Minicraft 1/144 Pan Am Stratocruiser

[kfutter]

OK, first actual modelling update - but only a minor one sadly. I've glued the wings together:



The starboard wing ended up with a slight under-bite at the leading edge:



I packed this out using stretched sprue from the kit, which turned out to be an interesting exercise! On the whole, this kit is a bit agricultural, and no more so than when it comes to the plastic used - it's kind of rubbery, and resisted being heat-stretched in the usual fashion. I went through several sections before producing a segment of stretched sprue I could actually use.

So, after sanding down all the joins and truing things up, I came to notice that the panel lines on this kit are quite pillowy, so I gave both sets of wings a good going-over with a couple of sanding sticks, and then reinstated some of the lost lines. Hopefully this will sharpen them up a bit, though I'm not too fussed if I'm honest. Here's what they look like now:



If I was really serious here, I'd sand them all out completely, and rescribe them all from scratch. Can't. Be. Bothered. The wings will need a lot more work though, before they're ready for paint.

More soon!

Kev

[kfutter]

I forgot to mention that I also thinned the trailing edges as best I could, as they were pretty chunky.

Kev

[hrtpaul]

Keep up the great work mate

[kfutter]

Keep up the great work mate

Thanks Paul. Nothing particularly interesting happening so far, but I find posting regular updates to build threads really helps keep my momentum going. Really got to get back to finishing a couple of reviews now though...

Kev

[tor lives]

Hi Kev,
She is looking good so far!!!
Your eye for detail and technical accuracy, given she is 1:144th, is impressive.
To that end, I have yet to find a conclusive photo of a Strat in the later Pan Am colours with the squared-off prop tips, (still looking however).
TOR

[Cap'n Wannabe]

I've found two photos of early Pan AM Stratocruisers with the squared off props.

[tor lives]

Not in the colour scheme you are building her in Kev, but none-the-less, a very interesting mini doco on her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v92U2F9gbUo
TOR

[kfutter]

Not in the colour scheme you are building her in Kev, but none-the-less, a very interesting mini doco on her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v92U2F9gbUo
TOR

Thanks Ray - that certainly was interesting! Here's what an LSP member was able to dig up for me, regarding liveries and prop types:

If the Aircraft was originally purchased by PanAm, it carries a 16'6" diameter Hamilton-Standard prop with square tips. These are:

N1022V Clipper Nightingale

N1023V Clipper America, Clipper Golden Gate

N1024V Clipper America, Clipper Cathay, Clipper Bald Eagle

N1025V Clipper America, Clipper Celestial, Clipper Rainbow

N1026V Clipper Tradewind, Clipper Malay

N1027V Clipper Friendship

N1028V Clipper Flying Cloud

N1029V Clipper Golden Eagle

N1030V Clipper America, Clipper Southern Cross, Clipper Reindeer

N1031V Clipper Mayflower, Clipper Donald McKay

N1032V Clipper United States

N1033V Clipper Seven Seas, Clipper Midnight Sun

N1034V Clipper Westward Ho

N1035V Clipper Flying Eagle

N1036V Clipper Washington

N1037V Clipper Fleetwing

N1038V Clipper Constitution, Clipper Hotspur

N1039V Clipper Good Hope

N1040V Clipper Invincible

N1041V Clipper Yankee, Clipper Northern Light

N1042V Clipper Polynesia, Clipper Morningstar

Furthermore, after the aquisition of American Overseas Airlines, a number of their Stratocruisers went into PanAm's inventory:

N90941 Clipper America

N90942 Clipper Glory of the Skies

N90943 Clipper Sovereign of the Skies

N90944 Clipper Romance of the Skies

N90945 Clipper Monarch of the Skies

N90946 Clipper Queen of the Skies

N90947 Clipper Queen of the Pacific, Clipper Good Hope

N90948 Clipper Mandarin, Clipper Eclipse

These ex-AOA aircraft were all fitted with 16'8" diameter Curtiss Electric props with rounded tips.

While the military C-97 usually had bare hubs, all Stratocruisers had spinners fitted (I seem to remember that Minicraft added them to the kit but maybe I got that mixed up with some other kit)

I can at least now pick an aircraft that features the correct propellers. I'll still have to come up with some spinners somehow, though.

Kev

[kfutter]

OK, time for an update with some actual modelling in it. I've started added the engine nacelles to the wings. These actually don't fit all that convincingly:



After gluing the two halves together and letting them set for a day, I started by gluing the rear of each nacelle into position and allowing it develop a firm bond for a few hours:



You can see the effect this has up front! So the next step is to clamp and glue this end, using Tamiya Extra Thin as my weapon of choice. They now fit about as well as they can:



I scraped the seams up the front with a curved blade until they were level, and then gave them a working over with a Flory Models skinny sanding sponge (the blue one). After that, I used some Vallejo Plastic Putty to fill the gap; this stuff can be applied and then the excess wiped away with a damp finger or cotton but. This leaves a smooth join with little need for sanding:



It still looks a bit untidy at the moment, but with a bit of spit'n'polish, and a few coats of Mr. Surfacer, it'll look just fine.

The next step was to start working on the inboard nacelles. These are slightly more complicated, as they house the main landing gear bays. They also fit about as well as the outboard ones. Due to the inherent weakness caused by the wheel bay cutouts, I decided to glue the two sets together while test-fitted to each wing. This way, I could be sure that they would still line up properly when the time came to fit them permanently:



I'll have some nasty open spaces front and rear, though:





I'm planning to block those off with some styrene bulkheads.

While waiting for all that glue to cure, I started work on removing the resin engines from their large backing sheet:



Halfway there! The first one I did came out a little wobbly, thanks to some less-than-straight cutting on my part. Still, a test-fit showed that it will still look OK, so no harm done. I'll be much more careful with the remainder! Earlier, I also did a quick test-fit of the two wings to each other:



Not bad, and the resultant dihedral looks pretty good. Of course, getting all those tabs to intersect correctly inside the model is a whole different ball game, but I think I can handle it.

Thanks as always for looking in!

Kev

[hrtpaul]

Nice work there Kev. Man that's an awesome list of aircraft to choose from. Keep up the great work