1/48 Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter

"Skydive Grenchen"

Gallery Article by Terry Davis on Nov 25 2011

 

My inspiration for this build was a photo of the one to one scale aircraft that I found on the Internet.  This aircraft is used as a jump ship for a Swiss skydiving team. I initially started with the PC-6C/H-2 but wanted the newer nose minus the huge exhaust pipe.  So I then  purchased the PC-6B-2/H-2.  Using the kit nose, I had a friend of mine cast a new nose for the PC-6C.  This resulted in being able to build both kits as PC-6B's.

 

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After studying numerous photos of the aircraft, I determined that a few modifications to the kit were needed.  I started with the propeller which had to be converted from a three blade to a four blade.  To do this I scratchbuilt a new spinner and fourth blade.  Not happy with the kit exhaust, I scratchbuilt new exhaust stacks.  The tail fillet was enlarged per photos of the aircraft.  The interior was modified by reversing the copilot seat to a rear facing position and installing a bench seat at the rear of the cabin.  The real challenge to this build was the STOL wing tips.

My research shows that almost all the Turbo Porters have gone to the STOL tips.  The tips in the kit are the old style.  The complexity in the shape of the tips had me frustrated and after a couple of attempts at scratchbuilding them with no success, I sent an email to Pilatus requesting any information they could provide.  They answered back with line drawings and specs.  I was then able to construct the wing tips.  Now watch, with my luck, Quickboost will come out with some aftermarket tips in the near future.

Other mods or additions include scratchbuilding the many antennas, nav lights and the homemade decals.  I used the Testors decal system, PrintMaster fonts, press type letters and my own artwork for the decals.  

Model Master paints were used throughout the build.  I want to give a big thank you to Pilatus for their assistance.  Without them, this kit would still be in my "I will finish it someday" pile.  

Enjoy the photos.

Terry Davis

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Photos and text © by Terry Davis