Dave Ward's Revell/ICM 1/48 Beech C-45F Expeditor

[Dave Ward]

Feeling a need for a bit of a break, I've been away from the bench for a while. I don't feel like messing with the unfinished Gangut ( yet ), so I looked in the stash for something not too complicated, and I came up with this
Revell reboxing of ICM's 2014 Beech C-45F
A few sprue & detail shots

Nice clean mouldings, no flash. One piece wings will take care of dihedral, but may give a nasty joint to clear up around the engine cowlings.
Seats, in several pieces for each, and decals for belts - not sure about how much will be seen!

Single piece engines
Control panel - again not sure how much will be seen......................
Choice of two decal sets, a RN version from Malta in 1949, and a USAF from 1948. Only difference, colour wise is that the USAF version has yellow cowls - which I think I'll go for.
An all metal finish is always a challenge!
Dave

 

[minitnkr]

Made me think of the "Sky King" tv series, although that private plane was all white. PaulE

 

[PaulTRose]

this looks interesting, dont think ive seen one of these before, let alone one built

 

[Lee Drennen]

Very nice Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Revell seem to have a habit of buying small batches from ICM & putting them out reboxed, often at a lesser cost than the original maker! I've picked up quite a few ICM beauties this way, the best being the 1/48 Mig-25RBT, which I blogged recently. - I have a 1/48 Dornier Do215B-5, by ICM, reboxed by Revell lurking in the stash - there are others too! You have to be quick, though, they don't seem to be on sale for long.
Dave

 

[boatman]

Hi Dave this should be a nice build an it makes me think of the plane in a mad mad mad world where mickey roony couldn't land the plane as pilot was drunk a very funny film. Anyway lookin forward to the build chris

 

[Jakko]

An all metal finish is always a challenge!

Is it bare metal, or painted a metallic colour? The latter is much easier

 

[Dave Ward]

New scalpel blade in, and construction starts. I decided to start with the undercarriage - it looked the trickiest. It was!, not helped by an error in the instructions.
Same numbers for the bottom two parts! Took a bit of figuring out, and I'm still not sure I've got the right parts in the right places, but it looks OK, if a bit fragile. I'll let it dry overnight, then maybe strengthen it with some CA

I think it was painted - the control surfaces were fabric coated - so it wasn't of an 'all metal' construction
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

A little more assembly - I'll have to get the primer out, before the next stage - I'll have to detail paint the engines, before sandwiching everything between the wing halves

I'll leave the mould seam on the engine, it'll be invisible when assembled.
Sadly, when you look from the underneath - even without the main undercarriage leg & doors - not a lot to be seen!

Dave

 

[boatman]

Hi Dave very neat build comin on great an there are no finger tip glue marks as I some times have on some of my builds as some times im in a hurry to join bits togeather hence glue marks but I gently sand them away with fine sand paper as im used to building a lot bigger models an it does not show chris

 

[Fernando N]

Nice start Dave, as I have this one too in the stash I'll follow along to see how you tackle it.

 

[Dave Ward]

I use Revell Contacta - with the fine metal tube, and Tamiya Extra Thin, with its' fine brush applicator - to put the glue where it's needed! Any mistakes, I let dry, and scrape off with a scalpel blade.
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Added bulkheads to fuselage, assembled all the seats - 5 x passenger ( 3 parts ), 2 x pilots (5 parts ), a bit over engineered! Added to the upper wing, then primed as much as I can at the moment....................


The seats have decals for belts, lap for passengers, full harness for pilots, & the panel has a large decal...........

I have to decide what colour to paint the interior - Revell have their usual crappy 'mix' instructions using their paint. I think that they have things wrong, they say the interior was similar to yellow zinc chromate, and the u/c bays and doors were grey-green. I would think it was the other way round! I've looked for pictures on the 'net, but can only find modernised & refurbished interiors ( giveaways are fancier seats! )
Fit so far has been very good, the instructions need careful study, as numbers are wrong, and some things are missed, but nothing a little commonsense can't solve
Dave

 

[Lee Drennen]

Looking good Dave wonder what those seat belts are going to look like are you going to use them?

 

[Dave Ward]

Lee,
oh yes - but I don't think they are going to be visible, when it's all closed up
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Decals added to instrument panel
And the seat belt decals - not very good, but will only be vaguely seen
The wings are joined, sandwiching the engines - clean up needed on the cowling sides
The fuselage joined, and the tailplane added - The seams need to be really flattened, as the overall silver will show up any flaws.
I think I'm going to finish the wings & fuselage as much as I can before joining, leaving only 2 real joints on the underside to clean up - this will include the top coat, as far as possible. This will allow me to fit the windows after the silver finish, without any tricky masking.
Dave

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looks like you're having fun with this Dave.

 

[papa 695]

Just see this one Dave, it looks a nice kit and a great start.

 

[yak face]

Nice work dave , aircraft like this are always tricky when it comes to the glazing , especially if the windows are fitted from the outside , difficult to get a seamless joint, looking forward to the next instalment , cheers tony

 

[boatman]

Hello dave the build is comin on fine an the detail is great I know at the build 's end most detail will not be seen but at least you know its in there great work an I will be following this build chris