Greatest plane of all time?

It could be! You could make a strong argument for the DC-3 being the greatest plane of all time, in that everything came together to make this almost accidental spin off of the Douglas Sleeper Transport the perfect universal civil transport at the end of the 1930s. Its impact was such that in only a very few years it was even being licence-built (or unlicenced!) in both the USSR and Japan. And the advent of the Second World War didn't dent its progress at all, because it proved vital to Allied success on every front, moving men and materials and, not least, dropping paratroopers. Surviving the war in such huge numbers, it became the backbone of small and medium sized airlines the world over. Examples are still flying today.

The model kit by Roden represents the DC-3 as flown by TWA in the late Thirties. In 1:144 scale it's naturally very simple; there's no interior detail, and I painted that black. The basic finish is all very shiny metal, and that came from a spray can, the only complications being the need to mask the windows, and then later to mask for the de-icing strips. There were one or two annoyances. One was finding that the canopy transparency, which included the cockpit roof, didn't exactly fit the fuselage, and with the polished aluminium finish the edge catches the light and shows up the discrepancy. Well, it's one of those things which bothers me the modeller more than anyone else, probably.

The other annoyance was that the decals, especially the straight fuselage lines, came apart in a major way, up to a dozen separate pieces on each side. Being straight, I managed to line them up, but this was a little beyond my personal level of enjoyable masochism. The end result is fine.

As you can see I've created a modest diorama. It's for wall hanging, alongside others I've already posted about, a series of 1930s civil aircraft. Up to now they've been flying boats, but the DC-3 is my first landplane in 1:144. I have one or two other kits of landplanes of the era lined up. These wall pieces take a little more time, regardless of size, because the diorama bases are much more involved (see previous posts of those flying boats for illustration), to include wires to hang them on. A further challenge with this one was that, being a landplane, I judged that I couldn't just glue the wheels to the base, so I carefully drilled into all three and inserted short pins, to attach the plane to the base more securely.

The remainder of the scene was made up with a few figures and a couple of appropriate vehicles. They're both resin products by Czech firm Brengun, but very different in nature. The Ford saloon is simply a single piece of resin. I spent time on giving it - I felt - a decent paint job, but that was it. The Texaco Doodlebug tanker is a full on kit, with a detailed interior and tiny(!!!) PE parts. I did give up on one or two - there was no way I could have manipulated the gear lever into place, where anyway it would be impossible to see. Never mind, it's a really cute little kit and fits in well - it even features in the background of the artwork on the Roden box.

So, happy and satisfied to have completed this one. And the group of 1:144 models as a whole is looking better and better. I just wish there'd been more variety and number of kits to choose from, but the fact is that civilian aircraft of the inter-war period are under-served by kit makers and probably always will be.