1/72 C-130 "Fat Albert" Trashed

looks like a fun project. I have a brother that became penpals with captain delong who was commander of fat Albert at the time. when the angels came to town captain delong gave us a personal tour of Albert  and f-18s even got to sit in the pilots seat. and lots of photos with AC and pilots.

great fun.

Come to Cleveland this Labor Day weekend.  The Angels will be flying here.  I have a ton of Angels pictures, going back to 1968.  They include RATO takeoffs.  I was a Herk hydraulic mech in the Corps.

Tamiya makes a white tape for curves, couple of widths, worked well for me on a couple of projects.

The 3M fine line comes in a pretty good sized roll, so will last you a long time, in reality no more expensive than any other for what we do. That you can get from any auto paint supply store. 

But as tight as those are, probably better off laying down the tape and cutting the curves, then burnish the daylights out of it. 

Model Master enamel #1772 in the bottle for Blue Angel Blue, I think also available in acrylic bottle.

Make a final burnish just before paint to make sure, and the light coat of clear is the safety back-up, or a light coat of the color you masked up, in this case the white.

Thanks Toshi!  It's a learning experience that's for sure.  I masked off all the blue, and re-sprayed the white, using flat this time.  I'm going to let that dry for most of the day then I'll pull everything off later and see how it looks.  Fingers crossed!

Yah keyda81, the clear coat technique works.  I for one can attest to that.  I’ve had issues in the past, a forum member explained this technique and it works miricales.  I do have the utmost confidence in that you’ll be able to fix  the issues at hand.  It’s really minor cosmetics at best.

With saying that, everything looks awesome!  I can almost visualize it’s completed form.  Great job!

Your friend, Toshi

jeaton, I could of done that with the white, but the Blue Angel Blue I could only find in a rattle can.  Next time I will make sure to order some flat paint though.

TheMongoose, the corners are the worst of it, but it will give me some practice in fixing flubs!  That is a bit pricey, but if it would of saved me the errors it's worth it, I'll have to pick some up.  I will try the clear coat trick next time.  I've never even thought of doing that.  I thought I burnished the tape down well enough, but it must of peeled up ever so slightly in spots. 

Sounds like sound advice.  That is experience talking I can tell.  You won't mind if I write that down.  Thanks for commenting.  Helps us all.  

Mark

Blue on white is tough for sure. It looks like it went well except around thos ecurves? I’ve had success with 2 different methods on my Thunderbird graphics:

3M fineline tape burnished with a toothpick. Nothing gets under this stuff. It’s flexible and will get down into fine panel lines and go around corners. A bit pricey tho at $17 a roll. I use the 1/16” width.

Tamiya, or the yellow painters tape from the home depot paint dept, in conjunction with a coat of clear before spraying your color coat. The clear fills any panel line or area that didn’t quite seal right And keeps the color from bleeding thru.

Keyda, I find it easier to do all the color coats in flat as they dry much faster and coverage is better with less paint build up.  The final gloss clear coat hides many sins.

After letting things dry for a few hours I went and pulled the masking off.  Despite pressing on the tape several times all the way I had some bleed through, and it must of lifted near the wing cause I got some overspray.  I also got a spot of pretty bad bleed through near the tail.  I'm going to let it dry over night, and I will try and fix all the messed up areas tomorrow. 

Hopefully I can get it all cleaned up.  I think I'll be sticking to flat paint jobs for a while after this.

Today is apparently not my day.  I got the masking done, and start laying down the blue paint.  Next thing I knew I had runs in the paint!  Grrr.  It's out of the rattle can, and it must be a bit thinner than I'm used to.  Then I realized the instructions were wrong when it came to where to mask off at the tail.  So I landed up painting a small section along the sides of and behind the tail blue, that were supposed to stay white.  I should of paid more attention.  I already know to never trust the kit instructions. :Face Palm: 

We will call this one a learning experience, and at some point I will try again.  For now I think it will still come out looking decent.  Just not as nice as I wanted it to.

Currently drying upside down. 

jeaton01

Here's some motivation, Keyda, from the 2008 California Capital Airshow.

 

 

 

Of course these guys were there trying to steal the show. "Fat" chance, eh?

 

 

Indeed!  I LOVE the Herc!  The last Wings Over Houston show we went to where the Blue Angels were flying, my main intrest was the 130.  The pilots of the Herc are great in their own right.  I had little interest in the fighter team, I just wanted to watch that Big Beast do it's thing!!

We used to spend time out at the hangar my Dad flew out of at Hobby Airport.  For a while, there was an air freight company that flew 130's.  Hearing the hangar shake and feeling the rumble of those things through your feet as they powered up to take off was something to be experienced through all your senses!! 

Other than watching some taking off using JATO, which must have been amazing to experience live, there are videos of the Navy testing a 130 on an aircraft carrier.  I _think_ it didn't even use the hook, just dropped onto the deck, and reversed the props as fast as possible.  Truely amazing!!

I don't have one of these in my stash.  That shortage will have to be fixed!!  Watching this WIP!

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Looking good nice progress 

Thanks DantheMan!

Masking is turning out to be a nightmare!  Trying to get everything even is a complete pain in the butt.  The nose area was the worst part.  I'm done with that area, so the rest shouldn't be to bad.  But I'm taking a break for lunch. 

Where I'm at.

I'm pretty sure the points behind the nose are a little off from eachother, but I can't really tell anymore!  I'm calling it close enough. 

Your C-130 is looking great.

Thanks mmthrax, I have no paitence for putting decals in the sun, lol.  I should of done it, but didn't want the blue to get bleached.  I can  always paint the yellow stripe along the fuselage if the paint doesn't match. 

Finally got some paint on.  I could not stand to do anymore sanding! 

I know the wing root is still visible on one side, and not on the other.  I wasn't trying to make the one side disappear.  It won't be as noticeable once the wings are painted blue, I hope anyway.

Props are done except for a gloss coat.

I'll mask it off and do the blue tomorrow.  Hopefully it comes out looking alright, lol.  I've gotten to the point that if it doesn't I'll just buy another 1/72 kit, and the Caracal decals.

Hello Keyda81,

Your model looks really good.  I'll be following along.

I know I am new here but, regarding the decals, I have tried the sunlight trick and for me it worked like a champ.  I was concerned because the decals were 50 years old.  You can see what I started with in my thread Very old Revell C-135.  They were pretty bad.  I put them on the dash of my car for about a month during a Texas summer.  To my surprise and delight they whitened to like brand new.  I then coated them with Microscale decal film and trimmed carefully.  Worked great.  Give it a try.  

Mark

Jay Jay, I'll have to try and find one of those kits.  I would prefer a 1/72 over 1/144.  I like "decent" sized models, lol.

stikpusher, I'm going to try and save the funds.  Some people thing it's pricey, but I think it is well worth it.  You won't get many oppurtunitys to fly on a WW2 era plane.  Whiskey 7 was actually the lead plane of the second wave on "D Day".

The Mongoose, actually it was last April!  So yep well over 6 months, lol.  I have slowed down lately, and I've spent a lot of time sanding this one.  Thank you!

Glued the engine nacelles on before (hopefully) the last round of primer.

Looks pretty good on the bottom.

Not too bad on top either.

Can still see where the putty is depending on the angle you look at it.  Hopefully a bit more sanding in these areas will get rid of that.

I will sand a bit more tomorrow I guess.

Keyda81

It's been far too long since I've built a Herc... 

 

i can’t help but comment...is far too long equal to 6 months! Lol feels like I just followed a c-130 build from you! But then you really crank them out great work on every one too 

Keyda81

Thanks stikpusher!  It's getting there, still needs a bit more work though.  Despite all I've heard about how "uncomfortable" it is to fly on a Herc I still would love to know for myself, lol.  At the very least I'm going to try and get a flight on "Whiskey 7" this summer. 

 

Best of luck to you on getting a hop in Whiskey 7. I’m sure that will be most memorable. As far as riding in a 130 being uncomfortable, they are no more or less so than any other Air Force cargo type. And the one time I did get to ride up front and enjoy the view, it was spectacular! 

goldhammer, short of joining the Air Force I'm not sure how I would go about getting a ride on a Herc, but I know I can get a ride the C-47 as long as I have the cash.  Thank you, I'm still sanding away, lol.

Round 2 of sanding.....

Round 3 of primer, lol.....

Just when you think you've sanded enough......

Started on the engines before I put them on the plane, make things a little easier.

Hopefully I can just focus on sanding a few more areas, and do one more round of primer and be good to go for paint, after a final wet sand of course. 

Keyda81

Thanks stikpusher!  It's getting there, still needs a bit more work though.  Despite all I've heard about how "uncomfortable" it is to fly on a Herc I still would love to know for myself, lol.  At the very least I'm going to try and get a flight on "Whiskey 7" this summer. 

 

Go for it Keyda, everyone should try to get a flight in one.  Unforgetable experience, at least without several shots of your favoite beverage.  Just kidding, You would love it I think.

FA getting smoother and closer to paint, nice job so far.

Thanks stikpusher!  It's getting there, still needs a bit more work though.  Despite all I've heard about how "uncomfortable" it is to fly on a Herc I still would love to know for myself, lol.  At the very least I'm going to try and get a flight on "Whiskey 7" this summer. 

Nice job on seam clean up Keyda. I’ve seen Fat Albert many times at the ElToro air shows from the mid 70’s until that base closed in the late 90’s. Certainly the prettiest Herky Bird I ever saw. 

Like some of the other folks here I have plenty of one way trips on them as well. And after several hours of flying nap of the earth in them, you always got to a point of not minding getting out of them without landing first... lol! 

Thanks Toshi!

Jay Jay, Sanding them completely gone is a bit more work than I thought it would be.  I'm still in the process of sanding things.  I'll see what I can live with, and what I can't.  This will be the longest part of this build for sure.  What C-119 kit was it?  I plan on building one of those for the planes of Niagara idea I have, but haven't settled on a kit yet.

Real G, I have yet to see Fat Albert in person.  I've seen the Blue Angels fly right over my house about 10 yrs ago.  But I couldn't attend the show back then, and they haven't been here since.  I am surprised that there really aren't any other kits out there for the Herc's.  I agree it's time for a new kit!  Thanks for the tip with the stretched sprue.  I may just do that.  Sanding every thing smooth is a bit more time consuming than I thought. 

After the first round of sanding and adding putty.

Got the props painted.

Second coat of primer.

Better, but still needs more work.

Back when the Blue Angels switched from A-4 Skyhawk to the F-18 Hornet, I got a chance to see their Fat Albert do a RATO take off.  It was startling to see such a lumbering beast leap into the air.  Even more surprising was that the sound of the RATO packs was where the Vipers from the old Battlestar Galactica TV show got their "turbo" sound effect!  The F-18s put on a great display, especially the low speed, low altitude, high AOA flyby.  But the Herk's RATO takeoff was what I thought was most memorable.

I only got to see the Blue Angels' F-4 Phantoms once, in 1970.  To a little kid, they were impressive as heck, with their thundering J-79 engines spewing smoke.

The C-130 is a subject that really deserves a new 21st century tool. The Italeri kit (and the Airfix and ESCI ones too) have soldiered on well past their "sell by" date.  With so many variants and operators, it is surprising no manufacturer has stepped up to the plate.

I believe there are aftermarket decals for Fat Albert (Caracal?). You could fill those seam lines and restore raised panel lines with stretched sprue.  I have been using sprue more than putty lately, as it lays down a lot more neatly, and if you carefully scrape most of the excess off with a knife before switching to sandpaper, you loose a lot less detail.

Good luck on your build!

Now you've made me think twice about redoing/removeing my C-119"s raised panel lines but...NAAW it's already done with the complicated 1950's four color USAF paint job. I bet it would look a lot better without them though. If I ever build another, I will definately remove all those unsightly over raised panel lines.

Good luck on the sanding, everything looks fantastic.  I’m looking forward to the actual paint job.

Your friend, Toshi

Mopar Madness

Oh how I wanted this kit back in the 80’s when I was a kid!  I was so fascinated by that Blue Angel paint.  I may just have to hunt one down for the stash some day.

 

I found mine on eBay.  I'm sure there are a few still floating around on there.  If you can't find one at a reasonable price you could pick up a different kit, and just get the Caracal decals.