Airplanes and Rockets' history & copyright Google search American Modeler Air Trails American Aircraft Modeler Young Men Hobbies Aviation Flying Aces Saturday Evening Post Boys' Life Hobby Distributors Amateur Astronomy Engines & Motors Balsa Densities Silkspan Covering Comics Electronics My Models Model Aircraft Articles Plans Model Boat Articles Plans Model Car Articles Plans Model Train Articles Plans 1941 Crosley 03CB Radio Model helicopter articles & plans Crosswords Model Rocket Articles Plans Restoration Projects Photos Peanuts Collection Model Aircraft Articles Plans Sitemap Homepage Hints and Kinks Amateur Radio Archives of the homepage R/C Modeler Electronics About Airpleans and Rockest, Disclaimer, Terms of Use Model Topics Please Donate to Airplanes and Rockets Parole Plaza, Annapolis, Maryland Hobby Items for Sale Airplanes and Rockets Hero Graphic
Model Aircraft Museum, AMA - Airplanes and Rockets

Academy of Model Aeronautics Government Advocacy Coalition - Airplanes and Rockets

Douglas C-47 (DC-3) Control Line Model
Dakota / Skytrain - Walter Musciano Plans

Allegheny Airlines control line DC-3 ready for takeoff on maiden flight, August 2, 2023 - Airplanes and Rockets

Allegheny Airlines control line DC-3 ready for takeoff on maiden flight, August 2, 2023

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

Right thrust apparent in starboard nacelle view - Airplanes and Rockets

Right thrust apparent in starboard nacelle view.

Dc-3 nacelles with motors, hookup wires, and landing gear - Airplanes and Rockets

Bottom view of nacelles with motors, hookup wires, and landing gear.

Complete wing w/o top sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) Control Line Model - Airplanes and Rockets

Complete wing w/o top sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model.

Wing ribs and bottom sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) Control Line Model - Airplanes and Rockets

Wing ribs and bottom sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model.

Wing center section w/o top sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) Control Line Model - Airplanes and Rocketsets

Wing center section w/o top sheeting: Douglas C-47 (DC-3) Control Line Model.

DC-3 / C-47 all 3 wing sections joined - Airplanes and Rockets

DC-3 / C-47 all 3 wing sections joined.

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 

 

This twin-engine, control line C-47 / DC-3 project is in its beginning phase. Plans, drawn by Walter Musciano, were blown up from those which appeared in the December 1954 issue of Air Trails magazine in an article titled, "Build Your Own Douglas C-47." Traditional balsa, spruce, and plywood was used for construction, and the finish is brushed on Sig butyrate dope. After all trim was completed, a couple thin coats of Sig clear dope were sprayed on.

Breaking News!!!  - My electric-powered, control line DC-3 model completed its maiden flight on August 2, 2023. It flew beautifully! The lines kept nice and tight even with slight wind gusts. I was unsure whether the motors and propellers would provide sufficient thrust, but 4-cell LiPo battery, it will climb nearly straight up. In fact, though, the maiden flight only used a 3-cell LiPo and it flew fine. The propellers are counter-rotating jobs meant for a drone. They are the only 3-bladed props I could find that were small enough in diameter with wide blades and high pitch. Allegheny Airlines livery was chosen because of a photo I have of one sitting on the tarmac at Erie International Airport sometime in the 1970s. A video will be posted soon.

One of the bigger challenges with this model is bending the music wire for the landing gear. Two identical pieces are needed that match each other very closely. There are six, 90° bends in 1/8" music wire that require the lengths of each section to match or else the two ends that go into the wheel hubs will not meet properly. After devising a repeatable method for marking and bending the music wire, I made a short video demonstrating the process. See "How to Bend Music Wire Landing Gear."

Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model ready for covering with Silkspan and dope ( rear 3/4 view) - Airplanes and Rockets

Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model ready for covering with Silkspan and dope - rear 3/4 view.

Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model ready for covering with Silkspan and dope - Airplanes and Rocketsets

Douglas C-47 (DC-3) control line model ready for covering with Silkspan and dope - front 3/4 view.

DC-3 engine nacelles being built - Airplanes and Rockets

Completed DC-3 / C-47 control line model wing assembly with nacells.

Rimfire 10 brushless motors, mounts, and firewalls for the DC-3 / C-47 - Airplanes and Rockets

Rimfire 10 brushless motors, mounts, and firewalls for the DC-3 / C-47. Mounts needed to be trimmed down to fit in the nacelles.

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 - Airplanes and Rockets

 

 

 

See my video titled, "Question: Can You Run Two Brushless motors from a Single ESC?"

 

 

Posted August 16, 2023
(updated from original post on 2/10/2018)

Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Plans Service - Airplanes and Rockets

About Airplanes & Rockets 

Kirt Blattenberger, Webmaster - Airplanes and RocketsKirt Blattenberger

Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!)

Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ...

Copyright  1996 - 2026
All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged.

Homepage Archives  |  Modeling News Archives

Webmaster:

Kirt Blattenberger

BSEE - KB3UON

Family Websites:

RF Cafe

Equine Kingdom





Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) - Airplanes and Rockets

Academy of Model Aeronautics

Tower Hobbies logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Tower Hobbies

Horizon Hobby logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Horizon Hobby

Sig Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Sig Mfg

Brodak Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Brodak Mfg