I had hoped to be at the final stages of painting this 4th of July weekend project. I started on it sometime Friday afternoon but was waylaid by a fever and didn’t resume working on it until today. So much for my 4th of July fun. 
/
Anyway, I am at the point of installing the lower outer wing halves. From there I will give her a last and final clean up of any seams before laying down a base of aluminum. I’m planning on it having a NMF scheme, I’m leaving the decision to you my subscribers on whether it should be Talon (acrylic) or Spray Metal (enamel).
The kit is the Italeri repop of the Testor’s C-119G in 1:72 scale. Its a fair kit, but like most large aircraft in this scale it begs for addition aftermarket detail sets. This kit would be greatly enhanced with positionable flaps, optional auxiliary jet engine(s), external fuel tanks, cargo ramps and pay load such as a jeep, engine and cowls and positionable control surfaces.
I’m picturing this one as a civilian workhorse used to haul supplies to distant villages far above the arctic circle. Tired, worn and dirty but still doing the mission that other aircraft can’t or their owners won’t. I’d like to find a ski conversion for this aircraft. If I can’t find any, maybe I’ll try to make a set. With the arctic NMF scheme comes a splash of my Fluorescent Red Orange, which keep with the plan will be applied to keep the character as described above.
My vbote is for the Talon, Gerald, I love the stuff! So eaasy to handle and non-toxic!
Hawkeye: I have built two of these, one the Italeri cargo version and the other the Testors C-119K Vietnam gun ship. It weighs a TON with enough weight to prevent a tail sitter. That, plus the size of the beast, requires CAREFUL handling, IMHO. If it slips while being handled, you will find out exactly how DELICATE the main landing gear is. I think the Talon would give the dullest finish, with the red day glo from the old USAF scheme faded and chipped heavily.
Ger, My vote is TALON1 Since you introduced me to this stuff, I’ve used it exclusively. I can’t wait to see the next installment. Art
Gerald,
How are you proposing to make sure the undercarriage is parallel? I’m working on a ‘G at the moment and have ground to a halt with the lower wing panel and undercarriage bays…
Chris
One of the tricks to aligning landing gear is to slice and pin the gear so you can position it as needed to align the wheels to parallel the other side.
Lookin forward to the finish I vote for Talon
This is why I build all 1/72 with retractable gear in UP position. If you don’t want to scrounge jet pods from an AC-119, you might consider the pods from a Hasegawa P2V-7. But then what do you do with the rest of the -7 since it has the blown canopy not used on the earlier machines? I’d like to see a -5 Neptune conversion with tail guns and the earlier cockpit glass.
I have built two of these. Indeed, the landing gear is very fragile. In one of the two I build, the landing gear of the right wing broke at the level of the wheel hobs. One possible solution is to use the white metal gear from Scale Aircraft Conversions:
http://scaleaircraftconversions.com/moreinfo.cfm?KIT=174
Please let us see more of this build! This is one of my favorite airplanes. My father in law jumped over 40 times from these in the 1950s as part of the recon platoon of the 82nd!