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C-130H Hercules. Turning Japanese.


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Hello everyone.                            401th Tactical Airlift Squadron - Komaki Airbase 2020.

 

With my other project progressing to the finishing line it’s time to start thinking about the next subject. Having come back from S.M.W. 2022 I now feel I’m in a better place, my head feeling more planted for the future modelling days. For a little while I’m going to juggling two models in a bid to maximise productivity.  💯spacer.png

 

Thanks for looking.       😉

 

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Hello everyone.                                 Pre-script thoughts.

 

Back sometime around 1986 I made a model of a Herc in RAF wrap around colours and did it ‘stretch’ too, which must have been pushing my 16 yr old modelling skills somewhat. And well, I’ve wanted to do something fresh since, but old kits tend not to cross my modelling bench. Usually for good reason.

 

THE B.M RUMOURMONGER. How we as modellers ‘come by’ our chosen subject is as varied as there are variations of cheeses. This model started with an article in Airforces magazine ( see photo of saved page. ) I must have been out to lunch when in ‘ The Rumourmonger’ news of Zveda’ s new Herc broke, because in the blink of an eye there were 12 page’s of B.M conversion. And by the time my modelling thoughts had caught up with the subject it was 17 pages. My problem was simple, I was thinking RAF ‘stretched Herc’ and was far too focused on -30’s , more to the point my Air Cadet Sqn was 70Sqn, happy days. 😛  I mention the 17 pages simply because I didn’t know what was in the Zveda box……..

 

THE ZVEDA KIT.  A brief description - this short version is all new with engraved panel lines and an interior topped off with decals for 5 A/C.  “The Curates Egg” best describes this kit, the exterior is a little too bland and the interior won’t be seen. Well, this is no Great Wall Hobbies awesomeness, the exterior lacks almost all panels fasteners and such things as piano hinges, fluid drains and aerial’s. Then there’s the interior, seen through the windscreen I don’t think a vast lot will be seen, the crew entrance forms the cockpit and is really welcome. But aft of the rear cockpit bulkhead little will be seen. The cargo bay is detailed but I think you’d have to be a very determined modeller to see much through the rear cargo ramp. A rather good selection of colour schemes have been supplied and all are right up my street for various reasons. 🤩. This kit is squarely aimed everything for everyone at a reasonable price.

 

It’s a chance I took, Wolfpack, bought on the premise that being JASDF it should be just as viable for the Zveda kit as it is designed for the Italeri kit. Expensive is an understatement and hard to come by now.  This is a multi media kit - resin - etched metal - decals. Madness in the logic and logic in the madness…….

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Adding to my work load is always a given, I’ve read about people saying that these Brengun flaps fit but I’ve never seen anyone finish them. The kit wheels are very basic and really need replacing. ResKit exhaust’s, something that had I thought about them carefully I wouldn’t have bought them. Why? Bottom of the plane syndrome, in all probability won’t be seen when fitted. Also of note is the new world order of things being imported into the U.K in limited numbers.

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I’ve really got ahead of myself with this lot. Eduard do lots of detail sets but I’m just not sure they hit the mark. The interior set is very nicely done ( cockpit )but I don’t think it’s going to lift the cockpit to another level, and the exterior set is far to small to lift that blank canvas up several notches. Metallic Detail’s are again going to be a limited U.K import, and have taken a completely different approach to Eduard. The big set is a complete U/C replacement, but, this set has fallen at the first hurdle. I just don’t think any of it will be seen and the work load to benefit is far too low. On the other hand the little detail set for the exterior really is good 😋 , leaving me to wonder why Eduard didn’t do these details?

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As I didn’t know that the Zveda kit came with the scheme I needed……. DRAW Decals were ordered. These are definitely for the Italeri kit, whilst they look complete they don’t come with walkways, I don’t think I’ve ever used silk screen printed decals before, and so having them to cut out every decal accurately and reducing the clear decal to a minimum will be interesting. Of note DRAW’s paint mixing suggestions.

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The Zveda decals are a little bit more of a hindrance than a help , whilst a choice of five colour schemes is good, it’s attention to details that matter for me, the kits stencils are really just for the U.S  aircraft, the Wolfpack decals really shows where I should be heading. The Saudi Herc is thrown in just for giggles, this grey paint scheme is seldom seen I’d love to see it at Warton…….

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This photo shows what I working towards. As always the model starts at the end , photos like this are inspirational, this particular photo shows a plethora of stencils and details I’ve got to create. Some time ago I reached out for some help and my helping email gave me the advice that these Hercules were the same colours as the Kawasaki C2’s and these paints were correct. Whilst the Gunzi lids look ‘ish’ my initial impression was that Russian Sukhoi Su-27 colours were a better route to take. This will be my third model in a row to have the paint colours mixed and matched, not complaining , just know how costly it could get. 

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Now then, here’s where I’m heading, this colour scheme should be fantastic when done and that’s what this model is going to be all about.  Thus it’s all about the exterior, I’ll be lifting it up a couple of notches, the resin flaps are about as far as I want to go. Being dropped is the cargo bay, I don’t want to do that level of research nor super detailing. Whilst I have bought a lot of work load I’ll be only adding what I think is necessary.    :pilot:

 

Thanks for looking.

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Hello everyone.                  Time to crack on - starting with the flaps.

 

 

This model in all probability started about 12 months ago, but how it’s got the go ahead is more of a recent resurgence.

 

For sometime my modelling modus operandi has been all at sea, a mixture of Covid conditions and my own choices of model’s mixing into some negative vibes. I really wanted to be in the Scale Model World competition this year but it simply was not to be ( I came to terms with my choice and have been very much at ease with this.) What I did get to do was judge several of the aircraft classes, and two of the models I had to scrutinise have given me “some perspective “ . For this modeller my modelling year run’s November t’ November, so, last year was an averagely-average time………. Caught Covid, broke my index finger, moved back to Warton and live A/C and made just one model ( it is a cracker though.) 

Perspective # 1, I judged a F-117 Nighthawk again this year, and getting to see someone else’s take on the subject was nice. Why? Picking the winning models through deliberations and some judgements can show easily why a model wins. But looking at models that loose and the reasons can be far more difficult. For me though my own take on the F-117 subject has made me feel good, I can now see clearly what I’m about………. And getting my other build over the line feels good.

Perspective #2, I judged a RAF C-130H Hercules this year, and maybe I shouldn’t say anything but I and my other judge friend thought it was sooooo good it got Gold.  Having poured all over it ……. It was just overall green……. But the modulation of the green finish was superb, and a fellow modeller after my own heart, the tail unit was adorned with squadron art. When my other judge used a certain selection of words, my comment was that he see could my style of modelling in this model. And that’s how the sewn seed germinated………

 

Whilst I think I’d been procrastinating over adding lower’d flaps to this model they were never in question, the fact they were bought was enough to secure them in this build. Perspective # 2 ……. travel my own path……. and to add my own artistic intentions………


BRENGUN Flaps. Their  designed to fit the Italeri kit, and I’ve read that they also fit this kit. Usually when detail sets come my way and they say it’s designed for……… usually that means it’s not going to fit as it should. ………and it’s not the first time I’ve used something that simply doesn’t work. 

A good few hours of faffing around to get the feeling came first.

 

Then some chopping, some sections of the inner ribs have been removed, still trying to get an idea for the general arrangements, if I didn’t feel good then nothing was lost.

 

 I marked out the to section of the top wing to be removed and also the bottom wing as well this being the flap area.

 

For me the flap wing box sections simply don’t fit this Zveda kit, both sections are  3mm wrong, something I think I can work with…….

 

This photo shows some work done and some to do.

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This photo shows the inner flap area has been cut short to allow my to move the inner flap box structure to move around and for me to cut to the correct size later on. 
The upper wing shows a lot of work to be done.

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Aligning the flap sections at the kink will involve some re-working of the parts. 

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I’ve now cut to the proper flap cut out, but, just visible is the inner flap box being over size and the out board section being 2mm under size. What I really need is to cut the lower flap area further I/B…….

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The removal of the upper wing sections aren’t clear cut, I marked out the panel lines, but the lower thickness doesn’t match. So I’ve cut to all the lower sections, thinking that too little was best practice. With material removed the wing trailing section removed, this shows I’ve got work to do in thinning the edges for scale thickness and I’ve got to reduce the wing material for the resin to go in.

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This photo shows the ‘inner mold line’ IML in aerospace terminology, and the dog leg that needs to be removed. This whole area has been thinned right down with a curved blade Kraft knife, the whole inner section of resin flap box is very thick and every thou of removal is needed.

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That’s all for now.       😉   ( must try harder to explain and photograph next time.)

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

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Looking forward to seeing how to build this as there’s one on my Christmas list to attempt sometime next year probably (as the RAF option from the kit, but maybe with some aftermarket).
 

Will be good to see how a pro tackles it! Those JASDF colours do look good.

 

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Hello everyone.                       Lots of flapping - then a result .

 

Going to dive straight into the build today, no pre script.

 

After lots of scraping and thinning of the plastic, trial fitting, it’s nearly time to start some assembly of parts. Of note is that I’ve sanded down the area that been scraped, it simply had too many ridges, and the rough coarse finish with help with the bonding.

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Slowly getting it into shape, with the flaps inner structure cut to shape, it’s time to make the flap openings the correct size.

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Small margins, still must be dealt with.

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Bottom of the wing may not be visible in the future, but I’m still going to deal with it.

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The wings have been thinned to 1mm thickness - all very flexible now.

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The resin inner flap resin has been thinned considerably, the back side has had just a smidgen of scraping - don’t go to wild or you’ll be through into the rib’s. The back structure is the rear wing spar, this resin needs thinning right down to the top of the ribs. 

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Progress, the R/H flap structure has now been bonded into place with Araldite, it couldn’t be super glue, too instantaneous, and likely to crack later on. As I’ve said, the wings are very malleable now, something I’ve learned from my previous Airfix Shackleton’s, lift the model by its wing tips and it bends precariously 😬.  To stop hopefully any flexing of the wings they’ve been built up with some sheet plastic.

 

The flaps need a set of actuating jacks making, some 22 gauge locking wire coming in at 0.75mm the Brengun instructions recommended 0.70mm , that’s the flaps fitting the structure nicely.  One other thing is that there’s no close-out to the O/B structure , just visible is plastic rib.

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Nothing like a good photo to work to.  Flaps may need the angle of the actuating jacks adjusted, take some of the angle off.

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My flaps will be set for landing something like 25 degrees where as the photo seems to show 10 degrees for landing. 

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That’s all for now, thanks for looking.          😉

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everyone.                              “madness in the logic and logic in the madness “.

 

 

Having made a update on my primary project yesterday I’m hoping to make a better start to this update. Working to a shift pattern for me has advantages, having been convinced that the shifts sad seven days  ‘back to back on’ , would be ok for me, it was, but it’s just compressed my pre Xmas days somewhat. Whilst the seven days at work went well, but,  when I can’t find time to post (like yesterday) I find things a little frustrating. Not more so than having finished work for the year on Tuesday and only just getting around to the niceties of being a B.M patron last thing last night. Rationalisation of shift work is easier when I think about the benefits of now having 12 days off work. Having a clear pathway for a good few days is upping my morale levels,  finding time for stuff that needs to be done is easy, I’ve never been impressed with the side effects of having a Covid jab, so today has seen me having a booster, I’m hoping not to suffer in the days to come as I have in the past, the previous jabs really hurting my bones for weeks. 🥴

 I generally enjoy the job I do, which you’d naturally expect me to say as I work with live A/C for a living. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been asked to work for another section, some of my skill sets have been much appreciated, as I primarily work with a brand new product for me it’s nice at the moment working with an in service A/C . For other employees cleaning and aircraft maybe a chore but for this modeller getting to see first hand ageing and weathering is fantastic. Stuff like this is beneficial when it comes to weathering and detailing my own models.

 

A simple update today, a built wing. 
 

As the saying goes : madness in the logic and logic in the madness,  that’s what I think it’s probably the best way to describe the glueing of the two wing half’s.

 

Now I don’t want to teach people to suck eggs but nor do I want to be dismissive of my approach to assembling the wing……

 

Araldite and Humbrol liquid polly has been my approach for this job.  Hence the title of this update. 
 

Having to work with two mediums has made me take a ever so different approach, whilst resin needs it’s own glue, the additional Araldite applied elsewhere is not so obvious. I discounted super glue, a quick grab guaranteed , but not so good for wing flexing. And not forgetting my long time peachy (smelling) friend ( well actually more like pear smelling) Humbrol liquid polly, it has a small drawback, from whence it’s applied it’s venting off.

 

So, here’s what I did:  1) the top of the resin flap sections received Araldite.

2) Only the side of the inner rib, a big dollop of Araldite applied, not the contact patch of the rib.

3) The contact patch of the outer rib, Araldite.

 

Once all of the Araldite was on it’s time to work fast, some clothes pegs off the washing line came in handy. Why a big dollop of Araldite on the rib side?? Once the wing bottom was in place the hope is that the runny Araldite would flow downwards to bond the now top and bottom wing surfaces. ( The madness in the logic.)

 

As the outer rib would become un-reachable, any liquid polly would be venting immediately, so slow setting Araldite was used. (The logic in the madness.) 

 

With the wing roughly assembled and clothes pegs in place, out came the liquid polly, first getting zapped was that inner rib, hopefully bonding the plastic faster than slowly moving Araldite. The slowly moving Araldite just an insurance policy. Then it a case of prying the wing mating surfaces enough for the liquid polly brush to apply enough. So, at the end of a frenetic 10 min mad dash, the wing is rock solid.

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Thanks for looking.       🥳    ……… Eggnog 🥴

 

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"My flaps will be set for landing something like 25 degrees where as the photo seems to show 10 degrees for landing. "

 

I can't comment on the degrees for landing, but the Herc flaps were set in percentages.  Although there were limiting speeds for multiples of each 10%, the normal flap settings were 50% for take-off and initial approach, followed by 100% for landing.  I don't believe the second photo is landing, but for take-off.  Just my tuppence worth.  Enjoying the trip down memory lane.

 

jj

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On 12/4/2022 at 9:55 PM, amos brierley said:

My flaps will be set for landing something like 25 degrees where as the photo seems to show 10 degrees for landing. 


Hello everyone.  @jumbojock has rightly pointed out an error in my post, I’ve recently posted some comments about errors that have crept into my posts, whilst I’ll never have the best penmanship for posting, I do like to fairly accurate.  For example yesterday’s post took me just about three hours, read , edited, re-read, though about it and re-read……. As I’m now into my 34th year of aerospace work I can assure everyone that I take my penmanship of ‘work done’ and ‘snag’ description’s are taken very seriously.   The beauty of work is that it’s always best to seek advice from work colleagues - inspectors -  team leaders - even QC’s (quality control.) Where as at home asking for assistance from Mrs B usually comes with a weary comment 🤔.  ( I just don’t know how she does ‘it’ , I try something and my finger won’t work on this iPad and then I ask her and her finger works at treat. A case in point being when I changed the font of yesterday’s font, I just couldn’t get it to return to normal, one question, and that super finger worked a treat.). 😃

 

I’ll try harder, and as always all comments are welcome. 
 

Wishing everyone all the very best for the Xmas festivities.  🥳

 

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Hello everyone.                           Wing completed.   (Wing box section.)

 

 

Straight into this one. Feeling happy with myself.

 

In amongst my past work experiences I worked at Airbus Broughton Chester - the wing centre of excellence, on the ‘flow line’ , fitting out A320 wings. Hence the description ‘wing box section’, Airbus terminology.

 

Today’s update, the right wing has taken me some 15 - 18 hrs to build, a large portion of this time was spent test fitting everything simple because I just didn’t know weather if was doable. 
Knowlege is power as the saying goes. Armed with knowledge, the left hand wing build was cut down to a manageable 4hrs. Whilst I could just say ‘well it’s just copy and paste’ that’s a little too shallow for me. 
This time around I cut right up to the panel lines except the outer edge, I’ve left the outer edges as these were trimmed to suit. Scraping and thinning was carried out at speed this time very little test fitting, but some necessary fettling needed lastly. Having got my eye in with the other wing made this easier.

 

A few deviations were needed though. The first, having thinned the wing trailing edge, bonding the whole of the upper wing would make it a little fragile especially if some handling was needed. So, a steel ruler was tapped to the upper left wing and the centre section, weather for physical support of the parts or psychological in reminding me to be a little cautious. 
The second deviation was once the wing sections were liquid polly glued together and the resin flap sections Araldited in, so too was the wing joint , call it belt and braces approach.

 

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Conclusion, I’m hoping by starting with the (perceived) difficult bit that it’s going to be an easier ride after this. This is really appealing to my sense of achievement, stuff I really like doing. I’m hoping this is the way forward for me , this sense of achievement.

 

As an aside to this build, I thought I’d go a little bit further.  With thoughts of another build I thought I’d give this detail set a test drive as well. Starting with the only instructions………

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The Black Dog parts are on the top, for comparison.

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Really poor quality control. And lots of pour stubs to clean up.

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I can repair some of the damage.

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Starting with the box, the lid is the only instructions, if you know Black Dog this is how they roll. Even the renound Fransoir Verlinden (probably spelled wrong) gave some form of paper instructions, this is a little too beyond the pale for me. These detail sets are for experienced modellers….. then this takes it to difficult level.

The parts don’t have any resemblance to the Brengun detail set, but they DO fit, as they say on the box.

Here’s what I don’t like about them, this is the first of their detail sets I’ve bought from them that have come with this lack of quality control. But they only come with this style of instructions. I dislike the instructions as your not guided to what you’ve gotta cut out nor guided to making any screw jacks. And there’s a lot of resin to clean up.

 

 

Any-hoo my wing looks good, and that’s me signing off.    🥳  :drink:

 

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Hello everyone.                                 Eduard - surface plates. 

 

Some years ago when the Tamiya Bf-109E was released, in amongst the many detail sets that I picked up was a new and strange take on the familiar Eduard etched set, surface plates and scribing templates. For this etch set I just never got my head around it, as for the kit, like so many Tamiya kits this got passed on as other companies emerged with better details.

 

Mean while one kit that has been on my on - off merry go round was the Airfix Nimrod R1. Not only has Airfix produced another kit that needs a lot of work to make it accurate but Eduard have produced some detail sets for this model that have failed to inspire and lift up this model to another level. And it’s this kit which has been making me do some thinking, so with Eduard supplying some surface plates for this kit I gleefully added these details without any thought. But here’s what grinding gears, just sticking these surface plates onto the model will give the model an unusual appearance. Very prominently protruding details.

 

For a large proportion of my life, A/C have featured heavily in my life. Days gone by aeroplanes built by hand especially during times of war would have a roughness about them, more about being built speedily with less thought about accuracy. That has really changed over the last 20 years, carbon fibre and such things as ICY - interchangeably have seen off this lumpy ness. What I’m saying is , sticking surface plates on your model will result in an un-natural appearance. 
 

With this in mind I’ve fancied tackling this subject/problem, it’s going to be done with some trepidation. The only way I can think of accomplishing this is to scrap away the mating surfaces. I’m not sure if it’s achievable via the hobby drill fitted with a diamond dental burr.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

I started with the ubiquitous 0.3mm clicker pencil and drew around the engraved panel line, then just gently scraping away the surface until I feel that the etched part it’s around about flush. It will only become apparent if I’ve made any mistakes when I give it a lick of primer sometime down the road. 

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Looking good so far, but what about repeatability? 

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This Eduard detail set is very much a miss for me, it really hasn’t made me feel that it’s lifting this model to another level, some of the small parts seem pointless and others seem too small and downright fiddly, on that front only time will tell.  Surface plates #24 these have got me fairly miffed, it’s a facsimile of the kits panel. But, with just 12 bolts depicted!! It’s ‘a stress’ panel, that means it’s structural, it take a load.

Without saying much about what I work on at the minute , this modelling etched piece should have something like 60 bolt holes!!  And the Eduard nonsense doesn’t end there. Eduard only supplied just two wing panels with no real addition details, when each wing has five of these panels. This external detail set really hasn’t gone to town, so, it will be in the following weeks only time will tell how I’ve got on.

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Thanks for looking.          😉

 

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Hello everyone.                          Change of update - a little bit of research.

 

I was working through my thoughts about an update for yesterday, whilst thumbing some photos I spotted something and it caused me to rethink things. So, I did a little bit of research last night instead.

 

For some years I’ve tried to do things like themes, I recently mentioned that what I could do with some continuity. An example of this is : a build of my Tamiya 1/48 Thunderbolt should have been followed up with say a P-51. This form of continuity is the easiest form to do, what is harder is forming those gaggles of models that have a immediate visual impact say a batch of U.S aircraft with red outline star’s and bar’s. 
Whilst I’d love to have a gaggle of model’s only in yellow primer, what I have managed to achieve is a plethora of models that are very unique in that these are few in numbers. …… Grey F-117 1 of 2 , MR2C Shackleton crew trainer 1 of 8………

Now I can add later on this Blue/Grey Hercules to my growing list of unusual models. It is this ‘unusual’ and one-off’s where I appear to be getting good at. I say this as the Herc I’m building so far my research suggests this is the only one to wear this  scheme .

I found and alternate web search form which has resulted in an handful of additional images for reference. I went with www. C-130H Hercules 45-1074. It’s the best web search to date.

 

What I was going to discuss is preparation of the road ahead, the kit has a good many variations of plastic for the good many variations of colour schemes…… and If that bit is hard enough I’ve spiced things up with a little help from some A.M. 

 

As I’ve said before, I’m not doing the cargo hold and the build has plenty of pitfalls so some time was spent sorting the wheat for the chaff.

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The part I’m holding is part of the Wolfpack detail set and it’s here where I realised I had my blinkers on. Just because it replaces the Italeri tail drew me into thinking it was relevant. AND my nearly error soon revealed that Zveda GOT THIS WRONG TOO. As you can see I’m having to amend my cheat sheet.

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What caught my eye while just thumbing photos was the stubby tail, I had it that it should have been a Beaver Tail which is soo much longer, it’s then obvious when the shorter stubby tail is fitted. Whilst I was miffed with myself for letting this error in , at the end of searching the interwebbs I’ve now learned a few other things I didn’t know as well. So, as the saying goes : turned out well.  
 

Thanks for looking.               😉

 

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Hello everyone.                      Some therapy - cutting and sticking.   
 

Happy New Year to everyone where ever you are.     😃

 


In a recent post by @AliGauld reference to some damage caused by his pet, a day or so later and I’m sat at my modelling desk in the living room, thankfully my own cat has caused nothing I never been able to fix in the past. This cat has a fascination with paint brushes and has a sixth sense for a loaded paint brush meeting plastic……..and Mrs B’s knitting especially the moving roll of wool.  😼        Petting her can be a great way to relax, that’s just the wife and the cat likes it too.  It got me thinking and a trip down memory lane saw shed a tear or two, one of my past pesty friends was Midnight his pestyness was newspaper’s and boxes, he couldn’t help himself but to plonk his fury backside on and in them. Miss him. 

 

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And for some modelling.

 

Having completed the wing first, it’s now time for some cutting then sticking. Just the cockpit and fwd bit of the cargo bay are required for this build.  I for some strange reason just couldn’t get one feature set in my head - the crew boarding door.

 I had reasoned in my head it’s closure, maybe to keep the clean lines of the model, but like so many other occasions it’s going to be opened, a little bit of interest to the model.

 

The instrument panel coaming looks in the wrong place, it has some locating lugs that I seem to have missed, what I really need is some good photos of this area.

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Moving the cockpit to the left hand side fuselage and it doesn’t fit.   🤔

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This photo shows where I’ve gone wrong, the cockpit innards are just 1mm out of alignment, so, some filing and re-shaping was required. There’s a groove in the fuselage that the innards sit in, post filing and all is well. 

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Some of those choices of details to be made are shown here, a choice of side skins and undercarriage front sponson’s are shown here. I love deep trench like panel lines, that’s because I like to depict all the features of a model. This model has some of the very finest panel lines I’ve ever seen and that’s extremely frustrating for this modeller as the whole of the model is going to require a re-scribing. And that’s something I really don’t want to do.  Closer to home this insert piece firstly requires some clean up , then some missing panel lines are going to be added. One of the problems I’ve realised is that a recent trip to RAF Cosford is that the Hercy Bird that’s there may not benefit me for detailing this project. I just don’t know why the RAF Herc’s seem so different, but, it is and so I might not be able to use my photos here. We’ll see.  I’ve been buying some of the Duke Hawking range of books, I’ve decided to order the one for this model, hopefully it will yield some good results. 

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It’s a new dawn…..it’s a new year…… and things are moving along nicely. Done some modelling, had a nice time over Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll be moving forward with much more positivity. Starting this year off will be the completion of a kit, and in a few short weeks will come the first model show of the year Bolton. It’s back and it’s only a few short miles away from St Helens.  Closer to home I’m in work tomoz and Tuesday, it’s a short shift, and after next week’s shift it’s then my shift change over, my back to back off. So, seven days off work, nice. Coming down the pike should be a small medical procedure which may require something like six weeks off work. 
 

 

Thanks for looking.   😉

 

Edited by amos brierley
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Hello everyone.                         Not one but two Ah ha moments. 
 

Winds of change. Back a few years ago my modelling was on a crest of a wave, my model club was doing many things right and my own modelling was hitting new highs. 2017 saw me competing very well in the various model show competitions, for example I was told that the MAFA competition was a very tough gig to master, well, that’s a challenge to me. I did very well all things considered, 5 award’s but no gold’s. Not bad all things considering that I’m not an armour modeller.
2018 saw me really hit the competition sweet spot, I’d made that one model that was unbeatable, unbearable to the fellow competitors, and I got 42 awards for my efforts. But, having made that all encompassing model, I needed to create a replacement and through repetition and creativity. Like many things I should have been working through my stash of part built kits but new kits seemed to win out, firstly I set about the Airfix Shackleton not once but twice in quick succession, firstly an MR2 wearing Royal Navy titles then a MR2c AEW 2 crew trainer - lookey likely, completely different. The pinnacle of my achievements was winning the BAe Systems trophy in 2019…….. possibly by accident, but as I’d wanted this award for a long time,  as a BAe employee it was a must have.

 

On the way down…… Things were changing, not how I wanted and not how I envisioned. I needed a lot of new models!! But chose to tread my own path. My back catalogue of kits for the model club stand was now all but depleted, people attending model shows want to see new build stuff and not just stuff that gets trotted out time and time again.
 

I’d jokingly suggest in 2018 that there’d only be new models on the club stand sometime 2022 . Oh the whit! No one took me seriously. (Club politics.)  Some new models on the block carried my favour a 1/16 Jagdtiger from Trumpeter and the 1/32 Do332 from Hong Kong models, big models, long term projects maybe some two or three years to complete, a new for me.  By now my model ’ back catalogue ‘ had been worked through. Nothing new for anything. The new era of BIG models was in and the new pathway fwd.
 

Whilst I was in realignment mode, work needed some change’s too I felt that my time on the Eurofighter project was drawing to a close and opted to get myself to Salmesbury and F-35 Lightning feeling that this offered me the best solution to long term working goals. 
 

In the meantime Brexit, Covid 19 and my return to Warton have all played their part in my modelling modus operandi. Not to mention that model from Satan himself the Airfix TSR2 2 a model I’d love to have in my collection that is as elusive as ever……

 

In the intervening years things have changed, big bold model statements are out and I needed to just stick with a model and see it through. 
In the mix our man PM Boris Johnson had suggested that we were going into ‘the new norm’, I had pinned my hopes on this, but 2020 with Covid vaccines and 2021 didn’t come good.  Modelling and model shows felt all to very not normal and the end of the show show made me feel even worse S.M.W 2021 just felt all to contrived, and mired with Covid rules.

 

 On approach to the first Ah Ha moment. When the letter dropped onto my work bench at Salmesbury, I had to decide about going back to Warton, and it seemed a doable thing, even though some 3 to 4 people can’t stand my guts, having started to get into the swing of things from April I then started to get a feeling about moving forward and obviously could formulate a plan for S.M.W 2022. In the context of things, knowing and being on a shift pattern and what was expected of the team made the road ahead easy.
 

As early as June 2022 I was thinking about having nothing to do with my model club and S.M.W 2022, this was just to simply take the stress out of everything.  To put things mildly  I still only have a ‘back catalogue’ of just two new models, but the IPMS Warrington club leader ‘ demands 8’ models for his club stand per person for model shows. Just not acceptable. Time to take a backseat and just enjoy the show.
 

The Ah Ha moment. Over Xmas 2022 whilst taking in things, several thoughts popped into my head in quick succession. 
Firstly, that I’d been around several people that disliked me immensely, and for the last 8 months there’d been no friction, good working professionals, added to this was the fact I realised that actually more people liked me than I realised and my contribution to the project was much needed. So the return to Warton hasn’t been as problematic as I thought. I’d danced with the devil and everything’s ok.

 

Next was an earlier comment about the Hercules wing giving me some satisfaction, this now felt more ‘ natural’ and the good feelings of days gone by. Nice to have satisfaction back in my thought process.

 

My earlier decisions to keep my S.M.W 2022 foot print low added to the feel good factor, the show whilst still not feeling the new normal actually felt more like ‘natural’,  no Covid restrictions and more importantly a larger proportion of U.K traders, for me it felt more like days of Donnington when the show was referred to as the ‘Nats’. 
 

For 2022 I’d hoped for the new normal to be actually moving forward, but, the new normal model show season was a damp squib. Dates on, then cancelled, model competition’s on then dropped and even the heat of summer played its hand. I just had the one competition and at least it gave me just the one medal, a gold.

Whilst the model show scene wasn’t working for me, everything aero related was, I did more stuff last year and had a blast doing it. ……..Cosford air show, the Chobam building part of RNAS Yeovilton but to name a few. Here at the end of the year I didn’t realise just how much other stuff I’d done.

 

Finally with my F-117 Nighhawk close to completion, 2023 will start very well.   
 

After these thoughts had been processed it felt like   Ah Ha     things are going well, things feel natural, still in the realm of new normal, but natural.
 

Looking fwd to 2023. For this year looking ahead it’s all about the foundation stones that have been laid, and what I can and in some cases don’t want to do. 
Today has seen myself and Mrs B trundle into Manchester town centre for some much needed clothes shopping, what she wasn’t prepared for was a swift diversion to Manchester airport. Having seen something in another part of this forum it picked my fancy and I had to go and check out the BAE Nimrod, it had a lot of features that I’ve not seen before and carried some pods also new to me. 
Tomorrow will see the first model show of the year the usual Bolton. I’ve no plans to do anything with the with the model club that’s the new norm, but what I’m planning on doing is going old school, something I used to do many years ago. I’m just going to pack my bag, sandwiches, flask of coffee and a pocket full of money. Travel to the show with a friend who can’t drive and just ‘mouch’ , just gonna see where the wind blows me. 
 

The  #2 Ah Ha moment. 
 

Firstly some additional research material has been added to the stash. These books are simply superb.

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This photo shows some progress. I’m not sure weather the additional magazines are tolerated. But I’ve not seen this colour scheme before.

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Fixing the instrument coaming. Ah ha thanks how’s it supposed to go.  I’ve looked at the instructions on several occasions and on the first I miss interpreted them. Several sessions later and I can’t believe my stupidity.  I don’t believe the drawing to be the best, but now it’s oriented better, it sits nicely-nicely against the front windscreen opening. 

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Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone gets what they want from the modelling world and beyond.             😉

 

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On 01/01/2023 at 16:23, amos brierley said:

Coming down the pike should be a small medical procedure which may require something like six weeks off work. 

Nothing serious I hope.

 

Concerned of Mars 👽

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