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By 1951 overseas traffic had exceeded all
expectations and new aircraft had to be acquired. The Lockheed 1049 Super
Constellation, (Connie), was the best airliner available until the arrival of
the DC-8. TCA's first 1049c was delivered in Feb. 1954. Trans Atlantic service
began in May with 5 aircraft, replacing the Canadair North Stars. 14 Super
Connies of various marques flew with TCA until retirement in 1963. Super G had
tip tanks that added 600 U.S. gallons each which extended its range for longer
non-stop trips.
This model represents CF-TGF#406, and is in the
scheme it carried when it was retired. It was a high time a/c with 20,131 hrs.
of service with TCA. It was delivered June 22 1954 and sold on May 1st 1962.
Another highlight, I flew as a passenger on TGF from Vancouver to Toronto,
non-stop, in August 1961.
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The kit is, of course, the great Heller kit of
the Super G. It went together as per kit instructions. The nose section, from
the cockpit forward on left fuselage was broken off so it was fixed with super
glue & smoothed off. I sprayed the top with Testors flat white and when dry,
sprayed Modelmaster bright white on. I then masked the white off on a line
halfway up the windows & used MotoMaster Radiant Silver spray from Canadian
Tire for the rest of the fuselage and wings. Wing walks were made with Pactra
trim tape by spraying the proper width with flat black & applying as per
instructions that are with the decals. That white & silver is sure bright
when exposed to the sun.
The decals are from Whiskey Jack, Coquitlam,
B.C., named after the obvious or the bird, I'm not sure. At any rate, they are
superb. The nose to tail window stripe was in 3 pieces. I chose not to use the
kit windows, so left them open until after decaling, then cut the decal from the
window area, then used Micro Crystal Clear.
It was not clear what antennae were on the a/c so
used the book by Peter Pigott," National Treasure, The history of TCA"
for a couple of great pics. showing those details. The u shaped antenna on top
was traced from the DC-6B kit & installed. Also, I used the props &
spinners from the same kit as the TCA Super Gs used the square tipped props.
Reference:
National Treasure, The History of TCA.
Ron
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