DB DC3

[Chris Freeman 3]

Many years ago Dave Boddington and his team made models for a TV series called wings and a few DC3's were made along with a spare kit or 2 if needed. These were very big models for those days and powered with Webra 60's. A friend of mine was on holiday in the UK in the early 80's and found one of these kits for sale at a show. He bought this kit and managed to get it back to South Africa.

In 1984 the DC3 was built and taken to Las Vegas for a QSAA meet. In 1988 at a local airshow this model was crashed and lay for many years collecting dust. A few years ago my son was given the bits and they were once again stored. I ellected to take on the rebuild and it was quite a project as we had to try and fix some of the parts to make a mold for the nacelles and cowls. The Centre section was rebuilt and the original homemade retracts were replaced with ESM ones and power changed to electric. G60 400kv motors with 6 cell 5000 lipo and Master airscrew 3 blade 14x9 props used. Weight is around 13kg.

Test flown yesterday in poor conditions but the Dak proved she is a real lady and will be re painted

[ken anderson.]

hello Chris,well done from me...something about a Dakota...the shape,it just looks right.

ken anderson...ne...1...right dept.

[martin collins 1]

Well done, nice to see you made the effort to resurrect the plane, well worth the effort congratulations, post a pic once you have repainted it.

[J D 8 - Moderator]

Hi Chris, Your model would not have been built for the Wings tv series as it was set in the first world war.

Pretty sure it would have been for an early 80's series called Airline about an ex service pilot who wanted to set up his own service.

I have a Boddington model built for the TV series Flambards a few years before also powered by a Webra 61. Bleriot XI still fly's now and then. Cheers, John.

[kc]

This is the DVD of Airline - no longer at a reasonable price, but worth looking again to see if they reissue it. It's a good story and far better than most of the stuiff on TV now. I bought a copy a year or so ago when it was available for a reasonable price.

Same applies to Flambards - quite a good story and lots of model and fullsize flying which is difficult to say exactly which is which!

Wings is available and not too dear. A really good story and possibly the best story of the 3.

I believe all these programmes had models by David Boddington and his pals.    Boddo wrote about flying these models for TV and it's online somewhere if you search.

None of these good programmes seem to come back on TV as repeats so the DVD is the sort of thing to put on your Christmas list to avoid getting socks or ties etc that you don't want!

Edited By kc on 05/10/2020 17:32:30

[Chris Freeman 3]

Hi John

You are correct, it was for Airline, like the Bleriot. KC, thanks for the info, I must try to get a copy as I never saw the series. The DC 3 was later kitted by Inwood Models and I managed to get a kit wach is a long story all on its own. I built it and covered it in the Solar Trim Chrome like all the Ducted fan guys used in those days. I had 2 ST 90's for power and flew it for a number of years.and it died when it lost a motor in a steep climb and spun in. the airframe was beyond repair and when I got it home I had to start the long process of removing the equipment. My son Byron was about 3 years old and was quite upset abount the crash and kept on comming to me and saying how sorry he was about the Dak. The third time he came I said to him that it was fine and the dak is now in model heaven and is fixed and flying again. Byron looked at me in a strange way, thought for a bit and the asked me who is flying it and suggested that I should ask Jesus to keep it for me until I get there.

[J D 8 - Moderator]

Like it Chris, Good that JC gave it back and we here on earth can see the Dak flying again. John.

[Chris Freeman 3]

It has been a long time since I last posted on this site. A few weeks ago Byron flew the DC3 for Mel who originally built the DC 3 and it was the first time he had seen it since the rebuild. 

[J D 8 - Moderator]

          Very nice to see in the air again.

[P Smith 1]

it certainly has a great profile 

[Robin Colbourne]

Great to see the DB Dakota back in the air.   I have a real soft spot for them; partly as my mother used to fly in the Fairey Air Surveys one as an aerial photographer, and also I hada flight in the one my department at RAE Farnborough used to use for testing infrared linescan equipment before we flew it on our XRAE2 UAV.
Parts of the Airline TV series are on Youtube, including some good Dakota shots Airline Episode 1

[J D 8 - Moderator]

  When in the 90's the Sea Empress ran aground here in West Wales pollution control DC 3's were based at our local airport. Some of us Coastguards were sent to help with ground handling. What we had to do was just push the aircraft back from the refuel point. To big to turn and no reverse on a DC3. 

Those engines got through a lot oil as well, a 25ltr drum in each engine as well as the juice. 

 We had to push the aircraft back pushing on the UC legs, This it seamed where most of the oil ended up. We finished up in quite a stinky state by the end of the day.  Loved it.

[Geoff S]

When I first started flying at the RR club in Hucknall in the mid 90s, one of the older members had flown DC3s into Berlin to keep the British and US sectors supplied when the Russians closed the roads from West to East Germany, and thus Berlin itself, in the mid to late 1940s after the defeat of the Nazis.  I think the airlift was just about continuous and needed reliable transports.

[Chris Freeman 3]

When I worked at South African Airways we used to have an Historic Flight that had a DC3. In the 90's I built a DB DC 3 and would go to the hanger to get detail for my model, when it was completed I took it to the hanger to show the guys and left it under the nose of the real one. Later in the day when I went collect it someone had cut coke cans and made the drip trays and hung them under the cowl's!

[Chris Freeman 3]

The South African Airforce has just retired its last Turbo DC3's, they were used for maritime patrol, they replaced the Shackletons! 

[P Smith 1]

was this the actual Dak model used in Airline By DB?

[Robin Colbourne]

The Ruskin Air Services Dakota made the cover of the 1982 Radio Control Scale Aircraft:

[Chris Freeman 3]

Byron wanted to fly his DC3 on Sunday and it was a perfect early morning to do it. Still winter by us so it was cool and the runway is in poor condition as we have no rain in winter. The Dak was down on power as we had forgotten to warm the batteries before flying and the landing was not great as it bounced on landing and then dropped a wing when trying to catch it with some power. Lucky to get away with very little damage that has already been repaired. Need to wait for Summer to get the runways sorted. 

[J D 8 - Moderator]

  Something different, model of turboprop conversion Dak. Very nice model.👍

[Chris Freeman 3]

This is how Byron developed his passion for the DC3, he is right in front supervising the fueling! 

[Chris Freeman 3]

As you can see my love for the DC 3 goes back many years, the original was built in the mid 90's and eventually crashed when one motor quit in a climb and I did not hear it due to other aircraft in the air. later Byron was building a 120" DC3 and I was building an ESM kit and both were lost in a house fire! About 6 years ago I was asked to build a DC 3 that would be used to make a mold so I was basically building a plug so no real attention was paid to weight but rather the finish. The plug was well on the way when the deal fell through so I was left with this airframe. We decided to finish it and see if it would fly! The airframe was made airworthy and the test flight was done! 

[Chris Freeman 3]

The test flight was done in the afternoon on the same day that Byron had flown his original DC3 at the beginning of these posts. The new airframe was 4kg lighter with 40% more power so performance was excellent. We had a few issues with tracking on the ground as 1 motor was starting before the other causing a marked pull to the right. on the 3rd attempt it took off and very little trim was needed. Plenty of performance but you could feel that the motors were not in sync but it should be an easy fix. The landing was not what we had hoped for. 

[GrumpyGnome]

Ouch!

[Chris Freeman 3]

After getting home and going through the events that lead to the crash I came to the conclusion that  I had failed to take the Test flight seriously enough. I had asked Byron to test fly after he had been at his daughters birthday party so he was not in test fly mode. We did not sort out the synching of the motors before flying and also we did not consider the time it took for the electric retracts to retract and extend. Byron had done a low pass and pulled up into a climb and lowered the gear to come and land. When he started to turn for finals the aircraft dropped a wing and when he gave power it flicked and spun in.

 

Reviewing the wreck showed it was fixable so the repairs were done. Byron did the fuselage and I did the wings. The repairs took less time than I expected. 

[Chris Freeman 3]

So once fixed it was time to do all the checks to ensure everything was correct, I managed to get handed propellors so that would cancel the torque effect. I changed the arming routine which ensure even start up of the motors and double checked the CG and control movements so no more excuses, time to fly. Byron and I went out to the club early on a weekday morning so we had no distractions. Did a range check and then time to fly. Nice takeoff and gentle climb, wheels retracted and turn started when we had a radio issue and then plane pitched up then dropped its nose and went in! damage was more this time so a bigger box was needed for the bits!

When I got home the bits were moved into the shed and left!

 

Time has now eased the frustrations and we are busy trying to decide if we will fix the old one, build a new one or both! I want a new one, Byron wants to fix the old one!  2 takeoffs and no landings is not a great record, My wife said it just does not want to fly!

 

Watch this space!