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1/72nd Italeri Hercules C.3P long fuselage conversion,.....RAF Lyneham Transport Wing 1980`s**FINISHED**.


tonyot

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Hiya Folks,

                 As many of you will know,.... the C-130 Hercules is an aircraft very close to my heart and the variant that I flew in and jumped from most often was the Hercules C.3P with the stretched fuselage, belonging to the Lyneham Transport Wing,...... so the time has finally come to build one! The basic kit will be the Italeri C-130H kit plus Flightpath resin fuselage plugs and for the engines I intend to use resin engines from either Heritage Aviation or  Arma Model/Attack Squadron,... the latter also includes new propellers too.

 

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The kit parts;

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The conversion parts;

DSCF7015.jpg

Edited by tonyot
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The RAF Hercules,.......

Well it began in 1966 with the C.1 wearing the glossy Light Stone and Dark Earth scheme with Black undersides and White cockpit roof,... at first with RAF Command titles,.....but then as seen here in 1972 they were reduced to RAF only, although squadron markings were applied, as seen on the fin. This is C.1 XV294 from 70 Sqn (LXX) which had just returned home to the UK and replaced its RAF Near East titling,... note the name `Hephaestos ' under the cockpit too. Other 70 Sqn named Herk`s were,... XV 182 `Hector' (Nov 70) XV 192 `Horatius' (Nov 70) XV 211 - `Homer' (Nov 70) XV 294 `Hephaestos'. XV 299 `Homer' (Apr 72) XV 305 `Hyperion' (11/70); 

 hercules-XV294-Hercules-C-1-RAF-NE-70-Sq

 

48 Sqn at Changi in the Far East was also equipped with the Hercules;

Hercules-XV179-of-48-Sqn-at-Changi.jpg

 

The glossy scheme gave way to a matt scheme with toned down tactical roundels and the White roof was also progressively removed too,...... but later still, in the 1970`s a new Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green scheme was adopted with Light Aircraft Grey undersides;

Hercules-C-1s-XV192-XV196-XV205-XV211-ou

 

A `one off' was `Snoopy', C.1 XV208 which was modified for Weather Research Duties with the radar removed to a pod above the cockpit and a long instrumented nose in its place, first of all with the RAE Meteorological Research Flight at Farnborough and latter on behalf of DERA;

Hercules-W-2-XV208-at-Greenham-Common-Ju

Hercules-W-2-XV208-at-Cottesmore-21-Jul-

 

C.1 XV209 with the new grey/green camouflage applied during the late 1970`s;

herk-flyby.jpg

 

By now the RAF Hercules fleet was based at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire and some of the Mk.1`s were stretched with the addition of two fuselage plugs to result in the Mk.3 and the differences can be seen here;

Hercules-C-1-C-3-XV217-XV223-original-Mo

Hercules-C-1-XV217-C-3-XV223-9-7-1982-Mo

 

The Herk continued to cab around the world, as seen with this C.3, XV294,...... the same aircraft from the first photo!;

Herk-XV294.jpg

 

During the Falklands War a refuelling probe was added to the RAF Hercules fleet,....adding a `P' to the designation. I have been lucky enough to stand on the tailgate while a yellow Harvard from Bocombe Down flew even closer than this!!!

 herk-close-up-2.jpg

 

C.1P XV206 had a fatal collision with a Sea King over the Falklands soon after the war ended,...... and landed safely with this damage;

Hercules-XV206-Falklands-following-air-t 

 

A wrap around scheme, as seen above began to be applied in the mid 1980`s,...... you can tell that this Herk has just been flying at high altitude as the  wing tanks wear a coat of white frost,..... a common sight;

hercules-xv210.jpg

 

 An aircraft I remember seeing at RAF Lyneham in 1987,.... a pink Herk which was used for trials of a new ARTF paint which would become better known in 1990 during the Gulf War,..... none of us wanted to fly in or jump from a Pink aeroplane!!

 hercules-xv196-1.jpg

 

During the Gulf War some Herks did receive ARTF paint,.... and this is one of the more scruffier applications on XV205,..... using rollers on the Lyneham pan;

hercules-xv205-2.jpg

 

However,.... during the 1st Gulf War the majority of  RAF Herks retained their standard colours,...... the older grey underside scheme was still common and this superb photo sums up their war;

hercules-xv205-low.jpg

 

Because of the loose stones on desert strips,.... a rubber coating was added to the belly and small antennae moved;

Hercules-XV205-C1-P-L-382-cn-382-4230-Ro

 

Some wore nose art,.... including one of the decal options provided in the Italeri kit,.... Oh Lordy,... from Viz magazine,...which was essential reading in HM Forces at the time,....its the; 

hercules-fat-slags.jpg

 

There was more sedate artwork too such as Garfield,...... plus some rather smutty ones which I shall not repeat here,....needless to say one lady was soon ordered to wear a bikini!!

hercules-where-is-the-beach-4.jpg 

 

C.3P XV222 was known amongst the Army lads at least as the most jinxed Herk and was always breaking down (although it often involved a nice hotel stay en route,..... a week in the south of France for a cracked windscreen springs to mind!)  ,.... it was one of the last to be repainted in the new wrap around scheme as it had not accrued the required flying hours for the major service,..... I swear that its wings used to sag compared to the other aircraft on the ramp! 

herk-xv222-THE-SHED.jpg

 

And a freshly repainted C.3P, XV190 with some sort of nose art on the crew entrance door;

herk-xv190.jpg

 

Very soon the wrap around scheme became weathered too,.... as seen on C.1P XV200, 

herk-xv200.jpg

herk-top-view.jpg

Aircraft utilised by 47 Sqn`s Special Forces Flight were often fitted with additional ECM equipment, as seen here on C.1.P XV203 in 1994, under the wingtip;

Hercules-C-1-K-XV203-LTW-1994.jpg

 

Trials were often flown from Boscombe Down and I took part in quite `sporting' speed drop trials conducted from here where the aircraft was flown faster than normal to see if the old PX4 parachute opened more quickly,....thus allowing a  lower jump to be carried out,...... but following a rather timely fire in the parachute store at RAF Hullavington,.... a new GQ Low Level Parachute was procured instead! Here is XV293 outside the large hangar at Boscombe;

Herk-XV293.jpg

 

The stretched Mk.3P`s had a slightly different camouflage pattern on the forward and rear fuselage, as seen on XV294 again;

herk-taxying-in.jpg

 

The Lyneham Transport Wing Herk`s did not often wear individual unit markings but one aircraft that I personally remember well from the early 90`s was XV292 decorated for the 25th year of RAF service with all of the Sqn Badges and the Lyneham Station badge. Here is XV292 seen over a snowy RAF Lyneham,.....the `Home of the Hercules',.... but sadly no more as the base is now an Army camp and home to the REME;

Hercules-C-1-P-XV292-25th-Annv-over-Lyne

herk-xv292-1992-25-yrs-anniv.jpg

hercules-xv292.jpg

 

A new overall grey scheme was introduced in the late 1990`s, seen here on C.1P, XV300; 

herk-xv300-overall-grey-scheme.jpg

 

Here is C.3P XV299 at Akrotiri, Cyprus in 2003, this scheme weathered and was also applied to the new Mk.4 & 5 variants based on the C-130J when they first entered service;

Hercules-C-3-XV299-RAF-Akrotiri-Mar-2003

 

Based on the new overall green scheme applied to the Chinook fleet,..... a similar green scheme was also progressively applied to the Hercules fleet as it proved better at low level and some aircraft received lumps and bumps to house ECM equipment to protect from missiles;

herk-at-brize-before-withdrawl-from-serv 

hercules-4.jpg

 

More lumps and bumps on C.1P, XV196, most likey in use with 47 Sqn`s Special Forces Flight,.... the astrodome was used for fighter affiliation to warn the pilot of attacking aircraft. The Special Forces usually prefer the shorter fuselage variants, probably for their improved short rough field capability? ;

herk-close-1.jpg

 

Quite a few RAF Hercules have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years,....here is what is left of XV205 in Afghanistan in 2007 after it was involved in a heavy landing carrying SAS troops to a rough airstrip deep inside Taliban teritory. It was destroyed by explosives at the scene to prevent sensitive equipment from being recoveed by the enemy;

  hercules-XV205-1.jpg

 

A sad end,..... the C.1P & 3P were finally phased out of service and although some were sold abroad to Sri Lanka, Austria, Mexico and other places,...... many were sadly scrapped and this aircraft, C.3P XV221 awaits it fate at Bruntingthorpe wearing the now standard overall Green scheme;

 

 

hercules-at-bruntingthorpe-2.jpg

 

Unfortunately (and criminally in my extremely biased view!) only one RAF Hercules has been preserved in the UK,..C.3P, XV202... and outdoors at that, at Cosford with a mix match of engines and panels from a grey aircraft, as often seen in service;

Herk-at-RAF-Cosford-2.jpg

Herk-at-RAF-Cosford-4.jpg

 

So there we go,..... a very brief journey through the story of the original RAF Hercules,...... the C-130J continues in service, although the short fuselage C.5 variants are also being sold off,.... one going to the US Navy Blue Angels,..... and a small number of stretched fuelage C.4 variants remain in service. Back in the 1980`s the RAF had enough Hercules aircraft to drop an entire Parachute Battalion Group consisting of around 1,000 men plus vehicles and supplies in one drop,. consisting of between 15-22 aircraft.... followed up next day by another,...... but these days the British Airborne Forces are lucky to be able to gain access to  2 C-130J`s which can drop a Company Group of around 100-120 men,...without vehicle support! 

 

Here are some of the C-130J`s in recent RAF service;

 

C.4 with stretched fuselage;

 

hercules-op-market-garden-2016.jpg

hercules-rwr.jpg

 

And the short fuselage C.5;

hercules-c-5-props-3.jpg

herk-raf-burn-3.jpg

 

The following aircraft are the subjects of recent Xtradecal sheets and I intend to model the latter in 47 Sqn markings;

herk-j-special-scheme-2.jpg

 

47 Sqn `Special';

herk-47-sqn-artwork-4.jpg

herk-special-colours-zh880-47-sqn.jpg

 

Cheers

           Tony

         

Edited by tonyot
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21 minutes ago, Kushan_Farsight said:

Looks like this will be a good build to follow!
From looking at those fuselage plugs , the 'stretched' c-130 looks to have significantly more cargo volume/capacity. Any reason they all didn't get a stretched fuselage?

Thanks mate,... and in answer to your query,.....yes the capacity was increased and in paratroop numbers it increased the capacity from 60 troops to 90,...... alloing sym sticks of 45 to be deployed from each side door plus a supply `wedge' from the tailgate,..... and why were they all not converted,..... well knowing the British Forces,..... it was probably down to cost!! The short fuselage variants are preferred these days for Special Forces use,.... so they probably have a better take off and landing performance on rough strips,..... but I doubt if that would have been a conideration in the 1970`s?

 

Cheers

        Tony

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I've got a Hercules in the stash ready to convert into a C.4 with extended fuselage, using the Wingman conversion set, so I'm going to be watching with interest :thumbsup:

 

Great history as well plus some interesting pictures for reference :yes:

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1 hour ago, tonyot said:

An aircraft that I remember well from the early 90`s seen over a snowy RAF Lyneham,.....`Home of the Hercules',.... but sadly no more as it is now an Army base for the REME;

Hercules-C-1-P-XV292-25th-Annv-over-Lyne

herk-xv292-1992-25-yrs-anniv.jpg

When I mention to anyone my early-90's flight from RAF Mildenhall to RAF Lyneham in the 'Million-Hours' Herc, I get blank looks - as there don't appear to be any photos of it on the internet, apparently that means it didn't exist...

...but it most definitely did, seen here parked on the Bravo Squadron flightline immediately prior to the trip:

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If you`ll indulge me,...... a few more personal memories of the old Herk!

 

22490137-10155891573017318-2452313904785

 

Landed,.... rolled over and took this photo of the rest of the lads coming in;

2-Para-Keevil-1989.jpg

 

Lyneham 1989, 1 Para Battalion Group jump. 

Me-and-Spud-Lyneham-1988.jpg

 

Jumping with 2 Para,.... as above!!

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Ready to jump into Arnhem 1988;

Arnhem-Deelen-Sept-1988.jpg

 

XV188 rear,....

emplaning-for-a-jump-Lyneham-a.jpg

...and front!!

me-Herk-XV188-1989-1st-jump-since-Kenya.

 

Off for a night jump 1988;

lyneham-night-jump.jpg

 

Lyneham, all lined up for a Brigade Exercise jump;lyneham-flight-line-1989-Airborne-EX.jpg

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Night jump,.... en route to DZ;

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En route to a Battalion exercise jump;

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2nd in the stick;

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Fitting kit;

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Lined up to jump;

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All gone!!

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A more modern British paratrooper exiting from an RAF Herk,.... note the step which is used to give a better push out into the slipstream and the door which opens out like an air brake for the same reason....

exit-herk.jpg

 

A formation of 15 RAF Herks,...... when we could put up such formations,..... a Parachute Battalion Group jump usually consisted of 15-22 aircraft, depending on the sie of the vehicle heavy drop.herks-x-15-1987-iat.jpg

 

A photo taken by a US Paratrooper from a USAF C-130J which gives an idea of what does on outside,.....he will probably end up in twists!!! 

Yank-Para-from-a-C-130-J.jpg

 

Landing at Hankley Common near to Aldershot;

Hankley-Common-DZ-1987.jpg

 

On the ground following a very sporting jump for the Boscombe Down Speed Drop Trials, dropping 90 men in 45 man sym sticks at a faster speed and lower altitude as possible with a Bergan loaded down with well over 100lb of lead weights,..... sinking into the ground in Otterburn!! 

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And possibly the most comfortable way to travel on a Hercules,..... en route to Greece, 1992,... taken from the top of the tailgate looking forward high up over the Alps;

IMG-20160122-0001-0002-NEW.jpg

 

Happy Days!! 

Edited by tonyot
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7 minutes ago, andyf117 said:

When I mention to anyone my early-90's flight from RAF Mildenhall to RAF Lyneham in the 'Million-Hours' Herc, I get blank looks - as there don't appear to be any photos of it on the internet, apparently that means it didn't exist...

...but it most definitely did, seen here parked on the Bravo Squadron flightline immediately prior to the trip:

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Great pics,..... yes I remember this Herk too,..... didn`t have a camera on me then though!! 

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16 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Great pics,..... yes I remember this Herk too,..... didn`t have a camera on me then though!! 

A RNZAF Flt Lt on an exchange tour was the captain - the crew were at Mildenhall for a couple of days being hosted by the 317 TAW (Holbein's Hooligans - I still have the T-shirt, and patch on my flight suit!) who were the resident TDY unit at the time...

....we went to Lyneham the hard way - low-level via the Welsh valleys, with me standing with my head in the astrodome, looking up at sheep on the valley sides!

My photos taken on the Lyneham flight line show a mix of wrap-around and LAG undersides with black and white codes respectively - and the 1,000,000 Hrs legend and tail marking on the port side of XV298 too...

Edited by andyf117
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34 minutes ago, andyf117 said:

A RNZAF Flt Lt on an exchange tour was the captain - the crew were at Mildenhall for a couple of days being hosted by the 317 TAW (Holbein's Hooligans - I still have the T-shirt, and patch on my flight suit!) who were the resident TDY unit at the time...

....we went to Lyneham the hard way - low-level via the Welsh valleys, with me standing with my head in the astrodome, looking up at sheep on the valley sides!

My photos taken on the Lyneham flight line show a mix of wrap-around and LAG undersides with black and white codes respectively - and the 1,000,000 Hrs legend and tail marking on the port side of XV298 too...

At least you could see outside while flying through the valleys,....... sometimes I got to see sheep flashing past by craning my head back if near a window,... but we were normally being thrown around in a tin tube with puke sloshing around on the floor rapidly losing the will to live LOL!!! Must have been good from the astrodome,..... best I got was stood behind the pilot once when we had the rear of the aircraft to ourselves as only three of us were jumping,..... so we took turns going up front. I remember being amazed that they were map reading!!  I had a photo somewhere,..... must be in an album. 

Yeah back in the mid 80`s to mid 90`s there were a mixture of wrap around and light grey underside camouflages on display at Lyneham,..... not to mention the foreign visitors too.   

I took off for Arnhem from Mildenhall in 1988,..... lucky to keep my camera as I went to take a photo and noticed a Humvee whose crew were watching us,..... I pointed to ask if it was OK and they basically said NO! Mind you,.... thee wee a lot of strange looking EC-135`s dotted around everywhere,.... I`m sure you know what I mean!! 

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32 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Must have been good from the astrodome,..... 

I was stood there for the entire trip, including the landings...

....on touching down at Mildenhall, it was a little disconcerting to see the fire trucks at the sides of the runway, lights flashing - I was frantically twisting around looking for smoke or flames behind us, as the headset I'd been wearing outbound was being used by someone else for the return trip...

....they were actually awaiting a tanker coming in behind us, who'd reported a gear indication problem...

38 minutes ago, tonyot said:

I took off for Arnhem from Mildenhall in 1988,..... lucky to keep my camera as I went to take a photo and noticed a Humvee whose crew were watching us,..... I pointed to ask if it was OK and they basically said NO! Mind you,.... thee wee a lot of strange looking EC-135`s dotted around everywhere,.... I`m sure you know what I mean!! 

I know exactly what you mean - a USMC Lt Col took me onto the ramp to take pics of his KC-130 prior to departure one morning...

....within two minutes, a Security Police patrol pulled up, and were telling me to stop - the Lt Col (who was the squadron commander) informed them it was his plane, and I was photographing it at his invitation...

....the SPs politely but firmly informed him it was their airfield, and no-one took photos anywhere on it without proper authorisation...

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I have always wondered , why a guy would jump out of a perfectly good airplane with 4 hot stoves and 4 working fans........................  LOL............  thanks for an awesome tour of the Herc............. and THANK YOU for your service.... I will be watching this build with much interest....

cheers

 

Jeff

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1 hour ago, isaneng said:

6500hrs on Albert, 1989 - 2009. I look forward to seeing this one progress. I'm guessing we probably threw you out at some stage!

Respect,...... yeah you probably did,..... as long as it wasn`t the one where I landed off the DZ and ended up crippled after hitting a fence backwards!!! poo-poo (EDIT,...where the hell did POO POO come from lol? I typed sh 1 t) happens eh,....... we all had (and still have) so much respect for you lads,...and lasses. ..... but maybe a certain (trainee?) Nav could be in the bad books!!

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34 minutes ago, Biggu said:

I have always wondered , why a guy would jump out of a perfectly good airplane with 4 hot stoves and 4 working fans........................  LOL............  thanks for an awesome tour of the Herc............. and THANK YOU for your service.... I will be watching this build with much interest....

cheers

 

Jeff

Hey no worries Jeff,..... most of it was a blast mate! Why jump,....... well,.....I`m quite nervous of heights,...... but I had always wanted to be a paratrooper since watching A Bridge Too Far as a 7 yr old when it first came out,........ there were some veterans there,.... who were still quite young back then,...... and after speaking to these supermen I was hooked!! I`ve met many more since and those blokes set a bloody high bar to match.

The one time a fan stopped working they wouldn`t let us jump and we really wanted to get out that time!!! Speaking of fans,.....and isaneng will hopefully tell me that this is true and that we were not being wound up as we expected,...... an engine wouldn`t start,.....so the crew said they would bump start it,..... so they went whizzing down the runway with the propeller windmilling,.... then a jet of flame and a loud bang later the engine was working,...... so we taxied back and took off!! 

Cheers mate,

                     Tony

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2 hours ago, tonyot said:

Yeah back in the mid 80`s to mid 90`s there were a mixture of wrap around and light grey underside camouflages on display at Lyneham,..... not to mention the foreign visitors too.   

I took off for Arnhem from Mildenhall in 1988,..... lucky to keep my camera as I went to take a photo and noticed a Humvee whose crew were watching us,..... I pointed to ask if it was OK and they basically said NO! Mind you,.... thee wee a lot of strange looking EC-135`s dotted around everywhere,.... I`m sure you know what I mean!! 

Great set of pictures that show the variety of schemes used!
Maybe there's hope for my old Airfix C-130 yet. I like the NE Stone/Brown wrap particularly... 

As far as Mildenhall security is concerned: not only there - some mates and me got busted in Montijo, Portugal of all places in summer 1990.
Apparently, we picked the exact day the very first EP-3E Aries delivery made a stopover en route to NAS Rota.

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5 hours ago, tonyot said:

XV293 outside the large hangar at Boscombe

Great series of photos , with interesting comments , thanks very much . That hangar is called The Weighbridge Hangar . Because that's whats in the middle of it . Last time I was in there 94 ish ,they had a Blimp in it . I took nearly all of it and was a weird thing to see inside a building not far off the floor or roof ,blokes walking along the top . Boscombe were doing an evaluation for the Army .

Those stretched Hercs were weird . The Station numbers of the original Herc remained the same ,the plugs got another set of new station numbers . Didn't follow the sequence . First day on it blew a brain cell trying work out what was going on .

Brize had a Herc based there from Lyneham and looked after by Station Flight for the jumps made by No1 PTS .

Anyway those add ons you've bought look great

 

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Looking forward to this Tony. I have a memory that the Airfix kit had the wind break doors moulded separately and that the cockpit glazing was closer to the real thing than the Italeri offering. I say this as we used to get C130's from Alaska International into Manston years ago on a regular basis and yours truly quite often stood out front with bats or swiveling fingers. To me the Hercules has a very precise set of glazing panels. Good luck with the build and I hope you enjoy it.

 

Keith.

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Excellent photos, thanks for sharing them.

I'm very fond of the old Herk, living under the flightpath to Marshall's I've probably seen all of them over the decades.

Looking forward to seeing your build progress.

 

gazza l

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WOW,.... no pressure then,..... what have I started!!! Thanks for the good will folks and the banter.

 

42 minutes ago, bzn20 said:

Great series of photos , with interesting comments , thanks very much . That hangar is called The Weighbridge Hangar . Because that's whats in the middle of it . Last time I was in there 94 ish ,they had a Blimp in it . I took nearly all of it and was a weird thing to see inside a building not far off the floor or roof ,blokes walking along the top . Boscombe were doing an evaluation for the Army .

Those stretched Hercs were weird . The Station numbers of the original Herc remained the same ,the plugs got another set of new station numbers . Didn't follow the sequence . First day on it blew a brain cell trying work out what was going on .

Brize had a Herc based there from Lyneham and looked after by Station Flight for the jumps made by No1 PTS .

Anyway those add ons you've bought look great

 

Of course,.... thats the name,..... Weighbridge,..... it was a long time ago and I`d forgotten,..... Bocombe seem to have a think about weights,..... they have us enough bags of lead ballast to carry when we jumped!!  I bet it was strange seeing a blimp,..... but then that is why Cardington`s hangars wee so big,.... was it the big thing that had been trialled thee for a while,.....the back end of which looks like a giant backside? It can carry massive payloads if so. 

 

I had heard that before about the Herk plugs. 

 

When I was based at Brize in 91-92 the Herk on charge at Brize was with JATE and parked on that side of the airfield,...... had a few mates there on the Air Despatch side and got some jollies dropping MSP`s,.... which was great fun,..... the pilot was a nutter but could he fly. Soon after thee was an accident which I won`t go into, but those who know,..will know and I`m glad I wasn`t stood on the tailgate that day!  Maybe 1 PTS got use of it too,..... but when I did my jumps course in early 88 we had to wait for them to fly over from Lyneham. 

 

All the best,

                   Tony

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17 minutes ago, tonyot said:

like a giant backside?

No ,far too early  . Only 2 years ago  ish ago . Cardington ,my Grandad was there for a short time in 1919 before he went back to Henlow . That's historic , village attached is called Short's Town . Built for and housing for Short's staff who ran the place. The main building was Short's Cardington HQ . The best thing is ,it's a thriving community today , steeped in that history. Celebrated too . It's all still standing ,amazing . The RAF had a LOX plant there and the only reason the RAF were still there in to the 1980s

 

I thought something was off as I was typing .  I was talking early /mid 80s .. still waffle though !

It was the JATE Herc ,thanks because after I launched that post I thought something was a bit off . The one's used for PTS just flew in or PTS were crated and bussed to Lyneham .

JATE Herc ,going mad here tony ! Could see it in all weathers one wing (either , the normalHerc trait ) down waiting for something to happen from the crewroom over the other side .

Edited by bzn20
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I'm looking forward to this build - it will be a challenge.  If I may be allowed, a couple of suggestions ...

I would consider putting some kind of wing spar in to prevent flexing of the long wing from cracking the upper fuselage seam, I would also suggest bracing the fuselage halves vertically, the Italeri plastic being so thin, it will be easy to squash slightly the fuselage as you handle it and also crack those seams. 

I can highly recommend the Arma hobbies engines, they are great, just remember to trim 2.5MM off the inboard nacelles on the wing to straighten out all 4 engines (Italeri molded to inboards too far forward). Also you might consider getting resin wheel set as the kit wheels are not good or accurate.

They are BIG when finished, hope you have lots of space!

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