Revell 1/144 L.1049G Super Constellation
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Overview
Some of the most interesting aircraft and liveries marked the post-war
airliner era. DC-4s, DC-6s, and DC-7s shared the skies with Stratocruisers
and Constellations, transporting passengers to just about every corner
of the globe. Out of those aircraft, the Constellation is probably the
most elegant, with its three vertical fins and smooth upper fuselage curve.
Influenced by TWA’s Howard Hughes, Lockheed produced the Constellation
to compete with Douglas’ DC-4. To keep up with the changing airliner
market, Lockheed developed the L.1049 series from the earlier Constellation
series, recognizable from its longer fuselage and square windows. In this
guise, the Super Constellation became the most popular Connie, serving
in the fleets of numerous airlines for decades.
The Kit
 When
Revell announced this kit, it caught many modelers by surprise. Many already
had the decent Minicraft kit in their stash, but the general consensus
was that this new Revell kit would raise the bar in 1/144 Connies. Now
that it is here, I can say that they pretty much raised the bar out of
sight. Petite recessed panel lines throughout, coupled with detailed landing
gear, a cockpit interior, clear cabin windows, and a stunning decal sheet
makes this kit THE Connie kit to have in 1/144. The best part is that
you won’t have to break the bank for it, either, as it is roughly
the same price as the Minicraft kit, sitting right at $20.
 The
construction of the kit begins with the cockpit, and although tiny, it
does provide enough business to be seen through the small cockpit windows.
There are three seats, two tiny control yokes, and an instrument panel/hood.
The latter gets a small decal sheet to provide semblances of the instruments.
The completed assembly then fits on top of the nose gear well, which in
turn fits into the fuselage halves. Long strips of clear pieces make up
the individual cabin windows, and with the noted 15 grams of weight in
the nose, the fuselage is ready to be closed up. On the front end, there
is the option of using either the more streamlined radar nose, or the
blunter original nose. The latter is molded in clear, to allow the modeler
to mask off the prominent landing lights found there.
 The
wings are molded in three pieces, with the one-piece lower wing maintaining
the proper dihedral. The upper wing pieces include the full control surfaces,
as well as the complete wingtips, which capture the washout quite nicely.
An interesting tidbit is that the wing planform is the same as that found
on the P-38 Lightning, as are the outboard vertical fins. Now that’s
a nice way to recycle those old drawings! Those vertical fins are molded
as one piece, sliding into notches in the horizontal stabilizers.
 Moving
on to the engines, these have the front bank of cylinders provided, with
a separate propeller shaft running through them. The two-piece cowling
traps this assembly inside, and the cowl opening is just big enough to
show those cylinders off. The upper and lower scoops are separate pieces,
completing the engine assemblies. These mate up to the rest of the nacelle
on the wing, and as the seam is tough to get at, I strongly recommend
several dry runs to make sure the seam is as tight as possible. Other
wing details include the optional tip tanks, which are split in half.
While the options presented in the kit decal all had these tanks, some
L.1049s did not, so check your sources if you branch out to other liveries.
 Looking
at the landing gear, these assemblies are little gems. The nose gear has
a separate retraction arm and fine detailing present on the main strut.
The separate wheels have nice hub detailing as well. The main gear is
similarly well detailed, also with a separate retraction strut. The main
gear doors are all separate pieces, while the nose gear doors are molded
in one piece, designed to be cut apart for those who want to display their
model gear down. The remaining details include just about every antenna
present on the real thing, and the instructions indicate where extra rigging
is required.
 For
decal options, as this kit is an officially licensed Lufthansa product,
it obviously comes with Lufthansa decals. The main aircraft is D-ALIN,
the aircraft flown to Moscow with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1955 to
free German prisoners of war. Also included are the registrations D-ALEM
(the boxtop aircraft), D-ALID and D-ALAP, which are all finished similarly
except for the registrations, with one notable exception. For D-ALEM and
D-ALAP, the Lufthansa emblem on the rear fin is not backed in yellow (an
apparent error in the boxtop painting). Common to all of the Lufthansa
aircraft is the white top and natural metal bottom, with the wings in
natural metal. The tip tanks are white. The attractive blue and yellow
cheatline wraps under the nose, and the decals are carefully designed
to handle this. Note that all of the Lufthansa aircraft feature the blunter
early nose style.
The other options presented on the sheet are Trans World Airways, the
airline behind the development of the Constellation. There are three registrations
provided: N7104C, N7125C, and N7114C, but only 7125C and 7114C are noted
on the instructions. For N7125C, this aircraft has the radar nose and
carries the name “Star of Chenonceaux” on the nose. N7114C
is a non-radar nose Connie and has the name “Star of Mont St. Michel”
on the nose. This leaves one last name, which must therefore be for N7104C,
“Star of Blarney Castle.” The basic livery is the same for
all of these aircraft, with a mainly white fuselage, red two-line cheatline,
and TWA and Trans World Airways titles in the usual places. One interesting
feature on this sheet is the wing walkways for the TWA schemes. These
are presented as a series of parallel lines. In checking the few photos
I have of TWA Connies, it would appear that this is how they are applied
on the “Save A Connie” modern restoration, while the period
TWA Connies had solid color walkways. It would be easy enough to create
new ones using the kit markings as a template, though.
Conclusion
This is easily the best 1/144 Connie out there, and could even be considered
better than the Heller 1/72 Connie kit. The high quality of tooling, coupled
with the wonderfully printed decal sheet, will make this a popular subject
for airliner modelers. There is also extensive military crossover as well,
in the form of the C-121, and I am sure it will not be too long before
we see aftermarket decals for some of those more interesting schemes.
Hopefully this marks the beginning of Revell producing lots of 1/144 Lufthansa
aircraft. My vote goes out for a new-tool DC-10 or 707. |
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