Today, exactly on D-Day, I have finished my Dakota Skytrain.
It is my tribute to all the Allied soldiers that braught war back to Hitler's Festung Europa.



D-DAY / DAKOTA NIGHT !

































Cheers, Guy.

Very nice Guy, Very nice. That's the second one of these I have seen this year. Saw one in person at my local show in March. Well done.

Guy!

Very Nice!
The pics are just Waaoow!
I really like it. Great model and great tribute you've done.

congratulation my friend.

that's a very nice model built your have been doing Guy, I like it, great action!

A great tribute. The model looks brilliant and the action exciting! If only there was a way to hide the support stands...

Well done mate, you should send this to Aeroscale as a feature article or at least a photo feature.

Chas

James : thank you, I have always loved this airplane.
The D-Day group build on modelbouw@be gave me a reason to finally make a project of it.

Alexandre : it was a fun and relaxed build. Now I can jump out of my C-47, straight into my cork tiles to continue my Wilkommen stuff. Thank you Alexandre, most appreciated as always !

JBA, thank you, I have to tell you that I wasn't completely satisfied about the flak clouds, but I reworked them so now I can sleep again . Pics follow.

Hey Chas, thank you too my friend, I know, the support stands, how on earth can I do better ?
I thought about transparent stands, but they shine so bright in the light, and there are shadow lines in them too.

As I said to JBA, I reworked the position of the flak bursts. Here are the final pics :












Cheers guys ! G.

Hi Guy. Im not a wingy fan, but this is a very cool aircraft. Looks great. Personally I would lose the flak clouds completly .... they left me wondering what they were ... and IMO only detract from the aircraft. Love the propellers in motion!

Hello Frank, yes...the flak clouds, I know...

I was so impressed when I watched Band Of Brothers a couple of years ago : episode two, during the D-Day landings. The squadron of C-47's flying and holding the formation between the bursting flak grenades, what a magnificent moment !

I can remove them easily, but then I loose a bit of action, it's hard to decide what to do.
If there's a better way to make the flak clouds... I'm looking forward to it and replace them by better ones.

Thank you Frank, most appreciated !


G.

Super cool Dakota! Great job, Guy.I'm a big fan of props in motion and yours are superb. I don't think there is aperfect way to support 'in flight' AC. I'm reluctantly on Frank's track about the flak clouds, love the idea-butj ust no real good way to pull it off in 3D scale.
Cheers!
Rick

I think the flak clouds add a lot to the scene. The bottom burst looks spot on (it looks like it is "bursting"). The top one is not so good (looks more like a ball).

If you can make the top cloud look more like it is "bursting", it would look so much better!

Also, you could try add a little flash with some yellow/orange paint, and maybe some grey smoke? Just an idea...

Chas

Hey guys, thank you for your opinions, they're very interesting and they made me think about what to do next. I have decided to remove the flak bursts/clouds. I will look for a suitable background photo, depicting a formation of C-47's in the sky, under fire by flak.

I'll show the final results.

G.

Wow what a scene, well done mate, an another good scene from band of brothers is at the end of episode 1 when the C47's are crossing the channel with the invasion fleet steaming below, as for the flak, it looks alrite to me, prehapes if could suspend the C47 so that its wings are tipped as the pilot battle to keep the aircaft level, only thought

Looks good, nice idea.

Hi ya Guy
A very nice build.
Very reminisent of the opening to day of days from Band of Brothers

Chris

Very nice, Guy. Congratulations!
What a great way to honor the Pilots and Paratroopers who flew the planes and jumped into Normandy 65 years ago.
I'm really an armor fan but I do appreciate a great build.....and this is a great build.

Jeff

Guys, your comments make me feel so good today ! I'm very, very pleased. Thank you for thinking with me about other ways to make it more interesting to look at.

Many people liked the idea of the flak explosions, others told me they were a good try, but nothing more. So I finally decided to remove these cloud-effects.

The only minor thing about it is : now I lost the Band Of Brothers opening scene !

But I will try to find a good picture of flak bursts to put in the back ground of the display.

I made a name plate to finish the display too.











Cheers, Guy.

Guy,

That's a fantastic piece of work. The rotating props effect is just magnificent.

- Steve

Nice job Guy. The C-47 is one of my favorites. Is this Italeri's 1/72 C-47? If so, how was it to build? One idea that might work to hide the flak bursts a bit would be to mount them on lengths of clear styrene rod. You might be able to do the same with the plane as well. Just a thought.

Brian

I love, I find it very original.
share a taste for the work coming out of the ordinary.
some time to make a similar work and share it if only to send you some pictures









saludos y congratulations
Domi

Steve, thank you, it is something different for a change. It was new to me, to present an airplane this way, and btw. it is only my second plane I've ever made.

Brian, thank you, it is the Italeri 1/72 kit indeed. I didn't have many problems while assembling but the instruction sheet was not clear enough : different options are possible but this was kept very vague. No major fit problems, but the front window of the cockpit was a tricky one. I made a whole new one for better result.

Domi, thank you for the additional pics of your work. Magnificent job you've done on this plane.

Cheers ! G.

Guy-- as usual, great workmanship. Love the job you did. One recommendation, you should remove the jump door on the left side of the aircraft. They were removed prior to flight. Also, if you do so, place some tape on the rear hinges. This was done to preclude the static line from catching on them during the jump.
Well done
DJ

DJ, I thank you for your advice on removing the door. I know they were removed before the jump, but the interior details were completely left aside by Italeri and I wanted to move on, and there was a deadline too. But I'm sure of one thing : this is my first, but not the last C-47 I will build ! And the next one will show US paratroopers ready to jump and kick some German butt in Normandy or Holland.

Cheers Guy.