1/120 FC-47D Puff, the Mighty Gunship

[Raja Ahsani]

Hello Gentlemen, fellow papermodelers

While working on V2B's tail section, i also worked on another model for the weekend
I present, our old friend from the land of Honah Lee, Puff!






The aircraft on which the “Puff” nickname was first carried was 43-48579, one of a trio of original FC-47D’s operated by the 1st ACS. This aircraft was built during World War II as a C-47B-5-DK. The aircraft was later modified to C-47D standards (its superchargers having been removed). The conversion was done by Air International, Inc. in Miami, to a FC-47D standard. When 43-48579 was assigned to the 1st ACS, this airframe was a mail courier aircraft (in early 1964) and initially maintained its gloss white upper fuselage with natural metal finish on the rest of the airframe.

Original by TSMC, i repainted and modified it to FC/AC-47D standard, starting from open cargo door with interior, SUU-11A/A gun pod on makeshift mount, wide array of antennae and other little details that matter

[Raja Ahsani]

First thing to do is repaint the C-47 model from TSMC, since the pages are in Bitmap so i use GIMP instead of Inkscape
As base i use the 'Sister Ann' model for its minimal amount of marking and overall grey paint. I erased all of the marking and 'rescribed' the panel lines and rivets.
the white upper fuse is achieved by increasing the brightness and contrast of the upper fuse and V stab area, similar (but inverted) process also used for the dark grey nose and cowling.



After all colour adjustment is finished, now time for applying the markings. Roundels, Nose arts, and other details is applied using inkscape
Here's the final part sheets

[Yeti]

That's an amazing build and repaint...I think you have every last revit!!!

[Jan Kytop]

Very impressive work and good idea in the choice of the model. Superb model.
Congrats.

[Raja Ahsani]

Thanks Jan and Yeti, i appreciate your comments

Build started with fuselage, i had merged the two fuselage halves with paint earlier (thanks to Yoav who had pointed this out on my F-4 build), having one less seam in the finished model is quite nice

I recommend starting from the rear then gradually work forward,
As you can see i also backprinted the fuselage with olive drab




Interior comprised of three parts: rear former, middle former and the floor, all but rear former painted olive drab



After all interior is glued to their respective place, fuselage can now be closed, the astro dome made from bead is also can be attached now

Now this is the tricky part, attaching the mid fuse longitudinal former, care should be taken to avoid fuselage twisting and warping

[Raja Ahsani]

Now time to attach the stabilizers, its very straightforward, the usual tail fin drill
The tail wheel attachment is basically truncated cone recessed into the fuselage, if you have sharp blade and pointy scissors, it's better to cut the recess after closing the rear fuselage



The wings of C-47/DC-3/R4D comprised of straight inboard piece and tapered and dihedraled outboard piece, and the model replicates it accurately, it has two slots on the leading edge for wheel well attachment

Wing spar is actually meant to be shaped like I-beam, but i built it as a box, i don't really know the science behind this but box shaped spar somehow had better structural integrity than I-beam spar (given both made out of same paper and not reinforced by cardboard)



Wheel well shape is slightly complicated, make sure you read the instruction before building. the well should be fit snugly on the wing slot



Next is engine nacelle, if you glued the well correctly you wouldn't have any trouble here, it fits around the well nicely

[Raja Ahsani]

Now what left is just smaller part of the fuselage like canopy and nose cap
they should be burnished to give rounded finish
for the nose cap i mounted it on a bead with slightly smaller size to make it more rounder



With everything finished, the airframe is ready for the first round of gloss spray



Just need to attach detailing parts such as the gun pod



Thank you for visiting Gentlemen, i hope you like the build
See ya on the V2B thread

[YOAVHOZMI]

what a wonderful work you did on that beautiful bird...like it very much.

YOAV

[Raja Ahsani]

Originally Posted by YOAVHOZMI

what a wonderful work you did on that beautiful bird...like it very much.

YOAV

Thank you Yoav, much appreciated

[MacSongLi]

WOW, phenomenal work Raja. I love the detailing.

Gary