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US Coast Guard HC-130H, 1/72 Zvezda


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This is a catch-up build thread.  I started the model in January of 2021.  Did some work, but then it got back-burnered while I focused on building a baker’s dozen of colorful 1/72 WW1 fighters.   But I’ve now made finishing this build my top priority…. I figure the need to keep a build thread fed will me keep moving the project along.  

 

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I’m going to do mine in USCG markings, to add to my growing collection of USCG subjects in 1/72.  After looking at a lot of photos, I decided I am doing the US Coast Guard “1790”.   This plane was serialled “1790” to commemorate the year Coast Guard was established.  It entered service in 1994, was retired in 2018, and is now on display at Naval Air Museum at Barbers Point, Hawaii. The plane replaced HC-130 “1600” that had crashed in bad weather on Attu island in 1992, with the loss of two of the crew.  (Flying in bad weather in the Aleutians is still a dangerous business!)

There are two USCG-unique items I need to make for the model. The first was the custom fuselage insert with the oversize search window- that’s done.  The other is the grey dome under the nose- that’s an IR night vision system.  Haven’t decided how I’ll make that….

 

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This will be an OOB build, except for the mods needed to make it a USCG plane.    The kit includes markings and optional parts to do five different aircraft-USAF, Poland, Japan, S. Korea, and RAF.   It is a good idea to go through the instructions and cross out the parts you won’t be using, to avoid any mixups later!

 

Construction starts in the cockpit.   The kit includes three nice figures- the first ones I’ve seen that more accurately reflect what many senior aircraft commanders look like— “hair challenged”. 😁

 

Decals busy-up the various consoles.  I figure not that much will be visible in the  end, so there’s no point in super-detailing it.

 

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Edited by RC Boater Bill
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Good start and a great looking scheme, as for the undernose FLIR turret i used one from the Airfix Nimrod for a similar installation on an AC-130. Hopefully someone will have a spare turret if they have made an earlier version of Nimrod.

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The kit includes inserts for the forward lower fuselage.  Some planes have a round window and a door, while others just have two round windows.  The USCG version has a modification where the “door-or-little window” spot is replaced by a large rectangular window, for better visibility when on a SAR mission.

 

Using some sheet styrene scraps, I found that the depth of the insert piece was .030 inches.  Making a rectangle of sheet styrene would be easy, but how to make the windows?  

 

After considering lots of options, I decided to laminate some thinner sheets.  I drew the simple shapes on my PC, then used my Cameo4 to cut them out.  The  inside piece was white .015 sheet, with the window cutouts. The middle piece is a full-size rectangle of .005 clear, and the outside was a piece of .010 white styrene with the same cutouts.  By using the cutting machine, each of the pieces came out the exact same size, and the window cutouts in the inner and outer layers lined up perfectly.  (Bonus: I used the same file to cut perfect masks for the windows.)

 

I found a container in my box of little packaging leftovers I use for glue pots and the like that was an almost perfect match for the fuselage radius.  Here’s a shot of the 3-ply “sandwich” after I applied the glue.  ( I used the thicker Testor’s liquid glue, so it wouldn’t run into the clear window parts.)

 

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Edited by RC Boater Bill
fixed old typos, added new ones
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The FLIR  turret under the nose can be modified from one of the Hasegawa weapons sets that comes with a Lantirn  pod. 

I used one on a RN Sea King build, really easy to modify. I think its set 12 - X72 ?

 

P1050074

 

 

P1050073

 

 

 

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Very interesting "Amerikanskiye Transportnie Samoliet" (whatever that is) you've got there, Bill.  Looks like an American transport plane to me.  🙂

 

I'm intrigued by your modification techniques.  I'm guessing the Zvezda C-130 stacks up favourably compared to other 1/72 kits or you'd've chosen a different starting point?

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Seems the best at the moment, from everything I've read on here and which has been recommended to me.

I have about 6500hrs in the UK version, so looking for a good representation,  this comes with very good reviews.

Looking forward to a USCG version, in particular to see the painting/masking work. Good luck @Dads203

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22 hours ago, RC Boater Bill said:

Construction starts in the cockpit.   The kit includes three nice figures- the first ones I’ve seen that more accurately reflect what many senior aircraft commanders look like— “hair challenged”. 😁

Hey, I resent that!🤣

It comes from years of wearing a helmet, it means experience!🤣

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15 hours ago, Dads203 said:

The FLIR  turret under the nose can be modified from one of the Hasegawa weapons sets that comes with a Lantirn  pod. 

I used one on a RN Sea King build, really easy to modify. I think its set 12 - X72 ?

 

P1050074

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant!

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16 hours ago, Dads203 said:

The FLIR  turret under the nose can be modified from one of the Hasegawa weapons sets that comes with a Lantirn  pod. 

I used one on a RN Sea King build, really easy to modify. I think its set 12 - X72 ?

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip!    I think I found the LANTIRN pod here:

Hasegawa 35012 US Aircraft Weapons VII 1/72 Scale Special Bombs & LANTIRN Pods

 

I ordered one, it is on the way.  It has three of the pods I want in it, so I’m sure I’ll use the other two eventually….

 

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On 1/30/2022 at 3:00 AM, Jackson Duvalier said:

Very interesting "Amerikanskiye Transportnie Samoliet" (whatever that is) you've got there, Bill.  Looks like an American transport plane to me.  🙂

 

I'm intrigued by your modification techniques.  I'm guessing the Zvezda C-130 stacks up favourably compared to other 1/72 kits or you'd've chosen a different starting point?

The box translates it as “American Heavy Transport Plane”.

 

The Zvezda kit is a new tool kit from late 2020.  It got great reviews, and is said to have addressed a number of inaccuracies in the Italeri C-130B/H kit, which I understand originally appeared in 1994.  

 

I am very happy with the kit — the only fit issues were due to  builder error.   

Edited by RC Boater Bill
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Let’s talk “builder error” some more….


A few weeks ago, while waiting for the wings to dry, I was looking for something I could to move this C-130 project along. I decided to assemble the nacelles.  I got into a rhythm-  assemble and brush paint four exhaust ducts, and four engine intakes.  I cut  the nacelles off the runners, and cleaned up the nubs, then glued the intake parts in the right half of each of the four nacelles, then glued and clamped them, and left them to dry overnight.

 

The next night, I went to glue them to the wings, and the first one fit perfectly, while the other three didn’t quite fit. The fairings on the nacelles were too long or too short on one side of each of the remaining three.

 

Here’s where I went wrong- I was in the mode of mass producing the completed engine nacelles, I totally missed that they aren’t all the same.  There are three slightly different nacelles- inboard engine ( same both sides), left outboard, and right outboard. (To account for the wing taper.). I had just randomly assembled each set by taking any left and right side and gluing them together.  By dumb luck, I got one pairing correct.

 

Fortunately, it was a minor error, fixed with a little sanding/trimming and some putty.  

 

Something to look out for….!

Edited by RC Boater Bill
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21 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

'm guessing the Zvezda C-130 stacks up favourably compared to other 1/72 kits or you'd've chosen a different starting point?

 

If you're serious about C-130s, it's the only 1/72 Hercules worth building. Both the Italeri and Airfix versions have major shape problems (as does the Italeri 1/48th). There was a discussion running on BM about how to fix the issues (for a given value of 'fix') of the Airfix kit (iirc) - it may be worth searching out if you have one of the older kits and want to improve it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is cold in my basement workshop, so I haven’t spent a lot of time there so far this month.  I have worked on painting the props.  The USCG uses unique markings  on the tips-  white-red-white.  

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The kit doesn’t include decals to do this, so I am masking and painting it all-  four blades per prop, 2 sides per blade, 32 surfaces total- and 4 colors, too!

 

My process for painting the tips:

- white primer

- Tamiya flat white XF-2 on the tips.  

- mask all 16 tips front and back, then airbrush Tamiya XF-3 flat red center stripes.  Remove the masks and inspect.

- mask the tips and paint the blades light gray.

- mask the gray, paint the inner end of the blades and the spinners black.

 

An in-progress shot:

White already done, painting the red:

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On 29/01/2022 at 20:58, RC Boater Bill said:

I’m going to do mine in USCG markings, to add to my growing collection of USCG subjects in 1/72.  After looking at a lot of photos, I decided I am doing the US Coast Guard “1790”.   This plane was serialled “1790” to commemorate the year Coast Guard was established.  It entered service in 1994, was retired in 2018, and is now on display at Naval Air Museum at Barbers Point, Hawaii. The plane replaced HC-130 “1600” that had crashed in bad weather on Attu island in 1992, with the loss of two of the crew.  (Flying in bad weather in the Aleutians is still a dangerous business!)

There are two USCG-unique items I need to make for the model. The first was the custom fuselage insert with the oversize search window- that’s done.  The other is the grey dome under the nose- that’s an IR night vision system.  Haven’t decided how I’ll make that….

 

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don't forget to add the sonobuy launchers block to the rear door and move the large viewing window into right place

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Thanks- I didn’t know that.   Thanks for posting that picture!

 

The doors are already glued in place (closed), so I’ll have to sort out what to do.

Some options I’ve thought of (so far):

 

1.  Just forget about it. I don’t display my models upside down, so their absence wouldn’t be very obvious.

2.  I could make some masks and simulate both details with paint.

3.  I could drill out the window and fill it with PVA window maker.

4.  For the launchers, I could drill little dimples, then plug them with little styrene disks made using my punch set. (They look to be about 2/3 the diameter of the window?)

5. I could do a similar dimple thing for the window. drill the dimple, paint it black, the set a disk of clear styrene in it.

 

Option 1 is the easiest, but where’s the fun/challenge in that?  So I’m thinking I can at least do something better for the window…

 

I’m a bit unsure about drilling for the 10 launchers - it will be tricky to get that right, given that the part is already installed.  (If it was loose, I could make a jig for the drill press to get the holes aligned.)

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  • 2 months later...

After almost two months went by, with no progress whatsoever- it was too cold in my basement shop to paint.   But we finally got a warm dry day, so I was able to get outside and apply a coat of Tamiya white primer on it.  (It is too big to paint in my spray booth!)

 

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The first coat focused on the bottom- today I did a second coat for the top….

Edited by RC Boater Bill
Fixed old typos, added new ones
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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally had another day that was both warm and calm enough outside to finish applying the White Tamiya primer.   Since then, I have been applying light coats of Tamiya XF-2 flat white, doing parts of the airframe at a time.   I’m nearly there- just need another coat on the underside of the fuselage….

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Despite the lack of updates, I am still working on this when I have some free time.  (I did finish two major bathroom renovations, though!)

 

Three times now, I have gone to the bench with the intention of starting to mask and paint the trim colors- and each time, I’ve found another flaw or missed spot that required a bit of sanding a another coat of Tamiya flat white.   I hope I have hit the last of those today……

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