1/72 Italeri AC-130H Spectre Finished

Definitely watching this Key,as I've got this one on my to-do list.

I bought this kit with my birthday money.  C-130's are my favorite plane.  I did the AC-130U papercraft in 1/100 scale, but wasn't entirely satisfied with that being the "gunship" in my collection, so I had to get this one. 

This one is a little different from the other Italeri C-130's I've done.  First thing I have noticed is the front glass piece is bigger.  It's weird.  Lol.  I'll figure it out once I get to it. 

I believe only the seat cushions and arm rests were red for certain time periods. Not the complete seat and support structure.

I also love C-130's as one of my top five favorite aircraft. It helped that my father was a navigator on a C-130H gunship with 115 combat missions over Laos. I have five C-130's hanging from my ceiling now; all are in 1/72 scale. Three are cargo craft; two are gunships.

All the more reason to follow this thread. Looking forward to seeing more.

Nice start on it, will be watching it in the GB.

You keep this 130 thing up, you are going to have more of those things than the USAF does.

Melgyver

I believe only the seat cushions and arm rests were red for certain time periods. Not the complete seat and support structure.

 

Ths instructions call for the whole thing, so I'm just going by that.  I'm sure it's not entirely correct, but you won't really see too much of it anyway. 

goldhammer

Nice start on it, will be watching it in the GB.

You keep this 130 thing up, you are going to have more of those things than the USAF does.

 

I know, lol.  There is already 4 hanging up, this one in the works, and the "Fat Albert" version in my stash.

Keyda81

 

 

and the "Fat Albert" version in my stash.

 

tempestjohnny

 

 

Keyda81

 

 

and the "Fat Albert" version in my stash.

 

 

 

 

I saw the Blue Angel's last year. Fat Albert puts on a great show of its own. Man the pilot knows how to fly that thing

 

 

I'm jealous!  We had the Thunderbirds in 2015, and they are scheduled to come again next summer.  Don't get me wrong I love the Thunderbirds too, but I would love to see "Fat Albert" at least once.  I've watched plenty of videos, but nothing beats in person.  I'm pretty sure the last time the Blue Angels were here was in 2007, and I wasn't able to attend the airshow.  I just remembering seeing the hornets running practices, and flying right over my house.  Scared the crap out of me a few times, lol.

Very true!  Best of luck and skill with your build!  I should drag out one of my 1/48 AC-130's.

Melgyver

Very true!  Best of luck and skill with your build!  I should drag out one of my 1/48 AC-130's.

 

I love the big ones!  I did a 1/48 C-130 with LED's last summer.  I love it hanging from the ceiling.

AC-130 gunships (and Fat Albert RATO take-offs) have always been a fascination to me. What a scary weapon the AC is. I built a 1/48 AC-130 Revell or maybe Testors, years ago but after a bad crash and not being satisfied with my construction it was scrapped and somewhat forgotten. 

A few years back I went to an airshow in Wichita Kansas and low and behold there sat an AC-130. The crew gave us a great tour and let me play with the Bofers twin 40mm and the 105.  What an experience!

The Bofers guns were interesting in that they came directly off of a WWII Battleship and shot WWII ammo. They showed us casings dated in the 1940s. They did say that the craft was off to have the Bofers replaced with some modern 30mm gun. The 20mm front Gatling guns had been removed apparently because of their relatively short range at least compared to the 105, 40s and new 30 allowing for a greater stand-off range.

My last encounter with an AC-130 was two years ago was at the USAF Museum in Dayton which has a historic example, actually the one that the 1/48 Revell model was based on.

Wow, all of this talk and the Gang building these things has renewed my intrest in this. I think I'll opt for the 1/72 version this time as the Museum is running out of room. I'll be watching your build and I'm starting the search as we speak!

Max

Ps--A little side story here. I asked one of the AC-130 crew if it didn't get kinda noisy during an attack. His comment was that the AC-130 was a noisy aircraft anyway and you couldn't tell much difference with the weapons running. Interesting!

Interesting about the noise aspect when firing the weapons!  I hadn't really thought about it before.  I've been a passenger on the C-130 a few times in Vietnam and it was a very noisy ride.  If you consider the greatest amount of noise is from the barrel of the weapons and it is exposed outside the aircraft in the slipstream there wouldn't be a huge amount of noise from the gun breaches. Noticeable I'm sure.

I really need to try and plan a trip to that museum!  Ok forget try, I'm going to make a trip to that museum hell or high water, lol.  I just did the virtual tour, and that right there is my ticket to seeing aircraft I never thought I'd get a chance to see in person!

Anywho, made a little bit of progress today.  Painted a bunch of stuff light ghost grey as per the instructions.  Got the rear landing gear together, and in place in the fuselage halves. 

I'm hoping that in the evenings during the week I can get working on the interior.  I won't be able to do much in the coming weeks, we are getting a puppy on Friday and I'm sure I'll be busy trying to train him, lol.

This is the weirdness I mentioned earlier.  This is not normally how Italeri kits are.  Guess I'll see how it works out when I get to it.

Nice work on this Keyda, good to see one of these being built. I've been thinking about getting a C-130, just a pity the RAF don't use these.

Hodakamax

AC-130 gunships (and Fat Albert RATO take-offs) have always been a fascination to me. What a scary weapon the AC is. I built a 1/48 AC-130 Revell or maybe Testors, years ago but after a bad crash and not being satisfied with my construction it was scrapped and somewhat forgotten. 

A few years back I went to an airshow in Wichita Kansas and low and behold there sat an AC-130. The crew gave us a great tour and let me play with the Bofers twin 40mm and the 105.  What an experience!

The Bofers guns were interesting in that they came directly off of a WWII Battleship and shot WWII ammo. They showed us casings dated in the 1940s. They did say that the craft was off to have the Bofers replaced with some modern 30mm gun. The 20mm front Gatling guns had been removed apparently because of their relatively short range at least compared to the 105, 40s and new 30 allowing for a greater stand-off range.

My last encounter with an AC-130 was two years ago was at the USAF Museum in Dayton which has a historic example, actually the one that the 1/48 Revell model was based on.

Wow, all of this talk and the Gang building these things has renewed my intrest in this. I think I'll opt for the 1/72 version this time as the Museum is running out of room. I'll be watching your build and I'm starting the search as we speak!

Max

Ps--A little side story here. I asked one of the AC-130 crew if it didn't get kinda noisy during an attack. His comment was that the AC-130 was a noisy aircraft anyway and you couldn't tell much difference with the weapons running. Interesting!

 

I can well believe that, the C-130 is a very noisey aircraft to fly in, i would say worse than any Helo. And as Mel says, the real noise happens at the other end. Firing most weapon systems is not as noisey as you might think, especially when you have engines running, headsets on and the adrenalin is going.

Squeezed in an hour of time this afternoon.  Hopefully will be able to do more this evening after dinner.  Most of the interior is together.  Later will be adding the windows, a few other bits, and putting the fuselage halves together.

Starting to look like a 130...  As to the new pup,congrats, that will be an adventure for sure as that is a very active breed.

Suggestion from old uncle Art - name it "NO" or "NO-NOT THERE" right from the start. Will save everyone confusion later on trying to get it to recognize a different name.

We named one of the cats "GET DOWN" one time.  She never did learn that it was a command as well as her name.

goldhammer

Starting to look like a 130...  As to the new pup,congrats, that will be an adventure for sure as that is a very active breed.

 

Suggestion from old uncle Art - name it "NO" or "NO-NOT THERE" right from the start. Will save everyone confusion later on trying to get it to recognize a different name.

We named one of the cats "GET DOWN" one time.  She never did learn that it was a command as well as her name.

 

Lol!  That's funny.  We have a husky as well, he's going to be 5 in July, and he is the laziest dog I've ever met.  He's all in if you want to go for a walk, or play with him, but the only time he ever asks for anyone to play is after he's finished eating his food.  He doesn't chew up anything, and will stay inside the fence even if the gate is wide open.  Strangest husky ever. 

Snuck in a few more hours after dinner.  Fuselage halves are now a whole, with a bunch of tape, lol.  I'm going to have to break out the putty and sand paper in some areas for sure.  I'm really not fond of the windscreen shape at all.  I know there is going to be quite a bit of work to do in that area.  It's covered in tape at the moment while the glue dries.

I got all the wings and tail glued together too.

Gettting closer to being ready to shred a few tanks and trucks.

Keyda, everything is looking great and bringing back some memories for me.

Melgyver

Interesting about the noise aspect when firing the weapons!  I hadn't really thought about it before.  I've been a passenger on the C-130 a few times in Vietnam and it was a very noisy ride.  If you consider the greatest amount of noise is from the barrel of the weapons and it is exposed outside the aircraft in the slipstream there wouldn't be a huge amount of noise from the gun breaches. Noticeable I'm sure.

 

The noise from the guns is more noticeable because, in AC-130's during missions they fly with the rear ramp partially lowered. There's a spotter tethered to the plane who lays down at the end of the ramp looking down and out for AA fire as well as secondaries. That alone increases the noise factor.

Bish, I believe Britain still sed C-130's; I have a British-marked C-130 hanging on my ceiling. It's AC-130's they don't use.

Finally, congrats on the puppy. He will bring you much joy. Who knows? He might even keep you company in your Hobby Room when he's older.

Duke, ye, thats what i meant, sorry, reading it back i can see it not very clear. We use the J,  in standard and lengthened versions.

My first ever flight on a fixed wing aircraft was on a C-130. That was some experiance.

Keyda81

This is the weirdness I mentioned earlier.  This is not normally how Italeri kits are.  Guess I'll see how it works out when I get to it.

 

 

I could very easily be wrong...but I believe the Italeri is a re-pop of the Testors kit (???)

I know I've done 2...1 Testors and 1 Italeri...they were the same. Those were both just your garden variety C-130 though...not the gunship. Almost pulled the trigger on this kit at the contest vendor room over the weekend...opted for one in 1/144 instead...I'm runnin outta room!

As long as we're on the subject of Herks, here's some motovational shots:

http://s213.photobucket.com/user/ikar_photos/library/C-130?sort=3&page=1

I tried to bring over some shots that I took in the 70s, both in the states and during Vietnam,  but photobucket refused to let me do it.  The link is for the C-130 section of my library.

fermis

 

 

Keyda81

This is the weirdness I mentioned earlier.  This is not normally how Italeri kits are.  Guess I'll see how it works out when I get to it.

 

 

 

 

 

I could very easily be wrong...but I believe the Italeri is a re-pop of the Testors kit (???)

I know I've done 2...1 Testors and 1 Italeri...they were the same. Those were both just your garden variety C-130 though...not the gunship. Almost pulled the trigger on this kit at the contest vendor room over the weekend...opted for one in 1/144 instead...I'm runnin outta room!

 

I've done 3 Italeri kits, the 1/72 E/H, the 1/48 J, and the 1/72 MC-130E, and none of them were like this.  I really dislike it.  I'm going to be playing with putty and sandpaper a lot with this one.  Hopefully I can get it to turn out halfway decent. 

ikar01

As long as we're on the subject of Herks, here's some motovational shots:

http://s213.photobucket.com/user/ikar_photos/library/C-130?sort=3&page=1

 

I tried to bring over some shots that I took in the 70s, both in the states and during Vietnam,  but photobucket refused to let me do it.  The link is for the C-130 section of my library.

 

Awesome thanks!

Bish

Duke, ye, thats what i meant, sorry, reading it back i can see it not very clear. We use the J,  in standard and lengthened versions.

My first ever flight on a fixed wing aircraft was on a C-130. That was some experiance.

 

I kinda figured that was the case. I envy you being able to ride on a C-130. Despite the noise and all; I'd still love to do so. I had a friend of mine who was civilian; he got to ride in one once. They were being evacuated for a hurricane and the Air Force loaded them all up on a Herc and flew them all to safety.

Fermis, I know what you mean about running out of room. I did that a long time ago.

Ikar, nice shots! Way to go!

Keyda, I know you'll get it looking right. Looking forward to seeing more.

Met my wife in the Air Force at Little rock.  She was a crew chief at the time.

I've ridden in a few Herks, C-5s, 141s, ans the most memerable of the fixed wings, a C-47.  It sat cammoflaged on the transit ramp with its windows open.  When we got in and sat on the bench seats I found that I had only half of a seat belt.  The ground handler came in, closed the windows, threw the boarding ladder in and slammed the cargo door closed.  For the next few hours we fish tailed throught the skys and a heavy storm.  You know, the piston engines sound just like they do in the movies.  People started getting sick and looking for the bathroom.  At the end of the cargo area was a small door under the vertical tail.  That was it, the part of the aircraft that was moving the most.

I will never forget that flight, and will never git in one again.  I don't know how my Father could fly those things back then.