Anigrand Craftswork 1/72 C-17A Globemaster III Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

In the early 1970s, the USAF issued a requirement for the Advanced Medium STOL Transport to provide the capability to transport larger loads into small strips currently serviced by the C-130 Hercules. Boeing developed the twin-engined YC-14 (which Antonov OKB later put into production inspired by the Boeing design) and McDonnell Douglas developed the four-engined YC-15. While both aircraft were doing well in flight test, the program was abruptly cancelled.

In the 1980s, the Air Force was still using up the design life of their fleet of C-130s, C-141s and C-5s. A new airlifter was required. The AMST program was dusted off and the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 design was selected, but then a new set of requirements needed to be incorporated. Among the changes that had come along since the first AMST program, the US Army's main battle tank had shifted from the M60 to the M1 Abrams. While the M60 could fit into the YC-15, the M1 was too wide. Back to the drawing boards.

In 1991, the first flight of the new C-17 was performed and a new generation of tactical airlift was born. While I was working on another flight test program in those days, I remember the then commander of the USAF test center, a fighter pilot, getting his first flight in the C-17. He came back with a big smile - he had flown an airlifter with a fighter control stick, a proper heads-up display, and he could plunk the aircraft into the dirt and fly it back off like nothing he'd ever seen. This is the C-17 that aircrews in the USAF and RAF are operating today.

If you were impressed with the Anigrand Craftswork 1/72 C-124 Globemaster II (reviewed here), then you're gonna love this one. This is the first proper kit in 1/72 of the C-17 Globemaster III. Even in 1/72, this is going to be a big model after assembly. Anigrand Craftswork did a magnificent job with these molds!

The fuselage is hollow-cast in four parts. The front and rear halves literally snap together. The wings are molded in top and bottom halves, while the vertical stabilizer and horizontal stabilators are single pieces. You'll forgive me if I don't completely lay out all of the parts until I start the assembly process. I am looking forward to this project.

The kit features a nicely done cockpit interior which is capped off with a clear resin section that contains the windscreen. The windscreen in my example was almost opaque, but I'll see what I can do to clear this up or possibly creating a vac transparency from the resin part.

I decided to do a quick test-fit of the kit. While there is a bit of clean-up needed to get a little of the excess resin pour-stubs out of the way, the front and rear fuselage halves snap together with ease on both sides. With the help of two rubber bands, you can see that the fuselage halves line up perfectly front and back. With a little prep work, very little filler will be required to assemble this model for real.

I did clean up the mounting stubs on each of the upper wing halves to dry-fit them into the fuselage. You can see how nice they fit as well. As large as this model is, this looks to be a simple build.

Another nice touch is the landing gear. Even with all of the hollow-casting done to lighten the model, this is not going to be a light model. Resin landing gear would not likely have held this model up for the long-term, so Anigrand provided white metal landing gear instead. Thank you!!

Markings are provided for C-17A, 99-0058 assigned to the 62nd Airlift Wing out of McChord AFB, WA.

This is a very impressive kit and should be a relatively quick build for the experienced resin modeler. Until someone decides to tackle this subject in styrene, this is your only option for this modern airlifter.

This kit is definitely recommended for the modeler who is tired of the same old subjects getting released by the 'big guys' in the hobby industry!

I purchased my copy from the US importer, Nostalgic Plastic.