Dornier Do-24K / Do-24N / Do-24T

The Do-24 paper model was started to design on August 2022.

As always I tried to do it the most detailes possible, and include moving propellers.

But this model allowed for moving turrets too, so I included them.

During the eight months that I spend designing the 21 different versions in three sizes (1/33, 1/72 and 1/100), I learned a lot about the Netherlands Do-24K, the interim Do-24N, the definitive Do-24T and the only example of the Do-24ATT

Two observations: I'm not an expert modeler, so you can assemble a better spanish SAR than mine. And the german Do-24s have both sets of tails, censored and uncensored.

Quote from René Pinos

Many thanks a lot Draco. An old wish becomes true.

Thanks, it was a dream made true for me too.

I discovered so many interesting things about this plane, and I always wanted to do the spanish SAR version. I loved that it was called "the flying uboat" because the cockpit was so near the water. I loved to find that it had cleats. I loved that thanks to the really detailed pictures of the present day planes still in the museum, I was able to make a realistic model with all the panels, shadows and details that I wouldn't be able otherwise. In a way it was magical for me.

BTW, you can find them in https://ecardmodels.com/product-tag/do-24/

Quote from Helmut B.

Sorry Draco,

I deleted 2 pictures because of the swastikas.

Mmm? Ah, ok, the ones from real planes on the sea! Ok, sorry!

Perfect, no problem. So let's change the subject and start with the assembly of the Do-24.

René, good pictures. One of my versions is that plane, including the mouse that can be seen in the right side of the nose.

Usually when I'm designing a model, I do first some b/w tests, then one with only the border lines of the camouflage and finally one in full color.

This time I did it hand painted, and later the final SAR while two of my friends did the DJ+ZM.

As you can see the model comes weathered, as it have been months in the sea and not just fresh from the factory.

It starts with a central profile and a series of ribs. I did that way due to the changes in section that a normal plane doesn't have. I included a bit of lead in the nose, too, that will be necessary when finished.

You can see the squared cuts where the turrets will go, and the ribs of the pontoons that extrude from the fuselage. You can see too that the german model has rounded portholes with the spanish SAR has them rounded and rectangular.

Again, I have not patience assembling, so yours will be better than mine.

Be carefull that the part 10, the one with the yellow band, closes upside instead of down as all the others do.

And let's stop here for the moment and remember that yours is available in ecardmodels

Thanks, Horst!

One interesting detail about that plane is the twin yellow lines in the rear fuselage. When in service, the spanish Do-24s used only ONE line but it changed position over the years.

Before being delivered to the factory and the museum, the paint peeled off because of the sun and both lines could be seen. Sadly, instead of spending five minutes searching for a picture, they repainted the plane... with both lines visible.

So I have two spanish SAR. One as it was in 1966, and other (maybe the same plane) as it is now.

So you can go to ecardmodels and download the one you like. Both are real spanish Do-24t aircraft.

Today we will continue finishing the fuselage and starting the wings.

The frontal and rear turrets are closed in the SAR, but not in the DJ+ZM.

The wings have a dorsal reinforcement to improve the handling and presentation.

If you follow the instructions and do a little test before apply the glue, you shouldn't find any problem.

By the way, when I talk about "weathering using pictures" I'm talking about this, just for all the plane, hull, wings and tail:

In this pictures you can see the support for the plane, that isn't really necessary, because the keel is flat and can support the model without problems.

You can see too that the central engine is slighty up than the external ones. Can see details like the central flap, that doesn't go to the border of the wing.

The engines and cowls of the K and N versions are different and the model reflects it

Some pictures of the Do-24 made for another modeler.

Remember that the PDF includes censored tails.

And other models. The unfinished fuselage is being made in 1/100; the turrets in b/w are test to be sure that all the models have the corresponding parts, being turrets, windows or engines.

Quote from Chris A.

Came out very nice! One of my favourite flying boats. Very well done!

Thanks!

Some information about the Do-24s than can be downloaded from ecardmodels. There are more available in 1/33, 1/72 and 1/100:

DJ+ZM: Seenotstaffel 7 Athens Phaleron. 23 Dec 1943. Do 24 T-3 crashed while landing near Kythira Island off the SE tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula, 100% lost, 3 killed and 3 injured.

Spanish Do-24 (3 paint schemes available).

In 1944, the Spanish Air Force received 12 Do-24Ts with the designations HR-5 and HD-5 for the newly founded Shipwreck Rescue Commission, created to rescue pilots and sailors from aircraft or ships of both sides, shot down or sunk in the Mediterranean. Virgen del Pilar came with open turret holes. Later they were closed as was Virgen Maria.

These aircraft were stationed at the Puerto de Pollensa Seaplane Base and decorated in green with red crosses, the Spanish flag on the rudders, and civil registration to clearly highlight their neutral status. This decoration gave rise to the nickname "Civil Guards," by which they were known until 1958. Years later, the four surviving examples were incorporated into the SAR painted as HD5-4, and all were decommissioned in November 1969.

Of those remaining at the Puerto de Pollensa Base, one was flown to the Mar Menor, where it was later dismantled and taken to the Air Museum in Madrid. And the last one, on August 6, 1971, piloted by Captain José Luis Ferragut, was flown to Lake Constance, where it was handed over to Claudios Dornier in the city of Freideschafen and became the Do-24ATT.

X-1 as the delivery scheme of first twelve Dornier Do-24k1 to the Dutch Marine Luchtvaartdienst, no 20 mm canon. They served in Surabaya Java, in 1939.

More info about the first group of Do-24:

CM+RY, later F2-90. On October 31 1944 the pilot deserted to Sweden with his girlfriend, was interned. The plane had first all his marks blacked, later repainted green and gray and based at Hägernäs. Lastly it was left in aluminium paint and flow until 1952.

There is a pack with the four camouflages of the CM+RY that can be found in ecardmodels too.

X-24 as the one in the Dutch National Military Museum (NMM) at the former Soesterberg airfield, Netherlands. This is not the original Do-24K but the spanish Do-24T repainted.

More information about the Do-24 available in ecardmodels:

CD+BH belongs to the 3/Seenotgruppe and came from an old Italieri plastic kit, being the reason that I love this plane. I have the theory that Italieri has a team building the molds, a team designing the intructions a a team assembling the model, and this three teams live in different cities and only talk betweem them once in a month.

9F8 and 30S2 belong to the F9 flotille (Tunicie) and 30 escadrille, and I was surprised that the modelers love more the white one.

About the DQ H, five MLD Dorniers X-5, X-7, X-8, X-9, X-10 were flown to Australia in February 1942 as part of a MLD retreat to set up a training base in Australia. These were among the earliest delivered and were in poor condition. Five days after the Broome attack, the last Dornier evacuation flight from the NEI was X-24 on 8 March 1942, while made landfall at Wallal WA, 200 miles south of Broome. The crew managed to arrange refuelling in this remote location and continued to Perth.

I recomend you to read the page https://www.goodall.com.au/aus…rnier-24/dornierDo24.html for more information.

There is a pack of the three MLD planes (X-1, X-24 and DQ H) that can be downloaded too.

By the way, some of you will find some of the colors of the models a bit weird, like the two toned gray of DJ+ZM and CD+BH, but the usual two tones of green were used by land based planes and not sea based ones. Usually I spend more time researching a plane than assembling it, and I have received a lot of surprises.

And the last real life Do-24 available from ecardmodels:

D-A+EAV was a Do-24N with civilian registration. It was operated by the Reischdienst and has the gun placements covered. There is a combo with the CD+BH, D-A+EAV and DJ+ZM in ecardmodels, too

A3+EE: it was painted totally black, and served in the 3/KG 200 transporting agents behind soviet lines in 1944 and 1945

Do 24N-1 KD+GA (Wk-Nr 0001) of Seenotstaffel 6, Syracuse, Sicily, April 1941

Dornier Do 24T-2 Werk Nr. 115 5W+BU of SeenotStaffel 50 surrendered at Trelleberg in Sweden on 9th May 1945, was handed over to the Soviet Union on August 14th 1945. This Do-24 was used for many years as transport while in service with Polarnaya Aviatsiya (Polar Aviation). The star in the picture was only temporary, Polarnaya Aviatsiya was a "civilian" company