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1/72 Heller Lockheed 1049 Super Constellation
Trans Canada Airlines (Air Canada as of Jan 1 1965)
by Ron
Palmer
IPMS#1069,
Edmonton,AB.
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By 1951 overseas traffic had exceeded all expectations and new aircraft had to be acquired. The Lockheed 1049 Super Constellation, (Connie), was the best airliner available until the arrival of the DC-8. TCA's first 1049c was delivered in Feb. 1954. Trans Atlantic service began in May with 5 aircraft, replacing the Canadair North Stars. 14 Super Connies of various marques flew with TCA until retirement in 1963. Super G had tip tanks that added 600 U.S. gallons each which extended its range for longer non-stop trips.
This model represents CF-TGF#406, and is in the scheme it carried when it was retired. It was a high time a/c with 20,131 hrs. of service with TCA. It was delivered June 22 1954 and sold on May 1st 1962. Another highlight, I flew as a passenger on TGF from Vancouver to Toronto, non-stop, in August 1961.
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The kit is, of course, the great Heller kit of the Super G. It went together as per kit instructions. The nose section, from the cockpit forward on left fuselage was broken off so it was fixed with super glue & smoothed off. I sprayed the top with Testors flat white and when dry, sprayed Modelmaster bright white on. I then masked the white off on a line halfway up the windows & used MotoMaster Radiant Silver spray from Canadian Tire for the rest of the fuselage and wings. Wing walks were made with Pactra trim tape by spraying the proper width with flat black & applying as per instructions that are with the decals. That white & silver is sure bright when exposed to the sun.
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The decals are from Whiskey Jack, Coquitlam, B.C., named after the obvious or the bird, I'm not sure. At any rate, they are superb. The nose to tail window stripe was in 3 pieces. I chose not to use the kit windows, so left them open until after decaling, then cut the decal from the window area, then used Micro Crystal Clear.
It was not clear what antennae were on the a/c so used the book by Peter Pigott," National Treasure, The history of TCA" for a couple of great pics. showing those details. The u shaped antenna on top was traced from the DC-6B kit & installed. Also, I used the props & spinners from the same kit as the TCA Super Gs used the square tipped props.
Reference:
National Treasure, The History of TCA.
Ron
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Photos and text Copyright 2002 by Ron Palmer
This page, previously linked to on my Constellation main page, was dropped by the original server. It is re-created and reproduced here with the kind permission of Ron Palmer, the webpage owner and expert modeler, who retains all rights to the text and photographs. Ron will be happy to know his modeling efforts will be a major source of information, and will be replicated on a real TCA Super Connie -- CF-TGE! Thanks, Ron!