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USAF Lockheed C-5B Galaxy, Roden 1:144


neilg

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Well I'm now pretty settled back in my house in the UK, and after assessing all of my models that were damaged in transit during the move from Paris, I've decided to start my collection again - with some new additions.

 

Before I left Paris, I found this kit in one of my local model shops - it's the Roden C-5B.  I had been looking for a C-5 for a long time, and I had only seen some very old Otaki kits on ebay.

 

This one was pretty expensive.  It was €119.90, but I had never seen it before, so I decided to just go for it. 

 

After having built several 747s and A380s, and the 1:72 Concorde, this kit doesn't feel as big as I had expected, especially having seen the C-5 up close.

 

I haven't built a Roden kit before (I don't think), but the detail looks really good.

 

The kit is moulded in sturdy grey plastic, and the panel lines are recessed and are very cleanly moulded.

 

It has the options for flaps and slats to be extended or retracted (with countless supporting jacks if you build it with the slats extended).  The control surfaces are separate parts and look like they have hinge pins, so they could be moveable.

 

Interestingly, and perhaps disappointingly, the nose section is moulded with the fuselage, so it cannot be set in the open position.  But for some reason, the large nose cone is a separate part.

 

I guess you could carefully cut through the panel lines to open the nose if you wanted (the plastic is quite thick, so this might not be easy), but even with an open nose, there is no interior for the cargo hold.  The landing gear doesn't have the option to be set in the kneeling position for loading and unloading, but perhaps you could trim the struts if you wanted it to be sitting that way.

 

I have the Revell Antonov An-124 somewhere upstairs still in the box, but I think that has the option for the nose to be open or closed, and it has two positions for the main landing gear - one is the normal extended position, and the other is slightly tilted if you want to have the An-124 kneeling.

 

And the wheels - so many wheels!!  Each of the 28 wheels come in two halves...  Why would they do that!

 

I want to build the C-5 with the landing gear down, but seeing so many wheel halves is already starting to make me regret it. 

 

Anyway, this is the opening post, so here are some pre-assembly photos:

 

IMG_5302

 

IMG_5303

 

IMG_5308

 

I usually do my main painting outside when it's daylight and when there is no wind.  The weather hasn't been nice lately, and when I get back from work it's already pitch black outside.

 

I've started the kit because I want to do something with my stored kits again, but this might take me a while if my only available build time is at the weekends!

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Wow I didn't know they were doing the M version.

 

I was wondering how easy it would be to do a conversion, but if Roden is going to release one, it doesn't seem worth the effort.

 

The website just says it's new for 2018, but nothing yet...

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been working on a 1:350 Richelieu lately, so I've not been concentrating on this C-5!  But today I made a start on the wings and engines.

 

The ailerons have small hinge pins on each end, so they are supposed to be moveable:

 

Aileron hinge

 

With the other half on the wing on, the ailerons do not move at all:

 

Assembled wing

 

The rudder and elevators are separate parts too, and I suspect they will not be moveable either.

 

Each engine is made of six parts - the fan case, left and right pylon and turbine casing halves, thrust reverser sleeve halves, and exhaust cone.

 

Engine parts

 

When assembled, the fit of all of these is not particularly good, and I will need some filler to close up the small joints.  Sanding is going to be difficult because the plastic is very very soft, and the small features around the outside diameter of the fan case and thrust reverser actuator fairings will be easily removed.

 

This is the first kit I've built that has cascade-type thrust reversers not moulded as part of the engine nacelle.  Although the instructions do not give you this option,  you could fit the thrust reverser sleeves in the open position, if you were also building the C-5 with the slats and flaps extended.

 

Reversers open

 

The inside of the sleeve is empty, so you would need to make some deflector doors, and fit some fine mesh for the thrust reverser ducts:

 

IMG_1636

 

In this build though, I am building it clean, with only the landing gear down, so I've completed all of the engines with the thrust reverser sleeves closed:

 

Engines

 

 

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Nice! I love this, but there's no way it would fit in my display cabinet.

 

How are the decals? I've seen excellent decals from Roden was well as out-of-register 2-color decals. If they are dodgy, Caracal has markings for this kit, which are always quite outstanding!

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14 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

How are the decals? 

 

The decals look superb, crisp and the register looks fine:

 

IMG_5569

 

 

Decal close up

They are very glossy though.

 

The finish I want is going to be a satin, so I'm going to have to apply a gloss varnish before applying the decals, then a satin varnish coat after the decals go on.

 

I'm hoping that will stop any uneven results in the finish and any silvering.

 

Is that the correct procedure?

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The decals do indeed look good. Take a look, though, at the Caracal markings, as you may find something interesting there.

 

If the finish is already glossy, I directly apply decals to the paint--this is common with Mr Color paints. For a satin coat atop the decals, I like Microscale Industries Micro Satin.

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Please note that the unit names on the sheet are complete fiction: there is no "82th AMW" or "346th AWM" (or any "AWM" for that matter). They could not read the actual unit names on Travis aircraft (60th AMW / 349th AMW); so they made up the numbers.

 

If you are content with the kit decals, you might at least want to modify them; and find an alternate source for the gray national insignia, which will likely disappear on the AMC Gray fuselage once applied.

 

Edited by CaracalModels
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53 minutes ago, CaracalModels said:

Please note that the unit names on the sheet are complete fiction: there is no "82th AMW" or "346th AWM" (or any "AWM" for that matter). They could not read the actual unit names on Travis aircraft (60th AMW / 349th AMW); so they made up the numbers.

 

If you are content with the kit decals, you might at least want to modify them; and find an alternate source for the gray national insignia, which will likely disappear on the AMC Gray fuselage once applied.

 

Also, the walkway markings and data stencils should be black like the national insignia, not the greyish colours supplied. Again the Caracal sheet supplies replacement walkway markings, unit markings, etc.

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There is a very basic cockpit interior, but nothing that represents the upper deck cabin.

 

The seats are moulded quite crudely, and there is a height difference between the left and right sides of the seats.

 

Because the plastic is so soft, it is easy to make them level with a scalpel, but the small size makes this very fiddly.

 

Even more fiddly are the armrests, which, for some reason are moulded as separate parts - and ping off the tweezers:

 

IMG_5574

 

The control yoke is much more substantial.

 

Thankfully I haven't lost any armrests, but this level of detail is surprising considering there are no throttle levers, no moulded instruments in the instrument panel, no flight engineer instruments etc.

 

 

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Here's another thing that confuses me about this kit:

 

Windows

 

Some of the windows are moulded as holes, and some are just dimples.

 

The instructions tell you to drill a 1.5-mm hole to open the dimples.

 

There are transparent parts to fit in the holes, but I wonder why if they didn't just make the mould with holes for all of the windows...

 

Some other progress today: landing gear bays built, and the basic flight deck assembled.

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Here are the nose and main landing gear bays:

 

IMG_5580

 

 

They are made up of a single flat panel and multiple lateral and longitudinal beams.  

 

The smaller struts are the linkages to the landing gear doors.  They fit through cutouts in the side of the fuselage.

 

The fit of these parts was good, but this is another example of where there is a lot of detail and fiddly assembly, whereas in other places I had to drill holes for the windows...

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A couple of quick jobs this morning:

 

I've installed the windows, and joined the two halves of the fuselage:

 

IMG_5583

 

I think there is some warpage in the fuselage - there is a difference in height between the left and right halves, between the wing roots and main landing gear bays, so I'm going to have to do some work later on to smooth this out.

 

The nose cone and tail cone are separate pieces.

 

The instructions don't say that weights are necessary in the nose, but the empennage is quite heavy, so I have put some weights in the nose cone just to be safe.

 

With the nose and tail cones fitted, it's shaping up!

 

IMG_5585

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

I'm so far behind with this build!!  I'm not sure if anyone is still following!

 

I've been doing a lot of work on my house, which is taking up all of my weekends, and this C-5 has been sat on my dining room table for months.

 

I'm now fed up of gloss painting doors (I KNEW I should not have even started painting a louvre door...), so I've decided to go back to modelling.

 

Today was an easy task, building and installing the wings.

 

The flap actuator fairings come in two halves.  The flap sections have four pins (two on either end), which fit into holes in the flap actuator fairings.  These holes give the flaps the correct angle if you choose to assemble the flaps in the extended position.

 

This is the look that I have gone for for this build.  It will make a change to all of the other aircraft I have, where the flaps are moulded in the retracted position as part of the wing.

 

I've filled the joints between the wings and fuselage, and horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and I'll do the sanding tomorrow.

 

I've just sat the tail in place so I can see it's overall shape - it's such a beautiful aircraft!

 

Here it is next to an A320neo for comparison.  He's a big boy!

 

IMG_6915 copy

 

IMG_6916 copy

 

IMG_6917 copy

 

I will make steady progress from now!

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I sanded the joints this morning, and fitted the flight deck glazing.

 

I ran out of Tamiya tape, so I had to mask the windows with decorating masking tape from B&Q.  It's very thin, and it was easier to score with the craft knife! 

 

I've always struggled with Tamiya tape for masking windows because it's quite thick and opaque. It's quite difficult to see the window frames through the tape.

 

The white tape from B&Q is much thinner, and I thought it was pretty useless when I was using it to mask my door frames because it kept tearing as I wound it off the reel.

 

However, I think I found a new use for it!

 

It shows the window lines well through when you hold the it to the light, so I was able to score the window frames with the craft knife, and peel away the unwanted parts without lifting the masked windows.

 

IMG_6921 copy

 

The wing at the bottom left is from a Revell 747, which unfortunately fell from the ceiling this morning.  The sound of the crash woke me up, and I knew exactly what it was.

 

I don't think I can salvage this one...

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