The Aircraft

The DC-3/C-47/Li-2/L2D1 (Tabby) were built in considerable numbers; the aircraft type has stayed around a LONG time, and they’ve been everywhere. The first DC-3 was built in 1935 as the Douglas Sleeper Transport, and there are a number of them still flying.

A C-47 is the first aircraft I ever got airsick in, in 1968 on our way to Gulfport, Mississippi.

The Scale Aircraft Conversions set

The SAC set for the DC-3 consists of 5 parts, all in white metal. There are two main gear legs, which use the kit wheels, two retraction arms, and a tailwheel assembly. These parts exactly match the Roden parts.

Painting

A little detail painting to get the oleos brighter is all this needs. The DC-3 used metal gear legs, and the SAC parts look great.

Many aviation history buffs and WWI model aircraft builders know it is not unusual for Albatros Productions to come up with something relatively unknown for a 2-4 page article in their quarterly Windsock Worldwide magazine. But, occasionally Ray Rimell and his team collect enough information to justify an entire publication on the subject, and that publication is known as a Windsock Datafile. That appears to have happened in the case of the latest one. In Datafile 160, Author Colin A. Owers has amassed and delivered a wealth of information in words and pictures (70 in total) in his study of the frontline fighter that never was: the Nieuport Nighthawk. The interesting presentation includes the story of the various often-forgotten types that were generated from that aircraft –the Nighthawk Racers, Nightjar, and Sparrowhawk.

History

Development of the Type 10 began in 1996. Production of four experimental models began in 2002, and one of these was introduced to the media in 2008. In 2010, two prototypes gave the first demonstration to the public at the JGSDF Fuji School’s 56th anniversary. Although smaller and lighter than the Type 90 that it replaced, the Type 10 is equivalent or better than the older Type 90. Armed with a new 44 cal. 120mm smoothbore main gun that features a lightweight, high pressure barrel that gives it penetration on par with the Leopard 2’s armor-piercing rounds, it can be replaced with a larger 55 cal. 120mm barrel for even better firepower. Because it uses an autoloader, the tank only needs a three-person crew (commander, driver, and gunner).