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C-130H Hercules - 40th AS, Dyess AFB, Texas


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I found out the other day that the C-130H aircraft that I used to maintain at Dyess AFB, Texas have either been retired, turned into ground trainers or transferred to other bases. The last C-130H left Dyess on 26 September 2012.

For 37 years Dyess' C-130 Hercules and its Airmen have built a legacy in the Air Force. That legacy came to end Sept. 26 as the last two C-130H models, tail numbers 1667 and 2063, departed for Little Rock AFB, Ark. On March 31, 1975, the H model era began when Dyess received the very first C-130H to roll off the Lockheed Martin assembly line. Over the next two years Dyess would eventually attain 52 more H models.

Dyess AFB is now home to the largest C-130J-30 Super Hercules inventories in the USAF.

I arrived at Dyess AFB as an A1C in February 1991. When I was assigned the C-130H were assigned to the 463d Tactical Airlift Wing (TAW), 463d Aircraft Generation Squadron (AGS) as a flightline Guidance and Control Troop. Around the end of 1991, the AGS concept went away and we were all assigned to Operations. We were all absorbed into the 773d Airlift Squadron. When the Air Force decided to do away with SAC, MAC and TAC and to the now familiar, ACC and AMC. All tactical airlift assets, i.e., C-130s were assign to ACC. The 463d Airlift Wing and the 96th Bomb Wing stood down and we all fell under the new "One Base, One Wing" concept. Carswell AFB was closed and the 7 Wing stood up at Dyess AFB. The 772nd and 773d Airlift Squadrons stood down and the 39th and 40th Airlift Squadrons stood up, after standing down at Pope AFB.

The C-130H aircraft during the ACC years carried the familiar Tail Codes found on all ACC aircraft. In this case, "DY". The 40th AS carried a blue strip at the top of the vertical. This will be the basis for my model as they were the last C-130Hs I worked prior to be reassigned to Robins AFB, Georgia.

C-130H 74-1673

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C-130H 74-2072

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(Photo posted under "Fair Use")

With that said, a goal of mine has always been to model all the aircraft I was associated with during my aviation career. Why not start with the first one?

I want to do all of the aircraft in flight. Here is the beginning of my project:

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Edited by SteveV22FE
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Looks to be a true labor of love for you Steve. I like the proposed angle of the Herk on the mounting stand. Adds a touch of life to the model instead of a plain-jane display.

-Jeff

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To support the model, I am using Pete "Pig" Fleischmann's in-flight 1/32 in flight method: Square Evergreen styrene and a square brass tubing.

You'll want to gauge the size of the tubing on the size of the model.

It works really well and you can get the angle you want and it is locked in without trying to swivel around like a round piece of brass or acrylic would.

As you've probably guessed, the back end is going to be closed up on this Herk.

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I used this same method on the 1/32 scale X-1 I built last year.

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I really like the end result!

Edited by SteveV22FE
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Flight deck update...

Updated from the early C-130A configuration to a later H configuration. Built the Nav side bulkhead, lowered on of the crew rest bunks and built the box to go under it (it's a storage compartment on the real aircraft), made the step at the end of the bunk (used for making sextant shots on the 130s I worked) and shortened the Nav table. Filled in the slot for the second navigation seat (our Hs only had one nav).

I'm not going to go too overboard with this since no one is going to see most of it anyway. This is really for my benefit.

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Edited by SteveV22FE
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I'm calling this done.

No one is going to be able to see this unless the get right up on it. As we used to say, "good enough for government work". Now it's time to put some paint on it.

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Edited by SteveV22FE
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One question re the stand. How do you get the square tube to stay in the wood?

Thanks!

Mark

Forcibly!

I drilled a round hole approximately the same size has the square rod. I then tap (gently beat) the square rod into the round hole. By doing so, it basically cuts it's way in.

Just use a little finesse when tapping it in.

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I like what I see so far, I think this will look really cool when it's finished. Btw, you wouldn't by chance have an extra one of those patches lying around ?? I need one of them for my collection.

Steve

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Looking good, you work fast. Just my 2 cents but, maybe you could consider making 4 very thin, clear disks and paint them in such a way to give the impression that the props are spinning, since this is going to be an "in flight" display.

Steve

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Around 1994-ish, our Herks went through EW mod. Here is the beginning of the EW mod process. Fill in the forward, lower cheater windows

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Test fit of windscreen, flight deck is complete and painted and two of the props got some paint on them!

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Nice work! that´s a big model to be on a stand :D/>, keep in mind OOB it's a C-130B being the most obvious problem the squared tail...

I plan on correcting the "beavertail" when I complete the EW modification to the model.

Great looking HERK!!

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Steve, I have many hours flying 1673 and 2072 (Lone Wolf) as a FE at Dyess from 1994 to 2000 and again 2000 to 2012 when I retired with 5000 Herk hours, 1500 sorties, 400 combat missions. The Herk was an amazing plane that got me home every time. Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, OEF, OIF. I miss that plane. Now with all the J models flying around and those pilots drinking appletini's and eating weight watchers microwaved food during flight just makes me sad!!!! LOL!

The E and H model was the workhorse of the AF for a long time!

Keep up the good work on the kit. I will keep watching. After all these years, I have never built a C-130. Go figure?

MSgt(Ret) Kelly Jamison

30/40AS, 317th AG

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How are you planning on fixing the sponsons Steve?

I'm not. The Flightpath -15s are too narrow for the engine mount, so I just left the kit engines. Besides, if I use the FLightpath set that throws off the kit sponsons unless your doing a "Super E". I know Ron Resin's did a sponson update, but it's kinda hard to find I think.

I'm cheating and am going the "illusion" route. I'm going to use the OOB stuff to make it look like it's correct even though it's really not.

Edited by SteveV22FE
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