CD72050 - C-54 Thunderbirds

[KursadA]

CD72050 will be the third (and last) 1/72 USAF sheet I will be doing for the Revell C-54: it will feature markings for the Thunderbird aerobatic team support aircraft.

Edited June 2, 2016 by KursadA

[Electra II]

Awesome! Sign me up for a set!!!! Thank you!

Cheers, Mitch

[Paul Boyer]

Likewise!

Will ANY decal manufacturer do "Sacred Cow," the presidential transport for Roosevelt (1 trip) and Truman (for two years)? I'm surprised no one has jumped on this yet.

[KursadA]

Likewise!

Will ANY decal manufacturer do "Sacred Cow," the presidential transport for Roosevelt (1 trip) and Truman (for two years)? I'm surprised no one has jumped on this yet.

Hi Paul,

I read your posts mentioning this airplane in several different venues. Maybe it's me, but it just looks very plain to me. I am aware of its historical place and I am sure it is attractive to some modelers, but many folks will build only one 1/72 C-54 in their lifetimes and will be inclined to build something colorful and bold. So I can understand why it has not attracted much attention.

That said, it has only very few, simple markings; and it could be squeezed onto the CD72045, the second sheet that just went to the printers earlier this week. At least I might get a positive mention in FSM ;-). It is not too late to add a few small elements. I need references though, and I need them now (I mean now. Three days, and it is too late to send a modification.).

Edited January 5, 2016 by KursadA

[Paul Boyer]

Hi Paul,

I read your posts mentioning this airplane in several different venues. Maybe it's me, but it just looks very plain to me. I am aware of its historical place and I am sure it is attractive to some modelers, but many folks will build only one 1/72 C-54 in their lifetimes and will be inclined to build something colorful and bold. So I can understand why it has not attracted much attention.

That said, it has only very few, simple markings; and it could be squeezed onto the CD72045, the second sheet that just went to the printers earlier this week. At least I might get a positive mention in FSM ;-). It is not too late to add a few small elements. I need references though, and I need them now (I mean now. Three days, and it is too late to send a modification.).

Well, thanks for you consideration. Three days to get proper information to you is too little time. Plain, yes, significant, yes. Simple to add to a decal sheet, yes, but the trick with Sacred Cow is that the markings changed a bit over the years. There are photos of the aircraft with two different serials. According to one reference, it was switched as a security measure. I really don't "need" decals for it, as I have lots of number/letter sheets and am fairly crafty at making up simple designs such as the number plate on the nose. I am more surprised that no one hasn't added it in a corner of a sheet. Of course, I'm on an Air Force One bent right now, so I'm looking to do this soon.

[KursadA]

Just finished the final few elements of this decal sheet - I will do some final verification steps to make sure everything fits the kit nicely, and send it off to be printed.

[KursadA]

This sheet has been sent to be printed a while ago, and I am expecting it sometime this month. Here is what the two sheets will look like. This set will also include the same national insignia sheet that was included with the first two C-54 sets.

Edited July 6, 2016 by KursadA

[Paul Boyer]

Oh, beautiful! I'm in!

[swallows]

GORGEOUS!!

I have a Revell kit just waiting for this sheet.

May I hope for the same treatment of the Roden C-123B?

Cheers Fabio

[KursadA]

I hope you will like it - I spent a lot of time getting the shapes right and triple-checking everything to fit the Revell C-54 kit. You will find that many of the elements that need to fit a particular kit part will fit very well - the passenger windows (One would think the windows would be evenly spaced. But no, dear reader - nothing ever is so easy in a decal designer's life), rudder and stabilizer decorations etc. But you will need to do a fair amount of manual touch-ups and adjustments, and some color matching. I could only provide two small color samples on the sheet, but hopefully they will help in matching the colors.

This scheme is 50+ years old and there is surprisingly little documentation about it - I was able to glean some details from old films and the early 1980s Squadron-Signal book. There was some uncertainty about some aspects of the markings, but I will mention these in the instructions.

(*): Before anyone points out: yes, I know the "City of Las Vegas" inscription is only on one side of the aircraft. But it felt cruel to break up the symmetry of the sheet. ;-)

Edited July 6, 2016 by KursadA

[GEH737]

I'm really glad you did this one Kursad. Growing up in Las Vegas - the Thunderbirds were as much as part of the routine as anything. Didn't everybody grow up in a place where this was almost a daily routine?

Sometimes - only much later in life, do you realize how fortunate you were.

And you're right - I've seen very little on this aircraft.

Thank you :)

Hitch

[82Whitey51]

Very nice....very nice...

I already have the Blue Angel sheet, looks like I'll have to build two Revell C-54s!

Man, about two years ago, I was about to embark on building the Mach2 C-54 kit and hand masking out this scheme...Now I can take a much easier route!

Thanks for the hard work and another top notch sheet Kursad.

[Paul Boyer]

GORGEOUS!!

I have a Revell kit just waiting for this sheet.

May I hope for the same treatment of the Roden C-123B?

Cheers Fabio

A couple of years back, Jennings announced that fündekals:) was going to do the later C-123B Thunderbird, but he has recently stated that there was not enough interest. Recently, Warbird has released both early and late versions. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be mentioning competing brands here in the Caracal department. :(

[Kurt H.]

I am going to need more C-54 kits.

[82Whitey51]

A couple of years back, Jennings announced that fündekals:) was going to do the later C-123B Thunderbird, but he has recently stated that there was not enough interest.

Not enough interest? Bad call. I do recall him asking about references here, I shared photos and drawings from the Replica In Scale "Thunderbirds" book with all those fantastic line drawings of the Thunderbird aircraft. I wish he'd gone ahead with that sheet, I've had bad experiences with Warbird's red ink...

[Paul Boyer]

Not enough interest? Bad call. I do recall him asking about references here, I shared photos and drawings from the Replica In Scale "Thunderbirds" book with all those fantastic line drawings of the Thunderbird aircraft. I wish he'd gone ahead with that sheet, I've had bad experiences with Warbird's red ink...

Ooh. How so? I've got the "unissued" C-119 T-bird sheet and want to get the C-123 (of course, along with Caracal's C-54 :rolleyes:/>). Did the red run? Didn't conform? Just hard to match with paint? What?

Edited July 7, 2016 by Paul Boyer

[MHaz]

Ooh. How so? I've got the "unissued" C-119 T-bird sheet and want to get the C-123 (of course, along with Caracal's C-54 :rolleyes:/>/>). Did the red run? Didn't conform? Just hard to match with paint? What?

I've got the C-119 sheet, too, along with his F-4E Thunderbirds sheet. Both are printed by Microscale, so I'm not sure how the red ink could be an issue.

[KursadA]

I unfortunately do not have any plans to do a C-123 Thunderbirds sheet anytime soon - not because I do not think it will be popular, but because I already have too much on plate. The release schedule is pretty full until January with the exception of a few slots that I keep as "war reserves" for announced, surprise kit releases(*). Let us get back to discussing my decals and my business if at all possible. Thanks!

(*): such as the Kinetic C-17 that came out of the blue this past week.

Edited July 7, 2016 by KursadA

[Paul Boyer]

. . . such as the Kinetic C-17 that came out of the blue this past week.

Uh YEAH! Wont that be great?

[82Whitey51]

Ooh. How so? I've got the "unissued" C-119 T-bird sheet and want to get the C-123 (of course, along with Caracal's C-54 :rolleyes:/>/>). Did the red run? Didn't conform? Just hard to match with paint? What?

I used the F-105 sheet and the red cracked and flaked along the leading edges, bought a second sheet thinking I might have gotten a bad batch, but same thing. That and the red on the F-105 sheet is too dark, I think they may have reprinted it in a lighter red but can't confirm. The "What-If" P-51 sheet was the same, brittle, flaking edges. I did use their F-84F sheet, and that red performed fine, so...? I have heard reports that the F-100 sheet has brittle issues as well, I have the sheet but haven't built the F-100 yet.

Sorry Kursad, didn't want to hi jack the thread but wanted to inform the modeling public...back to our regular program!

[Paul Boyer]

Thanks, Whitey, I'll be on the lookout. At least we won't have to worry about the Caracal C-54 sheet!

[82Whitey51]

Thanks, Whitey, I'll be on the lookout. At least we won't have to worry about the Caracal C-54 sheet!

Absolutely! These Caracal decals will slide on like paint!

Man, I'd love to do the C-119 and C-123 as well...but, holy cow, I'm running out of room! I never figured the decals, let alone the kits, would ever be available for these birds. Good times.

[swimmer25k]

A couple of years back, Jennings announced that fündekals:) was going to do the later C-123B Thunderbird, but he has recently stated that there was not enough interest. Recently, Warbird has released both early and late versions. Sorry, I probably shouldn't be mentioning competing brands here in the Caracal department. :(/>

Paul,

I asked Jennings' business partner about this sheet for the 123. The partner suggested that Jennings may have jumped the gun in letting the 123 out of the bag so soon. I too would have loved to do this in T-Birds as well. Now I have no interest in messing around with the rodent kit.

The -54 will look sharp for sure., have you built yours yet? How much nose weight did you have to use?

Chris

[Paul Boyer]

Chris, I used the kit-supplied tail prop instead of trying to weigh down the nose. It would have taken a lot of weight with a lot of trouble fitting it, and then the resulting added stress on the nose gear. I attached the tail prop with a fine piece of soft wire through holes drilled in the top yoke of the prop and through the tail bumper of the aircraft. It's often seen on parked aircraft so it doesn't look out of place to me. I'm eventually going to refinish this model as the Thunderbird with Kursad's decal, but here's how it looked for FineScale Modeler review:

[swimmer25k]

Kursad,

What's the ETA on your next batch or releases including the T-Bird C-54?

Thank you,

Chris