Tintin in Tibet (L-749 Constellation)

Now that is a big box! 

The sprues are so large... 

...I had to take two pics just to get them all in! 

A quick dry fit just to get my head wrapped around the size. I also pulled out four big motors... I might be able to actually fly this one! 

Got the wing tips and the tail glued together... did I mention this sucker feels BIG! 

The cockpit is a bit sparse, but after having looked at some other builds, you really can't see the inside very much, so I'm not going to "waste" time on this one building out the navigator station. 

Interior given a coat of Tamiya XF-22 just to deaden the bright white. Why XF-22? That's just what was handy.  

Took a lot of glue... but the fuselage is together. 

Despite my best efforts at keeping the seam aligned, some putty is required. 

First coat of paint... I ran out of room to hold on to. This is really just the first coat to identify the touch up areas, so it doesn't really matter. 

Everyone reports that you'll see basically nothing of the interior... so red seats are about all the detailing needed. 

Added some lead weight to the nose. Likely not enough to sit on its own, but hopefully will take some of the stress off the attachment to the base. I also glued the windshield in place. 

Hmmm... another coat of paint, but it looks like more sanding is required. 

Third time's a charm. I can't believe how much paint it takes to cover this baby up! 

Masked off and ready for some Tamiya XF-2 White paint! I normally just tape, but those wings are so huge. 

Can you still see the seam? I can. 

 

Tine for some more masking! 

Not bad, but a bit of overspray that I'll have to deal with. I thought I was being so careful too! 

 

That is NOT what you want to see when you pull off some masking tape... back to the drawing board I guess! 

Bringing it back down to basics. 

That's looking a lot better. I really should've used the Tamiya primer from the beginning. 

Now let's get these engines sorted out. The wiring is done, but how to attach them on the inside? 

The touch uys see to have worked! Looking pretty good if I do say so myself! 

Town engines on... two more to go! 

Most of the wiring is done so that I can hide it in the wing. Fingers crossed this works! 

 

Went through the spares box, looking for some literal stuff to use to build the passenger loading stairs. 

Viola! Some plastic, some wires, some stairs! 

All painted up and ready to go! 

And there we are... done! 

Whoops! Always check the connections to make sure they're still working!