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Post by connieguy on Oct 2, 2020 13:23:27 GMT -5
On page 477 of the second volume of the second edition of Peter Marson's book on the Constellation there is a photograph of a MATS C-121C taken in the mid 1950s (the golden time). The markings are a liitle unusual as far as I know in being in white and extending to the engine covers. This was Lockheed Construction No. 4175 and it received the U.S.A.F. number 54-156. It had a long history, including a spell as a crop sprayer, but eventually it passed to the Super Constellation Flyers Association and became the Breitling Super Constellation.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Oct 2, 2020 13:39:02 GMT -5
Unusual indeed. We've found there were dozens of variations among USAF (and MATS) aircraft.
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Post by connieguy on Oct 3, 2020 15:33:23 GMT -5
I guess that at least some of these paints were done by the units concerned. As there are no complicated lines on the nose this was a fairly easy paint. Is there an online source of pictures of some of the others you mention please?
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Oct 3, 2020 16:55:37 GMT -5
Just do a web image search for
MATS C-121
and
USAF C-121
an you will see many of them.
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Post by darrenvox on Oct 4, 2020 3:06:42 GMT -5
wow cool
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Post by connieguy on Jan 9, 2021 8:26:56 GMT -5
My latest paint of this aircraft is seen at Cal Classic Keflavik. In the first stage of its career it served with the 41st Air Transport Squadron, whose insignia bore the words 'Toujours Pret'. I believe that some USAF C-121s of this period carried insignia and I have added the 41st's to the paint. Marson's photograph (see above) does not show that part of the aircraft, so it could be correct. The 41st was based at Charleston and there is a very usable MAIW FS9 version of Charleston (not entirely period, of course) at the link below, while the Wikipedia article on the unit describes their area of operations. Some of this may be taken from Marson's book on the Constellation, 2nd edition, vol. 1, 328. Plenty of playability here. I can release this paint if there is sufficient interest. militaryaiworks.com/download-hangar/files-by-newest/download/10-scenery/5-maiw-charleston-afb-kchs-tony-daltonen.wikipedia.org/wiki/41st_Military_Airlift_Squadron
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Post by Al on Jan 9, 2021 14:47:22 GMT -5
I certainly would add this repaint to my collection should you decide to release it. Nice work and background on this aircraft.
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Post by gsnde on Jan 10, 2021 8:17:51 GMT -5
Very beautiful!
Could you consider doing it for the AI model as well?
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jan 10, 2021 10:47:20 GMT -5
Just set it up as an AI High Quality (HQ) model in the AI plane’s aircraft.cfg file and you can use his textures as is. You also get the benefit that the AI model when you are very close to it is the nice one from Manfred, but as you move further away it becomes the regular AI model.
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Post by connieguy on Jan 18, 2021 3:56:56 GMT -5
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Post by connieguy on Jan 21, 2021 13:01:36 GMT -5
I was a little surprised to find another photograph of this aircraft taken at Prestwick in 1960. As the photograph is copyright I have not published it here, but if you scroll down the page at the link below you will see it numbered 54-0156. By then it had been repainted in a more standard MATS colour scheme, the USAF number on the tail had been abbreviated and 'Atlantic' had replaced 'Mats' on the fins. The white on the nose survived but I am unsure whether the band between that and the radar is dayglo: I suspect that it is, and have used that in a tentative repaint. It is clear from the photograph that the bare metal textures were fairly well polished. The screenshots were taken at Cal Classic Prestwick. Any thoughts welcome. abpic.co.uk/pictures/search?type=Lockheed+Constellation+%2F+Starliner+Warning+Star+%28C-69+C-121+WV-1%29+C-121C+Super&date_taken=&information=&tag_fields=%5B%5D
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jan 21, 2021 13:25:47 GMT -5
Nice. Note he says the year is a guess, so don't take it too seriously.
Note that the darker band is the rear part of the radome, so it may also be a darker gray instead of the orange.
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Post by connieguy on Jan 22, 2021 13:10:26 GMT -5
Thanks Tom, I didn't scroll far enough down. c.1960 would have been more accurate. Having spent part of today looking at Marson there was more variation in radar domes than I had realised and it looks as though this aircraft had the radome replaced after the first photo was taken. This is the latest version. I have a feeling I shall fly this more than the original. What the original photo shows is that the unit insignia was carried just aft of the red band. I have added it there just a little larger than it was in reality.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jan 22, 2021 14:00:36 GMT -5
I tend to like the white top schemes too.
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Post by mjahn on Jan 23, 2021 4:43:47 GMT -5
Looking good. Here is a random thought though. Just possibly, that picture from Marson's book might show white primer for a subsequent coat of dayglo, which seemed to have been (actually still is) common practice: "To maximize the effectiveness of fluorescent colors, you should start painting by applying it over a clean, white surface." Anyway, those white sections seem to correspond to what would normally be dayglos (okay, except for the nacelles). Also, just possibly, looking at the Air Britain pics of the white-top schemes, the rudder sections might also be pure white, just like the rest of the tailplane?
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