History

The Lockheed 749 Constellation was an improved 649 with the capability of carrying an under fuselage “speedpak” to increase its cargo carrying capacity and extra fuel in the outer wings. It was otherwise externally identical with the 649. The 749 was to be the last of the short fuselage Constellations, and was replaced in service by the 1049 series.

First impressions
The Welsh models kit is moulded in white 1mm plastic. This is a full vacuform kit with only the engines, propellers and landing gear cast in resin and white metal. The parts are nicely formed, with the finest panel lines I've ever seen on a model kit. They're so fine as to be almost invisible. The kit comes in a plastic bag rather than a box, harking back to Welsh's first kits.
The parts are very nicely formed without any blemishes. The plastic is the older, thinner plastic compared to that which is used in Welsh's more recent kits. Given the size of the model it will cause no difficulty. The 15 major airframe parts comprising the wings, fuselage, tailplanes and fins are vacuformed on two sheets while the engines are resin and the landing gear struts and propellers are white metal. I always draw around the edges of vac parts with a marker to aid in the sanding process. Once I've sanded up to the edge of the marked line I know that the part will be the proper shape. If I can still see white below it, I know that I need to sand more.

Fuselage
The fuselage is moulded in Welsh's traditional vacuform plastic with 3 bulkheads to keep it from collapsing. Windows are provided as decals with a note on the instruction sheet advising the modeller to apply the decals as a guide for marking their positions preparatory to drilling them out if clear windows are desired. Nose weight will be required. In addition to the bulkheads, small tabs cut from the backing sheet should be glued to the fuselage halves to help keep then aligned and to add to the gluing surface. Give them a little curl before gluing to keep the fuselage circular. Welsh has captured the Constellation's graceful fuselage shape very well. The central fin is supplied as a separate part to be applied after the tailplanes are glued. The speedpak is moulded in one piece. It will need some careful fitting and sanding to achieve the correct join with the lower fuselage. A separate radar nose is provided for modelling those aircraft which were modified later in their service lives.


Wings
The wings are offered in top and bottom pieces for each wing. There is a portion of the underside of the fuselage attached to each lower wing half. This will need some delicate fitting and filling to capture the shape correctly and match to the fuselage without steps or gaps. The main gear wells will need opening up and detailing. The wings will need careful sanding to set the thickness properly and to achieve a sharp trailing edge. A wing spar is not provided, but the modeller can make one using the front view on the instructions to ensure the dihedral is set properly. The Constellation had a very pronounced dihedral angle which will be important to achieve if the model is to sit properly on its landing gear.


Empennage
The tailplanes are two pieces each with two fins which interlock into the outboard ends and a central fin each made up of two pieces. They will all need careful sanding to achieve the proper thickness and sharp trailing edges. They will also need some work to ensure the gaps are filled. This is a standard procedure when vacuform kit building.

Engines
The engines are offered as solid resin mouldings which include the cowling, cowl flaps, intakes . There is a some engine detail but it will be difficult to see once the propellers are installed and everything is painted. The propellers have part of their casting blocks still attached to the spinners and and blade tips. There is also a ring of flash running around the spinner and along the blades. This will have to be very carefully filed off to avoid damage. The engines also have a small bit of the casting block attached. It must be sawn off. Remember to take care not to breathe the resin dust while cleaning the engines up. The engines must be glued with epoxy or cyanoacrylate rather than regular modelling cement.

Landing gear
Each landing gear strut is moulded complete with its wheels in white metal. There is no wheel well detail nor landing gear doors (except for one nose gear door moulded with the strut) supplied in the kit. Since they were almost identical with those of the 1049, the details and measurements from the Revell kit may be copied.

Accuracy
I don't compare models to drawings or published measurements. When assembled it will look like a 749

Decals and markings
The kit comes with a generic Air France Constellation/Starliner decal. The instructions and decal sheet give the basics, but the modeller is expected to have a certain amount of familiarity with making decals fit rather than just applying them. The sheet was made for Welsh's Air France Constellation issues and offers 3 registrations, one each for a 749, 1049 and 1649. The modeller is expected to consult references to choose the correct registration. There are a few different aftermarket schemes available for 649 and 749 aircraft which can be used on this kit.


Conclusion
This kit is for the more advanced vacuform modeller who has some experience working with multimedia and making decals fit. It could be cross-kitted with the Revell Constellation if desired. The Revell wings could be made to fit the welsh fuselage with the engines adapted to the 1049's nacelles. This would allow the use of Revell's beautiful detail parts but it would not be at all cheap. Welsh Models assume that the modeller has had sufficient modelling experience not to need detailed build instructions. In most cases their instruction sheets consist of 1/144 drawings of the aircraft with detail notes describing items to pay attention to during the build.