I've driven past the National Steam Centre on many occasions, but other the very visible drag-line crane, was unaware of the extent of the collection hidden within the many sheds dotted around the site. Therefore when an add appeared for their annual 'Picnic' day, which happened to coincide with one of my a club meeting days, I knew I'd have the day to myself, plus a brief window of opportunity of about two hours to go and have a look.
So with an early start I arrived as the gates opened to the public and armed with my trustee Nikon set about capturing some of the interesting items on site, as well as some of the historic vehicles that also attended the day. Entry for the day was free - with a donation being optional - and for anyone interested in all things mechanical it is definitely a place of interest and an event worth attending.
Thanks to the TV series 'Ice Pilots' I've become a real fan of the C-46 Commando, so when Platz released their 1/144 scale kit of the subject, plus their photo etch upgrade set, it was a no-brainer and I just had to have one of each. Originally I'd wanted to do mine in a 'Buffalo Airways' scheme, but as after market decals for this scheme in this scale are unavailable I had to look at other options, which resulted in the purchase of a second C-46 kit and etch set.
Why? Well I discovered Draw Decals who produce several schemes for C-46's in 1/144 scale and the ones that really caught my eye were those for the 'Everts Air Cargo' aircraft which all carried nose art.
So with a firm idea of the exactly which two aircraft I was going to build - 'Salmon Ella' and 'Dumbo' - it was time to crack open the boxes, etch sets and get started. Assembly of the two kits, including photo etch additions which are a nice touch, took about two weeks and only required some minor cleanup along the wing and fuselage joins. I also needed to change the propellers as the Everts aircraft are all fitted with 3 bladed DC-4/C-54 units and I sourced these from a Minicraft donor kit, which I'd bought at a swap and sell.
Before priming both models were given a quick wash, canopies masked and then a coat of Tamiya Surface Primer (L) was applied. Once dry one model was sprayed with Games Workshop Mithril Silver overall, thinned with Tamiya X-20A thinners, whilst the other was sprayed with Gunze Mr Color White (1) on the fuselage top surface, Phithalo Cyanne Blue (322) on the fin and Light Grey (338) over the remainder of the model, all of which were thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner. The exhaust efflux areas and main undercarriage doors were then sprayed with Games Workshop Boltgun Metal.
Whilst looking at various photos of these aircraft I also noticed that the walkways areas on the wings of both aircraft were different and bore no resembles to the decals supplied in the kits. I therefore had to mask these and then spray them with Gunze Flat Black (H12).
Both models were then sprayed with Future in preparation for decaling. Unfortunately the decals containing multiple colours were somewhat problematic as they were quite thick, seemed impervious to Micro Sol and when attempts were made to get them to conform to anything other than a flat surface, they tended to crack and chip. Once applied the decals were then sealed with another coat of Future prior to the application of some weathering.
The weathering on the Silver C-46 consisted of an overall wash AK Interactive Dark Brown, whilst on the White and Grey C-46 it was used to merely enhance particular areas as the aircraft was kept reasonably clean. The exhaust stain were applied using a heavily diluted mix of Gunze Soot (H343).
Platz have produced yet another great kit with the C-46, as they are easy to build, well detailed and are a nice break from the more demanding models that I have been building of late.
