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This is the Roden 1/144 scale Lockheed C-141B Starlifter with Caracal decals. This is one of those projects I've dreamed of for years. I had an Aurora 1/109 C-141A back when I was an Air Force brat at Offutt AFB in 1969. In fact, I tried to scribe some panel lines with an Exacto knife and even used some Rub n Buff to create some variation to the natural metal finish. It was a disaster, befitting a 12 year old trying out new techniques. I never finished the kit. Years later Dragon issued 1/200 C-141A and B Starlifters, but that was not my scale. Within the last ten years, I bought a fantastic resin 1/144 C-141B from Scott Deopker that I never had the courage to tackle. Now Roden has come to the rescue Paint is Model Master FS16473, Tamiya black and white acrylic. The gray area surrounding refueling receptacle and replacement engine panels is Model Master FS 36118. On Airliners.net I found a few photos where white/gray C-141Bs had engine panels replaced with those painted FS 36118 from aircraft already painted in the then new Euro 1 scheme. My model replicates that look. Weathering was limited Flory Washes "Grime" along the engines, the bottom fuselage near the landing gear, a small amount near the rear cargo doors and fuselage vents just below the leading edge wing mount. A great resource is C141Heaven.info. which has tons of information and photos. There are early Lockheed brochures on the site calling the C-141A the "Super Hercules" and early concepts drawings that look like the nose of a C-130 grafted onto the now familiar shape of the Starlifter. Finally, one of the fun aspects of scale modeling is you can create pictures that could never have happened in real life. In this case, I placed my 1/144 Minicraft C-135A Stratolifter (1961), the republic's first jet strategic airlifter along side my 1/144 C-141B (1989), its successor. Bob Leonard
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Photos and text © by Bob Leonard