C130,XV208, One plane, 3 very different stories.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

2 hours ago, Bell209 said:

outlet for the pressurisation Outflow Valve

Oh!  Wouldn't that suck smoke and fumes from the cargo area into the cockpit in the event that you need to respond to an emergency by depressurizing the aircraft?  Thanks for the note.

[Head in the clouds.]

13 hours ago, Bell209 said:

It's the outlet for the pressurisation Outflow Valve,

That's pure gold, cheers Rob. It is after all nice to know what these things are called especially when becoming very familiar with them 3 times over.

[Head in the clouds.]

It's now Friday and all is good, it is cold enough outside to make Rudolph think twice about flying but I don't care as I am snug as a bug in a rug. So a quick update is now due.

 

Back to the inside and I am still working on the cockpit and surrounding area, most kits start with the cockpits being done early on so why should I go against convention, with the Airfix cockpit well on it's way I thought I would have a look at the Italeri office. After doing a test fit of the cockpit assembly I noticed that the the cockpit floor needed opening up a little on the laft as you would ascend the access steps. The black line shows the extent of material to be removed;

 

This cockpit has now received the same treatment as the Airfix kit with consoles and cupboards being built from plasticard following my measurements from the earlier exercise;

 

There are a few embellishments to this cockpit that the others will not have, the first being the Nav position. On his right the console returns under the bunk at a slight angle and because of this the jump seat has been shortened ( unlike the Zvezda in the middle which is too long) and a framework built to support the cushion. To the right of the jump seat is some boxing with a small grab handle on it to aid access to the cockpit, the boxing is just visible to the left of the fire extinguisher and will be observable when the crew access door is open. The final alteration is the crew bunk, this has been moved more to the left and the headrest section cut and folded over as it would be while not in use.

Again, pictures of this area are like hens teeth so I have used the Duke Hawkins book and the pics I have from FAST to come up with how I thing Snoopy will look.

Planning ahead, the next move should be to paint these 3 cockpits, add any other tiny details to Snoopy's consoles, add decals and then fix any other items needed to finish this area off. On the subject of decals I will need to rummage through the spares box to see if there are any i can use to represent all the AC Bus's and fuses which are located on the middle and lower sections of the consoles as seen here;

 

 

I now feel that I have had enough of cockpits for a little while so I though I would do some iron work, I spun the Zvezda cockpit upside down and started to look at the Metallic Details PE set for the wheel wells, remember, the Zvezda kit is going to be the TP400 FTB with one of the wheel bay door removed. If I am doing one I may as well do all three if only to use up the PE set.

And what of the PE set?

On initial inspection the detail is good and clear but once you start to study the instructions things get a little fuzzy. The colour system of identifying various functions and parts is not clear at all, blue denotes fold points, items to push out and items to add, red denotes items to be removed from the kit item and items to be added from the fret. Add to this the fold arrows not being very clear as to which way to fold there are plenty of opportunities to get it wrong because to add insult to injury none of the numbers on the fret tally with the drawing. Also, some items seem to have more on the fret than the drawing calls out for...🤔

 

 

After nearly an hour of sorting this puzzle out I could finally start work. First up was to remove the red area from the kit item, this is a substantial part of the underside of the cockpit area and therefore it's strength;

 

 

This was done with a few strokes of the saw but as I suspected leaving the whole weight of the front end resting on two pillars no more than 2-3mm dia so this was reinforced with some scrap from the off cut and white plasticard;

 

 

 

Once this was done, various bits were cut from the fret and folded where needed but one other item decided to fight back, part 14 ( not it's real name, that would be part 15..🤣 ), The instructions , in blue, tell you to press them out, little slots no more than 1mm wide but the reverse of the fret is not scored or perforated so they do not want to be 'pushed out'!

 

 

The only way to remove them was to use a scriber and gently push through the PE, working both sides to try and smooth out the opening;

 

 

As can be seen it worked but at a cost, the fold line failed and the small section fell off.

After folding the main section without any issues (yet) I called it a draw and withdrew to the smoking room for a cigar and a glass of port;

 

 

Join me next week for more cryptic  puzzles and head scratching.

[Pete in Lincs]

Shiny update, Gary. I knew there was a reason I don't do aftermarket. If the scratchbuild goes wrong I only have myself to rant at!

[Head in the clouds.]

9 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

If the scratchbuild goes wrong I only have myself to rant at!

Wise words Pete. Of all the PE sets I have ever purchased I only ever use about half /two thirds because sometimes it offers no real improvement but can bring it's own issues of scale and accuracy.

And those instructions....aaaaah!

[Head in the clouds.]

I have been tinkering with the 3 cockpits a little more of late and starting to re-scribe the Italeri kit so things will maybe go a little quiet or slower for a while with Christmas and 2 kits to re-scribe but I will try to do some smaller updates.

With this in mind I thought I would post some info I have researched on the venerable C130 and hopefully you will find some odd fact that is new to you, ranging from  it's design, service and anecdotes from those that have served.

 

So the only place to start is the beginning.

 

Here I am building 3 C130 Hercules of one particular airframe, XV208, C/382-4233N out of a total of over 2500 built to date ( not sure on total, google is a let down as usual) but what of the C130 and what is in a name?

Hercules(known in Greek mythology as Heracles or Herakles) is one of the best-known heroes in Greek mythology and as is sometimes believed; a god, but he was no god but a mere mortal with more strength than the average person. Like many characters of mythology life was not simple for Hercules and he ended up committing the ultimate sin, being under a spell from his stepmother; killing his wife and two children.

Distraught with guilt, Hercules set upon finding Apollo and asked to be punished, Apollo, knowing it not be Hercules fault he nevertheless demanded he (Hercules) be punished and to this end set Hercules 12 labours that he must complete for his absolution. This he did.

When Lockheed chose the name for the YC130 they chose very well indeed, during it’s time serving over 70 countries it has more than matched it’s namesakes labours of 12 tasks, indeed, there is very little the C130 has not done as well we all know yet even now there are proposals for an MC130J seaplane variant that if made will be an astounding feat.

During it’s life the C130 holds or has held 54 world records, has the longest, continuous military aircraft production run in history and has a family of 70 or more variants. It has landed on an aircraft carrier and at both poles. So good is the design of the airframe it has changed very little from a physical perspective since 1954, to keep it at the forefront of air transport most of the changes are internal or electronic, even the 'J' model looks like any other Herc with the main giveaways being minor airframe details and the 6 bladed Dowty R391 propellers.

What is in a name then? Quite a lot really!

 

So how did the C130 come about?

During the Korean War all of the US transport types were piston powered and as such these were not able to fulfil the growing need to fly heavy loads into austere strips over greater ranges so in 1951 the US Air Force issued a request for a new medium transport aircraft. Lockheed answered this proposal with the YC130A Hercules, with it’s high wing, sturdy undercarriage, rear cargo ramp and 4 swanky new Allison T56 turboprops to give the C130 all the power needed to answer the Air Force specification. Talking of proposals, the Lockheed proposal stretched to 110 pages, by comparison, the Lockheed Martin F35 proposal was 2500 pages long and from the issuing of the contract on 2nd July to the first flight on August 23rd 1954 took only 3 years and one month. A hop-skip and jump compared to today's protracted development times.

But it all could have been so different.

 

The principle designer on the C130 programme was Willis M Hawkins whom had already been heavily involved in the design of the T33/P80 jet fighter and the beautiful Constellation airliner so it is fair to say that being green behind the ears he was not. His design team submitted the design drawings to Hall Hibbard, Lockheed’s Chief Engineer and the man who hired Wallis M Hawkins in 1937, for approval by Clarence”Kelly” Johnson. When asked his opinion of the 15 inch model provided by Hawkins Kelly Johnson replied “If you send that in you’ll destroy Lockheed” Hibbard however must have had faith in Hawkins as the design was submitted and won over bids from Douglas, Boeing and Fairchild.

Hawkins may have been the only one who lost money on the deal. “The tactical air commander was a real enthusiast,” he recalls. “ ‘The Air Force is doing this one right,’ he said. We were hoping they’d buy maybe 200. ‘I’ll bet we’ll buy more than 500 of these things.’ I bet him five bucks, and lost.”

 

As an aside, Hawkins also went on to be principle designer on the Polaris missile and was involved in the early days of the M1 Abrahams MBT marking him as a man at the top of his game.

 

As with many new aircraft finding the right name fell to the workers of the Marietta plant and nearly 10000 suggestions were forthcoming with the favourite being ‘Griffin’. However, this was not chosen, instead, with 160 votes, Hercules was chosen, and thank the Lord it was.

 

While the cargo hold has the same dimensions of an American Railroad Boxcar it seems it was probably not designed around this item as is often quoted but instead based around high use army items such as the M5A-3 High Speed Tractor and gun, needing a height of 9ft and width of 10ft. The length was based on the requirements of what a 1.5 ton gun and semi-trailer would need; 41ft as it happens. The Boxcar story is a bit more 'Hollywood' though and sounds better.

 

On August 23rd, 1954 Lockheed test pilots Stan Beltz and Roy Wimmer started to roll down the runway and after only an 855ft run the prototype YC130A sprung into the air to start a dynasty of much loved aircraft that would still be in production in 2023, an amazing continuous run of 68 years. Thank goodness Hibbard saw the merit of Hawkins design, something we take for granted now but in the early 50’s the C130 was like almost no other tactical airlifter but would become the design template for every other military cargo plane design.

 

Thanks

Gary.

 

 

 

[Head in the clouds.]

This Christmas has been a story of loss and gains, more brain cells lost due to them swimming in alcohol for 3 days and 2 sizes gained on my girth due to too many mince pies being on offer, the side affect being I am now 2 inch's further away from the workbench and cannot figure out how to solve the issue due to brain mass loss. Seriously though, I hope you all had a good and merry Christmas and your stockings were full to the brim of all things modelling.

 

One of the added bonuses this year was that work was slack the week leading up to Christmas so I had two extra days off and made good use of it. Scribing was the order of the day, a lot of it, yet I only did one half of the Italeri fuselage, the monotony being broken by dropping onto other parts of the project. Yes, I am one of those who finds re-scribing boring but strangely I did find this session pleasing, don't know why, but I bet it will not last.

 

Everyone has their own preferred tools for this job, from the myriad of designed tools to the ' Heather Robinson' versions we create ourselves from all manner of old, time expired tools. After trying several I have settled on these 3;

 

As an ever evolving art I have yet to master, I start by drawing in pencil the lines I wish to scribe and use flexible 3mm tape to act as a guide. I have tried that rigid tape that you type letters on ( but it's name escapes me at the moment) but I find it too rigid to conform to the fuselage contours, it is a bit pricey and you get through it rather quickly. The downside to using the softer tape I am settling on is that you have to be more gentle as it can give way. Here's a piccy;

 

Some scribing has already been done to the right and under the wing root can be seen the pencil lines I mentioned. Once the lines have been scribed I use the chisel to remove the burr at the sides of the new panel line then run some extra thin glue down them to sharpen them up a bit.

One of the few upshots of doing 3 of the same plane is that you can use some items from the other kits as a template;

 

Notice the white plasticard in the NACA inlet, this was done to decrease the size a little as the Italeri inlet is bigger than both the Zvezda and Airfix item.

For completeness the rear ramp area;

 

A little clean up required then I will call this side done, 25% of the fuselage area done but I have not forgotten about the wings and tail control surfaces. I won't post any more pics of lines in plastic, if it bores me it will most certainly bore you.

 

Have a good New Year folks.

 

Gary

 

 

 

[jumbojock]

Dymo labeller tape. 😁 Now, where did I put those brain cells...

[Head in the clouds.]

Happy New Year folks, better get it in before it gets too late so I think the 3rd Jan I can get away with.

 

Having spent many hours scribing the only way I can cope with so much scratching and scraping is by doing some side hustles. One of these is one of the side windows on the starboard front fuselage on the Italeri kit, Snoopy had the middle window blanked off and another window fitted about 2 feet directly above. This was to accommodate some test equipment that was fitted as seen below, the function of which I hope to elaborate on later;

 

Yet to do is blank in the forward window of the 3, where the 2 small rectangular plates are, this will be done later. This close up also gives an idea of the various probes and tubes that need to be replicated along with the raised plates they are fixed to the airframe with. I already have an idea for that in my back pocket which I will try when it comes to fitting out this area.

The middle window was blanked out earlier in the build, a simple punched disc inserted into the window opening. Next up was to drill the new opening, simple enough to do but what I had to give some thought to was how to make the rebated area in the fuselage to accept the window glazing; as per the existing;

 

 

After putting the problem to one side for a while it came to me. What I needed was something akin to a slot mill cutter and I came up with these;

 

 

Compliments of Screwfix, these Brad Point wood drill bits should do the job, having a nice sharp point to aid accuracy and a 'nearly' flat cutting surface. That solved the 'what' now to contemplate the 'how'.

I needed to give the Brad point something to bit into otherwise the drill bit will rotate in a manner that will not give an equal sized hole. I found my favourite piece of scrap wood and drilled a hole in it equal to the size of the window opening on the kit, then, using a bit of sprue sanded to size was inserted and glued in the hole in the wood;

 

 

The fuselage was then sat on the plug thus;

 

 

This now gave the Brad point something to locate in to keep the drill bit centralised;

 

 

One thing to remember, the drill bit will eat through plastic as if it is butter so 'slowly, slowly catchy mouse'.

 

With that put to bed I had this ringing in my ears from something @TheyJammedKenny!  advised about big kits, due to their size some form of strengthening should be used to stop the fuselage splitting or the wings drooping over time and when transporting to shows etc. I did think about plates of plastic along the fuselage join line, not a problem along the bottom but the top may show up as the cargo bay will be open. Added to that this method offers no support to the wings, which, if you remember from the initial intro to the build are going to have resin engine replacements and mission pods fitted which is more weight. As a species we tend to spend a large part of our life trying to defeat gravity and this is no exception.

So I turned to my favourite modelling medium, Brass. My idea is to use brass rods, 2 in number, running through the top of the wing box section and into the wing, this will be fixed in place,(method yet to be worked out) and thus will stop the fuselage splitting and support the wing too. Also, when I build in the internal boxing around the MLG bays(the narrowest point of the cargo bay) this should hide the brass rod running through.

First thing to is pilot hole the fuselage where I will drill my two holes, the wing held together with masking tape was slotted into place, luckily a tight fit and pilot holes drilled;

 

 

 

I was a bit concerned that the pilot hole was right on the join but the tape held true😰

Next to drill the holes in the fuselage and wings;

 

 

What I did not do was use a sharp drill bit and this may have given me a problem on the other half of the fuselage, more of which soon.

 

The next bit was  the critical part, I need to mirror this on the opposite side so I need a template. This was done by fixing masking tape over the wing root and marking the hole centres;

 

 

 

Then I stuck this to another piece of masking tape, sticky side to sticky side;

 

 

Then I cut around the first template thus giving me an opposite for the other half fuselage.

This is the result of a blunt drill bit;

 

 

Anyway, as they say, the proof is in the pudding so time to see if the brass tube will go through and the wings can attach correctly;

 

 

Through the fuselage went OK but there is a slight alignment issue in so much as one of the bars is out of parallel, seen better here;

 

 

It is more narrow at the bottom so how will it mate with the wings?

 

 

Surprisingly well as it turned out, I think some very minor fettling to close the gap a bit tighter at the wing root will do it.

The one thing I do need to alter is the length of the tube;

 

 

The wings do not close up so in the future I will set the tubes mid point and work out the correct length needed to support the wings, the brass tube can be seen at the top of the engine nacelle opening and are only roughly set.

With regard to the other two kits the Zvezda kit should suffice with plastic plates along the join line and not forgetting that this kit is going to be the TP400 FTB and has a strut system on the port side supporting the TP400 engine so hopefully this will give some added support. The Airfix kit in theory should only need plates along the fuselage join but something at the back of my head tells me that the engines on this kit are the shorter earlier versions and may need resin replacements, so please read the small print. " I reserve the right to change or alter any ruddy thing I like".

 

Well, back to scatching and scribing.....oh joy!

Thanks for looking.

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I reserve the right to change or alter any ruddy thing I like".

That's told 'em. Hairy chested modelling at it's best. And the quincy quonses be damned! Scribe on, young Sir. Scribe on.

Bestest new year to you to, Mate.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Very nice!  Those wings will be secure, all right.

[Head in the clouds.]

Evening folks.

Well, things have been a little quiet on this thread for a while, in part due to life and all it's distractions and the other being me giving my scribing tools plenty of exercise. As with any rescribing of panel lines there are always those that end up off kilter a bit or are in the wrong place, that has been the case here. One of my 'go to' methods to remedy them is Tippex, it dries hard but gets into small nooks and crannies and sands to a lovely smooth surface. After doing so much scribing it doesn't hold the terrors for me it once did and I am finding it is improving steadily. Up to now the fuselage and the underside of one wing has been done, nice and steady with breaks to do other things seems to work for me;

 

The wing half at the bottom is the rescribed Italeri item, there are still some other panel lines to do once I can ascertain they exist because looking at the Zvezda wing half some of them look very fanciful indeed. If you follow the the line of the flaps and ailerons the Italeri kit has them about right to my eye, there are two steps along the hinge line, seen here with the help of a marker pen;

 

This is the Zveda wing and its shallow panel lines are marked with the dashed line, the Italeri with a solid line. According to my reference books Italeri have got it right but Zvezda seem to have got there lines crossed here so those that are wrong will be filled and rescribed accordingly. I was hoping not to have to do anything on this modern tooled kit but it looks like all 3 kits will have some scribing done after all. I am not going to correct every incorrect panel line on the Zvezda kit but these lines are associated with major control items so need to be right and more importantly all the same. Anyway, that is a job for another day, lets get the Italeri kit scribed first.

 

One of my side hustles away from scribing has been the cockpits. Now then! I made bit of a cock-up here but I will let the narrative tell the story, luckily I caught it in time after looking again at my research. It was something @fatalbert had said in another post and a picture I came across in International Air Power Review showing the cockpit of Snoopy showing the scientists seat and HORACE screen fitted  to the back of the pilots seat, the only such pic I know of.

 

Anyway, on with he build. One of the hurdles I foresaw early on was the banks of breakers and such like that are either side of the cockpit and how to replicate them. I sat on my hands and waited until I came across these;

 

Bingo.....😁! Good old Kitsworld. I have never used these new fandango decals before, some were very brittle but the detail on them is very good but not sure why I am excited as none will be seen.

A bit of mix and match followed, the main IP on the Italeri kit was painted, the Airfix kit received the Kitsworld IP and the Zvezda received its own in box decal. For clarity the other 3D decals went into Snoopy.

Here are the results;

Zvezda

 

Italeri

 

Airfix

As can be seen the 3D IP is crisp and clear, the Italeri, while hand painted is fine and the Zvezda IP is passable, if not a little bright in colour.

 

Also, in the above Italeri pic you can see the HORACE screen and the scientists chair which is something resembling a flat camping chair and just a guess on my part, no picture can I find of this seat. It will never been seen but it was another thing that made Snoopy such an individual airframe and I just had to fit it.

The idea of having the scientist in the cockpit was as a direct link to what was happening in the office and through his HORACE screen the scientist could pass on information to the pilot and vice versa. Sometimes the boffins may want to go in a different direction to follow a weather pattern and through the fifth man in the cockpit this could be achieved immediately with continuous update etc. Apparently it worked very well.

 

Now to my mistake, a clue of which is in the pics of the IP's above.

Here we are;

 

The finished cockpits.....not!

Around the late 80's the RAF repainted the cockpits a dark grey and the seats gained black cushions and grey seats, this was confirmed with the photo in the International Air Power Review and fits the timeline of my build of Snoopy as my decals are representative of DERA and not the MRF. 🤐 The Airfix cockpit is fine and of the period but the other two need changing. I painted the other two dark grey but this for me was too dark so I changed it to Medium Sea Grey, call it artistic licence. The seat covers also had to be painted black and all this was done with a hairy stick, it ain't too pretty but will pass as so little will be seen.

 

Here we go;

 

I didn't neglect the cockpit side walls either;

 

There is one item that I will not be fitting to Snoopy's cockpit....the Elephant with a red and white trunk that lived in the Nav station. It is said that it was put there when it was at Marshalls under conversion and because it was on the blue prints and had a reference number it could not be removed without design authority permission...😂. At this moment in time the whereabouts of this Elephant are unknown and is assumed to be at large. A good story whether true or not.

 

Another unique aspect of Snoopy was the way it was crewed. The fight deck crew was taken from MRF and as there was no dedicated co-pilot flights were undertaken with 2 captains. If for any reason MRF could not provide crew then some would be drawn from Lynehams squadrons.

At the back the scientists lived in their van and the Loady and Engineer were both engineers. Lastly Snoopy was maintained by civilian contractors as opposed to RAF staff.

 

That's it for now, thanks for dropping by.

 

 

[amos brierley]

Hello @Head in the clouds.

 

Coming along nicely-nicely-nicely, gotta give you three because, well, it’s appropriate. 😃

 

Also just dropping into Hannants future releases is this rascal, I don’t think you’ll be concerned with the cockpit though.  😼

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SVM-14004?result-token=LfRVB

 

keep up the good work. 😉   

[Mycapt65]

Forgive my ignorance, where does the Fat Albert name come from? 

[amos brierley]

My take on ‘Fat Albert’ is that it’s American slang because of the girth of the fuselage. 

[Pete in Lincs]

A long awaited and excellent update as always, Gary. Thanks very much. The cockpits (in whatever shade of paint) look great.

 

The term Fat Albert, so far as I remember, first came into use at the end of the Falklands war and referred, I think, to the RAF resupply flights from Ascension.

The Aircraft could also take troops home quickly, thereby saving having to do a long voyage home by sea. 

[Head in the clouds.]

9 hours ago, amos brierley said:

Hello @Head in the clouds.

 

Coming along nicely-nicely-nicely, gotta give you three because, well, it’s appropriate. 😃

 

Also just dropping into Hannants future releases is this rascal, I don’t think you’ll be concerned with the cockpit though.  😼

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SVM-14004?result-token=LfRVB

 

Thank you @amos brierley 3 of everything is the order of the day.

That new release went under my radar, I was only on Hannants site the other week. It is good to see manufacturers now doing some of these obscure subjects and the SVM  kit will be welcomed by many people as this scale is more manageable for large planes. The part count is good too.

 

9 hours ago, Mycapt65 said:

Forgive my ignorance, where does the Fat Albert name come from? 

Hi @Mycapt65 that is a good question to which I have no definitive answer but the two answers given by @Pete in Lincs and @amos brierley are perfectly plausible. I shall investigate further.

 

8 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

A long awaited and excellent update as always, Gary. Thanks very much. The cockpits (in whatever shade of paint) look great.

 

Thanks Pete, I think I will call it a day on the office work and now move onto the wheel bays and FS245, especially on Snoopy as some internal work in the hold is to be done there.

Now that you are fully into wearing slippers all day how are you finding it? The beer is still flowing down the Lord Harrowby, it has come to be 'the' traditional pub in town to go to, we need more old school watering holes.

[Pete in Lincs]

8 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Now that you are fully into wearing slippers all day how are you finding it? The beer is still flowing down the Lord Harrowby, it has come to be 'the' traditional pub in town to go to, we need more old school watering holes.

Ah, I do wear safety boots when I'm chopping wood & dismantling old pallets though. I do recommend retirement but you need to plan something to do tomorrow.

Our wood burner keeps me busy and there's the modelling of course. I managed that Droid speeder bike in about two weeks without even trying. 

When I was working it would have been more like a couple of months at least. 

As for Grantham pubs. I delivered to the No One Inn, up by Asda, once. That looked nice/old school. Can't think of any others there though.

[Head in the clouds.]

After the question by @Mycapt65 about the origins of the 'Fat Albert' nickname I thought I would do some digging.

Fat Albert is also the name given to the C130 that supports the Blue Angels display team around the world and is famous in it's own right for it's impressive JATO take off, unfortunately, this has not happened since 2009 as the Vietnam era JATO packs are no longer available.

Other names I have found are;

 

Herk

Herkybird

Hog

Bleed Air Blimp

Slick

Herky Hilton

Brown and Green ***** Machine

Four Fans of Freedom

Bugsmasher

Hercu-sleaze

Herky Turkey

The Dirty Thirty

Cessna 130  (my favourite)😀

 

I think a fair few of these are probably from the States but if anyone can shed any more light on them let us know please.

[Head in the clouds.]

19 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

No One Inn

😂... Nobody Inn. It is Pete, a lot of workers from construction, factories and elsewhere go there and they often have groups on.

[jumbojock]

19 hours ago, amos brierley said:

My take on ‘Fat Albert’ is that it’s American slang because of the girth of the fuselage. 

"Fat Albert" was the name given to the C-130 that supported the Blue Angels display team. Every morning down route, when we got the crew bus to our Herc, someone would always say, "Morning, Albert."

[Mycapt65]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

After the question by @Mycapt65 about the origins of the 'Fat Albert' nickname I thought I would do some digging.

Fat Albert is also the name given to the C130 that supports the Blue Angels display team around the world and is famous in it's own right for it's impressive JATO take off, unfortunately, this has not happened since 2009 as the Vietnam era JATO packs are no longer available.

Other names I have found are;

 

Herk

Herkybird

Hog

Bleed Air Blimp

Slick

Herky Hilton

Brown and Green ***** Machine

Four Fans of Freedom

Bugsmasher

Hercu-sleaze

Herky Turkey

The Dirty Thirty

Cessna 130  (my favourite)😀

 

I think a fair few of these are probably from the States but if anyone can shed any more light on them let us know please.

Thanks. I thought Fat Albert was Specific to the Blue Angels aircraft. I've seen it perform close to a dozen times. I love that thing. When I seen the title, was  expecting a Blue bird for that reason. It's an amazing aircraft in general. Thanks for replying. Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Edited February 24 by Mycapt65

[CarLos]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:22 PM, Head in the clouds. said:

Airfix both capture the middle panes better but go off piste on the lower panes. To rectify this would be extremely hard and as such I will leave well alone,

 

   

 

Fortunately the Airfix plastic is thick enough to make them look better, if not completely accurate. 

I will follow your builds with interest, may be they'll encourage me to return to mine(s).

 

Carlos

[Head in the clouds.]

13 hours ago, Mycapt65 said:

I thought Fat Albert was Specific to the Blue Angels aircraft.

After looking into the various names that have been given to the C130 I believe you are correct, it does belong to the Blue Angels aircraft, however I think it has been borrowed by everyone from service personnel, media to aviation enthusiasts. It fits, it works and it describes fondly the aircraft itself. 

And as you mentioned, you thought this build was about 'The' Fat Abert, so I am guilty of historical inaccuracies too.

Maybe a title change is needed.

 

12 hours ago, CarLos said:

Fortunately the Airfix plastic is thick enough to make them look better, if not completely accurate. 

I will follow your builds with interest, may be they'll encourage me to return to mine(s).

 

Carlos

Thanks Carlos, yes, the Airfix plastic is thick but my worry are the transparencies and trying to correct any work in that area may be creating a lot of work for very little gain. Remember also I may have to do three times, it may be akin to hitting your thumb with a hammer and doing twice again for good measure....🤣

 

[Sabrejet]

Just one thing: orange seat cushions (they were a corduroy-type material) were certainly still around into the 1990s. Not sure it matters but hopefully it adds to the databank!