Hobbyking 1600mm C-47 Build/Mods

F106DeltaDart

Elite member
A few months ago I picked up one of these bare airframe kits from Hobbyking for pretty cheap. The model originally had a few major issues including nasty stall tendencies, wrong canopy shape, poorly shaped cowling, poor quality retracts, and poor quality propellers. However, I really wanted a nice quality C-47, and the price and size for this airframe were perfect. I am intending to fix these issues and add some detail to the model in the process.

The stock kit out of the box:
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First order of business was fixing the canopy shape. The stock canopy has a very swept back windshield, while the real one has a much more straight mounted look. I purchased the Parkflyer plastics mod set for the canopy, and it looks much better, and they include a full interior with pilots.
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Next order of business was taming the stall. Other models have a few degrees of washout built in to prevent the tip from stalling first. By adding some tip down twist in the tip, I'm hoping to get a more docile stall tendency better for slow flight. To add in this twist, I made 2 cuts of wing sections at the tip and rotated them leading/edge down across the spar. I then filled and sanded the gaps to blend the wing together. Still working on blending the sections, but it's a work in progress:
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F106DeltaDart

Elite member
Next up was the retracts. The stock gear are just a typical 90 degree electric retract with a wire strut. Fine for most airplanes but the C-47 has such distinctive gear, I had to try to replicate it.

I started with scaling a 3 view diagram to determine the proper length and spacing for each segment of the gear, as well as how it would fold. I also wanted to keep it driven by an electric retract unit for simplicity and replacability. The majority of the gear is made on brass tubing with 1/8" rod for the part that goes into the retract.
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Test fit:
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Next, I have to figure out the trailing brace and it's geometry. More to come soon.
 

F106DeltaDart

Elite member
Yikes! That's crazy. When I grabbed mine it was $50 with free shipping. Almost seems like they threw an extra order of magnitude in that shipping value.
 

F106DeltaDart

Elite member
Gear are almost finished now. Retracts and mounting plates are in, only thing missing is the rear mounting point for the trailing brace. However, this section of the foam also serves as a servo cover, so I have to get the ESCs, servos, and lights wired before that gets glued on. I might also look at making it screwed on so that I can remove it for maintenance if needed.

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F106DeltaDart

Elite member
any progress?
It's been slow. I have filled in the panel lines and smoothed out the surface finish. Also did some tweaking to the nose shape. I've been distracted with a few other projects, and I need to start figuring out what motors I will use, as well as an access hatch to the ESCs. I'll post a few photos later tonight. My time-sinking project is a UH-1 Huey Gunship that I'm trying to get finished for an event at the end of the month, so I don't know how much time I'll be putting into the C-47 in the near term.