1/48 Monogram U-17 Skywagon

Gallery Article by Danny Dinh on Nov 4 2009

 

VNAF Psychological Warfare

I have always wanted to do a U-17 Skywagon (Cessna 185) in 1/48th scale but I could not find it any where.  Therefore I had to settle with this 1/41st scale kit of the Cessna 180.  I know there would be a lot of modifications to make it look like a (U-17) Cessna 185. 

Right off the bat, I can see the leading edge that leads to the vertical stabilizer is thicker, so I scratch-built some styrene sheets to accommodate this.  The under cowling is different, so I had to modify this as well.  The kit did not come with the tail light, so I had to scratch-build this as well...  And yes, the second and third windows in the back, this was painful!  This kit is made by Monogram many, many years ago…  it is old and very fragile.  I had to drill tiny holes to the shape of the windows, punch out and lots of sanding…

Since this is a psychological warfare airplane, a speaker and a leaflet box were added to the U-17.  I had to scratch-built these from styrene sheets.  The black horizontal bar on top of the cockpit was made from a paper clip, steps were made from pins and antennas were made from bristles of a paint brush.  All decals, serial numbers were home-made.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

I have included a picture of the real plane for reference.

Thanks for looking at my VNAF U-17.  This particular plane belonged to the 110th Observation Squadron of the South Vietnamese Air Force.  I hope you enjoy it...

Danny Dinh

Photos and text © by Danny Dinh