Murph's Models Builds

[Butelczynski]

Yup, that's my small tribute to a great and almost forgotten film.Seiing it again pushed me to this DC-2.

[Butelczynski]

Beta build of C-46 Commando.

I thought lack of fuselage formers will be an issue but it wasn't.It falls together nicely and stays true to shape without a fuss.

I did lower fuselage first,upper fuselage parts were glued together into one long assembly with edges rounding in towards lower fuselage like a real plane.I didn't use tabs provided with model as they would be impossible to line up and insert all at the same time.They will come handy if you do one section at the time.

[Butelczynski]

And two more.

[Don Boose]

Great work on this classic airplane. As I have mentioned a couple of times elsewhere, I made two military parachute jumps from Republic of Korea Air Force C-46s at Han River Drop Zone No. 1 in 1971 and 1972, so it has a special place in my heart in addition to its rich history as a military and as a civil aircraft.

Don

[Butelczynski]

If you have any pictures, drawings or anything on how ROKAF Commandos were painted PM me . I have 2 pictures were captured a nose section and that's that. I would love to make one..

[Don Boose]

I wish I had images of the aircraft I jumped from (somewhere in the house are some images of me exiting the aircraft, but the plane is too small to make out markings). However, there is a ROKAF C-46 at the Republic of Korea War Memorial that is, as far as I know, in authentic markings. I haven't been able to pin down an image of the current appearance of that aircraft, but here are some images that show some variations (ROK Air Force vs Tae Han Kong Guki in Hangul, serial on wings or not):

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...222454789).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...223346496).jpg

Curtiss C-46 Commando Registry - A Warbirds Resource Group Site

The image below comes from Fine Scale Modeler (60th Anniversary Korean War Group Build- extended for the duration - FineScale Modeler - Essential magazine for scale model builders, model kit reviews, how-to scale modeling, and scale modeling products) and looks just like my 50-year-old memory.

Don

[Butelczynski]

I haven't seen those pictures-Thank you.Problem with Museum owned aircraft is that they are often painted with available paints and have very little in common with reality.However name of the museum is helpful-I'll see if I can find email and maybe they can help.

Anyone ever noticed just how hard it's to find info on aircraft from places like Korea,China,Taiwan,Laos etc?I've been in touch with someone from Taiwanese military and even he couldn't help me.No literature available.Very frustrating.

[murphyaa]

I was gonna try using Google Earth to get a top view of the ROKAF C-46 at the museum (if it's outside). I've done that a few times for planes I can't find a pic of top markings.

[RyanShort1]

Originally Posted by murphyaa

I was gonna try using Google Earth to get a top view of the ROKAF C-46 at the museum (if it's outside). I've done that a few times for planes I can't find a pic of top markings.

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=C46%20korean

https://www.flickr.com/photos/migr/23105844852/

Doesn't look like you can zoom in much further on either provider:

https://goo.gl/maps/JmME4Y6FSQs

https://binged.it/2Qfc3Z3

if Don Boose can remember any specific bases that the C-46s might have operated from it might help to search some different keywords to see if stuff that doesn't show up with simply inputting "C-46 Korea" might be found.

[Don Boose]

I am pretty sure that the C-46s that I jumped from in 1971-72 were based at Kimp'o (now Romanized as Gimpo), the old K-14 air base, although they might have operated from nearby Seoul Air Base (K-16), now known as Seongnam Air Base. Seongnam is now a special operations base, and, since I jumped with ROKA Special Forces, that could have been the location.

Sidebar: In 1971 and 72, I was a staff officer with the United Nations Command headquarters in Seoul and part of what I think was the smallest airborne unit in the world: the United Nations Command Unconventional Warfare Detachment (Provisional)(Airborne). The two of us wore on our left shoulders the United Nations emblem surmounted by an "Airborne" flash and both of us, along with a few members of the U.S. Army Special Operations unit in Korean and/or the 12th Psychological Operations Detachment, jumped once a month, usually Hollywood jums from UH-1H helicopters, but twice from C-46s along with troops of the ROKA Special Forces unit located near Seoul. The C-46 would take off from Kimp'o Air Field, circle to altitude, and then we jumped at Han River Drop Zone Number 1. Since we used MC-1-1 steerable parachutes, and the ROK SF troopers were jumping in non-maneuverable T-10s, we Yanks would sit cross-legged on the wooden deck of the aircraft next to the open rear doors so we could jump out first and get clear before the avalanche of ROK troopers piling out behind us. Nonetheless, on my last jump in 1972, I managed to tangle with one of the ROK troopers, but that is another story - if I can find the photos that my buddy, then-Major John Shalikashvili, took of the jump, I can show you an image of that half-century-ago aerial incident.

Back to the issue of bases, the major ROKAF transport unit, the 5th Tactical Airlift Wing, is currently based at Gimhae on the southeast coast. Gimhae was probably an air transport base when C-46s were in the ROKAF inventory (1950s to 70s).

Don