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How to convert a Roden C-141B to an A?


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Can anyone walk me through how to convert the Roden 1/144 C-141B to an A variant? Thanks.

EDIT: OK, I see on another forum it requires cutting sections out in front and back of the wings, remove the refueling fairing, and apparently reshaping the wing/fuselage fairings. The latter doesn't sound easy. Wonder if Roden will do an A model?

Edited by Space Tiger Hobbes
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It is relatively simple to do as long as you know where to make the cuts. The most difficult bit will be filling the area on the forward fuselage where the IFR opening goes, so that will require some epoxy putty more than likely. But, once done that should be it otherwise.

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2 hours ago, Jay Chladek said:

It is relatively simple to do as long as you know where to make the cuts.

The forward fuselage seems to be a simple modification, but where on the aft fuselage would I place the cuts? The bottom of the fuselage starts to bend upwards just aft of the landing gear fairings. Unless I separate the fairings from the fuselage, I don't see any good way to make a smooth transition. The door and window on each side have to be relocated, too.

 

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1 minute ago, thegoodsgt said:

I'm not averse to doing the conversion, but I'll probably wait a year or two to see if Roden will retool the kit themselves. I certainly have enough models in the stash to keep me busy till then.   :thumbsup:

 

Steven Brown

Scale Model Soup

I'm with you Steve.   If they don't do the A version, I'm happy to lay a razor saw to the B kit.

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1 hour ago, Lancer512 said:

The forward fuselage seems to be a simple modification, but where on the aft fuselage would I place the cuts? The bottom of the fuselage starts to bend upwards just aft of the landing gear fairings. Unless I separate the fairings from the fuselage, I don't see any good way to make a smooth transition. The door and window on each side have to be relocated, too.

 

Granted I don't know if this is 100% the case but it looks to me like the the rear fuselage just needs to be shortened so that the aft tip of the gear fairings conclude right at the split and the fuselage starts going upward right behind the split. The B model has a short cylindrical section right between them, so it should be a matter of just taking that section out. The aft entry/exit doors (used for paratrooper drops) should be just behind the gear fairings on a C-141A.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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I recall seeing years ago a photograph that clearly showed where the two inserts were added to extend the fuselage of the C-141A. It was something like this photo, but from the side of the aircraft.
 
Judging from this photo, it appears Lockheed extended the fairings where the rear of the wings mate to the fuselage.
 
Dang!
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25 minutes ago, thegoodsgt said:
I recall seeing years ago a photograph that clearly showed where the two inserts were added to extend the fuselage of the C-141A. It was something like this photo, but from the side of the aircraft.
 
Judging from this photo, it appears Lockheed extended the fairings where the rear of the wings mate to the fuselage.
 
Dang!

That's a better version of that photo than I have found. Yes, I can see they have been extended, but it is only slight. On the A it looks like they stop just before the emergency door. On the B, they appear to stop right under the door. Not totally insurmountable at least, just cuts and/or some epoxy putty. Nice catch though.

 

And yes, I recall a photo of a 141B that had just been converted showing the new parts in gray with the rest of the plane in white over gray. Looks like it has never been uploaded to the web though.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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The Warbird Tech book on the C-141 has the pics of the newly-converted C-141B. The aft plug was inserted slightly aft of whatever station lines up with the aft edge of the main gear well. We'll have to cut the fuselage away from the gear fairings and reduce the size of the trailing edge of the wing to fuselage fairing. The forward plug was inserted just forward of the wing, and the wing to fuselage fairing is quite a bit longer on the B than on the A.   

 

Ben

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On 11/18/2016 at 4:23 AM, Drifterdon said:

Ray,

Check out this thread over on Hyperscale.   Has a link to what's needed to make the cuts.   http://www.clubhyper.com/forums/forum.htm  The title is "For those looking to convert Rodens 1/144 C-141B to an A".

 
 

 

Thanks Don, unfortunately I don't have time to wade through Hyperscale pages looking for a specific subject thread. Their search is down, how long has it been like that? I wish BG would bring that forum into to at least the late 20th century. It is so clunky these days.

Edited by Trojan Thunder
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The post on HS is from November 16 2016.

However, it is just a link to the already posted pdf with the two rectangles.

If you read the topic description on HS, it does not say "How to convert an A to a B model". His intention was to provide the measurements of the fuselage plugs.

 

Interestingly, the dimensions for the rectangles are as close as a hundredth of a millimeter, which makes me wonder if the Roden kit is even that accurate in length.

 

Just for the record:

You have to cut off 1.110" (28.2 mm) in the front, and .830" (21.1 mm) aft of the wings, which is close enough.

 

Edited by Lancer512
Provided measurements in inches
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I contacted the National Air and Space Museum library to check if they have any relevant information or drawings. If they do, I will buy them and share the information at the reference site for Caracal's new C-141 sheet. I will also consolidate currently available info there.

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  • 3 years later...

Reviving this old thread, it certainly looks as though the inserted section at the rear intruded into the area covered by the wheel fairing, so some less than straight forward surgery will be need on the Roden kit to remove the section at the rear.  The front section looks more straight forward., although removal of the refuelling rig it probably going to involve a lot of filling and sanding to get it looking good.  It's a shame Anigrand's 1/144 scale C-141A is so pricey.

Edited by michaelmorris
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