1/32 DHC-2 Beaver 30 Aug 2020 - 26 Mar 2021

[lastvautour]

I must agree with your there. I watched  a Labrador Air Beaver on float attempt to land on a dolly as the normal beaching area was iced in. He almost made it a few time, but at the end he put her down on wet grass. A few dented panels were the only damage. The aircraft had skis put on and the floats stored for the winter. The next spring, the dented floats were installed and the aircraft took off from the dolly he had tried so hard to land on. Coming in against the wind, I think he may have had a 50 MPH ground speed. Tough birds.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Slow progress. The wing is designed as a single piece, however ham fisted sanding broke a weak centre portion. Lots of glue and dowels will hold it in place on the fuselage. The tail feathers are test fitted and held in place with wood dowels. 1 mm tape forms the control surfaces corrugation.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Glue setting on vertical fin for a third time. Knocked the model of the workbench. Putty has been applied.

Lou

[Gearup]

  Still probably fewer rebuilds that a typical Beaver. Still working along on my west coast Beaver. Ill post some stuff soon.
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Cabin windows on my version are bubbled out so addition of wooden windows was in order. Vertical tabs on horizontal stabilizer are glued. The fit is so good it will not need any putty which is a rare occasion for me. Next is tackling the float struts.


Lou

[Boomerang]

Coming along nicely Lou

Cheers

Gordon

[lastvautour]

Thank you Gordon. Progress is rather slow.

Lou

[lastvautour]

An enthusiastic afternoon. Bamboo struts are glued to the fuselage and will be painted before gluing to the silver floats.

Lou

[Gearup]

Lou, that looks great. I just realized the model I'm making has bubble windows on the doors only, so I followed your lead on making bubble windows.  Thanks for the help!
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Although I try to get thing correctly, I often overlook major details. In this case, early photos of my Beaver show a fin under the rear fuselage. It was in the drawings so I made one. My last look at my research photos shows it does not belong on version. The assembly line was halted to remove it.

Lou

[Gearup]

Hi Lou. As my son advised me, there are different versions of float kits for the fin configurations. The ventral fins on many beavers have been replaced with the two plates mounted on the stab tips.  They call the plate types "dock-savers" as the ventral fin hangs lower and can strike the dock, if the conditions are right, as the aircraft is turned away. Having said that, there are pictures of aircraft with both sets installed too!
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Addition of scoops and exhaust .

Lou

[lastvautour]

Wings are glued in place and clamped Next will be fairling the wings to the fuselage followed by priming.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Fuselage and wing attached, sanded and coated with white primer. I am debating using white semi gloss or continue with the white primer and coat with clear gloss once the orange paint is applied.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Looks great Lou.

Gordon