ALF18 Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 (edited) Here is the first side chopped off. You can clearly see the huge gap with the bottom fuselage cover, especially at the rear of the wheel bay; that's why nothing fits. I glued the top portion of the fairing in place (lower portion of this picture), and when dry fitting the lower part, found that the front lateral bulkhead was causing fit problems, so I chopped the lower portion off. From a normal viewing angle, it looks just fine. Here's the end result. That's a nasty gap, but I will be able to fill it with copious amounts of putty. Did I mention it was well engineered? Here's the flip side of that with this kit. The engine nacelles go together very nicely. The outside portions consist of 2 large halves, a top and bottom front piece, and a front air intake. All of these fit flawlessly, making for nice nacelles with lots of nice detail. Thanks for looking. See you next year! ALF Edited December 31, 2013 by ALF18 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Hello! Tabernacle! la marde blanche!!!! You had some serious troubles with those wheels hub.... Cheers! Romain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 Hello! Tabernacle! la marde blanche!!!! You had some serious troubles with those wheels hub.... Cheers! Romain Exactly my reaction... Some of it was my fault, though - not enough dry fitting, and also not knowing how the kit goes together. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Holy shnikey, Batman! That is just plain ignorant. How unfortunate that you had to fold, spindle and mutilate in such a fashion to get a half decent fit. I wouldn't blame you if there was a bit of going on or at least some or even . Hopefully it doesn't get to a point where you take the model out to the back 40 and give it some . Good luck with the next steps mon ami. Perhaps you have some of that fine Deutsche bier on hand to help you along? Keep at it ALF. You'll pull through. Bonne année à vous, Mme ALF, ALF Jr et ALFette. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Love that gatling gun emoticon, Mike! Sometimes I do feel like that... I have made some positive progress lately. The first thing I did was repair the broken nose gear strut. A little CA glue, and it was on nice and solid. If you notice the pic from earlier, showing how it looked fine from a normal viewing angle, you may have noticed that the beast is tail sitting. First step was to paint the "special ops equipment box" a light grey colour. This box is aviation-related; it contained some squishy ear defenders that I had kicking around, a souvenir of the Canadian Forces from 17 years ago. It is filled with fishing weights. I thought the problem was solved. Nope... this thing demands LOTS of weight. So I squirted some CA glue into various corners of the flight deck, and added some fishing weights here, there, and everywhere. The silvery colour should make them less obvious, especially with the dim lighting and small windows once it's finished. I considered filling up the area where the side crew door is (and the spiral staircase leading up to the flight deck), but I wanted to have that door open when finished. To test in normal lighting conditions, and from a probable viewing angle with the cockpit transparencies in place, I took these pics: Now it does not tail sit, and looks OK from the outside. Thanks for stopping by! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Great recovery :-) I have this kit, and for sure i will not paint inside :-) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Great recovery :-) I have this kit, and for sure i will not paint inside :-) Thanks Mario! It's not impossible to do it right; just hard to do it when you haven't seen how it all fits together at the end. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Now one of the parts I hate the most - masking. The cockpit windows require lots of fiddly masking work. At first, I had a bit of a tough time getting the transparency in place, because the instrument panel was too high. I removed it, chopped some off the bottom, and reinserted, and the big piece fit fairly well after that. It's getting pretty close to time for a shot of primer. If I can find a medium-light grey primer, I might use that overall and for the bottom colour. The scheme I will be doing looks something like this. If you look at the rear, you'll see the numbers are black, which is the colour of my decals. The kit decals are for 64 Wing; the one I want to build is from 61 Wing. Looking at the 64, it will be fairly easy to chop off some of the 4 to make a 1. Neo and I conferred about this over a brewski at Christmas at my place; he strongly advised against trying to mask and paint these small numbers. http://escadron.touraine.pagesperso-orange.fr/c160r/photodetailsexterieur/exter7/indexterieur7.html Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow it is warming up to -7C, so I might be able to paint a bit in the garage. Today the HIGH was -20C (windchill -33C); which was 10 degrees WARMER than yesterday. This winter is not being kind to us. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Before painting, I had to work on some gap-filling. I used Tamiya putty in a tube, with the time-honoured nail polish remover method (apply the putty, then smooth it out and rub off excess with a Q-tip soaked in Cutex). Some gaps were minor, like the cockpit and one upper wing join. The rear join of the wing, and one nacelle needed some attention... And a HUGE amount of filler on the bottom! Luckily, this will not show too much. The lower tail And the upper tail. The weather has warmed even more today. It's going to +3C, with some lovely freezing rain. Painting weather! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Great work :-) it would be great recovery :-) here in Croatia is warm around 7-15C all holidays without snow :-) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Well bub...I hope you got her painted before the temps went down the toilet again. We worked in the freezing rain last night but fortunately most everyone stayed home so there were very few accident. Saw a weather report from your parts last week; -46C without wind chill. WOW!!!!!! Nice recovery on the seams too bud. Keep on truckin' Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Great work :-) it would be great recovery :-) here in Croatia is warm around 7-15C all holidays without snow :-) I envy your weather Mario. Most places on Earth have better weather than where I live. Winter starts here in November, and lasts until the end of April. Sometimes it snows in September (10 to 15 cm) and stays on the ground for weeks. In the mountains between here and Quebec City (220 km to the South), historically it has snowed at least once in all months except July! Well bub...I hope you got her painted before the temps went down the toilet again. We worked in the freezing rain last night but fortunately most everyone stayed home so there were very few accident. :woo:/> Saw a weather report from your parts last week; -46C without wind chill. WOW!!!!!! Nice recovery on the seams too bud. Keep on truckin' Mike Mike I failed on getting it painted before it got hyper-cold again. Man, what a flash freeze! I went to the dentist at 6 pm on Monday. Temp +2C. Left the office at 7 pm, and the temp was -8C and falling... went to -25 that night, wind howling with windchill -45C. Ouch. My garage door opener had a hard time in the morning, with the ice formed between the lower seal and the concrete floor. It went BANG when it opened, and I saw the door rebound. I have allowed the putty to cure, and sanded it down somewhat. Ready for primer on the weekend, when it gets closer to freezing again (-7C daytime high for Saturday - woo hoo!). Freezing in the Saguenay valley... ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 I got the primer painted, using a Tamiya rattle can of light grey. That will do for the bottom colour for me. I am doing the grey/green over light grey camouflage, which is the scheme that J flew the most. Prior to priming, I just lightly jammed the ramp parts into position. The aft one is hinged, and the fore one is just wedged in place. Saves on masking, and allows me to spray both at once. My kind of solution! Primer everywhere. Looks relatively OK. Despite the extreme cold, I was able to spray it without the can sputtering and clumping. The secret was in warming up the can inside at room temp, and taking it into the cool garage at the last minute. I also sprayed all the gear doors. Now on to masking, and the application of the acrylic upper colours. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Sorry for the long delay. The weather has been absolute cr*p, slowing down my painting efforts (I do it in the garage, with the doors open, so when it's -27C or worse, it's not going to happen!). Got the main camo colours on, and attached the wheels. The underside has some fit problems, but these will be invisible on the shelf, so I'm not fixing them. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VMFA314Knights Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 ALF, Whoa, that one ended up throwing a few 'obstacles'at you but your perseverance paid off. So in hind sight, more weight in the nose (next time) :whistle:/> I’mmuch more impressed with the paint job now that I know the conditions – I had todo a paint job just like that before Christmas and used the same technique! Well done man – I know the challenges. (We are having the same kind of winter in Ontario.) “undersidehas some fit problems, but these will be invisible on the shelf, so I'm notfixing them” – now that’s my kind of model making! Looking good, David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 This is a great build thread Alf, I use it when I build the 2 I have. You recovered nicely from the fuselage fit issues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 ALF, Whoa, that one ended up throwing a few 'obstacles'at you but your perseverance paid off. So in hind sight, more weight in the nose (next time) :whistle:/>/> I’mmuch more impressed with the paint job now that I know the conditions – I had todo a paint job just like that before Christmas and used the same technique! Well done man – I know the challenges. (We are having the same kind of winter in Ontario.) “undersidehas some fit problems, but these will be invisible on the shelf, so I'm notfixing them” – now that’s my kind of model making! Looking good, David Thanks David. This beast needs a LOT of weight up front. I emptied out half a container of Dollarama fishing weights into the nose area, and still needed more, as you saw. I have a 1/72 Hercules to build (will do it in the old silver/white scheme); I'll be stocking up on weights for that for sure. Glad you understand my philosophy. After all, this is supposed to be a fun hobby... not work! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Alf, You will find you don't need as much weight for the C-130. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 It has been a long time since my last update. It seems as if this interminable, cold, cruel winter is screwing with my modeling mojo... Thanks for the hint about the Italeri C-130 model not needing as much weight as this one, Trojan Thunder. I've made a lot of progress, but slowly (for me anyway). Future has been applied, and I've painted the props. Not sure whether the colours are appropriate for this model and era; I suspect the props should have been the grey colour, but I like them better in black. The props come with lots of decals, and I've applied some silver to areas where they tend to lose their black colour according to ref pics I've seen. Overall view. This beast has lots of decals, but I have lost inspiration to apply a thousand little stencils and other marks. I applied the ones that made the biggest visual impact. The moment of truth for the masking. I've applied the Testors Dull Cote finish, and have started to remove the masking tape from the windows. So far, so good. Starting to look like a Transall. I've glued the rear ramp in place, but have yet to attach its vertical struts. That's next, along with the front access door. Thanks for stopping by. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Great job buddy. "J" should like this very much. Intentional or not, the shading in the green breaks up the colour a bit. Nice work. Glad to see you're able to make some progress. I look forward to the end results. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Great job buddy. "J" should like this very much. Intentional or not, the shading in the green breaks up the colour a bit. Nice work. Glad to see you're able to make some progress. I look forward to the end results. Mike Thanks for the positive feedback. Believe it or not, the variation in the green was intentional; I deliberately used a couple different jars of Tamiya NATO Green with different mixes, and some brush-strokes after the airbrushing, given that the ref pics I have show aircraft with at least some degree of variation in the colours. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Nice to see the masking coming off Alf. Looking good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Mike Thanks for the positive feedback. Believe it or not, the variation in the green was intentional; I deliberately used a couple different jars of Tamiya NATO Green with different mixes, and some brush-strokes after the airbrushing, given that the ref pics I have show aircraft with at least some degree of variation in the colours. ALF In that case, you done did real good, Mister! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 It's very close to done now. I've attached the vertical ramp struts, and the front crew door. Some minor paint touchups, and it'll be done. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 OK, I'm calling it done. I know my friend will be happy, but I must admit this subject is not one that inspires me... transports are targets, and I'm a fighter guy. This is also a European aircraft, and I had little to no exposure personally to it, even when I lived in Germany. I do have two Hercules models (one E/H model, and a J) that I will be doing in Canadian colours. While they are transports, at least they are ones I've actually flown in (E/H) and toured around (J). Having said all that, Special Operations is a demanding role, and this Transall took part in those Ops. This is my tribute to the crews that fly these aircraft in support of essential and dangerous missions. You'll find more finished pics in the pinned finished thread. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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