Noorduyn Norseman Wien Alaska Airlines - Dora Wings 1/72nd conversion

 

Photos from the SDASM photostream, showing Norseman on skis.

(The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/08/noorduyn-norseman-wien-172nd-dora-wings.html

 

After building the Noorduyn Norseman in US Forest Service livery...

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/07/noorduyn-norseman-forest-service-revell.html

...I took a liking for the type. I bought another Matchbox vintage boxing just in case I wanted to build it again, as I was surprised by how well the kit aged (within limits, of course). I was startled when friend David the Tall, a known fern plants robber and plane molester from the Great Lakes area sent the new kit from Dora Wings. Startled and mildly concerned, I should say, as my experiences with Dora Wings kits were mixed, bittersweet, one may say. Dora Wings kits look really good in the box, have great detail and are well-molded, but usually contain inaccuracies, confusing instruction mistakes, and too-hopeful, at times overcomplicated and/or impractical engineering. Below are the ones I already built. Once you get to those articles you can click on the construction links, to see the issues as they are found during the builds. Good models can be obtained from them, so I keep buying them, but is not stroll in the park:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/03/bellanca-j-300-liberty-modified-dora.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/04/cape-cod-distance-record-bellanca.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/05/bellanca-ch300-cf-atn-floatplane.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/03/percival-vega-gull-beryl-markham.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/01/flying-red-horse-kingcobra-racer-bendix.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/01/easter-egg-kingcobra-racer-1949.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/08/bell-p-63-kingcobra-hosler-sohio-racer.html

My friend David, who copiously sends the worst jokes he can think of (“think” is an overstatement), wanted a plane on skis. Never an easy one with David. The Dora kit, unlike the Matchbox/Revell ones, does not offer skis or floats as an alternative, so scratched skis it is.

I will be building in parallel another Matchbox kit that will have its own post:

 https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/07/noorduyn-norseman-matchbox-172nd.html

And now, let’s see what we got:

Very sturdy box and contents well protected:

The instructions come as an extensive booklet, and look much better than previous ones:

Nice little P.E. fret for the smallish details, and the crappy vinyl masks that tend to detach when you are in the middle of your airbrushing session. I wish they were paper ones, which are far superior:

As mentioned, the instructions look better than in previous Dora kits, with detailed drawings in a good size easy to grasp; we'll see:

Very nice moldings:

A plethora of detail parts:

Very clear transparencies:

Dora made a mild attempt at representing the interior walls, which were vertical (you can see the thickness of the walls in photos looking at open doors and at the windows). Not very convincing, I am afraid. This should have been perhaps another thinly-molded part sandwiched to the fuselage sides:

Subtle, convincing surfaces:

Again the issue of the fuselage walls thickness, not enough:

The engine components are molded surrounded by very thick and sturdy sprues, making their extraction a little challenging. I used shards of razor blades mounted on a handle. Kids, do not try this at home! razor blades are very sharp and notoriously treacherous!

 

The parts come easily off the sprues, the attachment points being sensible and unobtrusive. The small remains on the parts are easily sanded off. The only parts that need care during cleaning are the wing struts, where the gates intrude a bit in the gluing area. The surfaces are delicately rendered, with good detail. Trailing edges are thin and small parts are cleanly and crisply molded. So far, great:

Here is where the wishful thinking starts to show. Look at the minute hub dome and counterweights of the prop blades on the sprue (parts 49-50-51). These counterweights could have been perfectly rendered in the already existing photo-etched fret. As they are, it's borderline absurd. I will be punching styrene disks to substitute them:

Other parts are liberated. The smaller/most fragile of them will remain attached to the sprues for now:

Scratching now the skis:

 (Post-build note: I finally didn't go for the swap described below. I used the kit's engine)

An interesting cross-pollination occurred: since the plane I will model with this kit had a 3-blade prop and a "pie" engine shield, I "upgraded" the Matchbox prop (the Dora kit only provides a 2-blade prop), and got a shield from the spares. Since almost nothing can be seen of the engine because to the cowl and shield, I will use the basic Matchbox engine with this Dora kit, and transplant the detailed Dora engine to anothr build, where it is much more visible. The only necessary addition will be a small blanking area at the top of the cowl opening visible in photos (the Matchbox cowl has it). And everybody is happy.

Besides the Matchbox kit...:

...There is this vintage Forma Plane vac from 1977! according to Scalemates, that like the Matchbox kit -dated 1981, again according to Scalemates- still holds its own very well:

Very nice mold, although wishful thinking prop and struts:

Who knows how many owners and hobby shops this kit knew before landing on my building board...

Here is a photo from the Net of this now gone Hobby Shop:

Tempting...but a three-model build is something that the Shaolin Modeling Temple masters would frown upon.

There is a Choroszy resin kit of the Norseman too, but that I will stay away from it. Choroszy is a good brand, but not my cuppa, having experienced them. A personal choice.

The high quality of the moldings is evident as you make progress. Some sub-assemblies may feel over-engineering, and require patience and precision. This kit is definitely not for modelers with little experience, but more advanced modelers will see it perhaps as a chance to facilitate painting and detailing.

The fit seems to have improved from previous Dora Wings, and it's a great relief, as it makes building much easier.  The lesson that what fits in a computer screen may not fit in reality seems to have been learned, and the tolerances feel right (more on that later).

This ring was absent from the my sprues and curiously has no part number. It's the wiring ring and could be replaced if desired with thin solder:

The well-detailed engine is being mounted. The engine mount is a very fiddly assembly, and nothing will be seen of it once the model is completed. It opens the possibility of a "maintenance" display, though, so it could be a welcome addition for some modelers:

I have to say it again, as I often point out at defects: the molding is really good, sharp, clean, and with good fit (more o that later). The structural frame even has minuscule pips at the ends that connect with dimples on the fuselage sides. Dora Wings must have dome something good, as this kit, again, feels above all what I have built from them so far:

The cowl sides were the only parts that were not molded sharply (please continue reading for this particular cowl assembly step, as this is not the way it should be done, the instructions are unclear/misguiding). They had the correct "airfoil" (thin at the TE, something many manufacturers don't bother with), but the contact surfaces were uneven, and when joined the shape was ovoid instead of circular. The were held with a low-pressure clamp to get a better shape until the glue set:

Dora already provides a phot-etched fret with multiple parts. Why then not include the oleo scissors in it, instead of the chunkier, not particularly well-fitting plastic parts? Mysteries of the Modeling Universe:

Parts 34 and 35 (antenna mast and Pitot mast) are better replaced with metal. The antenna mast is a working part as it has to hold the wires under tension, and the kit's Pitot is a bit chunky and not very accurate, lacking the pointy bit at the end, beyond the little "fin":

I am a bit disappointed with the wing halves solution. That thin gap will not be easy to fill and sand, considering the ribbing relief. It feels like an "old kit" solution. Surely Dora could have managed a reasonably thin wing tip with the more conventional full wing halves. The fit otherwise is good, but there are no locating devices:

(please read these following steps without touching the kit if you are following this as an assembly guide, as this is a somewhat long story that does have a solution...when you can finally find it). I left all the steps I took, even if not the right ones, until I was able de guess how this should work:

Well..."hic sunt dracones"...or at least "hic sunt difficultates". The circle made by the two cowl halves is 2mm sorter in diameter than the lip part. MIND YOU: I didn't sand the contact surfaces to true them, as I was fearing this. So Dora screwed this particular parts up. I glued styrene strips to the ends and will retry when the glue sets after sanding to shape the additions:

I ended up adding 1.7mm of styrene distributed at both ends to be able to match the diameter of the lip. Not Dora's brightest moment, but at least an easy solution to the problem.

Unless Dora's poor and confusing diagram...:

...mean this? Really? (red denoting gluing surfaces):

But that would have been also weird, as the notch is in the other side:

The only way this works is gluing the top edges to the SIDES of the conduit. It's a bad engineering solution offering no self-alignment or locating devices, and unclear in the instructions, one of the banes of Dora. Here is how it goes (the side of the notch remains unsolved, though, being as I think an instructions mishap):

 

This confusions and bad choice of assembly engineering (you tell me when you try to glue those four parts together, and align the conduit at the proper angle, without a guide or locating devices) makes me think that whoever is at the computer and whoever is a real modeler over there do not communicate well.

There is no doubt this kit is definitely a step forward for Dora, but some of the old problems seem to keep creeping up (instruction diagrams issues and a few dubious engineering solutions).

The plane being modeled had a partial occlusion of the cowl opening (like the Matchbox kit, the white part in the photo), thus the shape is traced on thin styrene:

And the addition glued to the lip:

Basic painting starts:

The gap underneath the wingtips is filled with putty. After sanding, the rib detail will be restored. Again, not a brilliant solution on part of Dora:

The light recesses are drilled trough, as I intend to use deeper home-made lenses. The tail rigging holes are drilled, something Dora omitted to mention or describe in the instructions (but present in the box illustration). Also drilled are the holes for the "stick" fuel gauges -not present in the kit- under the wing tanks:

More paint ensues. Some would say that molding in 1/72nd scale every leg of each seat individually, or individual carb intake tubes for each cylinder is a bit of over-engineering, but who am I to judge. Notice that Dora provides even a fire extinguisher! -red, to the right-; good for them:

Make sure you paint the cabin ceiling (which is a separate part, good call here Dora) and the inside of the doors (you are provided with two types, another good call):

The doors and the fuselage inside walls -as previously discussed- lack the thickness and shape characteristic of the Norseman. From the Net:

Vertical, not curved inside walls:

This I solved in my previous build of the Matchbox Norseman, but here I will just glue the doors shut.

Dora could have solved this fuselage and doors thickness by providing either additional "liner" plastic parts or metal ones on the photo-etched set that the kit already includes. 

I used the isnt. pan. and prop logo decals. The decals are of very good quality. The sheet even has spare HS prop logos, which are very welcome. Just two suggestions for the decal maker: use a bigger bag for the sheet, so it's not a pain in the exhaust to get the sheet in and out from that too tight plastic sleeve every time you need a subject at different stages during the build. And the images could benefit from a little space between them, to facilitate getting the scissors around the subjects. It's not Zürich real estate after all, a bigger sheet could have been used. 

I just added two "metal" strips as per photos below the rudder pedals. You can see the two nice Venturi provided. Once removed from the sprue, you may like to drill a dimple at their aft ends:

 

The ridiculous individual legs for each seat resulted as predicted in a problem. To start with the legs are quite thicker in diameter than the locating holes for them. No problem: enlarge ALL the holes, on the seats, and on the floor, for each seat, 38 holes total (the cockpit seats only need two holes on the floor). Aligning the four legs all perpendicular to the seat and parallel to each other: a complete drag. Who dreamed of this utter inconvenient, impractical way to do things? Other manufacturers have the legs molded as party of the seat, or, if separated, at least paired (i.e. instead of four holes you have two linear recesses and one pair of paired legs, much easier!). Here Dora, and almost self-alignment:

The engine pushrods are a bit thick in diameter and obscure some of the nice engine detail:

There are a couple of things regarding the clear sprue. The drawing differs somewhat from reality. The actual sprue has two sets of doors (with and without corrugations inside), whilst the drawing shows just windows for the second pair. There is a spare set of side windows, but no spare for the windshield:

 I would not recommend to follow the instructions here, adding the doors and windows after the fuselage is closed. Adjusting them will be difficult and if the windows or doors go in then you will have to retrieve them hoping they don't get stuck resulting in having a maraca:

The doors are glued. Remember: you may pose them open, but if you do that you may like to modify them and the fuselage opening to match the thickness seen in photos. As it is, it won't cut it, unless you don't care much for that kind of detail. The modification is within reach of any modeler with some experience. The window parts are sided, as they are slightly curved, so follow the instructions. Their fit is good after a few light passes with a fine grain sanding stick. Be sure to first remove the mold line in their fuselage recesses:

A dry-run with all the interior bits. I had to cut short the floor at the front by about 1mm for a comfortable fit against the firewall. I am having second thoughts regarding substituting the kit's engine, as it would require multiple adjustments and mods for a good fit. I think I will use the kit's engine to save some grief and time:

The ceiling of the cabin is added. I am a bit skeptical regarding how this part will play and fit. We'll see. It locks to the aft on the bulkhead, but not at the front. There are some tabs to its sides that go over the fuselage sides (seemingly):

The necessary putty to blend the not-so-smart wingtip seam is sanded using a sanding stick made to size to preserve the ribs relief:

The fuselage is closed. Provided you installed all the interior components correctly (I had to fuzz a little with the instrument panel and the firewall), the fit is good, but no locating devices to help alignment:

 Two issues appeared: the top window resulted to be almost 0,75 mm ahead of where it should be to match the wing opening, and part of the ceiling protrudes too much forward. The latter is shown in the instructions too, and I don't think it's right. I don't mind the window as it can painted black, and the clear part goes in the wing anyway, but that protruding ceiling may need sanding back, as it impedes the correct positioning of the windshield. As the interior cabin fitted properly, the buck regarding this ill-fitting ceiling I believe stops at Dora's desk. One problem with Dora's engineering of some sub-assemblies is that there is no way to dry-fit them to see if things are right:

and: presenting the wing to the fuselage showed that you have to sand the fuselage areas that get in touch to the sides with the wing opening, as the fuselage is a little too wide -or the wing opening too narrow- and can't get into the wing space.

The same issue appeared with the landing gear/belly insert. The fit, which is not good, has to be worked out, and the same for the windshield.

What causes this little frustration is that on one hand you have beautifully molded, beautifully detailed parts that look like a modelers' dream, but then in many instances you have to struggle with the fit and the awkward engineering*. All kits had their shenanigans, but of a "better" kit (and Dora's surely look the part) you would expect a better fit. 

*I welcome innovation, different ways to do things, creative engineering solutions, but they have to work to be effective. Dora tries, and that is a merit no doubt, but occasionally these solutions create more problems than they solve.  I truly love the "visuals" of Dora Wings kits, but their fit many times needs help from the modeler. It surely isn't Tamiya.

Once again: what looks fantastic on a designer computer screen does not necessarily translate to easy of assembly or practicality. For example, the little "metal tubes" structure separating cockpit and cabin has two pips that go into two divots on the fuselage sides. It never happened for me, no matter what I did. Same for other instances already described above. It is as if the parts needed just a little more of a "breathing space", a more generous fit tolerance. What happens in reality is not like what happens on a computer. 

The wing is glued on after some adjustments:

Assembly proceeds without issues:

A few more touches and the model will be ready for priming.

The vinyl masks, inferior to paper ones. The windshield one needs to be cut to allow for a frame missed by the manufacturer:

Alu tubes are prepared to be the bushes for the LG legs:

The rest of the components are fabricated:

Coat of primer:

A white base for the yellow color is airbrushed:

Yellow follows. Then masking and applying the next color:

The scratched skis are painted with oils to simulate wood:

Now that the build arrives to its final stages, it's evident that Wien was quite inconsistent regarding the color distribution of the schemes for its planes. The basic colors were yellow and what looks like a very dark blue, almost black (yellow and blue can be seen on Wien's logo and a lot of its printed material). But the way those colors -and even the logo- were applied seems to vary from plane to plane. So I am following one particular color photo of the subject I am modeling.

The stirrups position is marked on the instructions as if there were locating dimples on the fuselage sides below the doors, but they are not actually molded there. Some Norseman prescinded of them, but I wanted to add them, so I had to measure and drill their locating holes.

The wing nav lights are tinted with sharpies:

Patterns to cut the masks for painting are drawn. Unfortunately I am not willing to face the frustration needed to learn to handle one of those new plotting/mask cutting machines, which involve computers, artifacts I utterly detest; so it's all by hand:

Masking is completed and the midnight blue will follow:

The landing gear legs have a minuscule squared protrusion that locks into a recess on the fairing. It has very little mechanical strength. Once again modeling reality trumps computer design. Landing gear legs (and wings, and stabs, etc.) need positive, strong locking devices.

Exhaust, tail rigging, antenna, nav lights:

Arctic Decals set applied, skis and struts go in:

After adding the smallest details and the photo-etched parts, engine shield and prop, the completed model is ready to photograph when time and weather will allow it:

 To be continued...