Do228 in Australian Service

[rickshaw]

The Dornier Do228 in Australian Army Service

In 1995 the GAF GAF Nomad passed from Australian Army service.  Deemed "too dangerous to fly" because of an aerodynamic fault in its controllability - pilots refused to fly it.  The Australian Army was left high and dry without an aircraft to support it's activities.  They searched high and low to find something, almost anything that suited their purposes.  They hit upon the Do228, a German product.  It was approximately the same size and performance as the Nomad but was safer to fly.  Armed with two GPMGs it fulfilled the role of a "gunship" and could directly support troops on the ground, circling above.  Normally, the aircraft was unarmed and it carried freight, personnel and Electronic and Psychological warfare teams and equipment used for tracking insurgents.















The Model

The model is a Revell one.  It was a fairly basic model out of the box.   This is my first since I had a stroke.   Any faults are because I couldn't fully control my hand.   The markings and camouflage where basic and applied with a hairy stick.  Painted with a mix of Mouse House enamels and Vallejo paints.

[Flyer]

Nice!

[Old Wombat]

Good one, Brian!

Mini-gun pods under the wings would be fun, or a locally designed fuselage mounted gun-pod system.

[rickshaw]

Good one, Brian!

Mini-gun pods under the wings would be fun, or a locally designed fuselage mounted gun-pod system.

It features two fuselage mounted GPMGs.

[PR19_Kit]

Somehow you've made a candidate for the ugliest aeroplane in the world into something that actually looks good. 

Nice job Brian. 

[TomZ]

Looks good. I like the colour scheme!

TomZ

[Old Wombat]

Good one, Brian!

Mini-gun pods under the wings would be fun, or a locally designed fuselage mounted gun-pod system.

It features two fuselage mounted GPMGs.

Yep, I read that but, well, mini-guns*!




[*: a.k.a "micro brrrrt!" ]

[zenrat]

So this is therapy/rehab?
Can you get medicare to buy you kits, paint and glue?


Looks good, and believable.

[Mossie]

Great job Brian. Not a pretty machine, but one I've liked, looks good in Aussie camouflage.

[NARSES2]

Suits the camouflage scheme Brian 

[rickshaw]

Thanks, one and all. Now who's going to nominate it for a Whiffie? The Australian Army is averse to Miniguns.   Too expensive to train with, dont'cha know?   They tried to put one on an M113 in Vietnam only to have it rejected as "too much firepower" by the Infantry commanders who viewed it.  So it fell by the wayside.   Would have been interesting.  Anyway the Cam is no where as wild as the Nomad's was in real life.  As for Medicare paying for anything, forget.  It is harder than you think...   

[AndrewF]

An attractive colour scheme and good story, but difficult to actually see the guns on those photos... whereabouts on the fuselage are they?

[rickshaw]

An attractive colour scheme and good story, but difficult to actually see the guns on those photos... whereabouts on the fuselage are they?

They are complete submerged in the fuselage, behind the wings on the left...

[perttime]

Somehow you've made a candidate for the ugliest aeroplane in the world into something that actually looks good. 

Nice job Brian. 

A splash of colour can do wonders.
I quite like the Do 228 in the Finnish Border Guard scheme


Wikimedia image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Finnish_Border_Guard_Dornier_Do-228-212.jpg

[PR19_Kit]

A splash of colour can do wonders.

Still an ugly shape though.

A Dash 8 would look much better in that scheme.