still do that- that kit was in 1:72 and I might like to have a 1:72 version.  No problem scaling up the decals.

Slow progress on mine. Matching length was ok; it was height that was off. And why have recessed but still blanked off cabin windows?

The decal kit from Vintage Flyer has the cabin windows. Current struggle is that the wings are from a B-17C and I have to rebuild the lower halves of the nacelles to remove the turbos.

I envy you, Don.

Bill

I have one of these so I'm watch'n you.  But then I would anyway.

My take on 1/72 is the Airmodel fuselage with Academy wings, and I want to do the early version.

Hi Bill;

    Hey,Gotta ask you a question. Is that plane and upsized and engined version of the C-46?

Not Bill, but I'll answer anyway.  Nope.  No connection, and it came slightly before the C-46.

Oh:

   I guess they did have four engined transports at the time. Okay,I'll go along wid dat! To answer another question that was brought up though. Revell used to do a lot of their airliners with depressions where the windows were. Never understood it then, Still don't .

Tanker-Builder

Hi Bill;

    Hey,Gotta ask you a question. Is that plane and upsized and engined version of the C-46?

 

At a guess without looking it up, the Commando with two R 2600s probably had about as much power as the 307 with four 1820s.

Howard Hughes turned one into a house boat. Weird guy. Tanks weren't you there at a party with Lana Turner?

Got a nice Alclad finish, got the wings attached to the fuselage, and model is on its gears now.  Also started decals- just a couple, to ensure the sheet is okay.  I duplicate all decals so I have spares in case I screw up one.

They are working fine except for one I screwed up.

Here is the Alclad work.

I have the left engines on the wing now.  I also unmasked the windows and windscreen, with great trepedation, and found they were fine- a relief.

Oh My!

 That is one great looking  bird Don!

Oh Bill:

 You're not supposed to tell all my secrets! LOL.LOL.

Nice metal work, Don.

I'm embarrassed!  Apparently I forgot to save some editing I made on the decals.  I had decided to start decalling the right side first.  Turns out the correct font for the right side was not on the sheet.  The lettering on the name leans the other way on the right side and so the image I started with was okay for the left side.  I had fixed that, but had not notice the same thing for the logos and their text.

 I found it should be a mirror image of the left side (with the letters reversed, of course).  Spent yesterday editing the decal sheet.  Printed it out yesterday, but the ink needs to dry for three days before I can coat the new sheet.  In the meantime I will do the left side first :-)

Don't reverse the map, LOL!

Yep, caught that.  Copied the globe first and pasted it in an empty spot.  Then mirrored the whole logo and pasted the globe back in.  Did the PAA letters seperately.

Interesting process. I need to learn a graphics program.

I pulled out the big binder of old decal remnants and found a PAA set for the 1/72 B 377.

Those winged globes were just a little different. PAA is inside the wing, and the globe view is more from the north pole than equatorial.

Look forward to her all dressed up.

Funny you got NC 19903.

Bill

GMorrison

Interesting process. I need to learn a graphics program.

I pulled out the big binder of old decal remnants and found a PAA set for the 1/72 B 377.

Those winged globes were just a little different. PAA is inside the wing, and the globe view is more from the north pole than equatorial.

Look forward to her all dressed up.

Funny you got NC 19903.

 

 

Bill

 

I found the right logo by google-ing panam logo with an image search.

I have lots of pictures of the Smithsonian plane so I saw the reg numbers in all those photos.  I wanted to do that specific plane.  I would be happy to send anyone who wants to build that plane the image of my decals.

Nice metallic work, Don. Looking really nice so far. I've seen teh 307 at Udvar-Hazy...she is most certainly a beautiful lady, nicely shined and resotred for posterity. Looks like you're representing her beautifully. 

Paul

Beautiful paint job!  Always loved the look of this aircraft.  Btw, the plane acutally landed in Elliot Bay a stones throw from West Seattle and not Lake Washington.  As a WS resident it created quite a buzz or should I say glug.  :-) Can't wait to see the finished project.

Here is shot before mounting engines and gear.  These are done now, and most decals are on.  The masking is also off now and I was happy removing the tape to find no problem with the windows (I have used the window making stuff on the celestory windows).

The Peanut Gallery is pleased, Don!

I wonder where the 307 that crashed off Seattle eventually ended up. She sure was pretty. If I remember correctly she went down because of lack of fuel (improper attention to fuel level and not switching tanks).

She is at the Smithsonian.

GMorrison

She is at the Smithsonian.

 

That is the plane I used for reference and making the decals.

I am not happy with any of the shots I did on finished plane.  I will try to shoot better ones Friday (rain all day tomorrow, the weather people say).

Okay, I rescued this image with a little cleaning up.  If weather is bad tomorrow, I'll let this one stand as a final.

Nice build and nice photo.

Oh My!

 Don! She's Purty. Who's kit did you start with again?

Shiny, Don!

Did you guys all start on the same subject by coincidence, or do you have a little trio build going on?