From the sky to my Desk: 1/72 Hobbycraft DHC-4 Caribou RCAF/UN

Season two is really starting to heat up with some of my better models that I have created over the past while. If you fin the Canadian stuff boring do not worry, I am running out of Canadian models to review because Canada has only had so many aircraft over the past century so the reviews will gradually become more international.

1/72 Hobbycraft DHC-4 Caribou RCAF/UN

This one was probably one of the more interesting aircraft I have ever built, not only because it is a mix of Canada/United Nations, but also because I have no prior background knowledge of this aircraft.

I will start out with the usual, this aircraft was fairly easy to assemble. The pieces all fit together really well and the paint actually turned out half descent.

Overall the aircraft is gloss White while all the black parts are Flat Black. The wheel wells are Cockpit Green while the cockpit itself is Light Gray. The wheel struts are Flat Aluminum with a Gloss Red light on the tail.

I can honestly say I dislike Hobbycraft because of the way they make the decals. Instead of having them all together and ready to be put on you have to put on layers which can be a huge pain in the ass. Either way it still turned out great in my onion, even the white didn't run too horribly.

This plane was piston powered which meant it was slower than its big sister, the DHC-5. Its short takeoff and landing capabilities made it popular with many air forces around the world and with bush pilots flying in relatively unpopulated parts of the world.

As the design may suggest, it was used heavily in hauling cargo to places larger aircraft like the C130 couldn't. The USAF used this aircraft and its big sister during the Vietnam War for this exact reason with transportation to the very front lines being taken care of by the Chinook.

I was unable to find any information on the mission this aircraft would have undertaken as it is based off an aircraft from the 60's and based in the Middle East. But where in the Middle East and for what purpose I was unable to find. I do know that these aircraft were used for SAR operations in Canada as well as strategic airlift operations.

General characteristics

Crew: Three
Capacity:
- 32 troops or
- 24 fully equipped paratroops or
- 14 casualty stretchers
Payload: 8,000 lb (3,628 kg)
Length: 72.58 ft (22.12 m)
Wingspan: 95.58 ft (29.13 m)
Height: 31.66 ft (9.65 m)
Wing area: 912 ft² (84.7 m²)
Empty weight: 16,920 lb (7,675 kg)
Loaded weight: 28,500 lb (12,927 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt and Whitney R-2000-7M2 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder, 1,450 hp (1,081 kW) each