Jabba Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 (edited) For this GB I will be using the Roden C-5B kit to make a C-5A that was used during the Gulf War of 1990-91. I have been told that there are no real differences externally between the two versions so that is why I am using this kit. I will be using the Caracal decals for this build, with an aircraft from the 105th airlift wing from New York ANG. I have found pictures of this aircraft from around the time period and it does not seem to have the tail stripe and the legend that is just behind the flight deck, so that is how I am going to build it. The Kit. Kit instructions and decals. Caracal decals. The aircraft that I am going to do Edited August 20, 2019 by Jabba Title 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 They look great in that lizard scheme, looking forward to this one! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 A little work has been done on this one, in that I have built most o the wings, still the ailerons and the slat actuators to be fitted. I have also built up the Fwd and main U/C bays although there are some door hinges to be fitted to the main one, but I will see if these can be fitted later, hopefully after the fuselage has been built. I have also started to built the flightdeck, but I am not sure how far I will go with this as the screens are also decals on the Caracal sheet. But the main part of the flightdeck is required for structural purposes. I am finding the plastic to be rather soft and there is a lot of flash around the parts so I am being very careful when removing any plastic. More to come. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 15, 2019 Author Share Posted May 15, 2019 I have got some more parts glued together, and to be honest I am not that overjoyed with this kit especially with what you get for the price that was paid. The flight deck is together, but I think that I will paint this all black, use it for structural integrity and use the widows from the Caracal decal sheet. I am also at a loss as to what are the rectangular lumps that are at the front of the engines. Unless anyone else knows if they do exist they will be removed when it comes to filling and sanding. I am also not sure if I have got the front of the engines correct as there is not spline so it can be lined up. More to come in the next week or so. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 (edited) Looks like those square "blocks" are supposed to be more like bridges, as the cowls ramps down in between them. They certainly did a bit of a bodge on those engines. 😬 I was noticing a lot of them don't have those ramps also, so evidently there was a change somewhere along the way to the engines. https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-5b-19990422-f-0024f-001.jpg Edited May 15, 2019 by helios16v Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 On 15/05/2019 at 20:05, helios16v said: Looks like those square "blocks" are supposed to be more like bridges, as the cowls ramps down in between them. They certainly did a bit of a bodge on those engines. 😬 I was noticing a lot of them don't have those ramps also, so evidently there was a change somewhere along the way to the engines. https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-5b-19990422-f-0024f-001.jpg Like you I think that Roden are trying to simulate the blow in doors on the cowling with these blocks being the metal in between these said doors, and made a really bad job of it. So these will be coming off in the future to make a totally smooth cowling. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 22, 2019 Author Share Posted May 22, 2019 Fuselage now glued together apart from the nose and tail ending parts. I will glue the tail ending part and then place all other parts into their respective places so that I cab determine how much weight is required before gluing on the nose cone. In the last photo you can see how much can be seen there, so I think that after I have fitted the windscreen it will be painted over and the decal sheet windows used. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted May 27, 2019 Author Share Posted May 27, 2019 I think that I have got the weight sorted out, so I will build up the model (filling and sanding along the way) and as the nose cap is a separate item it will be added at the end so that I can make sure that the model is not a tail sitter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 I have been filling and sanding the fuselage plus the engines. For some unknown reason I cannot at the moment remove the ridge that runs along the top and bottom of the fuselage. I keep on applying filler and it seems to do the trick, but after sanding down a little with my finger I can still feel it. I had the same on the engines, but a few days ago I started using a couple of sanding sticks of different grades on them and this seems to have done the trick. So I am going to give this a go on the fuselage. The last picture shows the result on one of the engines. I still have to fit the reverse thrust parts to these and then they will be done. I have some of the other parts that have been glued together, so that they can be fitted when the fuselage is done. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) 21 hours ago, Jabba said: I have been filling and sanding the fuselage plus the engines. For some unknown reason I cannot at the moment remove the ridge that runs along the top and bottom of the fuselage. I keep on applying filler and it seems to do the trick, but after sanding down a little with my finger I can still feel it. Check with a magnifier to see if the cement join has come unstuck. I had a persistent seam on my B-29 and eventually found it had cracked apart. Drop a bit of CA in there and sand it back if that's the case. Al Edited June 9, 2019 by Alan P 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 Thanks Al, I'll give it a whirl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 14, 2019 Author Share Posted June 14, 2019 Having had a closer look at the seams I could not find any cracks. So I attacked all the seams with several grades of sanding stick (I don't usually use these) and the results are below. Yes I have lost some panel lining, but that can be engraved, and I will go over the whole of the fuselage again with some fine wet n dry. Hopefully I will add the wings and other appendages throughout the coming week. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Looks good! Hopefully the different grade sanding did solve your issue! Looking forward to the wing mounted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 19, 2019 Author Share Posted June 19, 2019 Now with the wings added. I had to readjust the port wing after the glue had set, that is why there is a white line on the joint. I knew that this model was going to be big, but I was not sure how big. So I have placed it next to the Airfix 1/72nd Victor that I am building at the moment, and it is almost the same size. Before I fitted the wings I inserted wire into the engines so that they can fit better onto the wings, as can be seen in the last photo. I also fitted the reverse thrust parts of the engines, so more filling to be done. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Some more bits added. To say that I do not like this kit will be a bit of an understatement. The engines are not fitted as yet, and they took a lot of sanding down (like the rest of the kit) to get them looking respectable. I am thinking of putting the flaps and slats in the extended position as they are often seen this way when the aircraft is sitting on the round. I was going to leave these off until I had painted the model, but after having a look at the plans I don't really think that this is a good idea, especially with the fit of parts so far. So last night I started on this and did not realise that I had to glue each half of each flap track together. Yet again there were no spigots to lend a helping hand, but I eventually got them built up. I will hopefully fit these and flaps in the next few days, but I will probably leave the slats off until later as they are just 1 part per wing. I am not looking forward to gluing the wheels as these are also in each half, but at least these have a lining up spigot, well according to the plans they do. I also still have the re-engraving of panel lines to do. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 Coming on well despite the kit's shortcomings. Don't fancy that job with the wheels! They're all in halves? 🙄 Still, looks like you're winning 👍 Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 20 hours ago, Alan P said: Don't fancy that job with the wheels! They're all in halves? 🙄 Still, looks like you're winning 👍 Al Yes Al they are all in halves, and thanks for the vote of confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 I have now added the flaps after a bit of a struggle, nothing seems to fit as easy as it should or it maybe just me. Each flap had a healthy covering of flash plastic, which was a bit of a pain to remove and as I did this over several days I think that I got one of the flap tracks slightly miscued which threw out some of the others, but I am reasonably happy with the result. I have also rescribed the panel lines on the fuselage and wings, plus I have now finally fitted the engines. The flight deck glazing is also fitted after a little persuasion. Now that the plastic is almost together I will determine whether I have filled the nose cone with the right amount of weight, a little hard to judge as by the front main UC bay it is tail heavy, but by the rear one it is nose heavy. I am also undecided as to fitting the U/C legs to also determine this or not. I may have also changed which aircraft I will build as I found a photo in a recently bought book that shows an aircraft from one of the other "Lizard" schemed Sqn that is available on the decal sheet. I think that I will be able to do this one straight off rather than doing some cutting and shunting or decals. I will take a close look in the next few days. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 12, 2019 Author Share Posted July 12, 2019 The model is altogether now, with the U/C on and it sits comfortably on it. I have started to paint it and unusually for me I have decided to paint the colours in patches close to where they go rather than painting the whole model in one colour and then adding the rest of the camo as required. I did this as it model is on the large side, and it my make the painting easier. I painted the lighter Green on the wings and tailplanes before I found the actual plans (They are not included on the decal sheet) by guessing from the side views, but I got them slightly wrong, so I will do these better later. The majority of the camo is Grey and as I will have to order the darker Green I will be painting this after the lighter Green. Also I still have to make up the wheels, which I am not looking forward to. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaracalModels Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Jabba said: before I found the actual plans (They are not included on the decal sheet) The camo scheme plans are easily accessible on the reference page, as the decal instructions clearly state. http://caracalmodels.com/references/cd144008/ Edited July 12, 2019 by CaracalModels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 13, 2019 Author Share Posted July 13, 2019 (edited) 23 hours ago, CaracalModels said: The camo scheme plans are easily accessible on the reference page, as the decal instructions clearly state. http://caracalmodels.com/references/cd144008/ Yes sorry that is where I got them from, I just did not look at the instructions properly first like I should have done. I should have stated that in my last reply. Edited July 13, 2019 by Jabba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 I now have the darker Green painted. Whilst taking a trip to Salisbury I called in at the model shop there ( I really count this as my LHS), where I saw that there was a stand of Vallejo "Model Color" paints there. So remembering the FS Nos that I required the owner got onto his computer put in the numbers which gave him a paint number in the Vallejo "Air" range. Now as I do not have an air brush, we then got paint from the "Air" range and matched it as best as possible with the "Model Color" range. It may not be properly correct but it is close enough for me and with a bit of weathering who is to say it is wrong. I also got the Grey this way, I know that I have this colour in other ranges, but I am not sure how much so I thought it best to start with a fresh pot. I will start on this tonight. In the last photo you will see the slight problem that I have with the flight deck glazing. I am not sure what to do about this, I may just fill and sand down, so I will have a think unless anyone here can pass on a suggestion. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 The camo painting is now done, just the black nose cap to do. I have also made the flight deck glazing a bit better. Then I have got to make a start on making the wheels, at least I have sprayed the hubs white. I also have to paint the slats, which hopefully will not cause a problem. I then have to apply a couple of coats of Klear, but I am thinking of only applying this to where the decals are to go or thereabout rather than the whole model. More updates later. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted July 23, 2019 Author Share Posted July 23, 2019 All wheels built and filled. Now to sand and paint. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted July 23, 2019 Share Posted July 23, 2019 Oh deary me. Make sure you have a pint w/ you to keep your nerves calm. Not too much though, otherwise it'll be a bugger to keep the paint where you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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