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AC-130U Spectre, 1/72


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I´d like to show some of my progress of the AC-130U I´m currently building. Unless like the AC-130H of ESCI I didn´t put much effort into detailing the interior since I´m planning to model the aircraft completely shut.

During our local hobbyshow over this weekend I was able to glue all the lumps and bumbs to the aircraft. Fitting was an issue now and then, and especially the instructions for the starport side were very weak: They only indicated that I have to attache an air intake somewhere on the right side and in front of the wings, but gave no detailed information where exactly...

Spectre2.jpg

Also the fuselage halves were a bit warped and needed a lot of attention.

Spectre3.jpg

Spectre1.jpg

I drilled a hole into the 40mm muzzle and also replaced the 105mm muzzle brake with a plastic straw. Now it looks much better.

Spectre4.jpg

I´m also planning of scratchbuilding the forward 25mm Minigun. The instruction says I should use one of the miniguns that came with the kit, but theses are too small, miss a lot of detail and have 6 barrels - the 25mm has 5.

HAJO

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Very cool! I'm building this monster myself. Lot's of fit and other issues. Please keep us posted!! I want to see if you're having the same problems as I'm having. Plus what you did about them.

Paul

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Thanks for watching!

I won´t be able to work on the kit until may 1st (I´m out of town). But I can tell some things I did already, for instance I drilled open the vents for the air intakes on the starport side.

As you all can see the sponsons and the belly don´t fit too good, still some gaps in the surface between the different parts.

HAJO

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry for not updating, but real life kept ruining my model-life... :rofl:

Anyway, have a look at this:

U-Boat-mini1.jpg

Got an idea?

The photoetched parts were made by a fellow model-club member, and the needles were the gift of the wife of another member. Only problem so far: I don´t have any superglue at home, now I´m keeping my fingers crossed that strange stuff I used to hold the first barrel will hold tight...

HAJO

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OK, some pictures before I have to go out of town for some weeks again and you won´t get any updates.

At first the guns. I´m quite satisfied with the minigun, although I think I could have used "bigger calibre" needles for this. The 105mm is also quite good, sorry for the dark picture:

U-Boat-mini2.jpg

And some pictures of the model itself.

U-Boat1.jpg

U-Boat2.jpg

U-Boat3.jpg

Except for the cabin windows and the guns above all parts are in position, and the model also received the first coating with a bright grey for the underside. Next steps will be the mounting of the wings and then start with the darker grey for the rest of the aircraft.

HAJO

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Don't know cause actually i dont know really good this plane but for sure the big one...a 72nd scale and I think the USCG one!

any advice for the kit,scale etc and overall markings!i was looking or for the USCG or for an interesting one,something different...

Cheers

;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

OK, this weekend I will make a lot of progress.

The wings are already painted, I have chosen to attach them later, because painting the whole model is hard enough. Just imagine holding the weight of the model in your one hand while brushpainting with the other for over an hour... I did that once with my MC-130E and it was no fun.

The pictures are showing the main body after I had painted some of the more "difficult" areas like windows and the contrast line between towards the belly.

U-Boatcolor2.jpg

U-Boatcolor1.jpg

By the way, the clear parts of the canopy do not fit very well, I hope it can´t be seen too good....

HAJO

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Decals done, also the flat coat over the sections where I painted some future for a better decal-setting.

U-Boat4.jpg

I will most likely keep it this way, it looks heavily weathered like many of the AFSOC-birds. It also blends in into the carpet... :cheers:

U-Boat5.jpg

U-Boat6.jpg

HAJO

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK, now it´s finished! :woot.gif:

AC-130U1.jpg

AC-130U2.jpg

I repainted the darker areas, using a mix of clear coat and the grey I used. This way I was also able to tone down the markings and numbers. Now I think the Spectre looks just cool....

AC-130U3.jpg

AC-130U4.jpg

You can also see the weapons installed now, the Minigun was really worth the effort!

AC-130U5.jpg

AC-130U9.jpg

And some more details:

AC-130U6.jpg

AC-130U7.jpg

AC-130U8.jpg

HAJO

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