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Carvair, anyone?

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  • Member since
    April 2020
Carvair, anyone?
Posted by RickS on Monday, May 18, 2020 10:18 AM

I have a kit of the Carvair, a modified Douglas DC-4 used to ferry passengers across the channel in the early 60's.  I bought it off ebay because it is a unique and interesting subject.  Little did I know when I got the kit that I would actually lay eyes on the one remaining airworthy example in Gainesville, TX.  I don't know when I'll start the kit, but for now, here's an interesting bit about the airplane.  A google search will bring up a surprisingly large amount of info as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsD09gfahU0

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, May 18, 2020 10:35 AM

Would that be the Roden kit? Love to see it.

I'd forgotten about Freddie Laker, who was quite a character. Thanks for posting.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    March 2008
  • From: Cincinnati, Ohio USA
Posted by Drew Cook on Monday, May 18, 2020 12:36 PM

Didn't the movie "Goldfinger" (1964) have a scene in it where Goldfinger's 1937 Phantom III Rolls Royce was being loaded onto a Carvair at an English airport - with James Bond (Sean Connery) watching surreptitiously? 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, May 18, 2020 12:39 PM

I think it was a British aircraft. I'll look it up...

EDIT: you are correct!

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    April 2020
Posted by RickS on Monday, May 18, 2020 1:25 PM

GMorrison, it is indeed the Roden kit in 1:144 scale. I'm happy to oblige with pics!

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Monday, May 18, 2020 1:53 PM

I was familiar with the Car-vair, but sure didn't realize it was a modified DC-4.  Now that I look at it closely- sure!

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, May 18, 2020 1:55 PM

Redesigned vertical fin.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 8:51 AM

GMorrison

Redesigned vertical fin.

 

Might that be a DC-7 vertical empanage?  I guess the big bump in forward lateral area would require a bigger fin.

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    April 2020
Posted by RickS on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 9:38 AM

Don Stauffer

 

 
GMorrison

Redesigned vertical fin.

 

 

 

Might that be a DC-7 vertical empanage?  I guess the big bump in forward lateral area would require a bigger fin.

 

 

 

From the Wiki article, apparently the fin was a completely new design, although it needs a citation...

 

The conversion of the original aircraft entailed replacing the forward fuselage with one 8 feet 8 inches (2.64 m) longer, with a raised flightdeck in a bulbous "hump" (akin to the later Boeing 747) to allow a sideways hinged nose door. It also entailed more powerful wheel brakes and an enlarged tail, often thought to be a Douglas DC-7 unit, but actually a completely new design.[citation needed] The engines, four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasps, were unchanged.

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