Custom Built 1/72 United DC-6B

Hi all!!

This is going to be my first of many post on a Heller 1/72 DC-6B that I am building for a customer. The collector wants a late 60's United Airlines DC-6B in the last livery for that airline. The 1/72 Heller DC-6B gives me a little bit more room to fiddle with detail.

The fuselage is where I will start with.... I know yellow......Errrr.,.but plastic is plastic I guess. I went ahead and filled in all the passeger windows with the kits clear plastic parts and added some putty too. The collector wanted a opened entry-way for passengers, so I removed the main entrance door and from scratch made a small interior section. I also made the cockpit visable with the kits parts and some home made goodies too. The Clear plastic windscreen was masked and hopefully will look ok when the tape is removed......The Heller kit has some issues with the overall shape of the aft section of the fuselage. One is the verticle tall top is too short and angled too far forward and the belly of the aft fuselage is too thin. With the help of some styrene and putty I was able to correct these minor flaws. Before sealing up the fuselage for primer I added some weight to the nose.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on December 20, 2010 at 11:38pm

Here are some photos of the cockpit section and fuselage.

Next, I will be working on some real sweet looking after market resin engines made by Dana Kopher to replace the kits PW's.

Until then see ya!!!!

Brad

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Permalink Reply by Matt Whisenant on December 21, 2010 at 12:44pm

This is going to be a fantastic build Brad! I love the view inside the cabin! Can't wait to see more!

Matt

Permalink Reply by Ben Godlington on December 21, 2010 at 7:23am

The cockpits looking great, how big is this beast? Looking forward to seeing a full picture of it

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on December 26, 2010 at 9:01pm

Thanks Matt and Ben!!

Here are the resin engine replacements from Dana Kopher. I added open cowlings and tail pipes.

Permalink Reply by Matt Whisenant on December 26, 2010 at 9:41pm

Those look sweet! Its hard to believe what you can turn a simple piece of plastic into! I love the engines!

Matt

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on January 2, 2011 at 1:16am

Thanks Matt!

Ok, moved on to the fuselage and wing joining circus on the DC-6B. I had to break out the heavy duty 5min apoxy for this. After a few tense moments and words from the Christmas spirit the connection was made. I closed up the wheel wells and added some detail to the insides. I'll add more detail later. The scratch made tail skid/vertical tail and rear fuselage corrections are completed.

Now it's time to cut the flaps out from styrene and shape them.

Best Regards,

Brad

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on January 3, 2011 at 9:39pm

Added some flaps !!

Permalink Reply by Bryce Rea on January 4, 2011 at 5:26pm

Everything is looking great Brad! I'm enjoying the updates!

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on January 10, 2011 at 1:47am

Thanks Bryce very much!!

I got around to painting the beast this weekend. I also started to add some decals too. The decals are from Flying Colors and I have a set of passenger windows with curtains that I want to use too.

Here are some pics.

Brad

Permalink Reply by Bryce Rea on January 10, 2011 at 9:56am

Wow Brad! That's looking awesome!

Just curious, as I'm sure other collectors may be as well, and if you don't feel like answering in public you could PM me, but how much do you charge for a normal build? In other words, how much would a collector need to pay to have a masterpiece like that in their collection?

Thanks Brad!

Permalink Reply by Matt Whisenant on January 10, 2011 at 11:19am

What a model!!!! I want that one for my collection!!!!

Permalink Reply by Brad Shinn on January 11, 2011 at 7:37pm

The cost really depends on the amount of detail is needed. Also the scale of a build can effect the overall cost. $300-$500+