The Sow’s Ear: William Bros 1/72 Curtiss C-46 By Tim Bradley

Recently, I was asked by a past client of mine if I would like to build him another model. “Sure!” I exclaimed, thinking about a future loan payment on my Z06 Corvette. I was counting the money in my head, when I came out of my little day dream and asked “What will it be this time?” “I want a 1/72 Curtiss C-46 in Alaska colors.” he asked. So, I’m standing there with the “deer in the headlights” look, when he adds “and it’s the polished scheme and oh… there are no decals of it made.” Oh Lordy…..what have I gotten my sorry little broke self into. “Well….OK….sure, I can do it” sounding slightly deflated.

Why is it when you need to build a kit, it’s never in the stores? After trying all the local and mail order shops, I was lucky enough to find the kit at our local model show for ten dollars. So, have you figured out that the 1/72 C-46 had to be the ancient William Brothers kit? You know the kit is old when the instruction sheet has been drawn by hand.

CONSTRUCTION (major)

After opening the box and looking over the parts, the first thing to do was the art work for the decals that did not exist. My client also helped out by supplying me with the reference photos. From them, I worked up a set of decals. It helps that I’m a contributing artist at DRAW Decals, so this was a pleasant task. With that done, on to the kit. Remember this is the one that everybody says doesn’t fit worth a darn. Well, they’re right.

First, let me point out that the model was built out of the box. This was not your add glue, shake, and its done model. Every, I mean every, part had to be sanded, checked and sanded again to make sure the parts fit correctly. The molds are slightly off center making round parts almost figure eight shaped. Friends would call me up from time to time and ask, how is the build going? “Good!” I said. “I have used all the Black &Decker power tools that I own on it.”

I think eighty percent of the building time was in the fit and puttying. I did do some slight detailing in the cockpit by adding some decal seatbelts and placards to the back wall. The canopy glass was sanded flush and polished back with fine sanding pads. A quick coat of future made it better than new. I also used Eduard’s mask, CX 062 when I was ready to paint. The kit props were replaced with two F4U-1D Corsair propellers from the 1/72 Minicraft kits.

Because the model was going to be in natural metal, I had to make sure it was baby butt smooth. The model was double primed with my favorite, Tamiya surface primer L, light gray. After a good buffing with 4000 grit pads, the entire model was shot with Alclad 2 Duraluminum. After a day or two, I sprayed two wet coats of Future, thinned 50% with 99% Isopropyl. The nose and the fronts of the engine nacelles were painted blue.

The engine decal stripes were designed with a trim piece of blue to overlap the blue paint to give a seamless look. The Digital Silk Decals are a little heavy on the ink, so to help them conform around the scoops on the engine I dipped them into almost boiling water to soften them. Don’t worry, these are real tough decals! After the model was completely decaled, I again added another two coats of Future for protection from handling. With some minor painting the model was finished. My client wanted a very clean and simple display model, so no antennas, pitot tubes or weathering was added. The Alaska decals I made for this kit will be on the DRAW Decal site soon.

In the early stages of construction, I never thought I would get it finished. But after the paint and decals went on, it was all worth the effort, a silk purse was made from a sow’s ear…and the car payment was made!