The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) is an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. The first C-119 made its initial flight in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 had been built.

The aircraft saw extensive action during the Korean War as a troop and equipment transport. In July 1950, four C-119s were sent to FEAF for service tests. Two months later, the C-119 deployed with the 314th Troop Carrier Group and served in Korea throughout the war. It also served during Vietnam to some extent and was in service with the ANG and Reserves into the 1970s. Many foreign nations used the C-119 and one was apparently still in use by the French Foreign Legion for paratroop training as late as 2022. The type also saw service as an aerial fire fighter.

This is the initial tooling of the kit from 1985. Even at that 'late' date, raised panel line detailing was still the norm with a lot of kit makers, Italeri being no exception. Despite being a fairly large kit, the parts count is not as high as one might expect. There is a decent cockpit that includes both a radio operator and navigator's position behind the pilot and co-pilot. There is detail on the inside of the fuselage halves both in the cockpit and the cargo area. In the cargo area there is both a nicely done floor and overhead. All of the small transparencies for the cockpit and cargo area need to be installed prior to closing the fuselage halves. Note that 20 grams of weight is needed in the nose area to keep it from tail sitting. It appears that there is room but I highly recommend taping the major airframe pieces together to make sure.

With the main fuselage halves together, the tail cone can be built. Again, there is interior detail in this area and it appears that it can be displayed open though there is no ramp. Next is the upper wing center section. This includes the engine nacelels and there are small sections for the main gear wells in the lower pieces. Outer wings are upper and lower halves. There is no overlap between these and the center section so one has to take care when attaching them. During this process, the tail booms and horizontal stab are installed. Engines are next and this kit comes with paddle blade props appropriate for this version. While the next step deals with the landing gear, it might be wise to leave this off until after painting. The last step involves various antennas.

Instructions are well drawn with paint info as generic colors with some FS 595 call-outs. While the decals offer five markings, realistically only three can be done with this kit. You have aircraft from the USAF, Italy, Belgium, ROC, and France. Some of these have disruptive camouflage. Since the kit does not come with three blade propellers, the ROC aircraft cannot be done. The French version is actually a C-119C, which lacks the dorsal fin under the tail booms and has just a single wheel nose wheel, so you cannot model that one out of the box. The large decal sheet is nicely printed and includes wing walk areas, which is a nice touch. Now as to its viability, I couldn't say as the kit is 40 years old. There are aftermarket out there if one looks.

If you want a C-119 in this scale, this is pretty much the only game in town. Both Frog and Aurora did kits of this aircraft, but I don't think they are this scale. Roden has you covered if you are into 1/144 scale. Italeri also does an early C-119 and an AC-119K gunship, the latter having been most recently released in 2023. I have seen this built and it does make into a very nice model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_C-119_Flying_Boxcar

November 2024