The Vision

To date I haven't really had any true builds.  A trainer ARF that took about 4 hours, a sport ARF that took about 8 hours, and an foamy EDF jet that took about 2 hours.  I was looking for a challenge and decided I wanted to try a scale ARF plane with some mods.  I like the old planes that used to fly in Hawaii, and started looking at what Hawaiian Airlines used to fly.  The fourth aircraft introduced to the HA fleet, and the first true passenger plane, was the Douglas DC-3 in 1941.  Over the years, HA operated 13 of these birds until they were retired in 1966.  They represented the classic years of a new airline in the territory of Hawaii.

Flying over Haleiwa in the 1950's

Parked on the tarmac at HNL, 1956

I found an interesting DC-3 ARF kit on ebay, manufactured by Protech (re branded from Polk).  The model features a built-up wing, stabilizer and tail, and a blow-moulded fuselage.  She's got a 72" wingspan, and is 48" long.  It comes with two 600speed brushed motors, which I heard are way underpowered for the plane.  Finished flying weight comes in around 6-6.5 pounds depending on the batteries.  They look a little bit cartoony built right out of the box.

Someone else's stock Polk DC-3 Build

My planned mods are as follows:

• Brushless Conversion with Lipo power and 3-blade props
• Modified landing gear (stock gear is too stiff)
• Vented nacelles
• Steerable tail-wheel
• Enlarged batter compartment with access door
• Receiver switch
• Early HA paint scheme