Finished Photos of Phoenix Airplane From The Flight of the Phoenix Movie (1965)

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers,

The very entertaining American survival film The Flight of the Phoenix, made in 1965, is a fictional story of a small group of oil rig workers whose Fairchild C-82A Packet twin engine cargo plane gets caught in a sand storm and has to make an emergency crash landing deep in the Sahara desert. One of the passengers, brilliant aircraft designer Heinrich Dorfmann, tells the other survivors a new, smaller single engine plane can be built from the wreckage and fly them to safety. Although dubious, the others know there is no hope of outside rescue and understand this longshot option is preferable to slowly dying in the desert. The movie deals mainly with the challenges of building the new airplane (nicknamed “Phoenix”), the personality conflicts between the survivors and the lack of water. This movie has been one of my favorites for many years, although I admit the premise of building a new airplane under the given circumstances was not possible. However, I will admit the director did a credible job of making the impossible believable. The acting in the movie is also first rate, with outstanding performances from Hardy Kruger, Richard Attenborough and James Stewart. Surprisingly the movie was a box office failure, although it received two Academy Award and two Golden Globe nominations. Over the decades it has gained a strong following and favorable viewer rating.

For decades I wanted to add a “Phoenix” airplane model to my collection but no model manufacturer has ever offered this kit in any medium (i.e., plastic/resin/vac-form, etc.). It always seemed that the easiest plan to acquire one was to do what they did in the movie-start with heavily modifying a Fairchild C-82A Packet and scratch-build all the other required parts. A plastic model of the Fairchild C-82A Packet is not available, but the Fairchild C-119C/G Boxcar (a very similar, improved and more powerful version of the C-82A) has been available from Testors/Italeri in 1/72 scale and Aurora in 1/77 scale for many years. I used the Testors/Italeri kit for my build which was completed in 2024. Note for the 1965 movie two “Phoenix” airplanes were built, a flying version (named Tallmantz Phoenix P-1) and one non-flying (static) version. My build is the non-flying version, which is seen in almost every single exterior scene of the movie. Seventy percent of the build consisted of heavily modifying the kit parts and the remaining 30% was scratch-building. Listed below is some of the special work that was done:

>Scratch-built cockpit including cutting the openings

>Scratch-built support legs and skis out of Evergreen styrene

>Scratch-built tail skid and guy wire cabane structs out of brass rod

>Scratch-built wing and fuselage clear windshield fairings

>Ignition wiring added to the engine

>Replaced the kit four bladed propellor with resin Quick Boost three bladed propellor

>Separated, opened up and thinned down the cowling flaps

>Scratch-built the engine air intake assembly

Model Graphics dry transfers (burnished onto clear decal film) were used for the side fuselage lettering. All weathering was done with various colors of pastel dust. The finished wingspan is 13” and the length is 11-3/4”, which is large for a single engine 1/72 scale airplane. The desert landscape is Sculptamold with a small amount of tiny gravel sprinkled over it. The last few photos are some of the best images of what the completed movie “Phoenix” looked like. A complete progress build of this project is available to review in the Work-In-Progress Section. Enjoy!






























Until next time...

Phillip1

[SteelScooter]

Fantastic job. Great memories of this movie as a kid. "I design model aeroplanes". "You what now?!"

[cor]

Excellent showcase of your skills. Really nice work.

[Phillip1]

cor/SteelScooter-Thanks for the compliments!

SteelScooter-Yes, when the designer admitted he only works on scale model airplanes and had never designed a full size machine it was a jaw dropping twist in the movie!

Phillip1