"Heavy Lifters" Cargo Plane GB 2008

I just placed my order for six Humbrol colors for the AN-12. I tried every which way I could to find Tamiya/MM/GS matches for the Humbrol colors in Roden's instructions, to no success even from IPMS Stockholm. Except for Med Sea Gray, all pretty strange.

I'm looking forward to starting as soon as the paint comes, and I learn how to use it. I've been using MM Acrylics for years now.

telsono wrote:

I just picked up this weekend the new Italeri Savoia Marchetti SM.82 Marsupiale in 1/72. It was the largest Italian transport of WWII and last flown in 1960. Mike T.

Mike- are you joining our happy band ?  I was looking at that Marsupiale on the Lucky Model webpage the other night- almost bought one too.

Yes, I was thinking of joining this GB. After Looking at my Sky Models 1/72 "Italian Bombers Decals" sheet, I have a few more choices and may select a simple Dark olive over grey pattern.

Mike T.

Mike T. !

Bablenw.  A Gigant could carry about 9 ton.  2 x light trucks, or a light AFV, or, in my case, a halftrack towing an 88.  Or 120 fully equiped infantry. There is some excellent footage on youtube of an AFV being reversed up the ramp into the cargo hold.  They did experiment with dropping a 39,000lb bomb, the Gigant was the only  Luftwaffe aircraft capable of carrying it.  However the plane broke up in mid air during the test. 

They were notoriously nose heavy.  There is a documented account of a Me323 flight where there was no co-pilot available.  A He-111 pilot was pressed into service as the flight captain.  He kept on trimming the plane during takeoff as if it were tail heavy, not nose heavy.  The Gigant used up all 2600 feet of runway and still could not get airborne.  The flight engineer who was in the right wing cavity sensed something was wrong and jumped clear  through an access hatch after 1900ft of runway.  He suffered a broken leg but was the only survivor of the 7 man crew, who died after the plane crashed into woods and exploded with a full load of avgas bound for the 109 squadrons in Budapest. 

Wirraway;

Great story and history. Thank you.

I've begun my initial research and dry fitting of this kit. The fueselage looks a bit warped but so am I....oops , but I'll wrestle with it. Here's a shot of the parts and box and stuff.

One of the reasons I'm doing this model is that I was a youngster living in Laos with my dad who was a USAID person so he was assigned there. We used to fly Air America Caribous and C123 Providers from the capitol of Laos, Vientiane to Udron Royal Thai Air base to use the exchange facilities. The flights were free of charge to Embassy personnel and their dependents. My dad knew many of the pilots from is C.A.T. days as a pilot, so we got to hang out in the cockpit...well more like stand in the Caribou's and watch them fly. Smelly, noisy, with really comfortable bucket seats..ha ha ha but what a thrill. I also got to fly in an Air America Huey once too. So this GB and model have a very nostalgic feel for me.

Neil

BUMP- plus I've been busy. I figured that the Heavy Lifter would need something, well, heavy to lift. So I found a nice little 1/72 Russian gas truck that'll be backing up the ramp into the AN-12 Cub which is the main subject.

This was a very nice kit. it probably had 100 parts: the whole 6x6 drive, cab interior. I had to do the decals with trim film as the kit originals were shattered.

This was a very nice build that took me a couple of weekends.

The Cub is waiting to be started, so I wanted to show my commitment. I ordered all of the Humbrol colors, which I could not otherwise match to Roden's color charts.

More soon,

Bill

Very nice build on that gas truck. What does the decal on the side mean? It should look nice with your airplane build. Are you planning on weathering the truck?

Neil

Thanks! It's really little like about 3" long but it was really fun to build.

Ogneopasno translates as "flammable".

I've since finished it- got that missing hub on, plates, running lights. I'm only going to dull it a bit as it will probably contrast better with the Cub, which i want to really weather.

Bill

Nice work on the tanker Bill.  Looks like a beaut.

I have got the wings/tail on.  engines and struts next. 

Just ran into this thread...

I am wondering if a 1/72 EC-130H would be allowed, and if it would be too late to join with this?

The EC-130H Compass Call is a heavily modified Herk that is used in electronic warfare:

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=190

Here's one of the two birds I was crew chief on:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Lockheed-EC-130H-Hercules/0354211/L/

The base kit is the Italeri/Testors 1/72 scale C-130E kit. I'll be scratchbuilding all the exterior detail and quite a bit of other work as well. Will be an interesting and fun build, I think!

Hey Damon, how much cargo can one of those puppies carry? I seem to remember they still have some cargo capability, but it must be reduced some by the EW suite, right?

Oh...and let's not forget that crew chiefs rule. :-) I crewed KC-135s from '89-94.

The EC-130H can still carry some cargo with the EW suite. Can't say how much...

Crew Chiefs do rule!!!

Interesting on the KC-135 bit-where I work at is one of the PDM locations for the KC-135R models. There's a chance your bird came through here...

cdclukey:

I'll look into the database we have (not sure how far back it goes) and see if I can find your bird...

Cool! Much appreciated. The last I heard she was with the Guard unit at Niagara Falls, NY, but they just converted from the -135 to the C-130H, so I have no idea where she went from there.

On edit: Found a news story about the Guard unit's conversion, and my bird is in the active Air Force again. Here's a photo of her back when she was at Niagara:

One more edit: MUCH better photo!

http://www.airfighters.com/photo_11604.jpg

I never knew she was in the Maine Guard, and might still be because that pic was taken last October...that's really cool, because I'm from Maine and my Dad was a Maine guard guy!

Hmmm..........sometimes my level of stupidity amazes even me......The 12 engine nascelle halves for the gigant, are, in fact, numbered on the inside.  So you attach 1 to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3, etc. To eventually end up with the six engine nascelles.

Ie: each nascelle is different, to allow for the different thickness of the wing the farther away you get from the wing root.  Doh!  I got some sanding and filing ahead of me, for sure.  Cardshark, be warned !  (I know you wont make the same mistake as me anyway)

This is the first multi-engine kit I've made where the engine nascelles were not moulded as part of the wings (ie: you construct the engine and then attach it to the wing)

You can see the size of the beastie compared to a 1/48 Superfortress.  Something tells me the Gigant will only ever be a 1/72 kit, a bit like the B-36 or B-52.  Anyway, back to the bench.

Paul. 

The SM.82 has hit the bench! Italeri has done a good job with it. I'm still trying to decide which markings to use, probably 604-2 that comes with the kit. I have a good picture of another aircraft in the same squadron in that same pattern. The engines and cowlings I am replacing with the Engine and Things set. This set was intended for the old AvUsk kit, but can be adapted easily for this kit. E and T's cowlings has pronounced, and maybe overscale details, but that is one of the points I like about this aircraft is the cowlings and their characteristics.

This is considered the first purpose built and designed military transport. Prior to this everyone modified a civilian aircraft for the chore (DC-3 to C-47, Junkers Ju-52).

I'll try to take pictures this weekend, but I am having camera problems and may have to send it out for repair (macro for one, not working).

Mike T.  

cdclukey wrote:

Cool! Much appreciated. The last I heard she was with the Guard unit at Niagara Falls, NY, but they just converted from the -135 to the C-130H, so I have no idea where she went from there. On edit: Found a news story about the Guard unit's conversion, and my bird is in the active Air Force again. Here's a photo of her back when she was at Niagara: One more edit: MUCH better photo! http://www.airfighters.com/photo_11604.jpg I never knew she was in the Maine Guard, and might still be because that pic was taken last October...that's really cool, because I'm from Maine and my Dad was a Maine guard guy!

That would be so cool... it's always fun learning the history of your bird!

Haven't had much time to do modeling; work heaped up on me this past week.

Took a good look at the Testors/Italeri kit... and discovered one big problem... the forward cargo bay bulkhead is molded wrong (unless you were a three foot high person), there is a doorway that is way too small and short. So I'm going to scratchbuild a whole new flight deck and most likely cargo compartment as well. It looks to me like they used the Gunship version to mold the flight deck; the way it is laid out is similar to the old C-130A flight decks (there was a major revision to the flight deck after that model).

Will post pictures when I can!

Sounds really awesome, Chief! Looking forward to seeing it.

My Caribou is coming along very slowly.  I've been working on the wings making nav lights and dry fitting the engine cowels. Looks like they fit ok. Next I'm going to work on the cockpit and seal up the fueselage halves. I'll post some pics soon too.

Neil

My SM 82 is coming along ok. I find the joining up of the fuselage halves a bit of a challenge. They made the plastic thin and the locator pins far apart, This resulted in some slippage from warping of the halves. Just filled in and sanded it even. The inscribed lines are shallow and have to be re-scribed after sanding.

Here's the cockpit area:

I invested in the "Engine and Things" engine and cowl set intended for the original "Aviation Usk" kit. Here are them compared to the kit parts. I like the deeper details on the resin set. The shape of the cowlings in the kit resembles more of the post war Prat and Whitney replacements than the original wartime cowlings for the Alfa Romeo engines.

This is the kit set:

Here is the "Engine and Things" set:

Here is the kit parts temporarily mounted kit set:

The "E&T" temporarily mounted:

I do prefer the "E&T" set and will use them for the final build.

Mike T.

Wirraway, 

I have been busy finishing projects for other Group Builds plus another very important build. Still trying to finish up the seams. This week I am away from home on a business trip.

This last build which was the most important. As a present to my wife for Mother's Day, I built and painted up the figure that is linked below. She loved it, even with my interpertation of the colors. I made sure it was done before I caught my flight.

http://www.coloradominiatures.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2406

Mike T.

cardshark_14 wrote:

Hey all, looks like some good progress is being made on these big birds.  I've been working on an Emily, so I haven't got much (or anything at all) to show for this GB yet. However, I did come across a rather inspiring picture of the steel structure of an Me 323 I'm gonna venture into treadhead territory and see if they can't identify what all that is.  Then, maybe I'll roll up my sleeves and build a target or two for the interior.