1/144 Hercules "best kit?"

[RNoAF Aerobatic Team]

Hey people. 

As the title says....

What is the best C-130 kit in 1/144?.

Want to do both RAF and other countries. 

Any help is appreciated. 

 

Cheers 

Ørjan 

[jaw]

The Minicraft one is the best one in my opinion.

 

 

 

John

[boffin]

Agree on the Minicraft kit. Bra.Z make some nice replacement engines.

 

George

[Whirly]

Agree on the Minicraft kit, though mainly because the competion is very weak... So, it's a well moulded kit with nice details, but it can be a disappointment depending on your expectations for accuracy.

There is also an Amodel kit which I can't comment on and will surely be less buildable but could be more accurate.

Fabio

[Gmat]

Like who won the Monster Beauty Contest. None of them. The Minicr*p C-130 wings are the hardest to make look right. And that's before you try to let down the flaps which not all but many parked C-130s seem to do. I've never bought the Amodel kit but I've looked inside the box but wasn't inspired to buy it. Looking at the kit sprues, the wings might be better than the Minicraft kit, but the rest is Amodel quality, kinda like Mach 2.

The Hasegawa 1/200 C-130H is fine except above the cockpit is too shallow and the wing fuel tanks are kinda too blocky and 1/200 is really too small for a C-130 sized aircraft. 

 

Grant

[Scooby]

1 hour ago, Gmat said:

Like who won the Monster Beauty Contest. None of them. The Minicr*p C-130 wings are the hardest to make look right. And that's before you try to let down the flaps which not all but many parked C-130s seem to do. I've never bought the Amodel kit but I've looked inside the box but wasn't inspired to buy it. Looking at the kit sprues, the wings might be better than the Minicraft kit, but the rest is Amodel quality, kinda like Mach 2.

The Hasegawa 1/200 C-130H is fine except above the cockpit is too shallow and the wing fuel tanks are kinda too blocky and 1/200 is really too small for a C-130 sized aircraft. 

 

Grant

 

Dropped flaps on a parked Herc is rare, unless maintenance is being done or the flaps have a broken rod. Which I only saw once during the 7 years I worked Hercs.

[bootneck]

9 hours ago, Gmat said:

Like who won the Monster Beauty Contest. None of them. The Minicr*p C-130 wings are the hardest to make look right.

The model producer is called Minicraft, just as other producers are Airfix, Hasegawa, Trumpeter, Dragon etc., etc.   There is no value to be had by being defamatory about model producers.  Such wording in posts also distract the reader from the focus of the message.

 

Mike

[Gmat]

Mike, you are right, but I was/am sorely disappointed with the kit, of which I have at least four, and I used to spend a great deal of time looking at how to get around the wing problems. Every thing else, the engines, the tires, the props, the wing to fuselage filet, the wing tanks, the ill filling ramp and the lack of antennas and the SKE radomes can be done relatively easily. The PBM-5 that they recently released would indicate that they aren't making the right decisions. I have a number of other kits from Minicraft of aircraft that would have you use your "modeling" skills, but as their kits aren't cheap, perhaps you can understand my frustration. 

 

If if you look at all of my previous posts, you will see that I rarely, if ever, refer to any company in those terms. But that isn't a good excuse. 

 

Before I made the comment about the flaps, I checked my photos from the recent Yokota Freindship Festival. And saw at least one C-130H with the flaps down. Not fully extended and not a complete sampling of the flight line. My comments come from inspection of photos of C-130 when looking to build the Minicraft kit. There were enough so that I felt that it would be better to have them dropped. This was many years ago. Perhaps they were more common with the earlier models. I was looking to do an A and an MC-130E out of Wright-Pattern that I was a back member on. But although I've been interested in the C-130s from before I joined the Air Force in 76 and built models from before that time, I would not have paid much attention to the flaps and even less remembered if they were raised or lowered when parked. 

 

Respectfully, 

Grant

Edited December 6, 2016 by Gmat
Auto correct foul up

[DOUGHNUT]

Are the older Revell C-130 kits not worth bothering with, if so what their main issues.  Got couple of Welsh Model vac forms, but they do seem like to much trouble.

[Gmat]

The older Revell C-130 kit, also repopped by Matchbox, started as this kit in the 1956. As you can see, it is about 1/140 in scale. It was actually based on the YC-130 and came with the curved top on the tail. 

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=4206

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=24839

 

Over the years it has been provided with four blade props, wing tanks, and the tail top straightened, but little else. Kit sprues on the internet are hard to find. The box top on this Revell USCG C-130 kit shows you what to expect. Note that it still has the four forward side windows that 56 year and earlier C-130As had. 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/139973-revell-4535-lockheed-c-130-hercules

 

Sorry that I couldn't provide better news,

Grant

 

Edited December 9, 2016 by Gmat

[Ascoteer]

On 06/12/2016 at 12:06, Gmat said:

Before I made the comment about the flaps, I checked my photos from the recent Yokota Freindship Festival. And saw at least one C-130H with the flaps down. Not fully extended and not a complete sampling of the flight line. My comments come from inspection of photos of C-130 when looking to build the Minicraft kit. There were enough so that I felt that it would be better to have them dropped. This was many years ago. Perhaps they were more common with the earlier models.

 

I can't speak for the USAF, but RAF SOP was/is to retract the flaps as part of the 'After Landing' checks. The flaps would then stay retracted through the 'Shutdown' checks. Ergo if you see the flaps extended on the flight line there is either a problem or they are being worked on.

 

 

[Flying Leathernecks Decals]

Regarding the flaps. Don't assume because it is standard in one service that it is standard for all. Flaps down/extended on a C-130 don't always mean there is a problem, nor is it 'rare'. To state this as matter of fact is misleading and incorrect.

 

Five Marine Corps KC-130's at various locations over the course of a number of years...........I have plenty more as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ascoteer]

21 minutes ago, Flying Leathernecks Decals said:

Regarding the flaps. Don't assume because it is standard in one service that it is standard for all. Flaps down/extended on a C-130 don't always mean there is a problem, nor is it 'rare'. To state this as matter of fact is misleading and incorrect.

 

As an ex RAF C-130K driver (with 2000+ hours on type), hence the intro to my my post:

 

Quote

I can't speak for the USAF

 

 

 

[PLC1966]

On 06/12/2016 at 0:06 PM, Gmat said:

Mike, you are right, but I was/am sorely disappointed with the kit, of which I have at least four

 

Respectfully, 

Grant

 

That bad you've got at least four !!!!

[Gmat]

I started as an optimist thinking that I could make a decent go of the kit.  Ha Ha Ha. You can, with some elbow grease and perhaps with a squinty eye. One is the AC-130H kit.

 

Sorry,

 

Grant

 

Famous last words from a procrastinator, but I should do a build and put some money where my mouth is.  Grant

Edited December 10, 2016 by Gmat

[Ben Brown]

Can anyone comment on the Welsh vac kit? Is the shape any better than Minicraft's or Revell's? 

 

Thanks,

Ben

[Jessica]

The newer issue has resin wings, engines and tail group (You'll need a ton of nose weight). The only vac part is the fuselage. I haven't built it, bit it looks good in the box.

[Ben Brown]

On 12/12/2016 at 11:18 PM, Jessica said:

The newer issue has resin wings, engines and tail group (You'll need a ton of nose weight). The only vac part is the fuselage. I haven't built it, bit it looks good in the box.

 

Thanks! 

[Whirly]

I post below some images of the Welsh kit so that everyone can make his own judgement.

The boxing is an L100-30 in Saturn Airways livery

 

 

The fuselage is vacuform, seems better shaped than Minicraft (cockpit and wing fairing)

 

 

Metal parts. Props are better than Minicraft too, but distance of blades root from spinner is still exaggerated

 

Wing underside

 

Wing and nacelles. These are not an improvement over the competition... In my opinion are even worse.

 

 

Cheers

Fabio

[Ben Brown]

Hi Fabio,

 

Wow! Those wings and props don't really inspire one to buy the Welsh kit over the competition, do they? I found a vac version on eBay last week for less than half the cost of a Minicraft kit and it arrived a couple of days ago. It doesn't look too bad. I have a set of Aeroclub white metal props intended for the Revell kit that look like they'll work for the Welsh kit. I'll just need to trim them slightly, since they're ~1/140 scale. The white metal nacelle fronts that came with them look like they might fit, too. I think the vac wings and nacelles can be made to look a lot better than the resin ones, especially around the exhausts. 

 

Thanks for posting the photos!

 

Ben