Firebee Drone question & DC-130A info & OzMods C-130A conversion

[BWDenver]

14 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

The forward cargo door was present until the 61 year C-130E models.

But it was sealed long before it was replaced with solid structure.  

 

Bryan

[gmat6441]

True, but you may want to model the sealed doors and the extra window. But not many realize how long the door or sealed door and were windows were around. 

[gmat6441]

It’s been a long time but I believe the 56 year C-130As deleted the six upper fuselage windows. As on top of the fuselage. I remember sitting inside a transit C-130A and you could see it from the inside.  The steps to the cockpit on the C-130A and their derivatives were slightly twisted not straight like the later models and you could see the black boxes behind the cockpit. The DC-130s had rhaw antennas during the Vietnam War period. USMC KC-130s during the same period had them too. The tell tale is the pip above the radome. In the 80s you could see a plate welded over the nose one on The USMC KC-130s. Sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about C130s

[BWDenver]

10 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

It’s been a long time but I believe the 56 year C-130As deleted the six upper fuselage windows. As on top of the fuselage. 

Always great to get insights!  But I'm not sure I follow about the "six upper fuselage windows."  It looks like they cut one window from each side on later models.

 

Hard to believe I shot the WI ANG C-130A's 53 years ago.  Still remember shooting them.  They just let a teenager loose on the ramp by myself!  Now a days....

 

Bryan

Edited April 29 by BWDenver

[HERC164]

Great seeing another C-130 build. Allow me to share information on the windows, cargo doors etc. All A models have the 4 windows forward of the gear sponsons. These windows were deleted on the B model and all subsequent C-130 models. The Forward Cargo Door was on all A and B models, and the first 16 E models, yes, all the 1961 models (tail numbers 61-2358 through 61-2373). 62-1784 was the first without the Forward Cargo Door. The permeant sealing of the Forward Cargo Door took place in the first half of 1964, after a B model aircraft lost the Forward Cargo Door, and crew member inflight in early 1964. 

 

On 4/29/2024 at 9:36 AM, BWDenver said:

Hard to believe I shot the WI ANG C-130A's 53 years ago.  Still remember shooting them. 

I believe that was an AFRES/AFRC unit the 440th Tactical Airlift Group 95th TAS, Although the WI ANG115th FIG flew a C-130A 55-0023, and a B model 58-0758 as Fighter Support Aircraft (FSA) until around 1992.

Hope this helps with your project-

Regards

[Da SWO]

16 hours ago, HERC164 said:

Great seeing another C-130 build. Allow me to share information on the windows, cargo doors etc. All A models have the 4 windows forward of the gear sponsons. These windows were deleted on the B model and all subsequent C-130 models. The Forward Cargo Door was on all A and B models, and the first 16 E models, yes, all the 1961 models (tail numbers 61-2358 through 61-2373). 62-1784 was the first without the Forward Cargo Door. The permeant sealing of the Forward Cargo Door took place in the first half of 1964, after a B model aircraft lost the Forward Cargo Door, and crew member inflight in early 1964. 

 

I believe that was an AFRES/AFRC unit the 440th Tactical Airlift Group 95th TAS, Although the WI ANG115th FIG flew a C-130A 55-0023, and a B model 58-0758 as Fighter Support Aircraft (FSA) until around 1992.

Hope this helps with your project-

Regards

No, We had two windows forward of the sponson on our WC-130E's, 

[gmat6441]

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/c-130/hercules.shtml

Scroll down to the roman nose YC-130. Note the two dark circles before the wing and one aft. Those are windows. Why? I have no idea. Three pairs of windows, one on each side.

[gmat6441]

Da SWO, True for the WC-130E but the plate for the U-1 foils was where the middle window would be. The 64 year WC-130Es flew for a short time without provisions for the U-1 sampling foil. I have a xerox of a picture of 552 or 554 with three forward windows and Weather band on the tail.

[Da SWO]

6 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

Da SWO, True for the WC-130E but the plate for the U-1 foils was where the middle window would be. The 64 year WC-130Es flew for a short time without provisions for the U-1 sampling foil. I have a xerox of a picture of 552 or 554 with three forward windows and Weather band on the tail.

Would you be willing to share those with me?

My first Typhoon mission was in 552.

[gmat6441]

I'm Grant Matsuoka met/are. Sorry for the delay. I hunted down the xerox prints. There are two of 553, Weather band on the tail. You can make out the three forward windows, so the ARE modification hadn't been done yet. Contact me at gmat6594@gmail.com. I guess that you would like to borrow the weather aircraft stuff. That's fine. I'll let you know what I've collected.

[gmat6441]

I don't know if I can ask you, but I'm taking the TF33 engines and horizontal tail pieces from the AMT RC-135V and combining it with the KC-135A kit to make a WC-135B. Is it possible to ask if you can have any info on the ARWO position in the cockpit and what the drop position looked like. I have external photos of 667 when it came back from Offutt, but it may not have had the tube installed. It still had the empty racks for the AMQ-25 system that were long gone from the other WC-135Bs. I refrained from taking any internal pics. At that time there were several rows of pax seats facing backwards. There may have been a table between the pax seats. Anyway. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Da SWO]

7 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

I don't know if I can ask you, but I'm taking the TF33 engines and horizontal tail pieces from the AMT RC-135V and combining it with the KC-135A kit to make a WC-135B. Is it possible to ask if you can have any info on the ARWO position in the cockpit and what the drop position looked like. I have external photos of 667 when it came back from Offutt, but it may not have had the tube installed. It still had the empty racks for the AMQ-25 system that were long gone from the other WC-135Bs. I refrained from taking any internal pics. At that time there were several rows of pax seats facing backwards. There may have been a table between the pax seats. Anyway. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I'll ask around.

 

You on Fakebook?

[Dutch]

15 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

I don't know if I can ask you, but I'm taking the TF33 engines and horizontal tail pieces from the AMT RC-135V and combining it with the KC-135A kit to make a WC-135B. Is it possible to ask if you can have any info on the ARWO position in the cockpit and what the drop position looked like. I have external photos of 667 when it came back from Offutt, but it may not have had the tube installed. It still had the empty racks for the AMQ-25 system that were long gone from the other WC-135Bs. I refrained from taking any internal pics. At that time there were several rows of pax seats facing backwards. There may have been a table between the pax seats. Anyway. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

@gmat6441, 

In that case, you can only use the two outer engines (#1 & #4) from the RC-135V kit as the WC-135B were all modified from C-135B airframes, none of which had the turbo compressor hoods an any of their engines.   But you probably already figured that out.

Kind regards,

Dutch

WC-135C Constant Phoenix

[gmat6441]

Dutch,

Alas, yes. I know that some cutting and adding is in my future. First need to cut out the second cooling inlet and mebbe dream of matching the curve of the kit inlet. Thank you.  My photos of a parked WC-135B show the flaps down, so have looked for inspiration from other builds. Also the crew door is open and the two piece ladder dropped. There also a raised wind shield that drops down for crew bailout. The inside of the kit crew door needs to be built up. The Hasegawa B-47 ladder looks good for a master.

I guess I should scan some of the photos that I took that may be of use. Thank you.

Grant

 

[gmat6441]

Da SWO  Yes, I have a page but don't use it much and need to learn how to better use it.

We can talk there.

I have one Japanese friend there. A former student. JH is a met/are co-worker there.

[Da SWO]

4 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

Da SWO  Yes, I have a page but don't use it much and need to learn how to better use it.

We can talk there.

I have one Japanese friend there. A former student. JH is a met/are co-worker there.

I asked one friend, but he doesn't have any photos. 

I also asked on the 55 WRS page.

[gmat6441]

Da SWO, thank you, no problem. A rough sketch would serve just as well.

Are you interested in borrowing my weather aircraft photos? I believe that I have the Aerophile issue with the WB-47E article. I do have the issue on the W/RB-57F. I have the Koku-Fan FAOW # 79 on the C-130 and the old Squadron C-130 in Action. Grant

[Da SWO]

17 hours ago, gmat6441 said:

Da SWO, thank you, no problem. A rough sketch would serve just as well.

Are you interested in borrowing my weather aircraft photos? I believe that I have the Aerophile issue with the WB-47E article. I do have the issue on the W/RB-57F. I have the Koku-Fan FAOW # 79 on the C-130 and the old Squadron C-130 in Action. Grant

Thanks, I have the books.

I grab any Wx Recce or 130 books/articles I can find. 

[Da SWO]

@gmat6441

Check your PMs.

[gmat6441]

https://imgur.com/a/mJXS3oT

 

Some scans from the 1C-130(R)S-1    RC-130S dash 1.  That's all that I copied.

Grant

Edited May 18 by gmat6441
remove duplicate link

[Daniel]

Good afternoon gents. I don’t mean to derail the OP’s discussion, but I have a quick question (if I may) regarding early C-130’s. It might be a bit cheeky but I thought this thread (with all those with fantastic knowledge on the subject) would give me the best chance of getting an answer.

 

I have a few Italeri C-130’s in my stash and the box art of the original release (Kit no. 817 – with the Hercules landing on what appears to be a tropical beach somewhere) has got my attention. My question is: were early C-130’s (instructions say this is this is a C-130G belonging to VR-1 in 1968) ever painted with white tops and left bare metal as shown on the box art or was the bare metal in fact grey. The reason I ask is because the box art seems a bit ambiguous and I haven’t seen any pictures of C-130’s bare metal AND white tops (ok, maybe one).

 

 

I’ve attached a in image of the kit I’m talking about.

Many thanks.

[Dutch]

YES!  The early USN & USMC C-130F/Gs were delivered in late 1950s, early 1960s with white tops and bare metal lower fuselage and wings/horizontal stabs.  Later (early 1970s), the grey was added as an anti-corrosion measure.  USAF early Herks (A/Bs) were delivered in all natural metal finish.  I think that the Es started the SEA camo.  A/Bs were repainted during the early/mid 1960s.  USAF test Herks were usually in white over aircraft gray.

[aircommando130]

One of the best looking airlifters ever built! 

But I am a Herk guy.....

 

Cheers....Ron

[Da SWO]

23 minutes ago, aircommando130 said:

One of the best looking airlifters ever built! 

But I am a Herk guy.....

 

Cheers....Ron

only the 121 is better looking. 

[aircommando130]

The 121....another Lockheed product!