A good Caravelle Kit?

I'm aware of only two. Airfix makes a model in 1/144 which I have not built, but I would imagine it's pretty straightforward, if small. Others would know more. there have been lots of decals and parts made at one time or another.

Mach 2 makes a kit in 1/72, which I do have. It is a very crude and difficult kit, even by Mach 2 standards. There is very little surface detail, which really shows on a model this big, and there would be any number of enhancement projects to get all of the things like gear, engines, wing fences, doors etc. even halfway respectable. The clear bits are not well cast, and the decals are limited in choices, incomplete and as far as I can tell almost to nothing is out there in the After Market. When I do build it, I'll plan to clear the bench and really stay focused.

It's a classic though and United operated a lot of them in the 60's, so they were well represented at midsized airports.

bondoman wrote:

It's a classic though and United operated a lot of them in the 60's, so they were well represented at midsized airports.

 

If you get near Columbus Airport CMH there is a Caravell sitting there rotting in old Airborne Express colors. You can see its tail from the now vacant America West gates. 

This is my desktop at work.

United was an early and important customer, following the failure of the Electra. They also operated another esoteric type, the Viscount. Sud built these in Toulouse and we lived there for a summer while Dad was over at the plant. I've got ONE (1) picture of the assembly line

They had a good career. One time early on one scraped it's tail pretty bad on takeoff. Sud didn't just send a new panel, they sent 4 sheet metal mechanics to fix it.

paintsniffer wrote:

If you get near Columbus Airport CMH there is a Caravell sitting there rotting in old Airborne Express colors. You can see its tail from the now vacant America West gates.

IIRC, that jet was part of a museum. I never had a chance to go have a look, though.

F-RSIN ( http://www.f-rsin.com/ ) makes some engines for the Airfix kit. I think there might have been some other aftermarket bits available, but the old memory isn't what it used to be.

Ben

Altho it doesn't directly relate to your query, IIRC Heller also did one in something like 1/288 in their "Cadet" range of kits.

It sounds like this subject would be a good one for a new mold/release. I like the older commercial aviation jets and props. I work on the new ones every day and I can't seem to build enough interest to build one in kit form. It would be nice to see a whole series of larger scale(1/100-1/72) jets and prop liners. These planes represent when you flew to fly. There was a feeling of romance to it. Not at all like today. The planes had more "personality" then. I like talking to the senior guys at work and hear about the Viscounts, Bac 1-11's and even DC-3's(those guys are long retired now). Even the 707's had more to them than todays planes. I would also like to do something like a P-3 conversion to an Electra in 1/72.

Besides the Airfix and Mach 2 kits, don't forget the 1:96 and 1:100 kits.  They are a of a good size.  Linberg did a 1:96 one with a clear side, Frog had also a 1:96 one, and then Heller and Revell have 1:100 offerings.  The former are not easy or cheap to find; the later are as they have been recently re-released.

If the Mach2 kit is not desired due to roughness AND cost (too much money for what you get IMO), my suggestion is to get either the Revell or the Heller 1:100 ones.  I don't remember the specifics of which version they represent, but they are earlier types as they have earlier engine types.

 

Cheers,

Christos

 

Thanks Christos. I am thinking of the Revell 1:100 kit. It is readily available. Has anyone built this kit? How is it?

Welcome, Christos!

>>> Welcome, Christos!

Hi John, thanks!

The Revell kit is a good, basic kit-not superdetailed, but a decent kit at a decent price.  It's larger than you'd think from the size of the box, & the recent release has stunningly beautiful decals.  More than worth the price.