The Aircraft

The C-118 was the military version of the Douglas DC-6A. Probably the most famous C-118 was President Truman’s VC-118, named “Independence,” which still resides at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

I am lucky enough to know a crew member from a C-118. Bill Mathay was an Air Force Navigator who served in World War 2, Korea, and even passed through Vietnam during the war there. In the late 1950s, Bill was stationed at PACAF Headquarters, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Bill told me that he was very impressed by the comfort of the C-118 and the size of the passenger compartment windows compared to the other planes he flew in.

And, of course, there’s a “There I was” story. General Kuter, a World War 2 “bomber general,” was due to retire. There was a request to PACAF to have someone represent the US at Australia’s commemorative celebration for the Battle of the Coral Sea. Since he was about to retire, it fell to General Kuter to be the representative. He asked if he could pick his own route from Hawaii to Australia, and he got the OK. Because of the long flight, there were two navigators assigned to the aircraft, and Bill was selected as the back-up nav.

They left Hickam in Hawaii and flew to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

From Kirtland they flew to Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama.

From Maxwell, they went to Bolling AFB, Washington, DC.

Then on to Goose Bay, Labrador in Canada, and then to Paris/Orly in France.

Wiesbaden, Germany, Torrejon AFB Spain, and Naples completed the European part of the trip.

Then on to Izmir AFB in Turkey, Karachi in Pakistan, Rangoon in Burma, and Clark AFB in the Phillippines.

Then on to Darwin, Australia (did you remember that this is a trip to Australia?)

The celebrations were attended at Brisbane, Sidney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.

Leaving Australia, they flew to Singapore and Hong Kong, then on to Tachikawa, Japan; Itazuke, Japan; and Kadena, Okinawa.

A final refueling at Wake Island, and back to Hickam.

Bill got his “around the world” flight. And the General got to say goodbye to all his service friends and buddies before he retired.

The Kit

The C-118 kit is not new; I have the “Independence,” but the markings are newer and interesting, being an air-evac aircraft from Germany in 1967 and 1969. I checked the US flags, and they got them right, with the blue field toward the nose of the plane.

Assembly

This kit has a pretty good rating on the “ease of assembly” scale. The fuselage halves meet cleanly, the wings and horizontal stabs fit OK, with only a tiny bit of putty needed at the wing roots and the top and bottom of the fuselage.

I had some extra work with the engines, as the cowlings are split left and right, and those round parts never seem to meet as nicely as I’d like. Mostly, they needed work with a sanding stick, not putty and bad words. The plus on the cowling/engine assemblies is that you get the engines as separate parts, and they look pretty good for a 1/144 kit, especially considering that many others don’t provide any engine detail at all.

I left off the gear, doors and props until later.

Painting and Decals

I painted a wide black stripe down the side of the fuselage, then applied a strip of Aizu 1.5mm tape from the bottom of the cockpit window opening (I hadn’t applied the clear part yet) back to the front of the stabilizers. This tape is like Tamiya Tape, but lots narrower.

I then painted the top of the fuselage white, with no mask on the bottom. I used Floquil Reefer White. I then masked the top and painted the rest of the fuselage in neutral Gray, then masked the fuselage and painted the wings with Testors Aluminum Metallic, followed by a coat of Future.

Those decals I used from the kit were fine. But I HAD to do Bill Mathay’s aircraft, so I printed the United States Air Force for both sides of the fuselage and the serial numbers. I have to say that Bill’s plane had much simpler markings than the kit birds, with no USAF on the wings, no red crosses, and no flags.

Finishing

I now put on the clear part, which I had painted while doing the fuselage. I had to fiddle with the join point between the fuselage and windows, and you can see a difference in the paint because of the light coming through the clear part.

The propellers went on fine, I used a tiny dot of white glue instead of a solvent so in case one of them gets bumped, it can come loose and be reinstalled instead of breaking off a blade. The gear is a little fiddly, but that’s Douglas’s fault, not Minicraft’s. The gear doors went on OK, and then another coat of Future to keep the decals on and maintain the high gloss, and it was done.

Overall Evaluation

Well recommended. It’s not a new kit, but it goes together quite well. Since it’s 1/144, it has some tiny fiddly bits, but the detail is good, and I really like how well it turned out. I’m going to present the model to Bill Mathay as a reminder of a 2-month trip and a thanks for his service.

Thanks to Minicraft for the review kit and to IPMS/USA and Steve Collins for a chance to build Bill’s memory.