Here’s a few pics of a
Williams Brothers 1:72 C-46F that I modified to an E model by the addition of a
stepped windshield instead of the greenhouse cockpit. I built the model in the
normal fashion, except I cut away the greenhouse windows, down to the bottom of
lower window line. I glued a block of balsa wood in place, then whittled and
sanded away everything that didn’t look like an E model nose. I cut away a
slice equal to the height of the new windshield and removed it. The top of my
block now became the cockpit roof and, with more sanding and shaping, the bottom
part became the new nose. I added some scrap metal for windshield posts and two
pieces each of 1/32 clear acrylic for the windshield panels and the cockpit
sliding windows. I made a template for one cabin window, then used it to cut out
the rest of the cabin window openings.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Other minor mods were dropping
20 degrees of flap and cutting away and repositioning the flight controls.
The engines are from Engines & Things and the decals are from Whiskey Jack.
Their normal decals for the Nordair C-46 are for CF-NAE, but when I
explained what I wanted he threw in a set of registrations for FBJ. Of the 3000
or so C-46’s constructed, only 17 were E models.
FBJ was originally built for
the Chiang Kai-shek government, but when the Communists took over the airplane
was acquired by Slick Airways. It was imported into Canada where it flew for
Dorval Air Transport and Maritime Central Airways before being acquired by
Nordair. The airplane disappeared in June of 1966 while on a flight between
Montreal and Kuujjuaq, in Northern Quebec. It is presumed to have come apart in
the air while traversing a line of heavy thunderstorms. All that was found of it
were a few seat cushions on the shore of a lake.
Take care,
Jim Court
|