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


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I did a test- masking and painting the fin and top side of the stabilizer.   My current favorite for USCG airfcraft  red-orange is the old Pollyscale Railroad color “Santa Fe Scarlet”.   ( I have about half of a large bottle left, don’t know what I’ll do once that is gone! )

 

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The masking held up well, only had a couple of tiny spots where the paint seeped under the tape.  (In a panel line- it will be easy to fix.)

 

I now have to solve the issue of how to mask the big stripes on the front of the fuselage.  You can’t just put tape at the right spot and run it at the correct angle-  the place where the left and right side stripes meet at the top of the fuselage is not a point- it is a smooth flowing curve.   The stripes follow an oval path- the easiest way to visualize it is to take a tube or dowel and cut it at a 60 degree angle. From the side, it looks sharp, but from above it is curved.

 

I tried masking it freehand, and quickly realized I’d never get it symmetrical.   So now I’m playing around with my Cameo4 cutter- to see if I can get one fuselage side correct- I can then reverse the image and make a symmetrical mask.  We’ll see how that goes….!

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

The project has been on the back burner, while I’ve worked on some Group build subjects.   But I have made a little progress on the Herc- masking and painting the trim colors.   The challenging one still remains- the CG stripe on the forward fuselage.   I’m still avoiding it while doing some of the easier bits…. but I will have to buckle down and take care of it soon!

 

It still doesn’t fit in my spray booth!
 

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I finally had a couple of hours to spend masking and painting the first diagonal stripe.   After I had it symmetrical, I then masked off the rest of the airframe.   I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t cut any corners when spraying orange on a white plane- the overspray will find any gaps in the protection!   


I find the easiest way to mask a big plane is to put it in a plastic bag and seal up the opening….

 

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After it dried for about 40 min, I removed the masking.  It came out pretty good- there’s just one spot that may need a little touchup…

 

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Not looking forward to the thin blue stripe-  that will have to be perfectly parallel to look right!   ( I’m going to let the red-orange cure for several days first.) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

spacer.png Feeling like quite the dummy……..

One step forward, two steps backwards…….!

 

Masked and painted the fuselage part of the light gray top. This should have been the last major masking/painting session!

 

Held the fuselage a little too long under my halogen drying lamp, and melted the fuselage seam, just aft of the cockpit bulkhead.  

 

Going to have to figure out how to fix it…..  I might try some putty, then a rectangle  of .010 styrene to simulate a panel.  While not a perfect fix,  it would help minimize a lot of tedious filling/ sanding/ priming/ painting again…..

 

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After such a hard painting work, That's so sad....

Self inflicted backward steps...:wall::wall:

But I used to it....

Excellent job on the Herc !!

I'm sure that you'll find a way to fix it...

Sincerely.

CC

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  • 3 weeks later...

Made a first pass at repaired the damage with some white (fine) Milliput.  It went down well, set up nicely, and looked pretty good.  It needs some more sanding/ blending, but I think it will come out OK….

 

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  • 1 month later...

Spent the last 7 weeks mostly working on other builds,  with some C-130 repair work mixed in.  After multiple rounds of filling, sanding, priming, I finally repainted the area.  Tonight, when I unmasked it, I found my latest gaffe:    I painted the fuselage band a different shade of gray than the wing!    I originally did them in two sessions, wing first, then masked and painted the fuselage (the first time) a week or two later.   Apparently, I grabbed the wrong bottle of gray at that point.  

 

I couldn’t find any clear answer as to what exact shade of gray was really used- some photos look like it was the color I used on the wings, while others look more like the fuselage gray.   ( But they all agree it should be the same color throughout!). 

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So I need to mask and repaint one or the other.  Repainting the wing will be easier to mask, but I think the lighter color used on the wing may be closer to the right color.

 

Looks like the project is on hold again for a bit…..   ( It is not going on the Shelf of Doom, but it will be in sight of it!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I masked and repainted the fuselage with what I thought was the right color, but it didn’t match once dry.   Apparently, I used some rare shade of gray the first time, as none of my 57 bottles of gray I have seem to match.   ( I guess I used the last of “Unicorn horn gray” - good luck trying to find another bottle of that!)

 

So, I have resigned myself to repainting the wing as well……

 

2 steps forward, one step back…..

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… and the wing is now (re-)painted.  Both the lengthwise and span-wise bands are now the same color!   Hooray!   


Next up: masking and painting the black exhaust zones under the wing behind the nacelles….

 

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( I save the bags the sprues come in to use when masking like this.  I find that even the tiniest speck of overspray stands out on a white airframe, so I take no chances!)

 

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Edited by RC Boater Bill
Added better photo
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  • 4 weeks later...

The model has been on the back burner again, but did put down a coat of Future to prep it for decalling last weekend.  I have a copy of the Italeri decal sheet from their USCG HC-130J kit, but a lot of them aren’t applicable for my build.  ( I do have a lot of assorted USCG decals in my collection.)

 

It turns out I don’t have the proper-sized USCG letters for the top of the wing.  So I made a mask on my Cameo4 cutting machine and just painted them today- I am very happy with how it turned out!  (Making one large mask ensured the letters were evenly spaced and aligned properly.)

 

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EDIT:  Tonight I discovered that the USCG lettering under the wing was a bit too tight for the decal I was planning on using there. (It is a little smaller, and has to fit between the   nacelle and the start of the orange trim.).   It was easy to re-draw the mask to fit, and cut a new one.  It came out great!

 

Edited by RC Boater Bill
Masks are better than decals!
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Closing on the finish line….

 

Decalling is nearly complete.  After that comes attaching a few final parts, and then the final clear coat.  I was hoping to have it finished in time for tomorrow night’s club meeting, but I don’t think it will be.   I have already made way too many mistakes on this one along the way- really don’t need to make any more by rushing to finish it!

 

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This is the tough part because at this stage the model has gotten tricky to handle, its so close to being done that you can taste it...but all the fiddly bits are left to go.

 

My A3D is in exactly the same place right now.

 

-d-

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14 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Alaska Airlines flew the L-100 civilian version

Yes, and so did Delta.  Decals are available for both airlines, and they are attractive schemes.  You just need to make some minor modifications, but I'm pretty sure the fuselage length is exactly the same.  Others flew later, stretched versions of the Herc.  Sorry for the thread hijack!

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5 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Yes, and so did Delta.  Decals are available for both airlines, and they are attractive schemes.  You just need to make some minor modifications, but I'm pretty sure the fuselage length is exactly the same.  Others flew later, stretched versions of the Herc.  Sorry for the thread hijack!

FWIW, Some of the parts in the Zvezda kit indicate a longer fuselage version is in the works.   

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