1/144 Revell Super Constellation

Gallery Article by Andrew Johnson on Sept 30 2010

 

This is the 1/144 Revell kit with decals from F-DCAL.  Really difficult to think how you could improve this kit!  Aluminium paint from Gunze as was flat white.  Most of my time went on the exhaust staining, Gunze soot then dilute Tamiya earth tones and a bit of grey.  

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With a max take off weight of 63 tons it could haul 65-95 passengers at 340 mph to a distance of 5,000 miles.  Powered by 18 cylinder Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone 55 litre engines. This was the unique triple turbo compound engine where the turbo not only forced air into the carburetor but also had a direct drive to the crankshaft to augment the power.

The Air France service from Paris to New York took 14.5 hours and Paris to Tokyo taking a bone-aching 45 h.  The long journeys were lightened by air France’s excellent cuisine. 

Andrew Johnson

Photos and text © by Andrew Johnson