Profile Photo
Jason Vukovich
12 articles

1/72 Harbour Air Turbo-Otter

May 16, 2019 · in Aviation · · 20 · 2.6K

Howdy! So this is 's DHC-3 kit with a Khee Kha Art Vazar Turbo-Otter resin conversion, Alliance Modelworks prop blur, and Arctic Decals Harbour Air decals (Harbour Air flies out of Victoria Harbor, British Columbia-among other places). There is a full interior in the plane complete with crew and passengers, something no one will ever see because even with my window modifications to match the real deal, you can barely see anything in there. Crew and pax are all modified Hasegawa figures. I modified the wings, adding the extended leading edges with Evergreen strip and CA, and adding STOL wing tips carved out of more styrene, dropped the control surfaces. The wing dihedral required a lot of work, the kit's struts need significant shortening otherwise the wings look like they in a “v” shape. New boarding steps and crew steps were built form brass and styrene angle along with drip edges above the passenger doors. Antennas, slightly more accurate rudders, and float bracing round out most of my additions. I posed it landing on a calm day with water made of acrylic paint and ultra-gloss varnish. I made the wake/spray with the old stand-bye of cotton balls, covered in ultra-gloss varnish.

Reader reactions:
10  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


20 responses

  1. love this! the water looks superb.

  2. Dude, I love all your builds, but this one is the sweetest!

  3. Another spectacular piece of modeling, sir...great work!

  4. Great work on this diorama. There has been a stream of water based dioramas on these pages lately, but none wîth a civil plane. That livery is very appealing and the model looks fantastic. Well done!

  5. Jason, Jason, Jason. Love it! Very, very nice vignette. Such a story with so little to tell it with. My vote, so far, for model of the month.

  6. wonderful choice and display

  7. Nice work, looks great!

  8. This is really nice. I love the realism of the water.

  9. You can almost hear the splashes!

  10. Profile Photo
    Shun said on May 17, 2019

    Very impressive!

  11. Looks awesome. Great work all around.

  12. Another beautiful model, and the base just really sets it off nicely. Well done.

  13. Great work! The weathering is very interesting! As well as the water!
    Thanks for sharing.
    Cheers!
    José Pedro

  14. Hello Jason,
    very realistic diorama.
    Job very well done. Regards, Dirk / The Netherlands.

  15. Really nicely done, and as others said the water is remarkable to say the least. We had at least a couple of these Turbo Otters in that scheme operating here in Malta, between the 2 islands for a few years.

  16. Outstanding, Jason. It makes me feel like I'm there watching it take off (or land.)

  17. Amazing build! Could you provide some insight on how to complete the propellers?

Leave a Reply