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

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

                  As many of you will know I am an ex paratrooper and as such I have a long lasting love of the C-130 Hercules,.....especially the stretched Hercules C.3 from which 90 of us used to jump plus equipment, 45 from each side door. I have wanted to model the C.3 variant for a long time and I eventually bit the bullet by using the Italeri 1/72nd C-130H kit plus the resin fuselage inserts from Flightpath, to which I added the the new resin engine nacelles and propellers from Attack Model/Arma Hobby. Here is my WIP if anybody is interested, it also includes lots of reference info, photos and also stories from myself and other Britmodellers who love the Herk,...... especially the RAF ones. 

 

For my subject I wanted to choose an aircraft that I have jumped from and I chose Hercules C.3, XV294, a photo of which can be seen here,.... from my collection;

XV294 was traded back to Lockheed Martin on 4th Sep 2001 and sadly was ultimately scrapped.  Photos of this aircraft appear to be quite thin on the ground. 
 

 

Here is the model,... however I realised after taking the pics that I missed a set of antenna from the sides of the fin, which will b added later! I have left off the wire antenna to allow it to fit into the cabinet;

 

Cheers,

          Tony

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by tonyot

[Rich G]

A superb looking Hercules, I like the look of the longer fuselage versions and any RAF bird in wraparound camo gets my vote!

 

Congrats on a job well done

 

Rich

Edited September 26, 2020 by Rich G

[tonyot]

5 minutes ago, Rich G said:

A superb looking Hercules, I like the look of he longer fuselage versions and any RAF bird in wraparound camo gets my vote!

 

Congrats on a job well done

 

Rich

Thanks Rich,..... much appreciated,....... yeah me too,..... love the stretched variants and wrap around camouflage too.  

[Farmerboy]

Wonderful, used to see lots of these over us on the farm, used us as a land mark to drop you guys onto the ‘German village’ on Salisbury plain, I might have seen you floating down! Fantastic model, good job!

[Graham T]

Wow, what a build!!👍

[Space Ranger]

I have never understood why anyone would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but there have been times when it was necessary that they do so. And you have done XV294 proud.

[tonyot]

26 minutes ago, Farmerboy said:

Wonderful, used to see lots of these over us on the farm, used us as a land mark to drop you guys onto the ‘German village’ on Salisbury plain, I might have seen you floating down! Fantastic model, good job!

Thanks mate,..... oh you mean Imber Village,..... yeah most probably,.....jumped around there a lot in the 80`s,...... just glad it wasn`t your farm where we landed by accident at night and one of the lads went through the barn roof! I landed in the farm yard and was covered in cow silage,..... poor farmer thought we were burglars!!   

Edited September 25, 2020 by tonyot

[tonyot]

11 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Wow, what a build!!👍

Thanks Graham,..... I certainly made it hard for myself,..... just in time fo Zvesda to release a brand new kit!! 

 

6 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

I have never understood why anyone would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but there have been times when it was necessary that they do so. And you have done XV294 proud.

Well it was a job! Part of it was probably because I was too thick to fly an aeroplane but stupid enough to jump out of one and it was the only way I could go military flying I suppose,....... but it was always something I wanted to do since being a lad,...... and watching a Bridge Too Far as a seven year old when it was released and meeting all the local Anhem veterans afterwards probably had something to do with it too,....... what remarkable men they were. ...... and I wanted to carry on their traditions. 

Glad you like the model mate,.... cheers. 

[Epeeman]

Hello again, Tony -

 

I was not aware you were an ex para, mate so that was very interesting to hear.

 

Your work just seems to get better and better and this is no exception - excellent conversion work - I would never have guessed had you not said .................  

 

Super result, well done

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

[TimB]

That is a very very nice Herc.  The finish and weathering are just right, by my memory.  A build to be proud of.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Terry1954]

Very nice Herc Tony. Brings back some memories of a good few hours in the back as a lad. Mind you, I'm that old, the ones I few in were Dark Earth, Mid Stone and black!

 

Terry

[phildagreek]

That is very smart! It’s nice to see someone build something they have a connection with.

[tonyot]

41 minutes ago, Epeeman said:

Hello again, Tony -

 

I was not aware you were an ex para, mate so that was very interesting to hear.

 

Your work just seems to get better and better and this is no exception - excellent conversion work - I would never have guessed had you not said .................  

 

Super result, well done

 

Regards

 

Dave

 

 

Thanks Dave,..... I wasn`t Parachute Regiment,....... but I was a para trained RAMC medic, same P Company selection course etc and was attached to all three regular Para battalions and 2 TA,..... I even joined 4 Para when I left the Army, but not for long as I was carrying a pretty bad injury. This conversion took quite a bit of elbow grease as the resin plugs are a poor fit, and it is nice of you to say that you cannot tell,..... you can see from some angles if you look closely, but then the real C.3`s were a bit like that too LOL!  

[tonyot]

35 minutes ago, TimB said:

That is a very very nice Herc.  The finish and weathering are just right, by my memory.  A build to be proud of.

 

Regards

 

Tim

Cheers Tim,.... nice of you to say so,...... I tried to make it look rather sooty around the rear fuselage as I remember that clearly because we used to write in it with our fingers like big kids,.... and play pranks! 

 

20 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Very nice Herc Tony. Brings back some memories of a good few hours in the back as a lad. Mind you, I'm that old, the ones I few in were Dark Earth, Mid Stone and black!

 

Terry

  Haha,.... thanks Terry,..... yeah showing your age there bud,....... I feel old about flying in the ones with the grey undersides!! I have a Mid Stone, Dark Earth and black one planned soon,...... lovely scheme,..... maybe for the forthcoming Zvesda kit?

 

9 minutes ago, phildagreek said:

That is very smart! It’s nice to see someone build something they have a connection with.

Thanks mate,...... yeah it has made it extra special to work on too. 

[SAT69]

Beautifully completed conversion and excellent paint work. A most impressive build!

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Great looking model Tony, and I loved all the photos and anecdotes that came out of your build thread.

[Terry1954]

31 minutes ago, tonyot said:

I have a Mid Stone, Dark Earth and black one planned soon,...... lovely scheme,..... maybe for the forthcoming Zvesda kit?

 

 

Now that would be quite something. I'm considering that new Zvesda myself when it eventually surfaces. In 1/72, I normally stick with fighter/smaller types, and use 1/144 for the bigger ones, but a new tool Herc in 1/72 is VERY tempting!

 

Terry

[DaveH]

Looks very nice indeed...... very clean looking.... I think 294 belonged to B line (servicing sqdn), if so, I may have watched you jump out....

Good job..

 

DaveH

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, SAT69 said:

Beautifully completed conversion and excellent paint work. A most impressive build!

Thanks mate. 

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, ColinChipmunkfan said:

Great looking model Tony, and I loved all the photos and anecdotes that came out of your build thread.

Thanks Colin,..... yeah there were some great stories. ...... the Herk played a massive part in the lives of many people in the British Armed Forces,..... not to mention worldwide. 

[tonyot]

35 minutes ago, DaveH said:

Looks very nice indeed...... very clean looking.... I think 294 belonged to B line (servicing sqdn), if so, I may have watched you jump out....

Good job..

 

DaveH

Thanks Dave,..... I didn`t realise that the individual aircraft even belonged to a particular servicing sqn,.... so thanks for that. We used to watch you all working in the hangar opposite the Rubb Hangar before we emplaned. I didn`t want to dirty it up too much apart from a bit of soot on the rear fuselage and some odd panels , although I was tempted to reproduce some black and nasty tape around the seals of the rear door!  Just wait until I do a short fuselage one in the grey underside scheme,..... now that will be faded to hell and propper grotty!

We all used to laugh at XV222,....it always looked knackered,...... with saggy wings and a faded early 80`s scheme,...... it was always breaking down,..... we had a cracked windscreen which caused an enforced stop over in France and others had similar incidents,..... we all thought it was jinxed!! I was amazed to see it wearing a fresh new wrap around scheme in the 90`s and it must have got enough hours for the re spar too because the wings looked straight,....... and I believe it is still flying abroad,..... amazing! Was it known as a jinx kite by you lads too? 

Cheers

           Tony

[DaveH]

All I'll say is 222 belonged to A line.... all hercs at Lynham were split between 2 servicing Sqdn, surprisingly A & B line. B line had the 3 tankers, and we also looked after 'Snoopy' , the weather Herc....lots of good memories..... I think..😁😁😁😎

Edited September 25, 2020 by DaveH

[tonyot]

22 minutes ago, DaveH said:

All I'll say is 222 belonged to A line.... all hercs at Lynham were split between 2 servicing Sqdn, surprisingly A & B line. B line had the 3 tankers, and we also looked after 'Snoopy' , the weather Herc....lots of good memories..... I think..😁😁😁😎

Fair enough,.... say no more!! I used to see Snoopy a lot flying from Farnborough a we were right next door in Aldershot,..... plus it was often on the pan at Lyneham too. Still hard to believe that Lyneham has closed as an RAF station,..... it was one of those places that was so important you thought it would always be there!  All that graft and hard work,.... what was it for eh? 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Tony: magnificent work.  You've got a helluva big "cabinet" to put this baby in, though!  What's the fuselage length?  22"?  It would be ON TOP of my display case, rather than inside.  Mind you, my case is big enough to fit two C-130K C.1Ps side-by-side.

[tonyot]

47 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Tony: magnificent work.  You've got a helluva big "cabinet" to put this baby in, though!  What's the fuselage length?  22"?  It would be ON TOP of my display case, rather than inside.  Mind you, my case is big enough to fit two C-130K C.1Ps side-by-side.

Thanks mate,..... yeah I`ve got a pretty big purpose built cabinet but I struggle to find room for a 1/72nd scale Hurricane these days,...... so I need to move something out and I cannot make my mind up! I`ve just run out of room! I`ve got a couple of C.1`s planned,...... a light stone/de/ black one and an early 80`s grey and green one,........ plus a J model,..... but where to put them eh?

Cheers bud,

                   Tony