1/72nd Zvezda AC-130J "GHOSTRIDER" 4th SOS

[Lasinaatti]

Briallint work with all the scratchbuilding... What are you going to do with those lights next to the Refueling receptacle? They getting primed as well?

[utley]

I want to be first in line for the test flight ride along.

[A-10 LOADER]

13 hours ago, Lasinaatti said:

Briallint work with all the scratchbuilding... What are you going to do with those lights next to the Refueling receptacle? They getting primed as well?

Thanks., No, they'll be left clear, if you go back and look at the picture you'll notice they have a green tint to them, this is the masking fluid.

 

6 hours ago, utley said:

I want to be first in line for the test flight ride along.

Thanks utley.

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

I got the fuselage primed this morning. There are some spots that will require some extra attention but, overall she looks pretty good. The plastic itself has a "grainy" texture to it and it becomes more evident when the primer goes on.

Steve

 

[philippe.chauvin]

Hello Steve 

 

MAGNIFIQUE ‘

[Trojan Thunder]

Looking good Steve!

[A-10 LOADER]

On 12/14/2023 at 2:44 PM, philippe.chauvin said:

Hello Steve 

 

MAGNIFIQUE ‘

 

On 12/14/2023 at 3:10 PM, Trojan Thunder said:

Looking good Steve!

Thanks very much guys.

I got the gray, FS 36293, sprayed on the bottom of the AC-J about a hour ago. I'll give this a day or two to fully dry then I can sketch out the "orca scheme and get ready to shoot the Gunship Gray.

 

 

 

The two turrets also got painted using FS 36495. I'm hoping someone will do these with the screen faces visible for those of us who build her in "in flight" mode.

 

Not sure if I'll have another update before the holiday so, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Steve

Edited December 19, 2023 by A-10 LOADER

[Red Dog]

Looking mean Steve 

[aircommando130]

For the EO-IR ball screens you could use irridecent confetti and cut it to fit.

The Orca scheme was painted on the legacy MC-130 I flew when they came out of 

depot from the European 1 scheme...back in 1994 when I was at Kadena. 

The Ghostrider is looking pretty good so far as well.

 

Cheers...Ron

[A-10 LOADER]

17 hours ago, Red Dog said:

Looking mean Steve 

Thanks RD, appreciate that.

 

14 hours ago, aircommando130 said:

For the EO-IR ball screens you could use irridecent confetti and cut it to fit.

The Orca scheme was painted on the legacy MC-130 I flew when they came out of 

depot from the European 1 scheme...back in 1994 when I was at Kadena. 

The Ghostrider is looking pretty good so far as well.

 

Cheers...Ron

That's a good idea for the ball screens Ron, now we just need someone to make them. 🤞 A good set of data decals would be a welcome addition as well.

Steve

[ST0RM]

Hey Steve, looking great as always. 
We had AC-130J 19-5926 pop through TYS this week. I didnt have time to go over to the ramp and take any closer pics. 
But did snap this. It had the Hellfire and SDB racks. Thought it might be of interest
-Jeff

https://flic.kr/p/2pnWSVU

Edited December 22, 2023 by ST0RM

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks Jeff, nice shot. That's the first pic I've seen of them with one of each rack under each wing.

Update for today is a pretty substantial one, I got the Gunship Gray sprayed and here she is fresh out of the spray booth and unmasked.  Pretty happy with the results thus far.

 

 

 

Next step will be to get the wing and horizontal stab areas unmasked so I can fit them to the fuselage and I can lay out the wingwalk lines. Thanks to all who are still following along with this build, Merry Christmas all.

Steve

Edited December 22, 2023 by A-10 LOADER

[RichB63]

Steve, 

The big Herc looks great with a fresh coat of paint. The care and accuracy you’ve poured into this build is really impressive!

Cheers and Merry Christmas,

Rich

[A-10 LOADER]

5 hours ago, RichB63 said:

Steve, 

The big Herc looks great with a fresh coat of paint. The care and accuracy you’ve poured into this build is really impressive!

Cheers and Merry Christmas,

Rich

Thanks Rich, very kind of you.

 

Just a quick couple of pics to give you all an idea of the vision that's been in my head since this build was started. I'm trying to determine the final size of the plywood piece here. Disregard the piece of poplar that's holding the acrylic rod for now, it's not part of the finished product. The plywood edges will get trimmed out with poplar and they will be painted satin black. Where the trim meets the plywood base, there will be a gap which the acrylic cover will fit into. I want to keep the footprint of this display as small as possible. The height of the acrylic rod needs to be determined yet as well. I don't want the wing to cover up the plaque but, don't want the aircraft too tall either. Should look pretty cool when it's finished hopefully. 🤞

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Hajo L.]

It is already looking cool!

 

I was THIS close to buy an AC-130J on friday for the christmas holidays (after barely finishing my MC-130H), mainly because of your build here.

 

 

HAJO

[philippe.chauvin]

It's going to be a beautiful model that makes me want the same at 1/48

[A-10 LOADER]

4 hours ago, Hajo L. said:

It is already looking cool!

 

I was THIS close to buy an AC-130J on friday for the christmas holidays (after barely finishing my MC-130H), mainly because of your build here.

 

 

HAJO

 

28 minutes ago, philippe.chauvin said:

It's going to be a beautiful model that makes me want the same at 1/48

 

Thanks guys much appreciated.

Steve

[ST0RM]

Wow, the display is going to be very impressive. 

[aircommando130]

That's going to be very cool! 

"Anytime, any place, any where"

 

Cheers...Ron (retired MC-130 loadmaster)

[A-10 LOADER]

4 hours ago, ST0RM said:

Wow, the display is going to be very impressive. 

 

3 hours ago, aircommando130 said:

That's going to be very cool! 

"Anytime, any place, any where"

 

Cheers...Ron (retired MC-130 loadmaster)

Thanks guys, I hope so, fingers crossed. Still a long way to go however.

Steve

[Scooby]

On 9/12/2023 at 8:01 AM, Thadeus said:

Very nice work here. A lot of attention to detail. You just have to appreciate the ugliness of C-130. It's so ugly it's pretty.

Nothing ugly about the Herc, she is a thing of beauty.

[Scooby]

Really enjoyed reading through your build thread. I look forward to building my own Zveda Hercs. Great build!

 

I worked on Hercs for 8 years of my 25 year career in the RCAF. I love the girl.

[A-10 LOADER]

6 hours ago, Scooby said:

Really enjoyed reading through your build thread. I look forward to building my own Zveda Hercs. Great build!

 

I worked on Hercs for 8 years of my 25 year career in the RCAF. I love the girl.

Very kind of you Scoob, thank you. They're great fitting kits and, a pleasure to build. Thanks for your service !

Steve

[A-10 LOADER]

Started painting some of the details onto the AC-J. I added the metal area just behind the in flight refueling door and the black fabric for the radome hinge cover.

 

 

The kit gives you decals for the HF antenna/de-icing boot area but I decided to paint that area instead. Once this is good and dry, I'll do a little more masking and spray the inflatable rubber boot area with 36081.

 

 

Another area the kit gives you decals for is the leading edges of the outer wingtips. The kit decals are too large so, I sprayed them as well. Not really sure what the purpose of these areas are but, I suspect they might be a visual aid to check for ice buildup during flight ?? I'm sure HERC164 or Aircommando130 can fill us in.

Steve

 

 

 

[Scooby]

Looking sharp! This build will probably inspire me to build one of my three Zveda kits earlier than planned.

 

We actually had an AC-130J fresh from the factory at a recent airshow, 2-3 years ago.