Scale aviation modeller international

Hobbycraft 1/72 Ansett Airlines DHC-4A Caribou

by Paul Crawley

A

lthough I mostly build

civil aircraft, I have

always loved the look of a

“Bou”, the rugged yet graceful de

Havilland Caribou. In the 1980s

I loved to see the Army National

Guard fly them over my home

from nearby Dobbins Air Reserve

Base in Marietta, Georgia (USA).

My desire to one day build a

“Bou” came alive about ten years

ago when I discovered a 1/72 set of

Ansett–M.A.L. Airlines markings

by Underworld Decals of Australia.

Once I had those in hand, I found

one of Hobbycraft’s 1/72 scale RCAF/

UN DHC Caribou Transport kits.

This past July I finally dragged

both out of my stash and thought

I could do a nice, simple build.

But then I saw how basic the

Hobbycraft kit is, found out about

some aftermarket improvements,

and decided to open up the cargo

bay doors and do a complete,

scratch-built cargo interior. So

much for the “simple” build.

THE PLANE

Online research lead me to Caribou

VH-BFC, a DHC-4A purchased from

de Havilland by Ansett in 1965 after

it had been leased for three years to

the Swedish Air Force. One source

claims Ansett paid $595,000 for

it (about $4.6 million in today’s

dollars). Ansett apparently wanted

FREIGHTER

FRUSTRATED

68 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

DHC-4A CARIBOU

BY PAUL CRAWLEY

1/72

068-73-FEAT-CivilWings-0418.indd 68 09/03/2018 16:08