1/48 C-130 Hercules build-Completed

That is a very cool model.

My head is spinning a little bit, you got this done in, what, about 3 weeks?

Could you bottle some of that "get 'er done" and send some to me, please?

So after a very tense and stressful hour, she's hanging from the ceiling!  I was so afraid to knock something off, or drop her.  She's not perfect, but I still can't help but to grin looking at her.  I may have gone a bit overkill with the eyelets.  Originally there was only going to be 4, but hubby made a mistake drilling the holes, so there was 2 extra, and I decided to use them. 

Thank you!  It certainly tested my paitence more than once, lol.  For anyone who didn't know this is sort of my tribute to the more than 40 years the C-130's served in Niagara Falls.  Four of the planes were sent on their last deployment in May.  The rest will be phased out as they transition to KC-135's.  The particular plane I chose to represent(91188) is still currently on base, and is the only one that still has the Niagara tail art.  I am truly going to miss the C-130's flying around. 

Not just a fantastic build but a cool build especially with the LED's!  Awesome!

Toshi

Other than putting on some clear coat, and hanging her from the ceiling, this bird is done.  She's not perfect, but I'm happy.  Wish the decals would have come out a little better, but for making my own they came out well enough.  I made my own little cargo net, and pallet to hold the battery box with the switch. 

I got the corrected sponsons, and it was slow going for a while after that.  I had to cut out the one sponson, the other side wasn't molded so it just popped off.  So it was a lot of puttying, and sanding.  I have no paitence for that, lol.  It's just like doing body work on a car.  So I had to take a break for a few days. 

I dived in yesterday, and was pretty much on a roll all day.  I got it painted, all the other bits glued on, touched up a bunch of places, and painted on some more details.  Todays agenda is going to be trying to figure out the decals.  I'm sure that is going to be fun.  But I'm slowly nearing the finish line.  Some progress pics.

I ordered the corrected sponsons.  Probably be a week or so before they get here.  Gives me plenty of time to do a few other things to it.  Maybe try to add some more detail to it in places.  I'm pretty sure our 3 C-130's that we have left are pretty much all identical, aside from the tail art on the one I'm trying to replicate.  I got some pictures a few days ago of 19142 in flight, but wish it would of been 91188.  Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll fly that one soon.

I like the elmers glue trick and the entire build! the lights really look good. Well worth your effort!

Looks Great

I thought I was on a roll and well on my way to being done soon.  So much for that.  I got the corrected nacelles and props in the mail today.  Once I got to test fitting all that I ran into 2 problems.  First I had to figure out how I was going to put the exhaust pipe in.  Scrap bits of spure will help me out in that area.  Once I had that figured out I moved on to fitting the engines in place, and realized the props don't line up on the body where they should.  Hop on google and discover the sponsons are in need of a correction as well.  Ugh.  I asked myself if I could live with it.  Nope I can't.  I've already spent a lot of time making it as accurate as I can possibly stand, and I won't be able to leave it be knowing there is a solution out there. 

On the bright side I got seams filled in and sanded today.  I also discovered Elmer's glue will work well for masking the little round and square windows.  Dab it on with a paint brush, and it will peel off when I'm done painting.  It's a little trick that I've used in taxidermy.  Apply it to the glass eyes of your animal, air brush away, then peel it off when done. 

Very, very nice.  You won't need night lights in that room once she is in flight.

As an aside, the gate bird at Little Rock was the last one out of Vietnam.  So many people refugees) were on board they couldn't get the ramp up until the AC started to taxi and slammed on the brakes and people kind of surged forward enough to get it closed.  Then they got lost and barely made it on fuel to the base.  When they counted people coming off there wer 430 some odd on board, with 36 or 38 in the cockpit.  She was so far over gross weight it is a wonder she was able to stager off the ground.

Tough old birds.

I've always liked the C-130.

Really liking where this is going.

Got quite a bit done today.  Everything went together without issue.  I thought for sure the wings were going to give me issues, something usually does, lol.

Still waiting on my nacelles and props to come in the mail.  I'm kind of stuck until they come in.  I could paint, but I might as well wait until everything is here to paint.  I could see if I can figure out how to make my own decals.  That should prove to be the next frustrating part I'm sure. 

Well she's on her own wheels.  Wiring is a bit of a mess, concealing it turned out to be harder than I expected.  But you really won't be able to see in there once she's hung from the ceiling. 

Don't mind all my tape.  I go a little nuts with it.

Thank you!  It's been a rather large pain in the butt.  Hoping the frustrating part of it is over, lol.  I'm going to have to make sure I find studs in the ceiling when I hang it, she's rather heavy with all the wires, and a battery pack inside. 

Great effects----fantastic!!!

A little bit more progress today.  Got all the lights hooked up to a switch and power supply.  Got the cargo doors on, rear landing gear, and rear doors.  Took a few pics with all the lights hooked up and on. 

It's been a rather rough few days.  I bit off more than I can chew apparently.  I got the inner fuselage put together, then had to start figuring out where all the lights were going to go, and where I was going to run them.  This turned out to be 3 days worth of frustration.  A few times I had everything squared away, did a test fit, and checked the lights again, and one didn't work.  So I had to take everything back apart.  Despite all my checking and double checking where wires were, and everything fitting together I still managed to get some wires stuck where they aren't supposed to be.  I'm not going to worry about it too much at the moment.  I finally got the two fuselage halves together, and glued.  I'm leaving it to sit overnight.  I still have a lot of work to do.  But at least now I finally feel like I've made some progress.  I did manage to take a few pics.  It's a complete mess right now.  I'll get pictures of the lights when I get them all wired up to a power source with a switch.

Great work on a great plane. This used to be one of my favorites when I was a kid. Had a big plastic one that all my army men and their vehicles went into. Good stuff. 

Some more progress today.  I've painted as much as I can with everything apart.  I'm going to start assembely tomorrow, add more details as I see fit, and start running LED's.  I plan on trying to add 15 LED's.  We'll see how that works out as I go. 

Me and my daughter are huge fans too, lol.  They were actually out flying earlier this evening.  They go right by my house on occasion.  After the 2nd flyby we hopped in my truck and went over to the airport and parked in a lot near the runway.  They fly directly over your head. 

Super start to this.  I'll be locked in to this build, I am a big C-130 fan.

Hubby will be helping me out with that.  I have a basic idea from running LED lights on an RC car, and looking online at other planes that have been done.  I think hiding all the wires is going to be the hardest part.  I'm sure at some point I'm going to sit and stare at it trying to figure it out.

Really looking good so far. I can't wait to see how you do this with the LEDs. I've lighted a couple of tanks and the results are super cool, but I've yet to try and wire up a plane. I've got ideas, of course, but its always nice to have an example to follow.  ;)

Some more progress today.  I should be nearing the end of base color painting parts soon.  Then it's on to adding detail to everything.  I still need to wait for all my LED's to come in the mail, along with the nacelles, and 4 bladed props.  Hopefully the show up soon.  On to the pics!

Coming along nicely. Thats a nice 1/72 Herc you did too.

Bomber green.  I know it's not the correct color, but it was what I could find at the local hobby store.  Well actually I did find the right color, but it looked so far off from pictures of the cockpit, so I went with the bomber green. 

Looking good so far. What color are you using for the interior?

Little bit more progress on the cockpit bits today.  I'm kind of following the kit instructions, going by some reference and winging it, lol.  As long as I'm enjoying the build right?! 

looking good so far, love to see this 1/48 built up.  Seems most of us has a fascination for a BIG model