Douglas DC-4

[technoid]

I started this project thinking I'd call it 'Airliner' because I'm not a big time scale guy so I thought that might be a good name for a Douglas DC-4 I was going to model. But after thinking about it I decided it might not be perfect scale but it will surly look enough like a DC-4 that no-one will mistake it for a P-51. So here's some pictures of what I've done so far.

 

[BrokeDad]

I've actually been up in a DC-4 in my lifetime. It a wonderful old stable plane. No idea how many are still around.

 

[uncle twist]

You`re off too a great start Tech. looking real nice...

 

[csgill75]

I've actually been up in a DC-4 in my lifetime. It a wonderful old stable plane. No idea how many are still around.

I've never flown in a DC4 but I have been in the DC-6. They used to fly out of Opa Locka Airport to the Caribbean...they had a couple of DC-7's too. They still fly the DC-3 to this day.

 

[asj5547]

The DC-4 looks great.

 

[technoid]

I've been working on the DC-4 today and decided to go with a 160 inch wingspan. Normally I fly the Sod Farm field in RF-8 and that size is pretty large but still reasonable to fly and enjoy as an RC plane. I love flying in RF-X but I still prefer to fly an RC plane at the Sod Farm in RF-8 because it's like the field near my house where I flew in the 80s.

As you might have noticed I tend to use parts from my other planes when creating a new plane so today I grabbed the wings with all four radial engines off the Realflight Clipper and rescaled them to 160 inches and imported them to the DC-4. Surprisingly they fit reasonably well and it should be fairly easy to rework them for the DC-4. If you look close you can see the plan I'm using through the wings so you can see what I need to do to make them fit properly. As always I'll probably leave them just a little wider than the real wing to help with wing loading to make them a better RC wing than a scale wing. I need to apologize to legoman I know it's hard to see me create a Sport Scale Model instead of Real Scale. But I like to fly the plane around and have fun with an easy flying plane that looks the part even though it's not perfect.

Here's a picture right after I imported the rescaled wings off the Realflight Clipper. They don't look quite right now but they will after I rework them.

 

[BrokeDad]

Wow .. didn't realize how close those inner engine props are to the fuselage on the DC-4 until that pic.

 

[technoid]

I reshaped the wing this morning so it's the correct shape now. I did move the front and rear edge out one half inch so the chord will be 1 inch wider than scale. That's not much so it's hard to see but with a 160 inch wingspan that should reduce the wing loading a little. I haven't repositioned the engines yet so they're still off but I'll do that next. There is one thing I didn't do that I may go back and change before I mirror the wing for the other side. The aileron on the DC-4 is a little wider than the flap but the wing I used to create it had both the same width so I left it that way. That's a small thing so I may or may not go back and fix it.

 

[technoid]

I decided to go back and make the aileron and flap the size they should be so here's a picture after I reduced the width of the flap.

 

[BrokeDad]

You should be in tweak heaven for quite a while now

 

[technoid]

One more update before I stop. I tweaked the shape of the wing tip a bit and repositioned the engines. It's starting to look like something now.

legoman.. Do you know when and why they changed the shape of the nose? I'm modeling the original version with the more rounded nose but lots and lots of the pictures have the newer sleeker (I suppose) looking nose. Thanks for anything you know about that.

 

[BrokeDad]

Maybe this info will be helpful about the nose:

http://airvectors.net/avdc4.html

 

[technoid]

Maybe this info will be helpful about the nose:

http://airvectors.net/avdc4.html

That's a good page and I've read it before but I didn't notice anything about the nose changing shape. I seem to remember reading something about the nose changing but like a dummy I didn't copy that part for my notes or keep a link to it. I thought it might be change when they added radar in the nose but I don't really know that.

 

[legoman]

…
legoman.. Do you know when and why they changed the shape of the nose? I'm modeling the original version with the more rounded nose but lots and lots of the pictures have the newer sleeker (I suppose) looking nose. Thanks for anything you know about that.

I am not entirely sure but I have notice similar differences on the dc-3 and Constellation/Starliner. It is either aerodynamic improvements or electronics component in the nose cone changed shape. Knowledge on drag maybe suggested a different shaped nose would be better so later models got the sleeker nose.

 

[doug schluter]

excellent start to the DC-4 i know a CS i'll do for it

 

[technoid]

I am not entirely sure but I have notice similar differences on the dc-3 and Constellation/Starliner. It is either aerodynamic improvements or electronics component in the nose cone changed shape. Knowledge on drag maybe suggested a different shaped nose would be better so later models got the sleeker nose.

Thanks. Yeah that's what I figured but dumb ole me I like the old nose, it has more character. Or maybe it just looks older. Ha!

 

[uncle twist]

excellent start to the DC-4 i know a CS i'll do for it

Well, don`t keep us in suspense Doug, you gotta a pic. ???

 

[doug schluter]

ok i think i'll do the Buffalo airways DC-4 56 or 57 CS i did one for legomans DC3 - C47

 

[BrokeDad]

This is a nice CS

 

[technoid]

Another day another dollar. I added the horizontal stabilizer today. I still need to add the little curve at the end.