Operation "Mule Train" was to provide airlift support for the Republic of Vietnam. My father was one of the ground support personnel sent with the aircraft from the 777th Troop Carrier Squadron that departed Pope Air Force Base on 2 days notice in December 1961. I was 6 years old, and it would be the first of several Christmas's my father would miss during his 22 years in service. Although he was a rated flight engineer on the C-123, he was not on flying status due to hearing loss. Once in country, the operational tempo and shortage of personnel, led to my father flying as air crew on combat missions, many with Fred Horky, a name many of the folks here connected to IPMS/USA will know. The record keeping was so haphazard that he never received any credit for those missions.

I just received the Roden kit this afternoon & I discovered that besides "Patches" which I already knew he'd crewed on, he'd also crewed on the aircraft shown in the box art.
I also found a picture of several the Mule Team aircraft in early '62 in the Squadron in Action on the C-123 and I've decided to use tail number of one those aircraft to represent an aircraft my Dad fought in. An unsung aircraft for an unsung airman.

You might want to fit your nose piece to see if you could slid a shim between the fuselage halves to spread it to match the glass area.

Yeah, I also need to see how the nose is going to mate up as well. When I assemble the fuselage halves, initially it will just be the undersides, tail and up to around the wing root. Then I'll sort any shimming to be done.

First construction issue to resolve is if I can add the wheels during final assembly. Have to see if there will be enough room to slide the main gear between the fuselage wall and the strut, some creative masking may work too.

On the nose gear there is some delicate linkage that protrude out of the gear bay on either side of the wheels. Got to see if I can slip those in from out side.