KLM DC-4/C-54 (Papertrade 1:50)

[yankeekilo]

I'll put this one together

[scon10]

They were fabric covered, see the dicussion in PPRN and Airvector:


From Professional pilots Rumour Network

Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 1



DC-3 and DC-4 Fabric Elevators etc...
I'm a former DC-3 and DC-4 captain for Millardair in Toronto and I saw this question about fabric control services and thought I'd help you out.

The elevators were heavy and lacked hydraulic assist thereby making control inputs heavy. In the DC-4 as an example, the fabric elevator combined
with a counter weight spring aided the pilot in pulling back on the yoke.



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1st Mar 2018, 22:00
#15 (permalink)

tonytales

Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado USA
Age: 87
Posts: 189



The DC-4/6/7 and Constellations all had fabric covered rudders. During heavy maintenance checks a fabric tester was used to determine if it had deteriorated. The dope that had been applied would dry and crack but a "rejuvenator" could be applied that softened it and extended its life. Aside from that we had very little trouble with fabric covering, at least in my experience.

Some of the radar Constellations had their center rudder which lived aft of the radome on top, fixed (deactivated) in place in place and metal covered. Apparently the two outboard fins and rudders were sufficient.
Fabric covered controls were definitely lighter than metal covered ones. The higher speed of turbine aircraft ended their use on transports.











From airvectors:


The wings had three spars, a dihedral, and were of tapered planform; each wing had a one-piece single-slotted flap inboard and an aileron outboard, with a trim tab on the right aileron. Tail flight controls were conventional, elevators and rudder, with the tailfin featuring a forward fin fillet and the rudder featuring a trim tab. Although the wing had all-metal flight control surfaces, the tail surfaces had metal frames with fabric covering. Most photos of C-54s show them to have leading-edge pneumatic de-icing boots, but some photos don't show the boots; it is unclear which production had them and which did not.











By the way, the KLM logo in the white part of the rudder was later forbidden by the Minister of the Interior, on the grounds, that you are not allowed to modify the Dutch flag..... So they moved it to the fin.

[herky]

Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker

Latest news: Eduardo barriga Caro is also making good progress with Avianca version!

question . will this only be sold as printed model or will their be option to buy it as download

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Originally Posted by herky

question . will this only be sold as printed model or will their be option to buy it as download

Avianca and Santa Fé Skyway will just be Print-Your-Own versions. Only KLM and Spirit of Freedom will come ready printed, but also as PYO - as a service to overseas customers, to save exorbitant postage.
Reservations for the printed versions are very welcome - they will help me decide on numbers to be printed! Please mail me : da.denbakker(at)planet.nl.

[herky]

Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker

Avianca and Santa Fé Skyway will just be Print-Your-Own versions. Only KLM and Spirit of Freedom will come ready printed, but also as PYO - as a service to overseas customers, to save exorbitant postage.
Reservations for the printed versions are very welcome - they will help me decide on numbers to be printed! Please mail me : da.denbakker(at)planet.nl.

thanks for that info

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Paul Paymans just sent me these pictures 0f his finished nose section of the Spirit of Freedom. I keep having mental pictures of WWII aircraft factories! Found this on Google, dated 1939, probably Boeings.

[birder]

Interesting plane and a nicely worked out kit it looks like. Eric were you tempted to make transparent cockpit windows? Looking forward to more….

[Erik Zwaan]

Interesting discussion guys, thanks for your contributions and continued interest! Isaac, I put a weight of almost 60 grams in the nose and everytime when I hold the central fuselage-nose section in my hands, I'm afraid to drop it as it will certainly land nose down with major damage... I'm confident it will be enough, otherwise there's still the balance rod to use at the tail section.

Vertical stabilizer is ready now, which took a bit of trimming at the bottom to place exactly vertical on the empennage. Used my simple visual reference points again and it looks okay. Also installed the beacon light on top.

The vertical stabilizer consists of two halves and for a nicer look after gluing both sides together I used a kind of water soluble putty (in fact bison "montage kit") to close gaps and the central gluing seam. Then I painted the entire anti-icing boot with Tamiya rubber black. As you may notice, I applied small corrections with thin straps of paper to disguise larger gaps between stabilizer and empennage.

The design of this part of the model is downright ingenious towards accurate representation of the various complex concave and convex shapes, and consequently demands accurate work by the builder.

Finally the eye-catching red-white-blue rudder in place and a few segments of the aft fuselage. Again I laminated the inside of the fuselage sections with an additional layer of 200 grams paper. Due to the large size of the model, this extra work is really recommended.
Through the holes in the formers a longitudinal paper tube will run from cockpit to tail to reinforce the overall fuselage. More about this to follow.

Next will be joining this part of the model with the main fuselage section, and to close the door .


Erik

[smithdr]

Top notch work, Erik! I really like the smooth curves you've done...Dan

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Erik and our second test builder Paul Paymans would seem to be working in tandem: Paul just sent me his pictures of the tail of the Spirit of Freedom.