The C-119 was used in the horrible remake of the original movie that used its predecessor, a Fairchild C-82 "Packet." The first Phoenix was a home built amalgamation of parts, including the engine, engine cowling, cockpit section, wheels and other parts from a T-6G Texan and outer wing panels from a C-45 with along with a tail wheel from an L-17 Navion. This was the aircraft Paul Mantz was flying when he crashed during filming. The final Phoenix shots used an O-47.
"With the loss of Paul Mantz and the P-1 Phoenix, a second aircraft had to be found and converted in order to complete filming. The Air Museum's O-47 was delivered to the USAAC in 1938 and served up to 1947. On the civil market as N4725V, it saw a string of owners (one converting it to O-47B standards), before being acquired by Ed Maloney of The Air Museum (later Planes of Fame), Claremont, California.
The museum was approached in early August, 1965 and agreed to let their O-47 be converted into a Phoenix replica. The conversion was very basic, the canopy was removed, a modified fake tail was added along with fake skids. The aircraft still landed on it's conventional undercarriage which folded into the wings when in flight (see photo bottom left). The oil camp fly-by was filmed at Pilot Knob on 4 November, 1965 with pilot Wally McDonnell at the controls. The O-47 was later converted back to it's former self (picture below right), only to crash in 1982. The remains are in storage today at Planes of Fame, Chino, California."
http://www.c82packet.com/phoenix.html
The only sensibly sized C-82 kit of any note is Anigrand's 1/72 kit, but at $150+ it's a tad spendy for a diorama. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anigrand-Models-1-72-FAIRCHILD-C-82A-PACKET-Transport-Aircraft/132548288873?hash=item1edc7e6169:g:WV8AAOSwfXJatDIH
Anigrand also offers a 1/144 scale C-82 for around half the price of the 1/72 version. Half the scale, half the price, makes sense. However, as my electron microscope is presently inop, I have to stay with larger kits. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anigrand-Models-1-144-FAIRCHILD-C-82A-PACKET-U-S-Air-Force-Transport/382082237622?hash=item58f5e044b6:g:XeQAAOSwYlRZGGVD
I may as well weigh in at this point with my offering of one of the aircraft from the first movie that had James Stewart at the controls, who incidentally handled running the radial engine for the ground shots.
The real challenge is where I might find the aircraft. Maybe if I wandered out into the desert, who knows I might find pieces of an old, forgotten C-82 kit, or maybe I might find a couple of abandoned T-6G and C-45 kits that I could cobble together and fly back to civilization; after all, the principals are the same you see.
