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Roden 1/144 C-133 Cargomaster Build


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Hello,

 

Well after receiving my spectacular looking Caracal Models C-133 decal sheet in the mail Friday, I figured it was time to get started on my kit (perhaps  can finish it before the Caracal C-124 sheet arrives!).

 

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Today started with the assembly of the wings and horizontal stabs.  I also just glued together all four engine nacelles and I see some filing and sanding tomorrow morning 🙂  I had to open up the small intake in the top of the nacelles with a sharp X-Acto blade as they were completely flashed over.  Hopefully some putty, sandpaper, and needle files will smooth them out once the glue has dried.  I am also going to drill out the small exhaust ports on both sides of the nacelles when the glues dries.

 

Over in the "Props" section, forum member Poppop has already gotten off to a good start on this kit it appears.  I hope he posts some more photos soon of his progress!

 

So it begins here for me (please excuse the Monogram B-52 fuselage in the upper left of the photo):

 

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After some sanding/filing/sanding sessions, I will turn my attention to the fuselage.  The kit has the tail section molded separately from the forward fuselage halves.  I am trying to decide if I should glue the tail section to each half of the fuselage or if I should follow the instructions and glue the forward and back fuselage sections together before joining them...

 

This is going to be a big bird, even larger than the 1/144 KC-97L I just finished.  My C-133 will also be an in-flight, gear up build.

 

More soon, thanks for looking.

 

-Derek

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by viking73
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Good Morning, 

 

Just a quick update before I'm off to work.

 

I decided to glue the tail section to each respective fuselage half.  The fit was pretty good.  I added a couple of scrap plastic strips to reinforce the joint inside which is probably unnecessary, but there you go.  I am also currently filing and sanding the seams on the engine nacelles.  I'll re-scribe the lost panel lines there before I glue them to the wings.

 

I did glue the crew entry door closed on the starboard fuselage half.  The fit was pretty good with only a bit of sanding required.

 

As I mentioned, I am going to build this bird in flight on a stand.  I will be using the black window decals from the new Caracal sheet so I will not be using any of the nice interior provided.  Next I will get the nose near doors closed and then I should be about ready to glue the fuselage halves together. 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

-Derek

 

 

 

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Here's another update on my C-133 build.

 

Earlier today, I glued in the clear "cheek" cockpit windows and the nose gear doors in the closed position.  They fit very well closed with just a bit of sanding.  I then decided to go ahead and glue the fuselage halves together this afternoon when I got home from work.  Once the glue is dry, I will dress the seams and then glue the two rear cargo ramps/doors in place.

 

I elected to leave off all the clear round widow pieces.  I will fill these in with Krystal Klear after everything is painted.  The Caracal Models decal sheet does not include these windows as decals so I don't see any other way to do this.  I hope it doesn't look funny with the black windshield decal in place.  Perhaps I can tint the Krystal Klear or white glue with some black paint so it better matches.

 

I am also still slogging my way through the engine nacelles.  I drilled out the exhausts on them and now I'm cleaning and shaping the small intakes on the top.  The three pieces of the nacelles themselves have required quite a bit of filling and sanding.  That has been tedious.  I will post a photo or two of the nacelles soon.   

 

lhvdrJG.jpg  

 

More updates soon!

 

-Derek

 

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Hello Again,

 

I hope all my fellow U.S. modelers had a Happy 4th yesterday.

 

I was able to get some more work done on my C-133.  Upon removing the tape from the now dry fuselage halves, the seams looked pretty good for the most post.  The belly requited a little putty in a few spots but not much.  The only really bad spot was the large wing box area on the top of the fuselage.  Perhaps this was operator error, I am not sure.  There was a step there that required some putty to even things out.  Once that was sanded down, I used a coat of super glue (sanded down of course) to seal everything and to make it possible to re-scribe the lost panel lines later.

 

 

fJTbQGd.jpg

 

 

While that was drying, I tuned my attention to the fuselage sponsons.    Since I am doing a gear up build, I glued some scrap plastic inside so that the doors would have some support in the closed position.  The gear doors themselves seem to fit pretty well in place during a test fit.  I did glue them closed today and the fit seemed okay.  I'll be sure to post some photos of them next time.

 

 

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Here is a shot of the engine nacelles.  Still some clean up work required here and there.  You can see one of the exhaust ports I drilled out.

 

 

rCOoFI2.jpg

 

 

This morning, once I was satisfied with the seam on the top, I spent some time figuring out how to close up the rear cargo doors.  The kit would have you build them in the open position with no real provisions to close them.  I must also point out that the kit is a C-133A - the C-133B had a different cargo door arrangement.  There are some unused parts included that look like they could be "B" model doors.

 

At any rate, there is nothing to hold the doors in the place in the closed position.  I decided to glue some scrap plastic along the edges of the opening to give the doors an edge to sit on and some surface to glue them to.

 

 

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Once the doors were in place, I ran some liquid cement around the edges.  I then taped and clamped the fuselage to ensure a good tight fit along the edges.

 

 

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Hopefully this will look good and won't requite too much clean up when the glue dries and the tape comes off but I am a little worried about it...

 

With the fuselage set aside to dry, next up was the task of removing the props from the sprues.  There are three large attachment points in between the blades so you have to be very careful cutting them free.  There is also a small round back piece you have to glue to each prop which means there will be a seam right in between the prop blades (similar to the seam with the Monogram 1/72 B-36 props).  Great...  I'll get a photo of this next time so you can see what I'm talking about.  Here is a close-up of one of the props on the sprue:

 

 

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Getting the four props ready is going to be fun I can already tell...

 

More soon!!

 

-Derek

 

 

 

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Gator52 said:

Looking good Derek, and the B-52 project in the background is intriguing!

 

Jonah

 

Thanks Jonah.

 

Yes, that is my stalled 1/72 Monogram B-52E build.  I have already scratch built the bomb bay to put two shapeways 3D printed B53 nukes inside.  The nukes are done, I just need to scratch up the bomb bay mounts and I can glue them in place.    It’s going to be hanging, wheels up, over my work bench.  I have a couple of PJ Products pilots in the cockpit and a Monogram pilot to man the tail guns.  It is stalled due to the amount of filling and sanding on the engine pods and closed landing gear doors ☹️

 

I can post some photos of it in a new “in progress” thread if you want to see them.  Just let me know.

 

-Derek

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I managed to get in a little work done on my C-133 the past few days.

 

I glued the main gear doors closed and the fit was so-so.  I filled in the gaps and then I glued the sponsons to the fuselage.  I'm happy to report they fit perfectly.  I won't need to use any filler.  Here's a shot of the belly, I need to re-scribe the doors next:

 

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Once those had dried, I glued on the horizontal stabilizers.  With a little care, they fit very well also:

 

 

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While that was set aside to dry I turned my attention to the wings and engine nacelles.  It was strange here - the starboard nacelles had a good sized gap at the top (that I filled with some scrap stryene) yet the port wing nacelles did not.  Go figure...

 

 

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 Add a bit of putty was added to smooth things out and here we are now:

 

 

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Once that is sanded smooth, I will re-scribe the lost panel lines and prepare to glue the wings to the fuselage!  😀

 

 

Here is how the fuselage looks now.  I can't wait to get the wings on.

 

 

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Thanks for looking!

 

-Derek

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by viking73
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17 hours ago, Trojan Thunder said:

Looking good Derek, with it wheels up are you planing on putting it on a stand?

 

Yes.  I’ll be putting it on a clear plastic stand.  Check out my recent 1/144 KC-97L finished build to see what it will look like.  

 

-Derek

Edited by viking73
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Good Morning,

 

Sorry but I only have time for a "mini" update today.  I had company over the weekend so bench time was about zero.  I did however manager to get the wings on which I'm pretty happy about:

 

PJXFCs4.jpg

 

In getting them level, it left a small gap at the top.  I was able to fill that gap quite nicely with some small strip stryene.  Once I sand it down, it should be pretty smooth hopefully.

 

Please excuse the inverted Monogram B-52 fuselage again.  I should really move that for photos.

 

More pics and a real update soon.  As always, thanks for looking.

 

-Derek

Edited by viking73
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Thanks for the kind words gents.   I am still slowly plugging away on this build.  This morning I gave the entire air frame a primer coat using the wonderful Tamiya fine gray rattle-can primer.  Of course that primer coat relieved a number of areas that needed more attention, i.e. more filling and sanding of course!

 

Here's a few photos of how she sits now in all her primer and bondo glory:

 

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(Note the hole in the belly for the clear acrylic rod - that also make a handy place to hold the model while painting it).
 

Once I sand all these trouble spots smooth and re-prime, I will then re-scribe all the missing panel lines with the aid of Dynamo tape and a sewing needle in a pin vise.  

 

I am still not 100% sure which paint scheme to go with from the Caracal sheet.  I don't want to do a version with a white fuselage top (I hate spraying white paint, I always seem to screw it up somehow), I do know that 🙂 .  So I'm just debating whether I want to do a natural metal finish with the day-glo areas or just a straight up natural metal bird.  Painting day-glo might be worse than painting white, eh?   That's one color I've never tried to do.  It would be eye catching though, and I do have several new bottles of MM fluorescent red enamel paint...

 

One thing is for sure, the C-133 even in 1/144 scale, is a big bird.  She is about the same size as a 1/72 C-47 but with a longer wing span.  Pretty crazy.

 

-Derek

 

 

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12 hours ago, KursadA said:

Almost there! I am looking forward to see this one finished. 

 

Almost for sure, thanks for looking Kursad.

 

I did a re-prime last night and I think I’m okay on the seams.  Now I’m just re-scribing panel lines and landings gear doors.  Once that is done, I’ll polish the primer up in preparation for the natural metal finish.  

 

She looks funny without the thimble nose radome at this point but no sense putting it on until after paint.

 

Stay tuned!

 

-Derek

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