ATP 1/144 scale Capital Airlines Lockheed Constellation By Al Superczynski

The late and much lamented ATP, now out of business, reissued a number of Lincoln/Kader kits in the 1970s in their own boxes with much improved decals. I've covered their Vickers Viscount and F-27 Friendship in earlier articles but while both of those were to odd scales, 1/120 and 1/130 respectively, this early Connie, which is largely based on one of the very first Hawk plastic models, was fortunately done in what is perhaps the standard airliner scale, 1/144 and is thus much more useful and desirable to most airline modelers.

The model is basic in the extreme, molded strictly in gear up configuration, and consists of only 15 parts (17 if you count the simple display stand that is missing from my kit), but is thankfully almost entirely free of panel lines, flash-free, and well-fitting. The cockpit and passenger windows are slightly recessed in a fashion very similar to many Revell airliner kits.

The biggest problem with this kit is that while it is for the most part a faithful copy of the old Hawk kit, which was basically very accurate if somewhat simplified, Lincoln opted to change from a single-piece main wing to a more standard approach of separate two-part left and right wings. In the process Lincoln somehow managed to badly botch the wing's angle of attack and it mounts at an excessive nose-up angle. Comparison of the fuselage parts to the more correct box art and decal placement drawing readily reveals this as a major flaw - this problem can be fixed but it definitely takes the kit out of the realm of the casual builder. On the plus side it's very easy to adapt the landing gear from a Monogram Super G to this model.

ATP also included a much improved set of instructions with building tips and accurate color callouts.

On balance I consider this kit as of interest primarily to the collector but suppose it would be somewhat easier to correct it rather than attempt the conversion of a Minicraft Super G to this early configuration. The decal sheet is very nice and was available separately at one time so this would be worth looking for.

As a final note, serious builders interested in building an early Connie could do worse than investing in the resin conversion available from Dana Kopher - see https://groups.yahoo.com/group/airlinermodelling/files/Things%20for%20Sale/1-144connieresin.jpg for a picture of the parts included in this high quality conversion set.

Till next month, "Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to",
and be sure to visit Al's Place while you're surfing the 'Net!