1:72 Noorduyn Norseman; CF-NMD, operated by Buffalo Airways, 1995

Dizzyfugu · June 29, 2023, 11:28:40 PM

Unsusually, this one took soem weeks to manifest - due to the delicate kit, the mqassive deacl work and the fact that I built my 1WGB entry in the middle of the Norseman's construction phase. However, here it is, an 1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV' Firefighter Bird Dog; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
Buffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, established in 1970. Buffalo Airways was launched by Bob Gauchie and later sold to one of his pilots, Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe"). It operates charter passenger, charter cargo, firefighting, and fuel services, and formerly operated scheduled passenger service. Its main base is at Yellowknife Airport (CYZF). It has two other bases at Hay River/Merlyn Carter Airport (CYHY) and Red Deer Regional Airport (CYQF). The Red Deer base is the main storage and maintenance facility. The company slogan is "Your passage to the North".
Buffalo also operates a courier service as Buffalo Air Express which started in 1982-1983. It offers service throughout the Northwest Territories (NWT) and Northern Alberta. In association with Global Interline Network it can ship around the world from bases in Yellowknife, Edmonton and Hay River.
Under contract for the NWT Government, Buffalo Airways also operates and maintains aircraft used in the aerial firefighting program. The waterbombers are assisted by smaller aircraft known as "bird dogs" which are used to help spot wildfires as well as guide waterbombers during operations.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

One of these aircraft were two Noorduyn Norseman bush planes, also known as the C-64, a Canadian single-engine shoulder wing aircraft designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Distinctive stubby landing gear protrusions from the lower fuselage made it easily recognizable. Norseman aircraft are known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries and also have been based and flown in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Designed by Robert B.C. Noorduyn, the Noorduyn Norseman was produced from 1935 to 1959, more than 900 were sold. With the experience of working on many ground-breaking designs at Fokker, Bellanca and Pitcairn-Cierva, Noorduyn decided to create his own design in 1934. Along with his colleague, Walter Clayton, Noorduyn created his original company, Noorduyn Aircraft Limited, in early 1933 at Montreal while a successor company was established in 1935, bearing the name Noorduyn Aviation. Noorduyn's vision of an ideal bush plane began with a high-wing monoplane airframe to facilitate loading and unloading passengers and cargo at seaplane docks and airports; next, a Canadian operator utilizing existing talents, equipment and facilities should be able to make money using it; last, it should be all-around superior to those already in use there. From the outset, Noorduyn designed his transport to have interchangeable wheel, ski or twin-float landing gear. Unlike most aircraft designs, the Norseman was first fitted with floats, then skis and, finally, fixed landing gear.

The final design looked much like Noorduyn's earlier Fokker designs: a robust high-wing braced monoplane with an all-welded steel tubing fuselage. Attached wood stringers carried a fabric skin. Its wing was all fabric covered wood, except for steel tubing flaps and ailerons. The divided landing gear were fitted to fuselage stubs; legs were secured with two bolts each to allow the alternate arrangement of floats or skis. The tail strut could be fitted with a wheel or tail skid, and sometimes a fin was added in this place on aircraft of floats to improve directional stability.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Until 1940, the Noorduyn company had sold only 17 aircraft in total, primarily to commercial operators in Canada's north and to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the outbreak of war in Europe, demand for a light utility transport and liaison aircraft that could operate on unprepared airfields close to the European frontlines led to major military orders. The Royal Canadian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces became the two largest operators, and several versions, the Norseman Mk. II-IV, which primarily differed in their powerplants, were produced.

In postwar production, the Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario acquired rights to the Norseman design, producing a version known as the Norseman Mk V, a civilian version of the wartime Mk IV. To exploit the market further, the "Can Car" factory designed and built the Norseman Mk VII. This version had a bigger engine, a new all-metal wing and greater cargo capacity but was fated never to go into production. With large Korean War commitments at that time, the company put it into temporary storage where it was destroyed in a hangar fire in September 1951.

In 1953, Noorduyn headed a group of investors who bought back the jigs and equipment from Canada Car and Foundry and started a new company called Noorduyn Norseman Aircraft Ltd. Bob Noorduyn became ill and died at his home in South Burlington, Vermont, on 22 February 1959. The company continued to provide support for operating Norseman aircraft and built three new Mk Vs before selling its assets in 1982 to Norco Associates. Norco provided support services only, as Norseman aircraft manufacture was labor-intensive and very expensive, and this ended the production of the rugged aircraft after almost 30 years.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The last Noorduyn Norseman to be built was sold and delivered to a commercial customer on January 19, 1959. A total of 903 Norseman aircraft (Mk I - Mk V) were produced and delivered to various commercial and military customers. The two aircraft operated by Buffalo Airways (CF-NMD and -NME) were refurbished WWII USAAF machines that had formerly flown in Alaska and on the Aleutian Islands. They were initially procured by the company only as light transport and feederliner passenger aircraft for regional traffic around the Great Slave Lake. During this early please the Norsemen carried an overall white livery with pastel green trim.
However, with the company's commitment to aerial firefighting the robust machines were from 1987 on primarily used for aerial fire patrol in the Yellowknife region during summertime, and for postal service in wintertime. Occasionally, the Buffalo Airways Norsemen were used as air ambulance, too. To reflect their new role the machines received a striking and highly visible new livery in deep orange and dark green, which they carried for the rest of their career. In the firefighting role they operated in unison with other Bird Dogs and Buffalo Airways' Air Tractor 802 Fireboss and specially converted Lockheed L-188 Electra waterbombers. CF-NME was eventually grounded in 1996 after a severe engine damage and sold (but later revived with a replacement engine), while CF-NMD, nicknamed 'Anna Louise' by its crews, soldiered on with Buffalo Airways until 2004.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Capacity: up to 10 passengers
Length: 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
Wingspan: 51 ft 6 in (15.70 m)
Height: 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m)
Wing area: 325 sq ft (30.2 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 2412
Empty weight: 4,240 lb (1,923 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 7,400 lb (3,357 kg) ;7,540 lb (3,420 kg) with floats
Fuel capacity: 100 imp gal (120 US gal; 450 L) in two wing root tanks,
plus optional 37.4 imp gal (44.9 US gal; 170 L) or 2x 101.6 imp gal
(122.0 US gal; 462 L) auxiliary tanks in the cabin

Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN1 9 cylinder air cooled radial piston engine, 600 hp (450 kW),
driving a 3-bladed Hamilton Standard, 9 ft 0.75 in (2.7623 m) diameter constant-speed propeller

Performance:
Maximum speed: 155 mph (249 km/h, 135 kn) as landplane with standard wheels
138 miles per hour (120 kn; 222 km/h) on skis
134 miles per hour (116 kn; 216 km/h) on floats
Cruise speed: 130 mph (210 km/h, 110 kn) KTAS at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Stall speed: 68 mph (109 km/h, 59 kn)
Range: 932 mi (1,500 km, 810 nmi) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
Service ceiling: 17,000 ft (5,200 m)
Rate of climb: 591 ft/min (3.00 m/s) at 100 miles per hour (87 kn; 161 km/h)
Wing loading: 22.8 lb/sq ft (111 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)
Maximum - Flaps extended (Vfe): 108 miles per hour (94 kn; 174 km/h)

The kit and its assembly:
This project was spawned when, some years ago, I came across a picture of PBV-5A Canso/Catalina CF-NJE/ C-FNJE (ex RCAF 11094) during its use with Buffalo Airways between 1996 and 2004, where it AFAIK flew as a tanker/mobile gas station for other firefighting aircraft. The Canso carried a bright and highly attractive livery in deep orange and dark green with high-contrast white trim on wings and fuselage, and I immediately decided to apply this pretty scheme to another aircraft one day. And what could be more Canadian and an epitome of a bush aircraft than the stubby Noorduyn Norseman (well, O.K., an Otter, a Beaver...) which is available as a 1:72 kit from Matchbox (since 1981, re-released by Revell)? An alternative is AFAIK a full resin kit from Choroszy Modelbud, even though it only offers floats.

Several years after the project's inception I was able to hunt down a relatively cheap kit (2009 Revell re-boxing), but it rested some more years in The Stash™ until the time was ripe and I collected enough mojo to tackle it. Since this would only be a livery whif and not involve any major conversions, the Norseman kit was basically built OOB, using the optional floats as most suitable landing gear.
The only addition is a scratched semi-elliptic stabilizing fin under the tail, sometimes seen on real world Norsemen with floats. A technical change I made is a metal axis for the propeller with an internal styrene tube adapter behind the engine. Unusual for a Matchbox kit: it comes with separate rudders and flaps, and I mounted the latter in a downward position. For eventual flight scenes I integrated a vertical styrene tube behind the rear cabin bulkhead, as a rigid adapter for a steel rod display holder.

To avoid masking and the danger of losing one or more of the side windows during the assembly or while painting the model, I left them all away and recreated them after painting with Humbrol ClearFix – only the windscreen is an OOB piece. The risk of pushing one of the windows into the hull is IMHO very high, because each pane is a separate piece and none of them have any support to increase the contact area with the hull. This also makes the use of glue to mount and fix them rather hazardous. The ClearFix stunt went better than expected, but I guess that the Norseman's window might be the limit of what can be created with the gooey stuff.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Overall fit of the kit is good, even though some PSR is needed along seams (esp. at the wing/fuselage intersections) and for some sinkholes along the fuselage seam. A feature Matchbox always did well is the surface structure of fabric-clad areas, and the Norseman is no exception. Mounting the delicate float arrangement was challenging, though, it takes a lot of patience and thorough drying phases to assemble. Because I wanted to paint the floats and the respective struts in aluminum (from a rattle can) I assembled and lacquered them separately, for a final "marriage".

As additional details I added PE boarding ladders between the floats and the side doors instead of the minimal OOB plastic steps, and some rigging between the fin and the stabilizers as well as between the floats' struts, created with heated grey styrene material.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Painting and markings:
The real highlight of the model: the bright firefighting livery! I adapted the paint scheme as good as possible from the benchmark Catalina (the same livery was also carried by CL-215 waterbombers) onto the stubby Norseman and used Humbrol 3 (Brunswick Green) and 132 (Red Satin, a rather orange-red tone) as basic colors. A personal addition/deviation is the black belly, and because of the separate cowling I ended the jagged white cheatline behind it and added a white front ring to the cowling.
The wing supports were painted white, similar to the real Canso. Since the floats are an optional landing gear, they were painted (separately) in white aluminum (from a rattle can), with dark gray walkways and black tips. The model did not receive an overall black ink washing, because I wanted to present a clean look, but I did some very subtle post-shading with slightly lightened basic tones along the internal braces. It's barely noticeable, though.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Most of the white trim was created with generic decal stripe material from TL Modellbau, a very convenient solution, even though a LOT of material (more than 1m in total!) went into the decoration. Aligning all the stripes on the stabilizers and the wings was not as easy as it seems, due to the rib structure of the surfaces. The registration codes on wings and fuselage were created with single white letters (also from TL Modellbau) in different sizes.

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish (Italeri) for a clean and fresh look, the floats received a coat with matt (effectively a bit shiny) varnish from a rattle can, before the model was finally assembled and final struts and the PE boarding ladders were added. The anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen became matt, too.
As one of the final steps, the windowpanes were created with ClearFix (see above) – quite a stunt. Due to their size and square shape, I had to carve some individual tools from chopsticks to apply the thick material properly. Filling the openings this way was quite a challenge, but eventually worked better than expected (or suspected).

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Noorduyn ,Norseman Mk. IV'; '143/CF-NMD' a.k.a. 'Anna Louise', operated by Buffalo Airways; Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), 1995 (What-if/Matchbox kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A pretty outcome! The firefighting livery suits the Norseman well, it's a bright spotlight – as intended in real life!

Building the model took a while, though, mostly because I had to take time for the paint to dry and the extensive use of decal stripes, and I took part in the 2023 "One Week" group build at whatifmodellers.com in the meantime, too. The Matchbox kit is also not to be taken lightly. While things mostly go together well, the delicate floats and the windows are a serious challenge, and I think that replacing the clear parts mostly with Clearfix was not a bad move to avoid other/long-term trouble.

loupgarou · June 30, 2023, 12:06:51 AM

Beutiful paint (and decal) job an interesting story, a bit different from the usual.

ericr · June 30, 2023, 12:45:10 AM

long live seaplanes

uncletain · June 30, 2023, 12:57:52 AM

Excellent
Love the colour scheme
The black really shows off the red

Dizzyfugu · June 30, 2023, 01:09:24 AM

Thank you, glad you like it. Unfortunately it has some (inconsistent) marking flaws - but these only became apparent after the model had been finished, so I live with them...

Turned out better than expected, and it's really a pretty bird!

kitbasher · June 30, 2023, 02:14:26 AM

The Norseman (to me, at least) is one of those rare aircraft that looks good in most - any - colour schemes.

Vulcan7 · June 30, 2023, 04:13:01 AM

Beautiful looking build & photos, great colour scheme & stripes

zenrat · June 30, 2023, 04:58:12 AM

Great build Dizz.

But it needs beaching gear. Something like this maybe...

Or a slightly more professional looking version.

I have half a 1/76 Airfix jeep set aside for one of these, although I feel it may be underpowered.

PR19_Kit · June 30, 2023, 05:20:46 AM

Very, VERY smart Thomas.

A metre of white stripe? That's a LOT on a model that size for sure!

I love the water effect in some of the pics, how did you do that please?

Dizzyfugu · June 30, 2023, 05:46:24 AM

Thanks a lot., everyone!

Quote from: PR19_Kit on June 30, 2023, 05:20:46 AMI love the water effect in some of the pics, how did you do that please?

The "water" is a piece of cling film on top of a printed sea back/underground, result of many experiments to create a kind of 3D water effect that works from above, adding reflections and some depth, but also from the side to give an impression of the floats having some draft. Plus some picture editing here and there.

PR19_Kit · June 30, 2023, 06:14:55 AM

It works VERY well.

Dizzyfugu · June 30, 2023, 06:20:57 AM

Doesn't it!? Even water can be whiffed!

NARSES2 · June 30, 2023, 06:49:43 AM

That's a tremendous build

Rheged · June 30, 2023, 07:59:41 AM

That is a REMARKABLY impressive piece of work!! And thank you for revealing a most useful tip about modelling "water" for photos of floaty things.

Wardukw · June 30, 2023, 12:36:19 PM

I had this kit when I was a kid and I promise ya it didn't look anywhere near as awesome as this .
Stunning work Diz..freaking love this 😀