Anigrand 1/144 Lockheed XR6O-1/R6V-1 Constitution

Introduction

During WW2, the US Navy put out a call for a large, long-range transport aircraft that would be primarily used to transport troops. Lockheed heeded that call with the XR6O-1 Constitution. As the aircraft wasn't delivered after the war, and since it was grossly underpowered, there were only two prototypes delivered, both flown by the US Navy. At one point it was thought the Constitution would be used by Pan American Airways, but given how it was underpowered Pan Am ceased to be interested in it.

The two were flown until 1953 at which point the US Navy retired both aircraft citing high operational costs. The first Constitution was brought to Las Vegas where it was used as a large billboard for Alamo Airways, and the second went to Florida where it was stored at the Opa-Locka Airfield. The first was demolished when Howard Hughes acquired the Las Vegas property the Constitution was sitting on, while the one in Florida was still in existence until 1979, at which point it was torched by vandals. An unfortunate end to the US Navy's largest fixed-wing aircraft ever flown by that service.

The Kit(s)

The Anigrand 1/144 XR6O-1/R6V-1 consists of x pieces of tan-colored resin with 15 pieces of clear resin for the windows and canopy. There are decals for only one version, the first aircraft as it was flown as the XR6O-1. Personally I would like to have seen decals for both aircraft in all guises.

The instructions, while adequate, are not well done and only consist of one page showing all the major parts already together. You'll need to track down other sources because the instructions don't show how the landing gear doors are to be placed. They show that yes, you'll need to separate them (especially the nose gear) and which pieces go on which side of the model, but they don't actually show them in place and how they attach.

There are smaller, exploded images on the instruction sheet showing some of the areas of construction. For example there's one image showing how all the parts go into the interior/cockpit although again most parts are already in place in one fuselage half. Unfortunately there is no color listed for the interior and I'm still tracking this down.

The fuselage is split into four parts so definitely plan on plenty of dry-fit to assure you achieve the best fit possible. First assemble the parts for each half then - after all interior is finished - glue both lateral halves together. The wings are split in half and will look good when built-up. Both the horizontal and vertical tails are one piece.

The most difficult part of construction - aside from getting everything lined up correctly - will be assembling all four props. Each prop assembly consists of a separate hub and separate blades. This is where UMM's PropMaster will come in handy.

There are some issues with the molds. The worst parts are the tips of all the flying surfaces, with the vertical tail being the one with the most work. You can see in the attached photo there will need to be some build-up on this area. The other flying surfaces are mainly just clean-up and some pin/airhole filling.

The three "extras" with the Constitution are the A-12A Avenger II "Flying Dorito", which was cancelled before any prototypes made it to flying status; the Boeing Diamond Wing, which I can find no references on at all; and the Northrop Grumman MQ-8 drone helicopter. The A-12A wouldn't be too difficult to assemble, once you clean up the mating surfaces of the wing/fuselage. I would recommend treating this as a vac when sanding those mating surfaces; just be sure not to remove too much material.

The Boeing Diamond Wing has the most to it, and unfortunately is not treated well by the instructions. All it provides is a small drawing showing the major pieces assembled, but nothing on how and where to attach the landing gear. Coupled with the lack of refereneces this one may need more imagination on the build than any other.

The MQ-8 Fire Scout has the best potential since it has been picked up by the US Navy for production. The area that will require extra work is cleaning up the one-piece fuselage. You can see in the attached photo there is some work needed on the sides of the fuselage. I'm not sure if this will require extra material added - or the removal of material to get it all smoothed out. I'll know more as I work on it. One thing that will be cool will be to display this next to the Fox One X-47B that recently was released seeing as both are being built by Northrop Grumman and both are to be autonomous.

One aspect I really like of all these kits (well, aside from the MQ-8 since it is pilotless) is the clear resin canopies Anigrand provides. What's really great is that Anigrand has molded part of the fuselage with the canopy, so filling any gaps will be super easy, and won't mar the clear canopy in any way (well, as long as you're careful with the seam clean-up).

Conclusion

The Anigrand 1/144 Lockheed XR6O-1/R6V-1 Constitution is a model of a very unique airplane. One thing to keep in mind when building this is the Constitutions - when they were actually flying - were extremely shiny, so you'll have plenty of prep work on the model before, during and after painting. It will take plenty of modeling skills to finish, but once complete it will be an excellent looking and unique model.

My thanks to The Rare Plane Detective for the review model.