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The best Connie I've ever seen (not mine)


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I mean the "Military Air Transport Service" title along the fuselage. Where it says "MATS" on the nose and wing it appears to be standard USAF stencils and I think the serial number and "Atlantic Division" on the tail are stencils too. This all makes the use of Gill on the fusleage stand out as odd.

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Sorry but the decals illustrated are still wrong in the font style used. Sean is right. Standard USAF were 45 deg. stencil style in appropriate sizes. The red lettering on the nose flash is wrong too. But didn't the beautifully restored airworthy MATS Connie that toured the UK in the late 90's get sold to Korea and they refinished it as a Korean Airlines scheme? But still a very nice model though.

And in any case, the decals illustrated are by Heller ( their logo bottom roght of image)for their kit not from the Academy C-97.

So maybe, if Heller took the details from the real '8613' then that had the wrong fonts. Will have tyo look up images of it from that time.

Edited by Paul J
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Paul, I guess you've misunderstood me. Yes, the decal above is by Heller, but, as it was mentioned, it is incorrect for 8613. Vladimir has built 8612 using Heller ( only "MATS" and "Military Air Transport Service" elements) and Academy (Atlantic Division) decals as well as Authentic Decals and Begemot stenciling plus custom built decals (as you see there is no "red lettering" that you have correctly pointed as incorrect, Vladimir also mentions that the shape of an "arrow" is also wrong)

Here is a brief photo history of this plane:

1352492648_1949-1950.jpg

1352492656_1950-1958.jpg

1352492666_1961-1962.jpg

1352492675_1965-1968.jpg

1352492683_1970-1977.jpg

1352492691_1977-1984.jpg

1352492699_1984-1995.jpg

1352492709_1999-2001.jpg

1352492716_2002-2004.jpg

1352492723_2009-2011.jpg

The model represents (as I recon) the very first reincarnation; from the photos above I can neither agree nor disagree that the title along the fuselage is of correct font.

Edited by Pin
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The model represents (as I recon) the very first reincarnation; from the photos above I can neither agree nor disagree that the title along the fuselage is of correct font.

No, nor me, the first picture is none too clear. Although I think we can conclude (not for the first time) that even the USAF was unable to follow its own rules a lot of the time :banghead:

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The markings on restored airframes I always take with a pinch of salt as very often they are only representative of original markings. Thus kit producers doing their research on these 'preserved' airframes take what they see for granted and give us inaccurate decals thus confusing a lot of modellers and causing much discussion.

But I know for sure that the upper fuselage titles are not right as per Heller decals as I reckon the font style is too modern even if the USAF did paint them wrong I am not sure that this would have been the style.

But don't get me wrong..Was just putting on my IPMS(NOt a member!!) head on!! I too think the model is gorgeous.

Edited by Paul J
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Sorry but the decals illustrated are still wrong in the font style used. Sean is right. Standard USAF were 45 deg. stencil style in appropriate sizes. The red lettering on the nose flash is wrong too. But didn't the beautifully restored airworthy MATS Connie that toured the UK in the late 90's get sold to Korea and they refinished it as a Korean Airlines scheme? But still a very nice model though.

And in any case, the decals illustrated are by Heller ( their logo bottom roght of image)for their kit not from the Academy C-97.

So maybe, if Heller took the details from the real '8613' then that had the wrong fonts. Will have tyo look up images of it from that time.

I had the privilege of sitting up front on that aircraft at Middle Wallop after they landed it on the grass strip. It was pretty 'cozy' considering the size of the aircraft. I think the windows being so small make the aircraft appear much bigger than it is. It sounded mighty sweet when it did its flypast. Great natural metal finish on this model, I must say. If only I could get my Lightnings (EE/BAC rather than Lockheed) to look like that.

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One day someone will be able to make a beautiful model and post it on the internet without people feeling the need to tell them what's wrong with it. Maybe. :shrug:

Too right. I think it's amazing and only wish I could achieve the same standard.

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