Decals arrived a few days ago (thanks Frank!) and finally got put on today. I took care of one of the biggest omissions in the kit, the lack of oil tanks, which are very prominent in the wheel wells. Those were made from 1/32 P-51 coolant tanks that came from the junk box. The air scoops for the heat mixer boxes were added to the lower fuselage below the cockpit. Those were the exhausts from an old Revell Lancaster kit. Just shot a coat of clear tonight. All that's left is the weathering, the landing gear and all the little detail parts that need to be added. Hopefully, the next post will be to the headlines page...

Had a bit of a scare after the final clear coat went on. When it dried, it started to crack above the windows on the right side. I thought the clear had attacked the white base color. Thinking I'd have to repaint that area, I threw caution to the wind, got out some fine sandpaper and went after it. To my relief, the cracking was in the clear coat and sanded off with no damage to the paint.

Lee, the oil tanks on a C-47 are mounted to the roof of the wheel wells with a pair of metal straps, right behind the firewall. If you're standing in front of a main tire, the tank is right above you, dripping oil onto your head. They have a slot in them for the main gear retract actuator to pass through. That actuator isn't included in the kit either. It runs from the center of the cross brace on the main gear strut to a fitting on the roof of the wheel well. There's a link on page two of this thread to an Airfix forum that shows the tanks on their 1/72 model. I'll see if I can find some pics of the real thing...The Mustang tanks I used aren't completely accurate at all, but I did want something to fill that big empty space.

Well, there are no more parts left in the box and I'm at the end of the instructions, so this one must be done!

Wow- that is looking really great!
It's one of those aircraft that really doesnt look right with recessed panel lines on it. You don't see very many Monogram Gooney Birds built up, which is sad because for its time it was a cutting-edge kit.
I woulda offered some suggestions about the antenna installation, but it might be too late now, and from what i can see you have things well in hand.
I look forward to seeing more photos!
-d-

David and Lee,

Finished build is here:

A Gooney Bird tale – Douglas C-47B – Monogram 1/48

The antennas are something I went around with quite a bit. There are a bunch of them. The VOR antenna above the cockpit comes with the kit. Further aft on top of the fuselage are the two VHF comm blade antennas, #1 comm being farthest forward. The U-shaped marker beacon antenna is on the very tip of the nose, and on the lower fuselage just behind the nose in front of the pitot tubes are the ADF and DME antennas side by side. Further aft on the lower fuselage were the two transponder antennas. I actually have them all made, but it occurred to me that every time I moved or dusted the model, I'd probably break one off, so I didn't add them. As a side note, N102BL was equipped with a bunch of avionics that military airplanes never had, so the antenna installations would be very different. As another note, the civilian DC-3's had many types of avionics installed depending on the operator's budget, so the arrangement of antennas could be completely different on another airplane.