FineScale Modeler – October 2019

Interested in something

off the beaten path? Steve

shows you how to build a

C-45 with added detail

and crisp paint job.

32 FineScale Modeler October 2019

Revell’s C-45F Expeditor shines up nicely

BY STEVE EVANS

Detail and paint a

Beech 18

F

irst produced from the Beechcraft Model 18 airliner back in

1937, the little Beech Expeditor was in continuous produc-

tion until 1969 with more than 4,500 being supplied to the

military. It took on a number of roles and was given a bewildering

array of designations to go with. In fact, the Model 18 in its mul-

tiple versions had well over 30 military variants.

Although there are none left in U.S. mili-

tary service today, there are nearly 300 still

on the FAA register in the U.S. alone and

worldwide the figure is close to double that.

Not bad for a machine first flown in 1937!

Revell’s 1/48 scale C-45F (No. 03966), a

re-box of ICM’s kit, suits the aircraft’s

diminutive size. There’s a lot to love but also

some areas that desperately need improve-

ment. Let’s jump in!

Beautifying the inside

The interior comes first. The instrument

panel is pretty good, with some nicely

molded detail for the dials, but no throttle

levers. These were easily added with short

lengths of stretched sprue, 1. A lick of paint

and the supplied decal had the panel look-

ing much busier. It’ll be in the shadows so

perfection is not necessary, 2.

Even with the windows along the fuse-

lage and the opened access door, the view

inside will remain pretty poor. With that in

mind, I opted to do a fairly simple paint job

for the interior. A single coat of olive drab

covered the walls, 3.

I painted the floor to mimic varnished

wood. The seats were then decorated with

decal seat belts, 4. The most time I spent

with the interior was with the door, which

will hang open giving onlookers a nice view

of the padded surface. I scribed along the

pattern before painting it to look like

leatherette, 5. I kept it, along with the

hinges and retaining wire, off until the end

of the build.

Improving the engines

The next part is easily the most complicated

of the whole kit: The engine bearers and

undercarriage units. It’s also at this point,

when you most need them, that the

instructions completely let you down. The

multiple parts used in each bit are molded

well enough, but the drawings give abso-

lutely no indication of which way round

some of the angled bits go, 6. This leaves

you doing multiple trial fits and a lot of

head scratching trying to get everything

lined up. This is no fun at all but you just

gotta get through it.

The little Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior

engines are simply too plain — not a lot of

detail here, considering that they will be

fully exposed on the finished model, these

definitely need all the help they can get, 7.