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KC-135E/R Engines?


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To make an E or R from an A kit you not only need the engines (TF33 or CFM56) you also need to larger horizonal stabilizers. If going with an R model you also need the APU exhausts part that fits onto the rear fuselage...

 

From memory the TF33 engines that AMT moulded are only good for a one or two specific aircraft because of the configuration of the turbo compressor intakes.

 

 

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If you don't already have kit in hand, this is the one you want for the R version.   Has all the bits and bobs needed to build an updated R version.

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/amt/kit_amt_8909.shtml

 

After rereading I see you already have an A model given to you.   Maybe somebody would be willing to make you a trade.

Edited by Drifterdon
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Build the "A" model "steam jet"! Put it in the corruguard silver paint with the SAC milky way sash on

the fuselage. Nothing lie watching several SAC Alert 135's go when the klaxon went off. All that black smoke

and noise! I've got a lot of time under the old A model in the C-5A and the R model in the MC-130. 

 

Cheers...Ron

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FS 17178 silver covered by Corogard.

 

As Ive said before and nobody has mentioned since is the problem with converting a KC-135A kit into a KC-135E or KC-135R isnt the engines. The engines are the easy part. The problem is the tail.
When they replaced the engines with the TF-33 they also took the enlarged horizontal tail planes from those jets.

When viewing the parts side by side they are noticeably different. 

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On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2020 at 9:02 AM, ElectroSoldier said:

FS 17178 silver covered by Corogard.

 

As Ive said before and nobody has mentioned since is the problem with converting a KC-135A kit into a KC-135E or KC-135R isnt the engines. The engines are the easy part. The problem is the tail.
When they replaced the engines with the TF-33 they also took the enlarged horizontal tail planes from those jets.

When viewing the parts side by side they are noticeably different. 

To piggy back on needing the enlarged tail planes that ElectroSoldier pointed out, the horizontal tail planes that come in the 1/72 Airfix 707/E-3 AWACS kits are larger than the molded ones that come with the AMT/ERTL/Italeri KC-135R/EC-135C/RC-135V kits.  To get the correct ones, you'll need to source the horizontal tail planes from one of the later KC-135R's; EC-135 Looking Glass; EC-135 ALOTS/ARIA;  or RC Rivet Joint kits.

Edited by Drifterdon
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19 hours ago, Drifterdon said:

To piggy back on needing the enlarged tail planes that ElectroSoldier pointed out, the horizontal tail planes that come in the 1/72 Airfix 707/E-3 AWACS kits are larger than the molded ones that come with the AMT/ERTL/Italeri KC-135R/EC-135C/RC-135V kits.  To get the correct ones, you'll need to source the horizontal tail planes from one of the later KC-135R's; EC-135 Looking Glass; EC-135 ALOTS/ARIA;  or RC Rivet Joint kits.

I probably need to trade for/find an EC-135 kit then.

 

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10 hours ago, ElectroSoldier said:

That is a rebox of the Italeri KC-135R with wing top refuelling pods. 

The Heller kit is actually a rebox of the AMT kit, which Italeri reboxed and included the wingtip refueling pods. I have built the Italeri boxing and had the Heller boxing in the stash a for may years before the Italeri kit came along.

 

My build from the Italeri boxed kit

72_KC-135R_100ARW_05

 

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On 12/8/2020 at 7:17 PM, Da SWO said:

I probably need to trade for/find an EC-135 kit then.

 

 

That depends on the specific KC-135E you want to model - AMT's EC-135C Looking Glass kit had 'humped' inboard and 'straight' outboard pylons...

....E model tankers assigned to both AFRES and ANG units could be seen with either in the starboard outer position, as shown in these two photos:

50109653176_49f5aecd2d_h.jpg

32097880593_7680335a7a_h.jpg

So if the particular airframe you want to model has a 'straight' pylon, as in the top photo, the Looking Glass kit will work as supplied...

....if, however, it has a 'humped' one as in the bottom pic, then you'd need to modify it. The port outer pylon was always a 'straight' one...

 

The easiest solution is to obtain an R model kit - either AMT original, or subsequent Heller or Italeri re-issues - and do that version.

 

Incidentally, there's a page with info and pics on the various 1/72 C-135 kits here:

https://www.dembrudders.com/kc-135-and-707-part-one-the-172-kits.html

(the photo of the 'stash' shows he has almost as many -135s as I do!)

Edited by andyf117
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12 hours ago, Trojan Thunder said:

The Heller kit is actually a rebox of the AMT kit, which Italeri reboxed and included the wingtip refueling pods. I have built the Italeri boxing and had the Heller boxing in the stash a for may years before the Italeri kit came along.

 

My build from the Italeri boxed kit

 

 

Yeah it was my understanding that Italeri owned the tooling, planned the release then didnt release it so it didnt clash with the Heller kit release life.

 

Had Heller not offered up the money Italeri would have released it themselves.

6 hours ago, andyf117 said:

 

That depends on the specific KC-135E you want to model - AMT's EC-135E Looking Glass kit had 'humped' inboard and 'straight' outboard pylons...

....E model tankers assigned to both AFRES and ANG units could be seen with either in the starboard outer position, as shown in these two photos:

 

 

So if the particular airframe you want to model has a 'straight' pylon, as in the top photo, the Looking Glass kit will work as supplied...

....if, however, it has a 'humped' one as in the bottom pic, then you'd need to modify it. The port outer pylon was always a 'straight' one...

 

The easiest solution is to obtain an R model kit - either AMT original, or subsequent Heller or Italeri re-issues - and do that version.

 

Incidentally, there's a page with info and pics on the various 1/72 C-135 kits here:

https://www.dembrudders.com/kc-135-and-707-part-one-the-172-kits.html

(the photo of the 'stash' shows he has almost as many -135s as I do!)

That is thee problem with the TF-33 kits.

Its a market that has always cried out for so much more than it ever got in the form of SLAR cheeks, control surfaces etc etc etc.

 

Im the same, Ive got 10 of the AMT release version alone.

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1 hour ago, ElectroSoldier said:

That is thee problem with the TF-33 kits.

Its a market that has always cried out for so much more than it ever got in the form of SLAR cheeks, control surfaces etc etc etc.

 

Im the same, Ive got 10 of the AMT release version alone.

 

After the first AMT kits appeared we were much better served here in the UK than you guys Stateside when it came to -135 conversions and accessories, though some were superceded by later kit releases...

 

11 x AMT (a few started), 2 x Heller, and 1 x AmTech in the stash here, plus a built KC-135R, and a RC-135U which utilised the Maintrack Models conversion: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/maintrack-models-72-42-boeing-rc-135u-combat-sent--205666#

Earlier this year, I just missed out on their NKC-135A/E conversion, which was on eBay bundled with their TF-33 engine set...

 

My AmTech 'Snoopy' was one of those that included a 'replacement' set of fuselage halves for the originals that had become warped in storage - giving me a 'spare' nose radome to transplant onto a Heller 707 to get an EC-18B...

....one of seven or eight 707 and E-3 kits also on the shelves - five years working at RAF Mildenhall left me with a penchant for big Boeings!

 

Edited by andyf117
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11 hours ago, andyf117 said:

 

After the first AMT kits appeared we were much better served here in the UK than you guys Stateside when it came to -135 conversions and accessories, though some were superceded by later kit releases...

 

11 x AMT (a few started), 2 x Heller, and 1 x AmTech in the stash here, plus a built KC-135R, and a RC-135U which utilised the Maintrack Models conversion: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/maintrack-models-72-42-boeing-rc-135u-combat-sent--205666#

Earlier this year, I just missed out on their NKC-135A/E conversion, which was on eBay bundled with their TF-33 engine set...

 

My AmTech 'Snoopy' was one of those that included a 'replacement' set of fuselage halves for the originals that had become warped in storage - giving me a 'spare' nose radome to transplant onto a Heller 707 to get an EC-18B...

....one of seven or eight 707 and E-3 kits also on the shelves - five years working at RAF Mildenhall left me with a penchant for big Boeings!

 

I never got the NKC-135 Laser lab, it never really interested me.

 

I lived in Mildenhall through the 80s and then into the 90s.

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3 hours ago, ElectroSoldier said:

I never got the NKC-135 Laser lab, it never really interested me.

 

I lived in Mildenhall through the 80s and then into the 90s.

I got one, though never with any intention to build that version - I think having less appeal than the other versions later made it the cheapest to get hold of.

 

I was at the 'Hall 89-94, and am still in touch with a handful of the friends I made there - at least half of my -135 kits were purchased for me by them at AAFES stores! In late '94 I visited one who had PCS'd to HQEUCOM Stuttgart, and drove back with three 'Wings' issue EC-135Cs and a dozen bottles of FS16473 after a visit to the PX! I used one of the latter recently on my CH-3B - it still has the AAFES $1.25 price ticket on the lid!

Edited by andyf117
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I was there there from the late 70s I think until late '86 then back again in maybe '92 but left '93, or it could have been '93-'94 always as a civi with a relative who was serving, or his wife was anyway.

I always prefered Lakenheath myself.

My kits I ended up buying a job lot from some wholesaler in Germany, I had 2 boxes of KC-135A, EC-135C, RC-135V, KC-135R kits (so 12 of each as there is 6 in a box). Cant remember where or when I got the 2 EC-135N/E kits from...
I also ended up with a load of the other big box kits like the XB-70A and AC-130U kits... I seem to remember a flying wing too but no idea what one now, it was all so long ago.
I was selling them or using them as prizes and as test builds when I taught people how to use an airbrush classes, which I run from a barn in Suffolk.

Edited by ElectroSoldier
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2 minutes ago, ElectroSoldier said:

I was there there from the late 70s I think until late '86 then back again in maybe '92 but left '93, or it could have been '93-'94 always as a civi with a relative who was serving, or his wife was anyway.

I always prefered Lakenheath myself.

My kits I ended up buying a job lot from some wholesaler in Germany, I had 2 boxes of KC-135A, EC-135C, RC-135V, KC-135R kits (so 12 of each as there is 6 in a box). Cant remember where or when I got the 2 EC-135N/E kits from...
I also ended up with a load of the other big box kits like the XB-70A and AC-130U kits... I seem to remember a flying wing too but no idea what one now, it was all so long ago.
I was selling them or using them as prizes and as test builds when I taught people how to use an airbrush classes, which I run from a barn in Suffolk.

 

Actually having thought about it I was there again from '94 until '97 because I wasnt there in '98

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4 hours ago, DET1460 said:

Da SWO...

I have extra horizontal stabs that you need. Send me your addy and I'll send them to you. No cost...

 

Gotta look out for each other!

 

DET1460

Thank you.

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16 hours ago, ElectroSoldier said:

My kits I ended up buying a job lot from some wholesaler in Germany, I had 2 boxes of KC-135A, EC-135C, RC-135V, KC-135R kits (so 12 of each as there is 6 in a box). Cant remember where or when I got the 2 EC-135N/E kits from...

Quite probably the same one who I got my RC's from - I bought a box of 6 on eBay at a ridiculously low price, kept three and re-sold three individually, and effectively got my three for free!

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On 12/13/2020 at 9:57 AM, andyf117 said:

Quite probably the same one who I got my RC's from - I bought a box of 6 on eBay at a ridiculously low price, kept three and re-sold three individually, and effectively got my three for free!

Maybe, I know it was the price that got me into it.
The contact got me into drop shipping models and such for a while.

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