The DHC-2 Beaver was one of those planes that came along at a time when both civilian and military forces were looking for a rugged, easy to maintain utility aircraft. Widely used by US and other forces, the Beaver still flies today with civilian pilots, many having been reengined with turboprops.

The type was initially categorized as the L-20. After the 1962 combination of military aircraft nomenclature, it was the U-6. This sheet contains markings for six different aircraft. For kits, I believe the only one that has been done in this scale is by Hobbycraft. These decals are superbly printed by Microscale, one of the best in the industry.

The first option is the first of two overall unpainted metal planes. This one is the hack used by the 50th TFW based at Hahn AB in 1958, complete with buzz numbers.

The second is another natural metal plane, but this one has large areas of da-glo orange and an all black cowling. It was with the 81st TFW based at RAF Bentwaters in 1960.

Next, also with da-glo sections, is a US Army plane in olive drab when based in Japan.

The fourth option is from the 6512 Test Squadron based at Edwards AFB in 1993. This is probably one of the last military units to use this aircraft. It is painted in overall white with what is described as red high visibility patches. I think this may be incorrect as the standard scheme for test planes is overall white with international orange patches. I photographed this plane in 1985 and it was just like all the other white painted planes at Edwards. Red was not used much after the early 1960s. Look at the photo and judge for yourself.

The fifth option is one the was operating with the US Navy Test Pilot School at Pax River in the 1970s. This one was on charge for a very long time and you can find photos of it in a number of similar but different schemes. Its main scheme in this rendering is light gull grey with white control surfaces and international orange high visibility sections.

Finally, we have a Beaver with the British Army. This is in a camouflaged scheme of dark green and dark earth.

Note that some aircraft have a rather extensive radio suite and some have a solid roof while others have clear sections in them. This photo of a British Beaver shows both of these features. Though one generally will not find too many photos showing the upper surfaces of the wings, it would be best to try to find one for the aircraft you are modeling. Sometimes you can tell by the lack of light in the cockpit if it has a solid roof.

Overall, this sheet offers a nice variety of schemes. You should not have any difficulty finding one that you like.  

December 2016