Local Legends #5 Available Now - Beechcraft Model 18

I can't get enough of painting this one, with so many more paint schemes still to do. I should have this one uploaded to Flightsim.to tonight, along with another, earlier, version of the same aircraft which will be separate. Like my last repaint, depicting the Antarctic Research Expedition C-45, this is another "historical" example, not a modern-day restoration, and in this case it was based on a single B&W photo. The aim was to recreate it as accurate to the original as possible, with all correct markings, stencils, colors and finishes, and presented as a very authentic restoration. This required researching photos of C-45s in USAF service in the late 40s and early 50s, as well as digging through some of the original factory blueprints and service manuals.












 
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I fully support your addiction to repainting the Beech 18, John! So many cool C-45 and JRB/SNB paints out there. How many planes served in WW2, for the Strategic Air Command, and Air America? I didn't realize they made them all the way up to 1970.
 
John, I sort of got that vibe too. My dad was a big Humphrey Bogart fan, so I know most of his movies quite well (my granddad even happened to be Bogart's mailman in the mid-late '40s).

Denny, getting into the numbers can be quite convoluted. Beechcraft built a ton of them during World War Two for the US military, with several different variants for both the USAAF and US Navy, however Beechcraft didn't build any new ones for the US military after 1945. All of the examples that served with the USAF and US Navy in the 1950s and 1960s were examples that had originally been built during World War Two, and then continued on in service and were re-manufactured by Beechcraft in the early 1950s (as I understand it, the only completely new military examples of the Beech 18 built by Beechcraft after World War Two were for the French and the Netherlands). That is the reason too that with all of them that survived, they have as many as two, three, or even four or more designations that apply to them - from whatever they were when originally built, to if they underwent any upgrades or modifications during WWII (such as the F-2 photographic version), if they were re-designated after the formation of the USAF in 1947 (AT-7s and AT-11s became T-7s and T-11s), when they were re-designated when re-manufactured in the 1950s (all either becoming an SNB-5 or JRB-5 for the Navy and Marines, or a C-45H or C-45G for the USAF), and for those still in service in the early 60s, they were all re-designated once more due to the consolidation of the USAF/US Navy designation system (becoming either a UC-45J, a TC-45J, or a RC-45J, no matter what branch of the military).
 
DennyA said:
I fully support your addiction to repainting the Beech 18, John! So many cool C-45 and JRB/SNB paints out there. How many planes served in WW2, for the Strategic Air Command, and Air America? I didn't realize they made them all the way up to 1970.
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They did build them to 70, but they were not this model. I wish they would build the "newer" models, the E18s, G18s, high cabin / low cabin. Many variations than the plain Jane D18. Then we can talk Volpar. :)

Don BP;)
 
TeiscoDelRay said:
Speaking of the Casablanca aircraft has anyone done this yet ? If not I will have a go at it...pictures needed, thanks.
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was a Lockheed Electra 12A - and I think someone has done one for the AH L10 version for MSFS already ? I could be wrong.
Of course GAS had a very nice Electra 12A for FSX as you know very well

here are all the planes shown in that film - per IMDB's database..
it shows the 12A and includes the registration number and a spiffy nose art logo too
Casablanca - The Internet Movie Plane Database (impdb.org)

..maybe someone could do the Fokker paint too..
 
This repaint depicts the same aircraft as my previous one, 43-35764, but this time as it appeared when factory-new in 1944. Every detail of the markings is accurate to the way that it would have been when it was delivered new to the USAAF. This includes accurately sized and positioned stars & bars on the wings and fuselage (they were really that small on the fuselage), original factory stenciling and warning placards, and the very stylistic "font" used for the serial numbers on the tail fins, unique to Beechcraft C-45 production (hand-drawn to match the original serial number stencils).

https://flightsim.to/file/38018/beech-uc-45f-expeditor-43-35764-factory-fresh

 
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Here are some work-in-progress screenshots that I'm happy to share. I started on this repaint over a month ago and shelved it several times over, but finally it is starting to come together. There are many things I still have to do, including numerous stencils and more markings, the non-slip sections on the wings, as well as proper complete maps, but all of the challenging items are done. Never ending striping with this one, around fairings, nacelles, wing roots, etc. Right now it all looks a bit too new/fresh, and that will change too before it gets released. It might be ready by mid-week.

(Note that the stars & bars have been drawn to accurately match the inaccurate stars & bars on the real aircraft.)





 
Thank you very much for working on this one!

I have wondered why they chose to “upgrade” the insignia when they clearly spent a lot of money going for a period aircraft. 🤔
 
Hello John,

thank you very much for all these wonderful repaints! I like the Beech 18 a lot and your beautiful repaints make this addon even more special. And I know how tough it is to create repaints for Carenado addons. Especially when being done at your level of perfection. So I appreciate your excellent work a lot!

Greetings
Tim
 
That. Is. Just….AWESOME!

The last two shots particularly, I can’t tell that they’re not real life photos.

Beautiful work, John. That’s going to be a fun one in the screenshot threads, you can already tell.
 
Thank you, Tim, I appreciate you taking the time to write that. Yeah, if you look at the 2D textures, in some areas the striping had to be made quite wobbly/jagged (polygon-to-polygon) so that the same striping may appear straight when applied on the model (fighting against distortions/sheer).

Thank you, Kurt, I appreciate your compliments! I do like the contrast that the DayGlo creates. I had planned on making this one quite a bit more weathered and faded, but it turned out that the photos I had seen showing it looking that way were all taken back in 2013 and 2014, and it has since been repainted once or twice (keeping the same paint scheme). It was at the Rolls-Royce Heritage Invitational event last year at Reno, and it looked immaculate. In the end, I added just a touch of additional fading/weathering.
 
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Bit of an update for the Beech 18... seems to play nice after SU10.


  • Fixed the multiplayer audio issue.
  • Fixed an audio loop that can occur when both fuel pumps are on.
  • Fixed an issue with the landing gear warning horn being audible when the flaps are extended to 30-degrees while the gear is retracted.
  • Fixed an issue with z-fighting on the Rudder Trim Position Indicator.
  • Fixed an issue where the Engine Selector switch responded to up / down input.
  • Fixed an issue where the Wipers switch responded to left / right input.
  • Improved the resolution of the Fuel Selector Warning labels.
  • The camera should no longer be able to clip into the control pedestal.
  • Added localized strings for LATAM Spanish (ES-MX).
  • Added localized strings for Simplified Chinese (ZH-CN).
 
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