DC 3 Dakota

[David Jones]

The centre section is now ready for mounting in the fuselage, so it was put to one side again and the fuselage is now back on the bench. I’ve already added some sheeting and, before I go any further, I need to cater for the wing mounting points and the plywood battery box.

The battery box was made up, and I cut a couple of holes in the top to allow the battery leads to exit if required. It was then glued in place. As far as the wing mounts go, I don’t like the idea of hardwood blocks drilled and tapped as stated on the plan. I decided to add 1/8” ply doublers to the wing seats and fitted 1/4” ply cross members to take the four captive nuts that will pick up the M6 wing mounting bolts.

That’s as far as I’ve got to date, I’ll continue with the fuse sheeting and I’ll add the next update once the wing and tail plane have been mounted. (Providing I survive Christmas dinner).

[Mike altham]

Hi Dave

What scheme were you doing as I got a load of pics of the L4 one when I went down to dunfold.

That one down there had split centre flaps.

Mike

[David Jones]

Hi Mike, It's the L4 scheme I'm doing, I want it to imitate the one in "Band of Brothers". I know about the split centre flaps and thats the way I'm going to install them. When you get chance, can you e mail the photos you took for me at Cosford, and any other shots you may have taken of the L4. Cheers, Dave Jones.

[Mike altham]

Hi Dave
Yep its the one with L4 on the side of the nose and I think he said its still in the scheme they used to film band of brothers

Hope you had a good Xmas and have a good new year

Mike

[David Jones]

Cheers Mike. It was blowing a gale and chucking it down yesterday (Sat), but the lads came round and helped me fit the wing to the now half sheeted fuselage. For good measure (and the camera) I offered up the tail plane to see how it would eventually sit. We were all well pleased with the results so, after a couple of photographs it was time for a celebratory pint. I'll continue to crack on sheeting the fuselage then, once the tail plane has been attached, only the fin and rudder will need building and the wooden structure will be complete.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Took a lot of lining up, very satisfying though, talk about measure twenty times, and drill once, thats the trouble with 3 engineers in the room, 2 of them full size plane engineers, a celebratory pint was in order, dont know about the other three each though?

[Scott Douglas]

Lovely curtains

In deference to the pissed.. the model looks amazing

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Its a nice build, when all was worked out, the back end to the wing tips was close enough, and the centres of the nacelles to the centre of the fuselage where within 1mm of each other, pretty slick

[David Jones]

Using the main wing as a reference point, I next fitted the tail plane to the fuselage. Servo leads for the elevators, rudder and tail wheel were made up and installed. Platforms for the receivers were fitted either side of the battery box and a satellite receiver was installed towards the rear of the fuselage, the second satellite will be installed forwards, on the back of the cockpit former.

[David Jones]

I started to add the top stringers and realised that I needed to build and fit the fin before I could continue with the fuselage sheeting. The fin and rudder were made up as per the plan, apart from the fact that I was installing the rudder servo actually in the fin, the rudder being driven by a 3mm push rod. The fin was then installed, checked for alignment and glued in position.

[David Jones]

The remainder of the stringers were then added and the fuselage sheeting completed.

[David Jones]

The tail cone and dorsal fin were then made up from soft balsa and the elevator and rudder hinge points were tidied up. The control surfaces were then blended in with the tail cone, which meant another photo opportunity.

[David Jones]

This all brought weekend around again and an excuse for the lads to come across and have a look. Because of the weather conditions, I couldn’t set it up outside, so I just managed to stand it on its feet in the living room, good job we don’t have a cat because there was no room left to swing it. After a good mulling over they gave it the thumbs up and then dragged me off to the pub. Next job will be a bit more shaping and blending in at the tail end and then I’ll tackle the wing root fairings.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

The day we drag you off to the pub would be a first, the big girl looked lovely, but that tailplane wing line up needs work, about 12 thou out was it? sloppy jonesey,

[Christopher Berry]

Looking very nice indeed. Follwing with great interest. I do like the Dak!

Have you weighed it yet? Any idea what the final weight is likely to be?

Chris

[David Jones]

No, not weighed it yet, but I expect it to come out between 50 and 60lbs, so it has been registered and inspected. I'm battleing on with the wing root fairings at the moment, tedious and time consuming but they have to be right. My intention is to display it at the Event City do in March, along with a Kerry Sterner 1/5th scale DH Vampire I built for a mate. Both models will be in their uncovered state. Dave Jones.

[Christopher Berry]

Thanks for that Dave. It certainly is a lot of plane. I shall look forward to the finished article.

[David Jones]

The wing root fairings proved to be a tricky task. I’ve done them before on other models and been quite satisfied with the results. However, I’ve never tackled fairings this big before and the compound curves were bit of a nightmare. I started off thinking I could make them up out of one sheet of 1/32” ply, big mistake, even after a good soaking I couldn’t get the wood to sit right. So I ended up doing them in pieces. The supplied ply seats were glued to the fuselage, then the centre section was covered with grease proof paper and attached to the fuse. I made up thin card templates for each piece and then cut the wood to shape and gave it a good soaking to make it as pliable as possible before gluing it in place. The joints are a bit more pronounced than I would have liked, but they make natural panel/rivet lines as per the full size. Once glassed and painted I think they will look okay.

[David Jones]

It was then time to have a look at cutting the cowls to suit the engines.1/4” ply collars were made up and glued to the front of F1 to take the steel mounting brackets which were made up and screwed in place. The cowls were cut to fit round the engine and mounting holes were drilled. 3mm nuts will be soldered to the brackets in due course when the cowls will be fitted proper.

[David Jones]

After 400 hours work, this is pretty much the build completed now. I’m waiting for a break in the weather so I can assemble the model outdoors and take some decent photos of it. As soon as that happens, I’ll post them on this thread. In the meantime, I’m waiting to exhibit the model at the NME in a couple of weeks, then it will be handed over to Alan for glass clothing, and spraying in primer. I’ll then fit it out with engines, U/C and radio and get it’s proving flights done. Providing all is well, it will be stripped down again for detailing and finishing. I’ll post more pictures in due course.

Meanwhile, I’ve a B25 Mitchell to start building for Alan which should see me well into the summer.