[OriginalMonty]

Probably a half and half - not too clean, but not filthy either. I'm trying to model the aircraft as it was when I saw it (only time I have seen one!). I'll probably try and fade the gunshi[ grey a bit, and do lots of oil staining, and smoke staining on the underside.

Didnt get very far yesterday, but the gunship grey is all varnished now so I can mask the division line between the top and bottom colours. I'm going to try doing this my using a piece of paper for the division, raised of the surface 2mm or so, so the demarkation line is slightly feathered.

Ben

[Andrew MacKay]

OriginalMonty, on Dec 16 2009, 11:34 PM, said:

Probably a half and half - not too clean, but not filthy either. I'm trying to model the aircraft as it was when I saw it (only time I have seen one!). I'll probably try and fade the gunshi[ grey a bit, and do lots of oil staining, and smoke staining on the underside.

Didnt get very far yesterday, but the gunship grey is all varnished now so I can mask the division line between the top and bottom colours. I'm going to try doing this my using a piece of paper for the division, raised of the surface 2mm or so, so the demarkation line is slightly feathered.

Ben

Real men do it by hand .. no masking required

[OriginalMonty]

Yeah but real men have an airbrush that isnt rubbishy and not working properly!

[C-130CrewChief]

You guys are funny!

How about this........
I got to crawl around an AC-130U in Depot with a brand new fresh paint job on it last week at Warner Robins AFB in Georgia!!! I think they painted it by hand..........

Curt

Just had to razz ya some.. You two guys and your gunships have been a lot of fun for me! Keep up the excellent work!

[OriginalMonty]

Now Curt, thats just not fair!

Do the AC-130Us not get painted at Hurlburt? And do you know what aircraft it was (serial number)?

[C-130CrewChief]

OriginalMonty, on Dec 17 2009, 05:00 AM, said:

Now Curt, thats just not fair!

Do the AC-130Us not get painted at Hurlburt? And do you know what aircraft it was (serial number)?

When they go through depot inspection they are stripped of all exterior paint. Depot inspection for the C-130 is done at Warner Robbins AFB.

Here is a pic of a Herk at depot.
http://media.macon.com/smedia/2009/03/05/2...ffiliate.71.jpg
And about detachable wings......
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images...ing_Work_lg.jpg
http://www.robins.af.mil/shared/media/phot...F-0000C-002.jpg

Cool beans!

[aircommando130]

I went to Kelly AFB a few times to pick up C-5's from depot and we got a tour through the facility. To see the "big jet" all apart and with no paint was a scary sight! I flew 64-14858 to Robins from Kadena to get the SOFI mod and they gave us a tour of that facility. There was a C-141B in the paint strip hanger that was bubbling like a pizza with that stripper all over it. Big chunks of paint sliding off on the floor! The herk hanger was pretty impressive...and to think I was going to pick one up after being put back together and fly it back across the Pacific!!

[RedHeadKevin]

Can you take some closeup pics of the painted-over Archer Rivet decals? I'm really interested in trying them, but I want to make sure they look good.

[C-130CrewChief]

RedHeadKevin, on Dec 17 2009, 07:58 PM, said:

Can you take some closeup pics of the painted-over Archer Rivet decals? I'm really interested in trying them, but I want to make sure they look good.

I'm curious as well!

Curt

[Anthony in NZ]

Yes indeed me too. I am loving this build you are doing here.

Thanks for the updates

Cheers
Anthony

[OriginalMonty]

Sorry guys - my internet has been down all day due to the snow here (I know, how rubbish are we in the UK!). I'll get some done for you tomorrow.

As an aside, we had another AC-130U turn up at Mildenhall this evening RCH1017 89-0514, so I'm going to go and try to catch that departing as well.

Ben

[OriginalMonty]

Oops! Forgot to update this over Christmas (please forgive me!). I've done the underside paint, feathered the camoflage slightly and started decalling. Happily there is no silvering on the decals so far (touch wood!).

No photos for now, as I'm away from home until Wednesday morning, but here is one of 89-0514 at Mildenhall:



Ben

[OriginalMonty]

Hello again!

Heres the latest progress on the Spooky - a lot has changed!

I've effectively finished the paintwork, bar the engine nacelles (which suffered a rather severe crash into my desk and needed to be repaired - dont ask!) and a few touchups.

The electrics all still work, and I'm beginning to work out a plan of attaching this to a base.

Decals are partially complete - I had to change the 0514 serial to 0510 - not to easy when you have no spare "0" decals!

And I've started to unmask the canopy - I just couldnt resist!





A few closeups of the rivets on the back - as always Im using the excuse of the flash bringing up all the rough parts! Haha.





Props still to be painted - tomorrow I hope:



Converted tail serial - from 890514 to 90510, and showing a tiny bit of silvering, nothing major so Im happy



Refuelling markings - just remembered I need to add 89-0510 along the back here too!




Hope you all enjoy that - it's coming together now!

Ben

[richter111]

Spectacular!

[OriginalMonty]

Ok, another update before I go to bed! After working all morning (mmm aircraft systems and performance lectures) I spent an hour or two getting the props done up. I painted them with a mix of grey/silver for the main part, and matt black for the tips and hub. The grey/silver mix gives it a nice sheen when the props spin, maybe a bit too silverly but it looks OK to me:

NOTE: The "sheen" here looks stupidly exaggerated, because of the torch lighting the prop and the camera exposer playing around with the lighting.










If I have enough time/funds I might get the "Hamilton" prop transfers from Archer to add to these. I still intend to make the custom propart thingy on each 3rd blade.

Ben

[aircommando130]

Actually...after hours of cutting the air the black prop tips kinda erode away on the edge that's doing the biting. I don't know the current name but it's not Hamilton Standard anymore either. In my stash of stuff I do have a HS prop sticker and a patch!! Lookin good though!!

[C-130CrewChief]

It's Hamilton Sundstrand now. That Gunpig is coming along just right brother!

[OriginalMonty]

Well, some preliminary nightops. I said I would wait until she was finished, but it was just too tempting!

Only bad side is that the long exposures and bright torch really bring out the faults in the kit, so please try and ignore them!

Also makes my post shading light greys along the panel lines stand out far more than they do, I might have to try and dull them down a bit.







Ben

[AnthonyWan]

That looks amazing Ben! Fantastic job - last three shots didn't really show any errors.



-Awan

[TaiidanTomcat]

Dude!!