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lichtjahre :
Dear fellow modellers,

there are great news coming from Kurts work bench!
Finally we will see a correct KC-135 in 1/144!

Kurt is currently producing all three engine versions!

The A is coming first with the J57 water injection organ pipe engines,
followed by the E with the standard 707 JT3D engines (military designation TF33)
and finally the R with the CFM56 engines (designated F108).

Here are three images that show this beauty as work in progress.

They may arrive during January or February 2020.





Yes I know there is the Minicraft KC-135 out there ... but the rivet counters among us will know their errors.

In comparison to the Minicraft kit, the AA will feature a
- correct nose profile
- correctly-sized tail cone
- correct refuling housing and boom
- correct engines (all three types)

The stringers on the aft fuselage will be supplied as 3D Decals from https://www.authentic-airliner-decals.de

Moreover, the refuling boom is a seperate piece, so that aircraft that flew without the boom can
be modelled as well, e.g. the legendary all-silver WC-135B with the yellow WEATHER markings.

Awesome decals are available from Caracal Decals:
http://www.caracalmodels.com/144scale.html

The KC-135 is about to round up the fleet of 707 versions that Kurt is continuing to supply us with.

I am extremely delighted that he is so happily fulfilling my wish for a perfect KC-135
and I hope that some of you share this euphoria and celebrate this upcoming gem!

Thanks Kurt for supplying us with such great models!

Cheers,
Christian

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Looking forward to this, but I hope there are no “organ pipes” on the J57s. No ‘135 variant ever had them.

Gorgeous!!!!! Wow, a KC with the big engines would be stupendous.

I'd also like to suggest a proper 748 if there is enough demand for it. The Revell and Zvezda kits are good, but I'm sure Kurt's special skills would make the Queen even better!

I have 15 of Kurt's 707 kits(all flavors) and they are magnificent! My military collection is in 1/72 scale so maybe there will be a 1/72 scale version of a KC-135A?


Awesome work!!

I'd say not really as the Dash 80 was a more or less compelety different aircraft and had a 30 cm smaller fuselage diameter compared to the KC-135 that again was smaller in diameter compared to the 707.

"The 132 inches (3,350 mm) fuselage of the Dash 80 was only wide enough to fit 2+2 seating (in the manner of the Stratocruiser). Boeing soon realized that this would not provide a viable payload, so decided to widen the fuselage to 144 in (3,660 mm), the same as the KC-135 Stratotanker, which would allow six-abreast seating and the shared use of the KC-135's tooling. However, Douglas had launched its DC-8 project with a fuselage width of 147 in (3,730 mm). The airlines liked the extra space, and so Boeing was obliged to increase the 707's cabin width again, this time to 148 in (3,760 mm). This meant that little of the tooling that was made for the Dash 80 was usable for the 707."

I found this on airliners.net:


-----------------367-80------KC-135A------707-100B----707-300B
Fuselage--------132"---------144"-----------148"----------148"
Width
Span-----------129' 8"------130' 10"-------130' 10"-------142' 5"
Length---------119' 6"------134' 6"---------144' 6"--------152' 11"
GTOW--------190,000 lb---316,000 lb-----258,000 lb---312,000 lb
Powerplant---4 X PWA---- 4 X PWA-------4 X PWA-----4 X PWA
----------------JT3C-1-----J-57-31----------JT3D-1-------JT3D-7
---------------10,500 lb---11,800 lb-------17,000 lb----19,000 lb
-----------------thrust--------or
---------------------------- J-57-59W
-----------------------------13,750 lb
---------------------------water injection


Cheers,
Christian

Also, the wing/body fairing on the Dash-80 is completely different from that on the KC-135 or any 707. It's smaller all the way around.

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lichtjahre :
Dear fellow modellers,

Kurt just relased his 1:144 KC-135 A and E and the R is to follow very soon!

The KC-135A comes with the J57 (JT-3C) engines:

The KC-135E comes with the TF33 (JT-3D) engines:

The KC-135R comes with the F108 (CFM-56) engines:

The stringers on the aft fuselage will be supplied as 3D Decals from https://www.authentic-airliner-decals.de
They are in final production.

Hope you enjoy this gem as much as I do

Cheers,
Christian

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Christian,
Where can I order Kurt's KC-135 kits? There is no link. I was happy to make do with the Minicraft kits, after "converting" Revell KC-135s/E-3A kits for years. Now that I see his handiwork, I can't rest until I have one of each.
Kindest regards,
Dutch

Hi Dutch,

Welcome to ACafe!!!

Kurt’s most excellent kits are available at: https://www.authentic-airliners.de


Best,

Chris

Can't wait to get the -R kit when its available. Looks like Caradecal is sadly sold out of the R decals though.

Cheers Mark, did just that. Don't want to miss out on one of these.

Having the Minicraft KC-135 kit in my stash, with its "Bizarro Nose", i have to say Paul Fisher did a nice job offering up some resin fixes for the nose and his engines. Unfortunately, those are now long gone.

Having said that, if the parts fit as well as i suspect they will, the AA Engine pylon/wing integration is gonna turn out a lot easier and cleaner. I just finished installing the engines on my AMT KC-135 kit and i could almost write a master's thesis on the process.

It seems to me that more often than not, engine pylon/wing integration is just sort of "phoned in" by most kit makers. Monogram's B-52 and Kurts 1/144th scale airliner models seem to be the exception.