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L-100-20 Hercules - TAAG Angola Airlines


zebra

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My first build will be an L-100-20 Hercules in the colours of TAAG Angola Airlines in 1/144. I'll be using the Minicraft kit with a Welsh Models fuselage. I'll photograph it before I start but for now here's a link to a photo of the real thing: https://aviation-safety.net/photo/292/Lockheed-L-100-20-Hercules-D2-THA

 

Can't wait to get started!

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Thanks everyone. Going to make a start later today.

 

@modelling minion definitely going for colourful with this one.

 

I’ve had a slight obsession with this colour scheme since I was a kid - I had a book with a photo of a TAAG 737 in it and saw a Herk in this scheme in the distance at Genoa when a flight home from a holiday made a fuel stop there. Wish I’d had a camera and a long lens that day! I might just get another build in this scheme done - an Il-62 - if I have time.

 

@mitchem I love your 777, if my Herk looks half as good I’ll be very happy.

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Off we go then. First up, here's what I'm working with:

 

1:144 L-100-20

 

Here we have the Minicraft kit providing wings and all the smaller parts, Welsh Models providing the vacform fuselage and resin tail group, Armory wheels and Braz engine nacelles. 

 

The Minicraft parts are covered in trench-like panel lines which would look ridiculous in 1/32 let alone 1/144, and will obviously contrast starkly with the Welsh Models parts, so they're going to have to be filled in. Which I can do at the same time as I fill in the long and prominent sink marks in the upper surfaces of the wings. The wings are also warped. Glad this was a cheap second hand purchase and didn't pay the $70 or so they go for new!

 

Meanwhile the vacform fuselage is designed so that the wings can be added as a single piece sitting on top of the fuselage, rather than butting each wing up against it, which makes some sense and will probably help get a good strong structure. Unfortunately whilst the Minicraft wings are designed to join in the middle, they still slot into the fuselage, so they won't be faired over at the top unless I cut the fairing off the Minicraft fuselage and graft it on.

 

This isn't going to be a straightforward build.

 

I've started off by cutting out the fuselage halves, removing the warp from the wings, and filling the sink marks (which you can't see very clearly as it's white PPP on white plastic):

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

I think getting to a point where I can dry-fit the basic airframe parts is probably going to be a good next step.

 

cheers

Julian

 

 

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Got the fuselage together already. I've put a fair bit of weight in the nose to offset the weight of the resin bits that are going at the other end. Also added the wheel wells from the Minicraft kit. The fuselage halves went together quite well, the radome is a little longer on one side than the other but apart from that the two halves lined up quite nicely. 

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

I've also filled in the panel lines on the wings - need to think about how much of this is getting rescribed. I tend to think less is more in this scale.

 

thanks for looking

Julian

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2 minutes ago, Col. said:

Nice start Julian. You're flying along already :)

Thanks - I'm surprised I've got this far already. I'm going to put a bit of work into cleaning up the fuselage next, after that it'll be time to attach the wings and tailplanes, which is where it will really start to get tricky.

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4 hours ago, SoftScience said:

Does the fuselage need any interior framing to keep it from caving in? 

 

I've never built a vac form kit, but I always assumed the parts to be fragile and easy to crack or bend.

Strengthening the structure is pretty important with a vacform kit. There are a couple of bulkheads in there and the way I’ve added weight to the nose seems to be helping create a fairly strong structure in the front half. The back end feels like it’ll need some help to keep its shape. Normally I’d have done that before closing it up but in this case I need to open up the section where the wing will sit and when I do that I’m going to build up something inside the fuselage to help support the wing. Which might just be a big lump of milliput!

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Today I've done a bit of work on the seams, added the engines to the wings, and opened up the space for the wing and added some reinforcing strips from bits of spare plastic from the vacform parts:

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

Wing attachment next. Lots of dry-fitting ahead of me I think.

 

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37 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

I'll be interested to see how you attach those wings

 

The tentative plan is to use some brass rod to connect the wings so that I effectively have a one-piece wing sitting on top of the fuselage. I'll then cut the top of the fairing off the Minicraft kit and test fit that over the wing, which will give me a good sense of how high the wing needs to sit. Then I'll build up some support underneath it all using scrap plastic before applying a heck of a lot of CA glue. Fingers crossed.

 

40 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

wing panels are a necessary evil in 1:1 scale, and (IMO) in modelling scales should be discrete

I think the panel lines on these wings might actually be 1:1 scale

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My main modelling job this weekend was grafting the wing fairing from the Minicraft kit onto the fuselage. The plan changed slightly - the design of the Minicraft kit made it more sensible to cut out and graft on the whole wing root, giving me the slots to attach the wings to. So I had to remove a bit more material from the vacform fuselage than originally planned. This all took quite a while - it did occur to me during all of this that an easier route to an L-100-20 would have been to start with a C-130H-30 and shorten it - but it's on. Some cleaning up of joints will certainly be needed - it's currently in the garage with a coat of primer drying, which should show up all the blemishes - but I'm pretty happy with where I've got it to. Here's how it's looking:

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

A bonus is that it's added a fair bit of rigidity to the fuselage. It's not going to have any trouble taking the weight of the wings. Speaking of which, I couldn't resist a test fit:

 

1:144 L-100-20

 

They seem to be on straight, and pretty symmetrical, just a slight nose-down angle, which I can live with.

 

thanks for looking

Julian

 

 

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Finished cleaning up all the fuselage joins today. Also decided to fill in the windows - the Minicraft kit comes with decals for them, so will use those.

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

On to the tail - butt joined with a couple of pins to strengthen it. Wings are dry-fitted to aid alignment of the tail parts:

 

1:144 L-100-20

 

Obviously the next job will be a bit of fill, prime, repeat on the tail parts, but should be comparatively straightforward. Then on to the fin.

 

cheers

Julian

 

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Joints cleaned up and fin on. All fairly straightforward. However I don't like the vac formed front bit of the fin fillet - it lacks definition and it's wider than the resin fin, to the extent that I wonder whether the plastic would have actually been thin enough to sand it to fit. So off it came, and I've filled the gap with a bit of spare plastic from the vac form sheet, and blended it into the fuselage. Next step will be to reinstate the fillet - plan A is to graft on the part from the Minicraft kit, if that doesn't work out I suppose plan B is to make my own.

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

thanks for looking

Julian

 

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On 3/7/2021 at 10:13 AM, zebra said:

Also decided to fill in the windows - the Minicraft kit comes with decals for them, so will use those

 

Cracking cut and shut job but I have to ask, what's the plan with the TAAG markings?

 

mike

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On 3/9/2021 at 7:17 AM, mitchem said:

 

Cracking cut and shut job but I have to ask, what's the plan with the TAAG markings?

 

mike

Thanks Mike. The plan is to mask and paint most of it and I’ve got custom-printed decals for registrations and logos. The masking will be a bit challenging but I have a plan!

 

Minicraft fin fillet went on ok with a bit of adjustment and wings are now on. Not photographed it yet but will do once I’ve blended everything in with a bit of filler.

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3 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I have to say that you are a braver man than me Julian for tackling a job like this. The result is very impressive already and is going to look fantastic.

Thanks Craig - I definitely think there might have been a better way to get to an L-100-20, but I’ve started and I’m determined to finish.

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Onto the painting - first a coat of Boeing grey, which looks close enough to the grey in the photos:

 

1:144 L-100-20 WIP

 

I've also masked off the grey bits and painted the white, but it's in the garage drying so I'll photograph it tomorrow.

 

cheers

Julian

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