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building 1/200 C-5 Galaxy - see pics inside


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Hi All,

I absolutely adore the American C-5 galaxy military transport aircraft because of its unique shape and grandeur that surpasses that of the Russian AN-124 Ruslan by far.

Having seen the prices that one of these old models, at 1/144 scale, go for on Ebay I knew that my partner would make my life a misery if I went for it LOL (if I suddenly stopped updating this post, then you know what happened LOL)

I love the 1/144 scale but I know that it would be a massive task to create one at that scale at a desired precision (I am a crazy modeller and I demand the accuracy of the model to be as much as a microscope can give - LOL) . So, I decide to build one at 1/200 scale that should be just about 37cm (14.5 inch) long. I also like that 1/200 scale and have several passenger and transport planes in this scale.

Before starting this enjoyable task I decided to make a practice run and have built a single fuselage section at 1/400 scale. Although the results were not as good as I would want from the finished model, still, it helped improve my technique and stress any problem that I could encounter in the big and final build.

I will be using white styrene sheets to create the outline and the cross- sections photocopied from the blueprints. Dense foam and milliput will be used to create the "skin" of the fuselage. Furthermore, I will engrave panel lines and the cockpit windows will be made out of clear resin.

Furthermore, I will engrave panel lines and then cast the master in resin to create the finished product. The cockpit windows will be made out of clear resin.

Enjoy the pics below,

Loveliner,

Blueprints:

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Photo removed due to Airliner.net copyright violation

The fuselage half (1/400 scale) with cross-sections and milliput (rough):

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The coss-section sanded, smoothed and primed (1/400):

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the coss-section sanded, smoothed and primed (1/400) - Closeup:

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the enormity of the project:

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hasegawa's 1/200 747 against blueprints of C-5 galaxy (also at 1/200):

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a few more pics of the sample cross-section:

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DSCF1132.jpg

Photo removed due to Airliner.net copyright violation

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Hey man, you rather post the last pictures as a link... copyright from Airliners.net can bring Steve some trouble if spotted.

Nice project, i except to see more from it!

(However i do the find the Ruslan Condor to be more impressive than the Galaxy.. but i'm a soviet dude you know? :whistle:)

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Hi Ray,

Thanks for the post,

Yes, I will be making both versions. I will be casting it in resin so should be able to get quite a few copies of the model, so I will be making both; with the landing gears up and down.

The landing gears of the C-5 Galaxy, especially the rear/main, are quite complicated, but I have detailed drawings of them so should be able to build them without too many problems.

regards,

Loveliner

Well I suppose if you can't find one, build it yourself. Nice progress and I like your method.

Will you go to the bother of making the gear as well or just put it on a stand?

;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi again and welcome back to my scratch build.

Although I could not spend much time this week on the project I still managed to make some progress. I cut out the fuselage and the bulkheads (at 1/200 scale) that are going to make up the unique shape of this beautiful giant.

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By the end of the week I managed to finish engraving the guides (showing where to glue the bulkheads) on the side profile of the model. I finished gluing the vertical bulkhead yesterday and hope to start attaching the horizontal outlines this weekend.

1/200 scale next to a 1/400 I built earlier to test my technique

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I have cut out some foam cross-section of the wing root and the main gear well frame that I will use towards creating the accurate shape of the fuselage.

DSCF1140.jpg

Next week I should start filling in the gaps between the cross-sections and reveal the full curvature of this beautiful transport aircraft.

Hope you are enjoying this build as much as I am and new updates should follow soon,

loveliner

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Hi Chris,

Thanks for the 'Thumbs Up'

As to your questions, I am using a blue semi-dense styerefoam I bought in a professional model shop.

Hope this helps

regards,

Loveliner

This looks fantastic! What kind of foam are you using?

Chris

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Hi to all, I am back with a little update.

I have finished putting the horizontal bulkheads and attached some pieces, cut out of blue modelling foam, to where the wing root and the gear well bulges are going to be.

I then used a foam cutting machine (that I scratch build very cheaply for this purpose) to shape other bits of foam that are going to be positioned between the bulkheads. This process took me two days to complete and the purpose is to save on the amount of milliput that is required for this project. Additionally, this also serves as a moral boost for me as the C-5 Galaxy is now beginning to take shape after several weeks of making sure all the bulkheads are as accurate as possible.

The next step will involve apply and smoothing in the millput to create the fuselage of this beautiful giant.

I am planning to create the cockpit windows out of clear resin and I think that the best way to ensure accuracy is to use Stereolithography.

Stereolithography is a common rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping technology for producing parts with high accuracy and good surface finish. This technique uses a CAD/CAM model being fed into this machine, which shines a UV laser beam onto a bath of UV sensitive resin. The resin cures wherever the laser shines and this allows to create quick and accurate shapes. Outsourcing the task of creating the clear cockpit will mean a fairly large expenditure and I am trying to raise this money by selling some kits on here (1/48 Hasegawa AH-64 and 1/72 Eduard L-39, check out http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....howtopic=180205 )

Enjoy the pics and any comments are welcomed.

The complete bulkheads of one side of the master fuselage part next to the foam pieces that are going to fill in the gaps between the bulkheads. Notice the wing root and the gear well bulges traced onto the foam and glued to the model. This technique should help me to judge better how to outline the fuselage.

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Very messy!!! The project next to the foam cutting machine and the spare foam bits.

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The results so far:

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Hi,

Here some of the progress I made on the tail and wings and ailerons so far. Hope you like it.

I cut out the sections and the bulkheads and created notches to slot the bulkheads into the tail and wings.

DSCF1168.jpg

I then glued them all together and here are the results

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Hi everybody!

I managed to do some work over the weekend but was limited for time so I did not do as much as I originally planned.

I went about strengthening the control surfaces of the C-5 by gluing some spars along the length of the wings elevators and the height of the tail. I also created a rig, made from foam board, to ensure that the wings remain straight when applying the milliput compound to create the volume of the wing.

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I then started applying the milliput to the wings, elevators and the main fuselage and smooth them between the bulkheads while maintaining the outline of the fuselage - BLOODY HARD WORK!!! :hypnotised:

I had to be careful to mix little amounts of milliput because it hardens relatively quickly compared to how long it takes me to flatten the milliput, apply it and smooth it out to the desired shape.

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Hope you are enjoying this build and thank you for you kind comment and for the various links and other contributions.

Gideon

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Hello again everybody

I have managed to cover about 85% of the single fuselage half with milliput so far.

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Next I will remove the blue foam shapes and sand the milliput. I will then replace the foam bits with milliput after carefully crafting it to the correct shape.

with main gear well bulge made from foam

DSCF1189.jpg

blue foam removed and will be replaced with milliput soon

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some of you have been sending me PMs asking why I am using Milliput instead of car body filler as milliput is rock hard when sets in and becomes hard to sand.

I must admit that I never tried using automotive body putty but I hear it is quite hardy, but I outline below some of the reasons as to why I still prefer using Milliput.

You are right about milliput not being without its disadvantages too. It is hard to sand but what makes it ideal for me is its ability to be moulded into the desired shape which enables me to see the contours of the aircraft better. From my previous experience using any putty, I found that it becomes difficult to work with after about 20 minutes or less of being exposed to air or any other catalyst. Milliput's ability to allow you to work with it for an hour before it becomes too difficult to work give me enough time to create that more accurate shape of the fuselage in this particular project. It also dries quite quickly too; once you leave it alone, it usually becomes sandable within 2-6 hours.

To reduce the amount of sanding, the fact that Milliput is easily mouldable with fingers, I can reduce the amount of sending required by controlling how thickly I apply the stuff.

Also, because milliput is hard as rock I can scribe very nice panel lines onto it whereas normal putties can be too brittle and chunk would begin to come off once you begin scribing.

Lastly, normal putties are based on cellulose, polyester or other hazardous compounds. I have two little girls that tend to run around playing (I don't have a workshop) and the fact that milliput is non-toxic and does not emit noxious smell keeps my partner happy too.

BTW, sorry to all of you loyal followers of this thread for not getting progress reports earlier. So, instead I decided today to spoil you with quite a few nice pics of this beautiful giant.

ENJOY!

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The project as it is next to Hasegawa's 1/200 747-200

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The rest:

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1st half of the fuselage, wings, elevators and tail almost complete (requires some sanding on certain patches)

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Wing roughly attached to 1st half of the fuselage:

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will start working on the other half of the fuselage - will take a while as have to prepare to exams in May but will keep you update with any news as soon as they come in.

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  • 2 months later...

Greetings,

I really like your work. I like that plane too, actually I'm making one in 1:48 scale. I'm making this plane with a schematic made by myself from photos and videos so it isn't as accurate as I would like it to be. So, I was wondering if it isn't so much to ask for those schematics you have there, since I've been looking for them every where without success.

You can check out my work here:

http://www.miliamperios.com/foro/aeromodel...xy-t109324.html

Thanks in advance,

Ricardo Yañez - raymchile@gmail.com

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