Ford Tri-Motor (Zorn - 1:33) in SCADTA colors

[Vermin_King]

Absolutely fantastic. Have you considered using LEDs to light the interior? To be able to see the fine detail after it is enclosed would be spectacular.

[glounsbury]

Yes,yes! Do the LED's, such great work deserves to be seen.

George

[Goncalo Mendes]

Originally Posted by Rubenandres77

The airplane is Ford Tri-Motor 5-AT-D (cn # 111) serving for the Colombian airline SCADTA with register number “C-61” and the name “Cartagena”. The model I will build represents the plane as it looked in the following photo:



Photo form: Ford_Trimotor_5_AT

As far as I know it is the only existing photo of the “Cartagena” on the web. On the background you can see Tri-Motor 5-AT-D-106 “Tarapaca” also from SCADTA with the wing cargo compartment open. You can also see the burnt remains of the fatal crash of Tri-Motor 5-AT-B-6 “F-31” from SACO. That SACO Tri-Motor is the same plane in which legendary tango singer Carlos Gardel died, so we know the photo was taken at Medellin the last week of June 1935.

Another photo, in floatplane configuration:

1941 Ford 4-AT Civil Aircraft Register-Colombia: C-66, Pato, Colombia | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Cumpliments,

G_Mendes

[milenio3]

Wow, Rubencito, you are aiming for a big goal with this airplane!

The paper roll!!! Now that's a detail all right!!

[larry2]

Wonderful work, Rubin. Certainly an inspiration to those of us who like the Fords to get off of the stick and build one.

[Zathros]

Ruben, everything you have has done looks perfect. You are well on you way to finishing this model off in a beautiful manner!

[gregbal]

Beautiful and inspiring work.

Greg

[isievert]

I love the towels!! too bad it won't be conspicuous once the passenger cabin is closed.

[Rubenandres77]

Peter: thank you I hope to keep the same level all through the build.



Vermin King, George,and Isievert: I haven't thought about LEDs, but even before starting this project I thought on something special to solve that... You'll see later when this is finished



Goncalo: There is always confusions when researching the Colombian early airplanes, because they used to changed names a lot in the 1920s and 1930s.

The seaplane of the Flickr link is Register "C-66", another Tri-Motor used by SCADTA. That seaplane can be seen in the colors of the transition between SCADTA and Avianca. The "C-66" seaplane was called "Cartago" when it first arrived to Colombia in 1936. Here's another photo of the same seaplane from your link, when it just arrived to Colombia:

Middle and South America -24- | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


In the photo I use for reference "Cartagena C-61" is a 5-AT-D model, while the "C-66" seaplane is a 5-AT-C. There are small differences between them.

I suppose "C-61" was retired in the late 30s, and his name was re-used in the C-66" seaplane of the same company. Actually I've found more names of Colombian Tri-Motors than the actual number of Tri-Motors that flew here.

In any case, researching the story of the planes, and learning new things is always one of the greatest things about modeling!




Gerardo: Muchas gracias por tus palabras. Vamos a ver qué tan lejos podemos llegar.



Larry: as I said above, this is a very friendly model. Building it has been a joyful experience so far. Sure you will enjoy it too!! What I fear is the engines, but we'll deal with that when time comes.



Zathros: It couldn't be less! I was eager to build this, and made the digital re-paint... so now I have to honor Peter's generosity properly


Gregbal: thanks for your words

[Rubenandres77]

Closing the roof is a bit tricky. Not difficult, but it requires certain care. The original instructions suggest gluing the arch flaps as the final step. I found it was easier for me not to follow the instructions this time. I glued first the vertical side flaps (A), and just after that I glued the arch flaps. I glued the side flaps (B) and the rear flap in the end. By doing this it was easier to glue and hold the arch flaps and curve the roof. The same applied for the smaller front ceiling (first glue the vertical flaps, then the arch flaps, and finally the side flaps).

Here’s a picture of the closing of the ceiling, and a photo of the interior of the fuselage once the roof is finished.




After the cabin is finished, work starts in the cockpit. You can follow the instructions step by step, or work each piece separately. In the end the result will be the same.

First, I went from this:


To this:



And from this:


To this:



I confess I didn’t like much my work with the pilot seats. Not clean at all, and pieces were damaged too much in handling.

The fit of the seats is very tight, and it is even more so because of the cardstock. I had to trim a bit here and there to adjust for the thickness of cardstock. So be patient dealing with the seats.

And don’t forget a useful trick to get the shape of the backs right: use a cotton tip slightly damped in water to wet the paper, and a small rod to torture the paper until it gets the proper curve.




It definitely was not my day when cutting. The pedals were not anywhere near accurate or clean:


So I hid my mistakes with some silver ink.



In my defense I can argue that with those pedals we are talking about 0.5mm cardstock frames. Something that is difficult for me.

One more thing about the pedals: the upper part must be folded thrice in order to make a spacer (1mm folds). That can be a nightmare with 0.27mm cardstock. I decided to add instead 3 layers of cardstock to get the thickness.


The body of the cockpit is not difficult at all, but you must remember that you may need to trim a bit here and there to get everything fit properly. And if at some points the instructions look a bit unclear, don't worry: use your modeling instinct



Here’s a photo of the cockpit bulkhead as seen by the passengers (including the second extinguisher):



And now we can take a look inside through the door window.



Hmm… the door opens to reveal more details, like the hydraulic brake lever made with the help of a pin, a drop of glue and black paint.


And here are two more views of the cockpit.




The first major step of the build is complete with the attachment of the cockpit to the cabin. After this, work will start on the exterior of the plane.







Macro photos and good lighting provide interesting and detailed views. However they also reveal all the mistakes not seen by the naked eye :(