1/72 Italeri C-119G/L

"Flying Boxcar" 

by Bernd Korte

photos by Deun Yu

--------------------

 

Prequel

 

For some time now a friend of mine, who is originally Taiwanese, kept talking me into “building a real blockbuster”.  As I’m not really suffering from an inferiority complex, I thought every one of my finished models to be a blockbuster, whether it was a Delta Dagger, Scorpion or Fury…at least when it comes to the choice of aircraft  ;) .  But my buddy had something else in mind.

He talked about those boxes that were stored right at the bottom of my pile.  Those four-engined bomber giants that you had really intended to build some day, but never started anyway because of the limited place in the show case and the also giant expenditure of time that would have been needed to get it done.

But when I started my studies last year, I picked up the idea, because I was in search of a long-term project.  Something big that wouldn’t reveal your lack of time like a smaller project.  Diving through my stash I spotted the time-honoured C-119G from Italeri.  And as this kit comes also with Taiwanese markings, the decision was made…

 

Click on images below to see larger images

The Aircraft

 

The design of the C-119 originally traces back to Fairchild’s earlier transporter, the C-82 “Packet”.  So, when their new model took off for its maiden flight in 1947, it addressed several of its predecessor’s shortcomings;

The cockpit had been relocated and was now in a more forward position, thus increasing the cargo bay’s capacity.  More powerful engines, an increased wing span and a strengthened cell were further improvements.

Early marks like the C-119B and C already served during the Korean War.  The later G-model was particularly used in Vietnam.  Its main exterior difference to the earlier marks was the extension of the fins, that were now overtopping the booms.

Special gun-armed models like the AC-119G “Shadow” or the AC-119K “Stinger” displaced and added to the ageing AC-47 Gunships over Vietnam.

Many of the almost 1200 aircraft that were built till 1955 served in several foreign Air Forces.  For example in Belgium, Brasil, Ethiopia, India, Italy, South-Vietnam and Taiwan.  There, it wasn’t before 1986 that they were replaced by modern C-130H “Hercules” transporters.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Preparation

 

The kit consists of about 125 parts with almost only raised detailing.  Almost, because the two cowlings are the only parts with engraved panel lines.  These are fairly flimsy, but they are engraved – and not raised.  Okay, what am I driving at? If you have a closer look at some reference pictures, you’ll notice that the Flying Boxcar in 1/1 scale has raised panel lines, too.  Once again - except for the cowlings. So, could it be, that Italeri’s mould designers did it on purpose when they chose that raised, “old fashioned” way of detailing?  Quite possible.  And it gets even more likely when you think of Italer’s B-58 “Hustler”, also a not so new kit, but only engraved panel lines – just like the real thing!

But for all that I started to rescribe the C-119 completely.  I guess it’s a kind of fad, but I seem to like this way better than everything else.  With scribed lines I can do a more efficient washing and in the end you don’t have to worry about lost details when sanding the seams.

 

Honestly, I ordered a set of 1/72 scale drawings from England to place the new scribings the most accurate possible.  The greater was the disillusion, when I had to find that the drawings just covered about ¼ of all the panel lines you find on the kit. Furthermore, the dimensions of length and wingspan in the drawings don’t match the measurements of the kit in any way.  When I had overcome this first trauma, I banished the drawings and denied to have them ever held in my hands.  Not to be disillusioned anymore, I started at once to rescribe all parts following the raised lines.

Comparing the kit with my references I was most close to another trauma: All photos of the “white 3131” show the aircraft with three-blade props.  In fact, till now I’ve found only one picture of a ROCAF C-119 with four-blade props. 

But the kit contains just the latter! As I really didn’t feel like doing a conversion from scratch,  I consulted a Taiwanese aircraft-photographer, which I had got to know via airliners.net.

To my big relief he told me that the ROCAF C-119G’s were all former USAF planes with four-blade props.  Later in their career with the ROCAF, they were retrofitted with three-blade props in favour of better flying conditions, now designated C-119L. Fortunately, my serial number 53-7847 seems to be one of those aircraft, as it was initially listed in the USAF inventory.  That had made my day, and after all parts had been rescribed, I started with the real construction.

Click on image below to see larger image

Construction

 

No aircraft without a cockpit – once again the office gets things started.  The cockpit is innately well detailed and the seatbelts were the only things I added.  Silver paint simulates the buckles.

On the whole I stuck to the painting instructions as they are fairly accurate.  Solely the instrument panel was painted in lightened black and not in dark gray as indicated in the instructions.  To get a used look of the cockpit, it was drybrushed with the lightened basic colors and washed with diluted oil paint.  For the drybrushing you shouldn’t just light the basic colors with white, but with lighter resembling colors.  For example the dark gray cockpit floor was drybrushed with a lighter gray and so on…

The walls of the cargo bay have a nice structure, but ejector marks disturb the structure in two places.  Fortunately this flaw can be easily corrected with some plastic sheet and putty.  Except for the ceiling of the cargo bay you can again rely on the painting guide.  Photos show that the ceiling was also zinc chromate as the whole interior, and not white.  Some drybrushing and washing was also applied to the cargo bay to highlight the nice structures in this area.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

 

For some time I really racked my brain over the problem of the right color for the wheel wells and landing gear doors.  However, I wasn’t able to solve this one with absolute certainty. Italeri proposes Bare Metal for the wells, the doors and the undercarriage itself. Maybe there were Boxcars to which this reference applies.  But my photos of the white 3131 show that the nose landing gear doors were painted in Gray, just like the whole underside of the aircraft.  The main landing gear could have been metallic, but also dark-gray or green.  Unfortunately my reference photos show this part of the plane that unfavorable exposed, that you really can’t tell the true color.

I went for a dark metallic.  The main wheel wells aren’t visible at all, but as all other references show them in Zinc Chromate that was also fine for me.

When the paint had dried, the gear wells and doors were weathered as already described above.  The main landing gear was refined with some brake lines form stretched sprue.  By the way, the references also show that on the ground the front wheel well isn’t completely open but that those doors are split with only the aft well doors in the open position.  As the kit only provides one-piece doors, these must be cut in two halves (see drawing).

 

Click on images below to see larger images

 

While this assembly group was set to dry, I turned to the engines and props. The prop hubs were painted with Humbrol “Metal-Cote”.  When dried, this looks flat gray first, but when polished with some soft cloth, you’ll get some very nice metallic effects. Red was painted over the metal-cote, which was to be pulled off with some duct tape when dried to simulate some chipping effect, which can be found on many photographs.  So far my theory.  But in my case none of the tapes I tried was able to pull the red paint off. Finally, I took an x-acto knife and scraped off the red paint which met my intended results fairly well.  The propeller tips were painted yellow.

The radial engines (cylinder) were painted with that same metal-cote colour.  The inside of the cowlings as well as the engine blocks are blue-gray, which I mixed according to my reference.

Next, the two-piece main landing gear wheels were glued together, the front wheels come as single-piece parts.

All wheels were slightly flattened over a hot plate to get the loaded look of a heavy aircraft.  The rims and the front well doors were airbrushed with Gray FS 36622, that’s the bottom color of the SEA scheme.

 

 

Now, all components that were to be installed in the fuselage had dried . But before I could glue the halves together, all windows had to bee inserted as they won’t fit from the outside.  Still attached to the sprue, all clear parts were masked with Mr. Masking Sol (liquid masking tape that is applied with a brush).  The maskings weren’t removed until the whole model was finished.  However, the “scuttles” of the rear part, next to the cargo doors, were inserted after the fuselage was closed as that area can be easily worked at.

Some weight was placed to the left and right of the nose gear wheel well as well as in the nose of the aircraft.  Even Italeri’s instructions point out that one will be left with a tail sitter without that extra weight.  From my experience, almost all twin boom models suffer from that problem.

When the fuselage was assembled.  I turned to the next big component, the wings together with the booms.

The main wheel well to wing assembly is quite tricky.  There are no locators that could ensure the right angle of the fit.  I had to test fit and correct it several times. The two rings (# B 37) that will support the engines were glued to the wings as they have to be painted black and I didn’t want them to be covered by the flaps of the engine cooler. The cowlings were left off as I wanted to paint them separately.

The fuselage- and the wing/boom section were treated separately as long as possible. It makes filling and sanding a great deal easier.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Painting

The SEA camouflage consists of Gray FS 36622 for the bottom side and of Tan FS 30219, Forest Green FS 34079 and Light Green FS 34102 for the up side pattern.  All these four colors came from the range of JPS Color acrylic paints.  I started with the lightest color and ended with the darkest one.

Click on image below to see larger image

Unfortunately, the Italeri painting instructions are quite incomplete.  There’s only a top view and one side view per aircraft.  To solve this problem I remembered the scale drawings. I photocopied them and drew in the camouflage pattern according to my references.

Tamyia tape was used for all masking.  It was placed strip wise on to the model, roughly following the camouflage pattern.  Then it was trimmed on the model with a sharp x-acto knife.  After each camouflage color one coat of Erdal Glänzer (German equivalent to Future) was sprayed on to protect the underlying colors from the next masking steps.

 

Markings, Weathering and Finish

 

Taking its age into account, the decals went on quite smoothly.  In fact, they are a bit thicker than today’s Italeri decals, but some decal softener was enough to make them snuggling into all panel lines.  Unfortunately the white parts of the decals don’t cover very well. A problem that became obvious with the portside roundel as that one lies over a green to brown color change.  Fortunately a fellow ARC'er (Hi Ted!) was kind enough to send me his spare decals of the same kit.  Altogether I “piled” three roundels till the color change didn’t show threw any more.

When all decals were applied another coat of Erdal Glänzer followed to prepare the model for a washing with diluted oil paints.  I use this method to highlight panel lines and simulate oil on different parts of the aircraft.

 

Now all small parts and components that had been left aside were glued in place.  First came the landing gear with doors, then the portside door behind the cockpit, the cargo doors and the cowlings with the propellers.  A semi matte finish was applied using a mixture of Humbrol matt cote (4 parts) and Humbrol gloss cote (1 part). As long as you use mainly the matt cote in your mixture, the varnish will dry quite quickly.

The landing lights E44 and E47 were attached to the wings and the position lights were simulated with a few drops of white glue which dries clear.

Some wear and tear effects were applied through metallic drybrushing, especially along the panel lines and on the leading edges.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Conclusion

 

Even though you won’t find the Flying Boxcar in the current (2005) Italeri range, you can sometimes find one in hobby shops or on internet auctions at reasonable prices, with a bit of luck even under the original selling price.  Besides the C-119G cargo-version Italeri produced also a AC-119K, with extra parts for the armament and the additional jet engines.

And I think that there are many readers out there who have one ore even both of them in their closet but who haven’t gotten around to start on it yet.

That’s really a pity because this kit really deserves being built, even out of the box without expensive aftermarket stuff that is almost harder to find than built Flying Boxcars.  By the way, till the new Aerofax on the C-82/C-119 is published there are virtually no references on this important aircraft.  That’s why all my references came once again exclusively from the internet.

 

Thanks to Harald Verweij for revising this German to English translation.

Bernd

 

Photos and text © by Bernd Korte