Revell Germany 1/144 CC-177 w. CanMilAir decals

[Charlie Cheetah]

Well its time I get started on my first build for this GB. My subjet is the Revell Germany 1/144 C-17A Globemaster III kit which I'll be doing as a CF CC-177 using CanMilAir decals.

Here's the start date proof, not really needed, but its not a bad way to show what your gonna build. This kit will be built OOB.

I knew the blade antenna was bent over and I was prepared to fix that before I got into the build, but upon inspecting the kit parts I noticed that the nose on the starboard fuselage half had cracked along some of the panel lines below the windscreen opening. A reversed 'L' below the windscreen, and another line down from there towards the nose gear opening. hey are clean cracks, running along panel lines so it should be easy to fix. I've never seen a kit with fuselage parts molded so thin before. I ran some Tamiya extra thin cement down the lower crack then taped the fuselage halves together to keep the proper alinement. Ill fix the upper part once I get the cockpit floor in place.

Edited January 19, 2011 by Charlie Cheetah

[Charlie Cheetah]

Managed to get some work on this one while at home over the holidays.

Here's the crew cabin. I didnt spend a lot of time here since not much of it will be seen once the fuselage is closed up. All paints here were MM enamels or acryls.

The Cargo bay will be a bit more visible so I'm doing what I can here. Detail painting is not my strong suit, and at this scale doesn't help matters. still, Im happy with the results. I added strips of evergreen sheet to reperesent overhead lighting. The harneses were simply traced over with a white prismacolor pencil. I still need to add a wash to bring out some of the depth.

Besides that, I've worked on some sub assemblies and I may start (no pun intended) the engines later tonight.

[RKic]

Nice looking model so far, and I support your choice of IPA as well

[Charlie Cheetah]

Been slowly plugging away at this one over the last few weeks, I took this week off for my winter vacation, so I got quite a bit done over the last few days...

I found an online build of one of these kits being done as an RAAF Globemaster which appears to be identical to the Canadian ones so Im folowing it closely. The build is over at www.scalespot.com. http://www.scalespot.com/onthebench/c-17/build.htm

I believe the builder is Gary Wickham, excellent build. He built it in flight, and I am now getting tempted to do the same thing. I was originally wanting to diplay it parked with the cargo bay opened up. I do have everything temporarily closed up while getting ready to paint and the fit of the closed ramp and doors is pretty good. It'll depend on how striaght I got the main gear struts mounted, if they are too crooked or sitting too high, I will go for the in flight model.

I finished off the interior as well, applying the decals for the cargo bay floor. The decals however do not match the pattern of the non slkip flooring, oh well, it will barely be seen. I used some ProModelers wash as well, forgetting to put a clear coat down first. Looks worse in the pictures that it does in rl.

Here is one of the completed main landing gear assemblies, notice the aft strut is slightly towed in. There is also quite a bit of play as far as how high or low the struts are mounted, I really think mine will be sitting too high and may cause some clearance issues with the wheels. If so, it will be too hard to fix now, so I will simply do the in flight pose instead.

One thing that is different on the export Globemasters from the stock USAF C-17A is what appears to be soem type of faired in FLIR device on the nose, reminds me of faired in fog lights on a sports car. These are mounted on either side of the nose just above the forward nose gear doors.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Canada---Ai...ster/1789204/L/

I mistakingly placed mine a bit too high so Ill have to make some new RWR antenas to replace the kit ones I removed.

I first drilled out some pilot holes, then used a bigger drill bit to open them up, finally using a 1/32" dia bit going straight in along the axis of the fuselage. I then made the inner walls of these from styrene tube, cut from the shaft of a Walmart brand cotton swab. I cut them at an angle and used Tamiya super thin to hold them in place. Then sealed off the back with Micro Crystal Clear. I forgot to color that part though so Ill have to do it from the front. The lens appears to have a gold or amber color to it. Once the model is painted, and clear coated, Ill seal off the openings with more Crystal Clear.

The fit of the interior parts is actually pretty good as long as you take your time test fissting to see how it will go together.

And finally, I couldnt resist a test fit of the majopr sub assemblies before calling it quites today. I need to fill a few more seams and sand some filler now before I permanantly attach the wings.

Edited January 19, 2011 by Charlie Cheetah

[Emvar]

I've got that build bookmarked. My kit is sitting in the box still. Good work Charlie.

[Ken Middleton]

Nice work Charlie! Looking forward to more and watching this for pointers. Someday I want to do a USAF one, and the "Spirit of Connecticut"

[phantom]

I've got that build bookmarked. My kit is sitting in the box still. Good work Charlie.

Looking good Charlie, Elmo. You have had that Model in the box since the mini mafia gb around 3 or4 years ago!!!!!!

[Emvar]

Looking good Charlie, Elmo. You have had that Model in the box since the mini mafia gb around 3 or4 years ago!!!!!!

Which you were the only one to complete....... Ask Tony or Don to produce finished model pics.

[Charlie Cheetah]

Got busy since the last update. I finished the major assembly, filled and sanded the seams, then started pre-shading, then had a near disaster. While I was doing my pre-shading I loosened my grip un-intentionally and dropped the fuselage/wings assembly, caught it by a wing as it fell into my lap, but wing I caught it by cracked at the wing-root joint, and I had a really nice sanded seam too. Oh well, I cleaned out my airbrush, re-attached the wing and re-sealed the seam, then called it a night. Back at it this morning. I sanded the seam then finished the pre-shading.

I decided to go ahead and start the color coat after that. The kit instruction call for AMC grey (fs36173), that's confirmed by CanMilAir's instructions who recommend Tamiya XF-53 which is what I used. Its definitely the right color, but I wanted some scale effect. So once the base coat was down, I buffed the paint out, then mixed about 30% Tamiya gloss white into the grey to get a nice scale effect grey. I then did a couple of mist coats over the base color which not only lightened up the paint a tad, but also helped blend in the darkened panel lines.

Here's the major assembly with the base color over the pre-shading.

Here are the horizontal stabs, on the left is just the base coat over the pre-shading, on the right has had one pass of the lightened mist coat, you can already see a subtle difference.

Engine nacelles, after 2 passes of the lightened mist coat plus a third partial pass over the upper surfaces

The metaltics used were Alclad aluminum and Jet Exhaust as well as some plain old Testors square bottle steel. The compressor faces were done with Model Master dark andonic (sp?) grey, and RLM 66 for the center cone

I did a third pass of the mist coat over the upper surfaces of the wings and fuselage as well, plus the top of the vertical stab. Tomorrow Ill seal it up and start the decals. Still havent decided on an in flight model or wheels and ramp down. Does look graceful in flight.

[Ken Middleton]

Charlie - that looks great - bummer on the drop - I seem to be doing more and more of that lately.

The engines look especially well done!

[Quiddy]

Looks good Charlie.

[AX 365]

Nice work Charlie. Been there. Done that. On the drop bit. Unfortunately, mine hit the floor. Grrrrrr!!!!

In flight or on the ground, I'm sure she'll look good.

Mike

BTW - I approve of the omnipresent brown barley sandwich container in your photos.

[Charlie Cheetah]

BTW - I approve of the omnipresent brown barley sandwich container in your photos.

[Spit1A]

Looks great! I like the subtle variation in the paint.

[ALF18]

Thanks for all the detailed explanation on the build. I may attack mine for this GB - your experiences are helping me sum up the courage to do it!

ALF

[Charlie Cheetah]

Thank you very much guys.

[Sean Bratton]

Great job, Charlie. As Ken said your on the engines deserves special credit. That's what scared me from pulling my kit off the self.

Cheers,

Sean