This is my new entry for the addicting and amazing DH100GB: it is the Hobbycraft 1/48 DHC-3 Otter, which will be finished as a U.S. Army U-1A of the 18th Aviation Company, Vung Tau, Vietnam, July 1963.

The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, including as a bush plane, but is overall a larger aircraft.

Like the Beaver, the Otter can be fitted with skis or floats. The Otter served as the basis for the very successful Twin Otter, which features two wing-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops. A total of 466 Otters were manufactured.

Although the Otter found ready acceptance in bush airlines, as in a similar scenario to the DHC-2 Beaver, the United States Army soon became the largest operator of the aircraft (184 delivered as the U-1A Otter). Other military users included Australia, Canada, and India, but the primary role of the aircraft as a rugged bush plane continues to this day.

This is the 1998 Hobbycraft kit that I had in my stash, waiting an opportunity to build it.

It comes in a HUGE box that is more than half empty. Inside you can find four sprues of well molded parts, plus a clear one, packed together with one of them.

External detail is good, with the exception of the PW R-1340 engine, which is poorly represented.

Internal details are on the ultra basic side with a very simplistic cockpit and no cargo interior. Ihope that not a lot will be seen through the small windows.

There's a set of skis provided, but looks a bit toyish to my eye...

Instructions are adequate and clear.

Decals are provided for a Canadian and a U.S. Army bird and look ok.

The latter is my choice. It is U-1A, s/n 58-1695, belonging to the 18th Aviation Company, Vung Tau, Vietnam, July 1963. It is olive drab overall with a black antiglare panel.

At http://www.dhc-3archive.com, I found the specific airframe's story, from its delivery to the U.S. Army in 1958, till its destruction in 1980, when the roof of the hangar in which it was parked collapsed due to an accumulation of snow.

More to come soon!

Thanks, my friend @airbum!

Yet another good addition to this group build.

Spiros - That Otter looks like a great choice. How's those decals look to you? Are they usable?
I'm looking forward to watching your build on this one.

With my Toryu's internal "bamboo" color drying, it was a good oppertunity to start the Otter.

I first gued all doors at the "closed" position ane then attached all window from the inside, sans the windscreen, which will be fitted last:

I then attached the cockpit floor, the bulkhead beside the pilots and the central console, sans the instrument panel, which I want to busy up a tad. The cargo area will be left without seats, just the floor, which seems to have been one of the common configurations (the fact that no cargo detailing is provided by the kit, suits me fine!). All interior was given a coat of Humbrol 140 Gull Gray, which common for the era, and left asife to dry:

I then turned my attention to the engine. Here's how (ungainly) it looks:

I then carefully cut the rear plate and, after some minor repairs (as I cracked a couple of cylinders), I scribed the front of the cylinder blocks, in order to create an illusion of cooling fins...

Her's how the engine looked with the front cabane attached:

Not that bad, but I may beef it up with ignition cables, so it will become an eyecatcher-ish, in order to distract the eye and breathe some spark to the simple plane looks!

More to come!

And once again the scratchbuilding monster surfaces 🙂

Great progress my friend, and a lot of detectiving going on with the plans. I can add that the singlebar yoke is very common as it releases the seat for a passenger. If flown with a relief-pilot the yoke can be "thrown" to the other side. Thus a single-bar piedestal is not at all uncommon in otters - whereas they were seldom in Twin Otters (same part-numbers I think). Sadly I still havent found any interior shots for your cabin, but some basic seating will do fine I believe. Perhaps a combo of a few seats and some boxes? (I once flew as a passenger on the only seat available in the back and the rest packed with frozen fish - boy that was a cold trip - 2½ hours. I had to be carried out as I was unable to move after that. Never again!)
Keep it comin' @fiveten!

The scratchbuilding monster is off to a fabulous start with those seatpads and correcting that crazy yoke! The extinguisher is also a nice touch.

Thanks my friends @eb801 and @airbum!
Yep, busying up that interior with a couple of boxes, rope, a leather handbag maybe?
Sounds cool!