Revell Europe's 1/144 Super Connie has been around for a few years now. It's an excellent little kit, cleanly-moulded, simple to build and with two attractive colour scheme options, for TWA and Lufthansa.
Construction starts with the flight deck. This is as well-detailed as it needs to be. However, I'd leave out all the flight deck fittings - you can't see them on the completed model, and as we'll see later, you need all the space you can get for nose-weight! You do, however, need to install the flight deck itself, as it forms part of the roof of the nosewheel well.
There's nothing to see in the fuselage, so painting the insides of the passenger cabin windows black is a good idea. In fact, I'd have been happier if the windows had been moulded solid as part of the fuselage sides, with decals for the windows themselves.
Construction proceeds uneventfully, and fit is generally excellent. The tail surfaces, in particular, fit so well that you could get away without using glue! The engine cylinders and crankcase are nicely-detailed, but you can't see any of them on the completed model, so you might as well paint them black and have done with it.
Optional parts are limited to the nose-cone, for which you have the choice of short, moulded in clear plastic for ease of representing the landing light lenses, or long, radar-equipped, moulded in the same white plastic as the rest of the kit. There are also optional long-range wing tip fuel tanks - not all the TWA machines had them. You also get the choice of undercarriage up or down.
I needed a little filler - only Tippex - to hide some parts of the fuselage centreline and wing-fuselage seams, but no more than most modern kits. The underfuselage radio masts were also a little chunky, so I replaced them with short lengths of 20 thou diameter plastic rod.
The kit's main challenge comes with the finishing. First challenge is to convert the Revell Europe paint call-outs to colours in the range that ou'll actually be using - though I did actually use the recommended Revell colour for the areas of the nose which needed to be Lufthansa Blue. Large parts of the airframe are bare metal, so the surface needs ro be smooth, scratch-free and glossy. I started with an overall coat of Alclad II grey lacquer primer. When this had dried and cured for a couple of days, I wet-sanded it smooth, and then polished it glossy with a sheepskin buffing bit in the motor tool.
Nest were the de-icing boots. These were carefully masked off, to prevent any matt black paint getting on areas which needed to be smooth and glossy, and then, when they had dried and cured overnight, I masked them, to protect them from oversprays of the other colours which were used.
For a dense base-coat for the white areas, I started with Humbrol matt white, and then Humbrol satin white, which is the smoothest, purest white paint I know of. Next up were the Lufthansa Blue areas of the nose cone, and the light grey areas of the control surfaces and flaps, for which I used Humbrol 166 Light Aircraft Grey. The light grey areas should, in fact, be a metallic shade, but in the past, I've had problems masking metallic greys, so I chickened out.
Finally were the polished natural metal areas, for which I used Alclad II Polished Aluminium. A dozen or so very light coats, sprayed at maybe five minute intervals, build up into a convincingly deep and lustrous shiny aluminium effect. Dull metal areas - essentially the insides of the wheel wells and u/c legs, were brush-painted with thin coats of Revell Aqua acrylic aluminium - again, the best acrylic brush-paintable aluminium paint I know of - with chrome silver oeleos, and a couple of coats of thinned Tamiya smoke to bring out the detail.
Prior to decaling, I applied a couple of brush-painted coats of Future, but leaving the engine nacelles and u'c well doors un-Futured for contrast. The kit provides five decal options, three Lufthansa and two TWA. I chose the Lufthansa machine D-ALIN, which was used by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on a state visit to Moscow in 1955. There is a Super Connie in the markings of this machine preserved at the Hermeskeil aviation museum in Germany, but this is an ex-Air France machine repainted, and the finish is not authentic.
The decals themselves were well-printed and accurate, but were perhaps a little thick. The larger ones needed a couple of applications of Microsol before they would settle satisfactorily into recessed detail and over three-dimensional curved surfaces. When they had been applied, I sealed them in with a further coat of Future, and removed the masking on the matt black de-icing boots.
A significant problem now became apparent - despite having put more lead in the nose than I thought I would need - and about five times the recommended 15 grams - it was still a tail-sitter. This was due in no small measure to the solid plastic tail surfaces. However, by filling the nose gear well and engine nacelles with pieces of aquarium lead, I was - just - able to restore balance. Learn from my experience - put at least 75g, better 100g, of lead in the forward fuselage. The u/c is good and sturdy, and can take the weight.
Final stages were the installation of the w/t aerial wires, from thin Lycra rigging thread and the u/c wheels and doors. At this stage, one of the nosewheels disappeared into the jaws of the Carpet Monster, never to be seen again. I'll have to look out some suitable replacements from the spares box, but it isn't a top priority.
And that was it - job done. I really like the sensuous curves of the Super Connie, an airliner with real class and style, and far more attractive than today's flying busses! Here are some piccies:
and finally - oops!
Comments and queries, as ever, welcome.
Cheers,
Chris.
Cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly!