After the Japanese Hansa with Rising Decals J-BIRDs decoration posted here:
http://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/modified-eastern-express-172-hansa.html
I wanted to build a very appealing variation of the Hansa, a limousine conversion, made by ANDO in Japan for passenger transport. This modification had a canopy with windows covering the area of the aft fuselage position, providing for a more comfortable ride for the passengers.
The limousine conversion was typical of the time when
passenger carrying was starting to be taken more seriously. The pilot was exposed
to the elements and the passengers usually sat face to face inside the
enclosure, being an inheritance from the horse-driven road coach configuration.
This arrangement pioneered the passenger transport before the now standard
cabin started to dominate the field. The conversion was applied to pre-existing
types that for one reason or another seemed suitable for the adaptation, being
mostly military surplus or old types that were given a stretch on their
life-span.
There were many of such conversions, but I found only one
photo on the Net depicting the plane with the registration J-BCAL. This time
though the decals had to be home-made. The profile published in the same
Arawasi magazine that featured the subject of the previous article is a good
general guide, but compared to the photo shows a couple minor inaccuracies,
like the exhaust arrangement and a slight difference in the windows of the
passenger cabin.
Again the Eastern Express re-issue of the Toko kit was used
with the transformations already depicted in the previous article, plus the
“limo” canopy. The kit prop was used this time, since J-BCAL had a two-blade
prop. Different exhausts were fabricated too and of course besides removing the
front fuselage, the aft position area had to be removed too. A wood plug was
carved and used to vacuform the passengers’ canopy.
Similar and yet different to the other Hansa, with the extra appeal of the lumpy proto-cabin
Very interesting and overlook period of aviation by modelers. Congratulations. Armando Gil.
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