Lockheed L-049/L-649/L-749 Constellations in 1:400 Scale
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Updated: October 2024
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TWA received its first L-049 Constellation on October 1 1945 and began transatlantic services with the type in February 1946; so beginning the great arms race between Douglas and Lockheed, which continued right up till the first 707s and Comet 4s entered service. This rivalry was initially fueled by Lockheed's agreement with TWA which tied up early production aircraft and forced United and American to look elsewhere.
The initial L-049 variant was really a civilianised C-69 military transport. 87 were built and delivered to TWA, Pan Am, AOA, BOAC and Air France. The Pan Am aircraft were upgraded to L-149s with extra fuel tanks. The L-049 gave time for Lockheed to produce an improved design it called the L-649. This had a wide range of improvements, including new engines, but outwardly it looked the same aside from the availability of a Speedpak belly pod. Only 22 L-649s were built as most airlines chose a yet more improved version called the L-749. This again had the same outward appearance, but extra fuel tanks allowed it to regularly be able to cross the Atlantic non-stop. Air France received the first of these in April 1947. Production ran until the new L-1049 Super Constellation was ready in 1951, by which time 119 L-749s had been built.
Quite a few L-749s had weather radar retro-fitted to them which gave them a standard L-1049G style longer nose. TWA kept some of its L-749s in service until May 11 1967!
Quite a few L-749s had weather radar retro-fitted to them which gave them a standard L-1049G style longer nose. TWA kept some of its L-749s in service until May 11 1967!
Short Connies In 1:400 Scale
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As of October 2024 in 1:400 there have only been the following 19 releases in 400 scale and none since 2006:
Pan Am Models Co is a sub-brand of Aeroclassics. AURORA Models was a retailer brand. For a history of AURORA see:
It is worth mentioning that Aeroclassics has a Short Connie mould in 200 scale that has been seeing usage as recently as 2023.
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Short Connies In Real Life
In real life most short Connies never had radar fitted so had the short Constellation nose. They did regularly come equipped with the extra baggage compartment fitted externally under the fuselage and known as a SpeedPaks (see below photo). TWA refitted its short Connies with radar and they looked a little unusual with a L-1049G-esque nose but short body (see end of this review).
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Photo by Bill Larkins from Wikipedia
At Heathrow in 1954 with SpeedPak. Photo by RuthAS from Wikipedia
Moulds
Dragon Wings (2004)
Dragon has produced five releases (though the AOA and TWA aircraft have each been released twice in various sets). I own three of them and have to say it is a good representation of the type. Issues are the standard ones for a Dragon mould, namely chunky, simple undercarriage and deeply engraved wing lines. The outer tail surfaces do have a tendency to leave the stabilisers and as you can see the mould is so unstable that Dragon has been forced to put chocks on the main gears. Even with them the models tail sit very easily.
Aeroclassics Mould (2005)
One year after the Dragon mould Aeroclassics released their version on which they have made a reputable 15 aircraft. The mould also captures the shape of the type well and has much superior undercarriage legs to the Dragon. Unfortunately, the mould is a little spoiled by the very obvious seam line - a common complaint point on earlier Aeroclassics prop moulds (see the L-1049 and Viscount). It isn't especially noticeable when the aircraft has a natural metal lower half but Aeroclassics inability to paint some of it when the aircraft doesn't can make it stand out. Unlike the Dragon Wings mould this version does have no obvious join lines on the wing roots or engine cowlings. It also is much more stable than the Dragon version. Despite the seam, it is one of my favourite prop moulds.
Radar Equipped Short Connies
It is worth mentioning that as with the L-1049s Aeroclassics has played a bit fast and loose with radar equipment. For example they released a TWA L-749 in the Twin Globes scheme but with the short non-radar nose, when all Connies that got to this livery would have had radar, which drastically altered their appearance. Here's the real thing radar-equipped and the model not radar equipped:
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Jon Proctor (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons
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Dick Gilbert, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Wishlist
Sadly, it appears both of these moulds are longtime out of use - with the last being produced in 2006. This is despite there being quite a few possibilities for the mould still left undone - several of which have since been made in 200 scale. Also, nobody attempted to make a version with a speedpak - which would have been really nice.
Below: Four examples made by Aeroclassics / Western Models in 200 scale that have not been made in 400 scale:
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