Just opened up the box of my Dynam "Skybus" from Nitroplanes. This is a DC-3 or C-47 or Goonie Bird or Dakota, NOT a skybus! Despite the goofy Skybus moniker, this a nice, scale looking model made of "bullet-proof" EPO, with excellent brushless power. When I saw this plane advertised, I noticed the decals were a knockoff of the old Eastern Airlines "Great Silver Fleet" livery. So I looked around and found a decal sheet at Tower Hobbies that has a faithful representation of that scheme for the Great Planes DC-3 model that they sell. The plane is the same scale as my Dynam. I bought that sheet for less than $5, and it's the livery that will ride on my DC-3. Check out the video.

Dynam Skybus (DC-3) from Nitroplanes (4 min 9 sec)

thanks for the video! i saw this plane while surfing nitro recently. i've always loved the dc3, and built the gws kit but did not have good luck flying it. any idea who this manufacturer is? never heard of them. did you have to solder the esc's/motors/connectors or was that all done for you? wish they offered this in scale military colors, but i guess it would be easy enough to paint it. can't wait to hear how it flys!

thanks....rob

Originally Posted by rob737

thanks for the video! i saw this plane while surfing nitro recently. i've always loved the dc3, and built the gws kit but did not have good luck flying it. any idea who this manufacturer is? never heard of them. did you have to solder the esc's/motors/connectors or was that all done for you? wish they offered this in scale military colors, but i guess it would be easy enough to paint it. can't wait to hear how it flys!

thanks....rob

Glad u liked the vid, rob737! I'm also a long-time fan of the DC-3...and the DC-4, DC-6, DC-7!. The gws kit scared me off. I'm still strictly a foam-glue-on-the-wings modeler. I figure if I put lots of time into building a model, then I won't want to fly it. I've seen some YouTube vids of other Dynam planes and those reviews were favorable. This plane is really nice and scale-looking, (except for the 2 bladed props). There's no soldering to do. In fact, it has a wiring harness of sorts, what with the dual ESC's and twin aileron servo hookups. Everything is plug-in connections. As much as I'd like for this plane to be silver, I'm not going to paint it because of the EPO foam. I have another plane of similar EPP that's all white except for an orange cowling... that paint just doesn't stick to this kind of foam very well, so that's why I don't plan to paint the DC-3. I'll put up another vid of the assembled plane soon, but we got smacked with 28'' of snow here today, so I don't think I'll have flying video of it up for at least a week or so. Subscribe to my YT channel and u won't miss it!.

i'm with you as far as being fond of the old large prop planes. the gws build was more than i cared for, too, but that was the only dc3 i could find at the time (have not seen the gp one offered at tower for a long time). that one had some quirks that i did not learn about until i had flown and crashed it several times. anyways, this one looks very promising. i'll scout around on youtube and try to get familiar with the brand as you did. as far as the wiring, not too long ago i built the phase 3 p38, which is a beautiful flyer...but i did not enjoy all of the soldering because i'm not very good at it! thanks again for your post, looking forward to your progress as you build. i am south of you in maryland, we got almost 30 inches of snow today! looks like we are both grounded for a while.

rob

This is a pic of my dad on top of the stand, working "Mainliner City of Spokane" with a co-worker in Omaha, Nebraska in 1946. Dad could tell you the maximum gross takeoff weight of UAL's DC-3's right up to the day he died. I guess there's some things you never forget.

great picture! easy to understand why you love this plane. my father flew the old convairs....not quite a dc3 but it had radials. any progress on the build?

Originally Posted by rob737

great picture! easy to understand why you love this plane. my father flew the old convairs....not quite a dc3 but it had radials. any progress on the build?

Ya, the piston Convairs are another of my faves...UAL's fleet of Convair 340's retired with a perfect safety record. I think they were one of the most esthetically pleasing airliners of the era, right up there with the Lockheed Connies. Got my DC-3 built today in time for the Superbowl. Vid in the next post...

It took about 1.5 hours to build this kit and I was really pleased with the way it went together and the results. I didn't have to force anything or stretch any wires or hammer anything in. All went according to the instructions. When you crank up the motors, this thing really wants to fly! We've got a couple feet of snow on the ground here so I'm going to have to check around my usual spots for a clear runway. I don't video maiden flights, but I should have some flying video of her soon.

Dynam DC-3 (3 min 47 sec)

looking forward to the flight video as soon as your weather picks up. I just got a voucher for my birthday for a half hour joyflight in a dc3 here in NZ cant wait
keep up the good work BladeHead


http://www.southerndc3.co.nz/history

Pommie

Found this video link of it flying ........

Dynam 4ch Brushless DC3 Sky Bus Plane Flight and Review (4 min 52 sec)

Looks good - I too was put off by the GWS model as it needed to be flown too fast to keep it in the air and looked unrealistic. This one looks much better and certainly has plenty of power. It wouldn't take much work to make this look a bit more realistic either - some acrylic paint to start
Where can you buy these from ??

just seen link on vid I posted - guesss Nitro planes would be a good start
but they have run out ....

Originally Posted by Monkfish81

just seen link on vid I posted - guesss Nitro planes would be a good start
but they have run out ....

Wow, they're already out of stock? That was fast. I ordered this from Nitroplanes on 2/1, right after I saw their 1/29 video of it on their blog: http://www.rcdiscuss.com/blog/

Originally Posted by pommie

looking forward to the flight video as soon as your weather picks up. I just got a voucher for my birthday for a half hour joyflight in a dc3 here in NZ cant wait
keep up the good work BladeHead


http://www.southerndc3.co.nz/history

Pommie

Pommie, I bet that will be the ride of a lifetime! My first airplane ride was on a DC-3, a while back when I was a boy of 3. I don't remember that flight but totally enjoyed quite a number of later rides on DC-4's, 6's and 7's.

The runway was almost clear of icy clutter, so decided to fly. The maiden flight and landing, flawless...The second flight, not so much. Everything was fine until it was time to land. I got it over the runway threshold and this guy's dog decided it was time for a grand game of "fetch." The owner called him off, but it unnerved me enough to bounce the landing and bust a prop. Power-on wheel landings (on the two mains) are a challenge because there's only a about 1/2 inch of clearance between the prop fan and the pavement when the tail wheel is off the ground. Best to shut down the motors or try for 3-point landings. This plane flies really stable and has lots of power. Most of the flying today was at about 50% throttle.

Dynam DC-3 Second Flight (1 min 55 sec)

great video! thanks for posting it. i am definately getting excited about this one. too bad nitro is sold out. i would want to paint it, however...but have not had a lot of luck with this in the past. i would settle for an olive drab all over. i have used testor's model master paints to touch up scuffs on a lot of my planes, anybody think this paint would work on this model? after that a set of decals from callie graphics and i think it would really look good (just because i prefer a military livery). hope nitro gets these back in stock soon.