AD-4N Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 Building a C-135A from the 1/144 Minicraft KC-135A. Between the nose wheel bay and the wings, on the model are molded two “strakes” on the bottom of the fuselage. What are they? Are they only on tankers? I cannot find photos of Stratolifters, early ones at least, with these strakes. I am building a C-135A with the early Arctic orange/red nose, wing and tail band. Thanks so much. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Barr Posted December 15, 2017 Share Posted December 15, 2017 (edited) The "strakes" are housings for the Pilot Director Lights (PDI) used during inflight refueling to help the receiver pilot stay in the boom refueling envelope. See no reasons they would be on a C-135, but can not give you a 100% "no they were not there" answer, but a google search of C-135A photos don't seem to have them. Regards Jim Barr Edited December 15, 2017 by Jim Barr Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AD-4N Posted December 15, 2017 Author Share Posted December 15, 2017 Thanks for your answer. I will remove the PDI. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BoeingDriver Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 21 hours ago, AD-4N said: Building a C-135A from the 1/144 Minicraft KC-135A. Between the nose wheel bay and the wings, on the model are molded two “strakes” on the bottom of the fuselage. What are they? Are they only on tankers? I cannot find photos of Stratolifters, early ones at least, with these strakes. I am building a C-135A with the early Arctic orange/red nose, wing and tail band. Thanks so much. Google has a few pics and it does't look like those were installed... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AD-4N Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 Thanks so much. I looked and looked over the internet, but I had not seen the top b&w photo. What I am shooting for is just like the color picture. This is why sites like this are so useful. I also think this was the original intent of the internet, rather than the more common use . . . . finding pictures of Kim Kardashian’s caboose. 😝 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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