1/72 CC-130H Hercules Canadian Forces Italeri

Sorry this is a day late, I was signing a lease on a place to live next semester yesterday and was out until late.

Well here it is, the post you have all been waiting for, the post I have been bragging about and hopefully building up your anticipation for. Most of my models I leave out the small/tiny things like tiny antennas or decals the size of dots, but not this one. I went all out. So read, look at the pictures, and enjoy as I explain how I made this bird such a beauty.

1/72 CC-130H Hercules Italeri

 Well, here is the model that has taken me forever to make. I wanted to make it as good looking as possible which is why it took so long to do. This is the 1/72 C-130 Hercules kit from Italeri with Leading Edge Models Canadian decals.

The model came with its own Canadian markings but they were older markings so I decided to purchase the leading edge decals and save the others for something else. As far as assembly goes it was exactly the same as the AC-130 Gunship by Italeri just without the guns. The model was easy to assemble with the wings being the only thing I had to use elastics on to
make them stay together. I painted the cockpit Cockpit Green with Neutral Grey seat cushions and I painted the dials on the instrument panel Flat Black. The ladder is Neutral Grey and the floor is Royal Light Grey

The cockpit after being inserted into the model. The black thing is a marble for a balast

I painted the interior the darker IJN Grey spray while the floor is Flat Aluminum which made a nice polish somewhat similar to that inside the actual thing. Overall the aircraft is the lighter IJN Grey

 
Unfortunately one of the prongs that holds the cargo door onto its hinges broke making the ramp either closed or broken off. But I refused to let that be the case so I bought a small hinge from Home Hardware and made an incision in the ramp and one in the bottom of the cargo hold of the plane and inserted the hinge into each side. Now the ramp stays in place and doesn't randomly fall off.

 

 This plane had me trying to innovate quite a bit because one marble didn't work. Problem was that I had already put the whole thing together and didn't have a way of putting a new marble in. But then it hit me that there was a lot of room in the nose wheel well so I put another marble there too. It still didn't work. So I took an empty paint thing, cleaned it out and sprayed it so now it looks like my CC-130 is transporting a large oil drum.

I built a LAV 25 and put little Canadian flags on it because it more closely matches Canadas LAV III's than any Stryker models available. I think it looks good with the CC-130

In the end the model turned out great and I can honestly say I am proud of it. I don't usually put the gear down on my models but it is a transport plane and I thought it made more sense to have the wheels down than up. I highly recommend this model even if you aren't Canadian as it comes with a huge decal sheet with markings for the USAF, RAF, RCAF, RAAF, France and Spain too I think. Was a lot of fun and every collection needs a C130 as almost every air force has one.

 Now for the technical and real life stuff. Air forces the world over use this aircraft for hundreds of purposes. Canada uses it for strategic air drops, Search and Rescue, Strategic Air Lift, Ariel Refueling, I'm not sure what it is technically called but dropping troops with parachutes.

 I took this pictures at the Kitchener/Waterloo air show where they had an H model and a J model on static display with free entry.

I doubt anything will replace this aircraft anytime soon that is not simply an updated version of this aircraft but someday there will come a need for the same kind of aircraft but more modern. The C17 is a fairly good sister plane but nothing beats the good old C130.

General characteristics

• Crew: 5 (two pilots, navigator, flight engineer and loadmaster)
• Capacity:
  
  
  • C-130E/H/J cargo hold: length, 40 feet (12.31 meters); width, 119 inches (3.12 meters); height, 9 feet (2.74 meters). Rear ramp: length, 123 inches (3.12 meters); width, 119 inches (3.02 meters)
  • C-130J-30 cargo hold: length, 55 feet (16.9 meters); width, 119 inches (3.12 meters); height, 9 feet (2.74 meters). Rear ramp: length, 123 inches (3.12 meters); width, 119 inches (3.02 meters)
  • 92 passengers or
  • 64 airborne troops or
  • 74 litter patients with 2 medical personnel or
  • 6 pallets or
  • 2–3 Humvees or
  • 2 M113 armored personnel carriers
• Payload: 45,000 lb (20,000 kg)
• Length: 97 ft 9 in (29.8 m)
• Wingspan: 132 ft 7 in (40.4 m)
• Height: 38 ft 3 in (11.6 m)
• Wing area: 1,745 ft² (162.1 m²)
• Empty weight: 75,800 lb (34,400 kg)
• Useful load: 72,000 lb (33,000 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 155,000 lb (70,300 kg)
• Powerplant: 4 × Allison T56-A-15 turboprops, 4,590 shp (3,430 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 320 knots (366 mph, 592 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6,060 m)
• Cruise speed: 292 kn (336 mph, 540 km/h)
• Range: 2,050 nmi (2,360 mi, 3,800 km)
• Service ceiling: 33,000 ft (10,060 m) empty; 23,000 ft (7,077 m) with 42,000 pounds (19,090 kilograms) payload ()
• Rate of climb: 1,830 ft/min (9.3 m/s)
• Takeoff distance: 3,586 ft (1,093 m) at 155,000 lb (70,300 kg) max gross weight; 1,400 ft (427 m) at 80,000 lb (36,300 kg) gross weight

Avionics
Westinghouse Electronic Systems (now Northrop Grumman) AN/APN-241 weather and navigational radar


 So there it is. My bi post about a large subject I am proud of. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I will take a year off from posting. Oh no, I have many more models to come like a CT-133, a CF-18F Canada's possible future fighter/bomber aircraft, an M1 A1 Abrams, a Mil Mi 26 and many many more. Stay tuned. I may also post some of the great wars that my models participate in. Don't worry, I don't smash them together, no I gently make them fight each other in great battles that will hopefully never come true.

(All pictures by me except the following, information from Wikipedia and the National Canadian Air and Space Museum.)