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Stretched Hercules, C-130J-30 resin conversion - Latest decalling photo's April 18th


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I'm working on a MultiCast's resin conversion (1/72) of the Italeri C-130 Hercules to an RCAF C-130J-30. The MultiCast set is great, beautifully molded, and the decals are world class.

I made things more difficult for myself by using and ancient and incomplete Testors boxing of the AC-130a Spooky.  This meant I had to fabricate all the missing doors, and fill the extra gun ports.

step one was, after cutting the fuselage apart, tape the whole thing together, and find the appropriate nose weight. The easiest way was to wire fishing weights to the forward cargo bulkhead.

 

kit

 

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I wasn't sure how much would be visible in the cockpit, so I scratchbuilt a lot of details, adding side consoles, belts, flight engineer center, crew rest bunks, etc ...

 

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The resin stretch fuselage sections were attached with 5 minute epoxy, all locating pins removed, tabs installed, and because the fuselage shells were to flexible, I had to add a lot of bracing.

 

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A wing spar (wooden dowl) was added to prevent wing droop, and the bending moment and cracking from such a long wing.

 

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The airframe was completely rescribed, then filled  (milliput white), scribing touched up, primed and the prominent external doublers were added.

 

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The doublers were added with .010" x .040" strip, then .003" thick tape placed on either side a sanded down to flush.

 

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The engines were attached ( the inboard kit engine nacelles had to be trimmed back by 2.25 mm to align all the engines) and faired in with milliput, and rescribed.

 

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At this point, I've installed and masked the fuselage windows - but not the canopy, filled the fuselage seams and primed again, loosely fit the wings, tanks, and stabs to check everything. Still miles to go, but it looks like and airplane.

 

 

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Hope you like so far ...

 

Colin

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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Very nice Colin, I love the cockpit detailing! :thumbsup:

 

I have a stalled C-130J-30 build, I started with an AMT AC-130 kit so I did not have to rescribe it, I also had the issues of filling the holes for the sensors and guns. I did not go the way of the Wingman set due to the price when it was released.

 

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

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Good work!

 

I have the conversion kit myself, as well as a couple of the Italeri C-130J kits. Your experiences will come handy when I start working on my own model.

 

Nils

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A little bit more progress on the Herc. Fuselage windows installed, inside surfaces countersunk so the window sits a little proud, then cemented from the outside with gap filling superglue. When set, windows sanded down flush, and polished. That leaves a smooth, flat external with no gaps - when masked and painted the window will be finished off with Future painted on with a fine brush.

 

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Masked with Tamiya tape cut with a fresh blade and a scribing template ...

 

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... on a side note, for anyone building an Italeri C-130 of any type, I would highly recommend OzMods exhaust set, it's very inexpensive, and you could not improve on them in any way!

 

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The spinners needed to have the recess's deepened in order to have the prop blade hubs sit flush ...

 

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... and a jig had to be made to align all the blades properly (they sit at 'full feather' position when the engine is off)

 

 

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And the work continues ...

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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  • Tail-Dragon changed the title to Stretched Hercules, C-130J-30 resin conversion - New photo's Feb 27th
  • 2 weeks later...

... some more progress on the Herc

 

Airframe is assembled, and primed. Now begins the process of adding all the sensors and antenna's.  I had to fabricate the satellite antenna (the circular dome on the roof) as none was included with the donor kit.  I've also made the pitot tubes, and angle of attack vanes that were missing - made out of brass wire and plastic strip. Looks like it's getting close now ...

 

angle of attack

 

angle of attack - pitot

 

 

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  • Tail-Dragon changed the title to Stretched Hercules, C-130J-30 resin conversion - New photo's Mar 10
12 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Just a point on your pitot tubes, there are usual oriented parallel with the fuselage skin so they get uninterrupted airflow for correct instrument readings

Hi,

Noted and corrected, Thanks!

 

Colin

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I was trying to come up with a way to attach the resin blade antenna's to the Herc.  The problem was that they are thinner than a #11 x-acto blade  (.018") and very flimsy. the attaching footprint is so small and thin, there's almost no contacting surface.

Here's what I cam up with ...

 

Saw a slot half way up the antenna, sized .015 -.018 (your just not going to be TOO accurate), back on one side with masking tape.  Cut a length of brass wire (.015") long enough to penetrate into the fuselage, roll one end in 5 minute epoxy, and place it in the slot. The tape will keep the epoxy from bleeding under, and should give a smooth finish on the lower side. When set, sand the upper surface smooth, and fill any divots left (I use gap filling superglue/talcum powder mix)  and drill a .015 hole at the appropriate angle in the fuselage (#78 or #79 bit) and fit the antenna. Touch a small droplet of gap filling superglue to the base, and then wick up the extra with the edge of a paper towel, and your done!

 

antenna 1

 

antenna 2

 

antenna 3

 

 

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Strong and solid, and you've re-enforced a delicate blade antenna.  What do you think?

 

Colin

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  • Tail-Dragon changed the title to Stretched Hercules, C-130J-30 resin conversion - New photo's Mar 12

Looks like a very good build here, very impressed indeed. I'm partial to a good C-130 build as I spent a few agonising/vomit inducing/Happy hours in the back of these in my younger days ............. for these read Dark Earth/Middle Stone camo version ....... yes I'm that old!

 

Will follow this build with relish.

 

Terry

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Some more on antenna's ...  all are installed, including 2 small blade antenna's that are .020" wide, and .002" thick!
These are made by squeezing .015" brass wire in smooth flat pliers, filing the blade square, and installing the wire into a pre-drilled hole, (this can be used to replace the turbulators found in front of some control surfaces) 

So far, between antenna's, static wicks, drain masts, wiper blades, sensors and probes, I've had to add 53 separate, tiny items to this airframe!

 

antenna 5

 

antenna 6

 

The wipers will be added as a last step after masking is removed...

 

wiper

 

... and now it's time to move to the paint shop ...

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  • Tail-Dragon changed the title to Stretched Hercules, C-130J-30 resin conversion - New photo's Mar 19
55 minutes ago, fatalbert said:

Thats excellent,another item you might want to add is a black rectangle on the top edge of the radome.That is a rubber cover for the radome hinges.

Yep, that's on my to-do list, thanks. I knew about the rectangle but not what it actually was.  The previous pictures are prior to the painting stage, I'll be adding as part of the painting.

 

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Would you know the identity of this small, white item? I'm thinking it might be a strobe, but the video's of the C-130J-30's flying at night do not show a strobe in this location.  Thanks.

Colin

 

strobe

 

Edited by Tail-Dragon
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