ElectroSoldier Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Does anybody know where I can get decals to do an early C-130 with the roman nose radome? I dont have any colour refs, and few black n white ones, so all I know is that the sponsons have Military Airlift Command on them and the US Air Force on the fusalage over the crew entry doors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 What scale? There are lots of C-130 refs out there. The very earliest ones could either be MATS (MAC didn't come in until 1966) or TAC, since TAC was flying its own tactical airlift in those days. If you see "TROOP CARRIER" on it, it was likely a TAC bird. J Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gmat Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 ElectroSoldier, Early mid 60s MATS marked C-130s would be either USAF or USN C-130Es. USAF MATS C-130Es were with the 1501st ATW/60th MAW at Travis AFB, 1608th ATW/437th MAW, at Charleston AFB, and the 1611th ATW/438th MAW at Mac Guire AFB. The USAF owned, USN operated C-130Es were NATWATL (?)/ VR-22, Norfolk NAS and NATWPAC, VR-7, Moffet Field NAS. (Naval Air Transport Wing Atlantic/Pacific) C-141As replaced the early MATS/MAC C-130Es and the USN planes later reverted to the USAF. All were in the natural metal/silver/grey scheme. It would only be in the mid seventies, that MAC took over TAC C-130 assets and put the MAC band on the tail. All would be in SEA camo by then. Concerning Roman Nose C-130As: Early roman nose aircraft (27) were mostly used in testing or special projects (JC-130A) for the first few years, and many were retrofitted with the pinochio nose. I think that a few were probably used as trainers for the first C-130A units at Stewart AFB (314th TCW) and Ardmore AFB, (463rd TCW) A few roman nose aircraft were later assigned to regular units. Naha had one, from the late 50s or early 60s. It would be very plain with small numbers behind the cockpit and a PACAF badge on the tail. I don't think that the 317th with USAFE had any as it would have shown up in one of the British C-130 histories. The under wing tanks were not fitted to early C-130As until the late 50s. I've seen pictures of 57 year models without them. Concerning early TAC C-130As: Most would either be early natural metal or later silver acrylic with some grey paint. They could have the red tails and wing tips and sometimes with a day-glo orange nose and rear fuselage band. Many had large 3 digit serial numbers behind the cockpit. From the latter 50s, they would have a TAC badge on the tail. The 314th TCW C-130A may have had only high visibility markings, but the 463rd TCW also had attractive fuselage and engine stripes. MATS operated RC-130As, including a test roman nose RC-130A. It might have had a MATS band at some time in its life. I haven't check this out more thoroughly, but this will give you some idea on where to look for information. Post an question on herkybirds.com Does it have to be a roman nose? Best wishes, Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 Cheers for all that... What Im trying to do is build a nice "cross section" of C-130's, and I have just bought myself a nice roman nose radome conversion for the Italeri/Airfix, Airfix kit. Im wanting to build a model of a C-130 with a roman nose and just need the decals to go on it, Im not really sure if I care if its a TAC MATS plane or MAC, but I would like it to be USAF not USN. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikar Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Why not a cammoflaged ship from the ANG during the 1970s? You don't need many markings, National Insignia, tail and nose numbers, and a ANG emblem on the tail. or: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gmat Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hope you don't mind, but the bottom picture is the AC-130A prototype, 1626. Nice photos. Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikar Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Still a roman nose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Still a roman nose. You sure? I thought all roman nosed C-130s were long gone by the time the herc got her guns for the first time... Ive considered SEA, I would really like to do an earlier bird. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryt Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 (edited) You might like this one: www.scalemodelworld.net/6e7mvw Here is on from 1979: www.scalemodelworld.net/6cb6hs Edited May 1, 2008 by terryt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 I dont really want to build an ANG marked bird... The silver/orange is kool. Any idea how I would go about getting those decals made up? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryt Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 If you have pieces of decal sheets left over from previous builds you could do the silver aircraft. The orange is dayglow and shouldn't be hard to mask. Its just a matter of getting the lettering and the national insignia the right size. You could print your own decals using the Amarillo font. www.scalemodelworld.net/6mjplj You could also print the national insignia using this. www.scalemodelworld.net/56lcfl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikar Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Absouletly. We used to get them in at Littlerock from time to time during the mid to late 70s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 This is the kind of markings im looking for Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gmat Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 ElectroSoldier, You may already know this. That's the roman nose C-130A used by the 1st ACGS, 1370th PMW. I guess it would also be called an RC-130A. I have heard that it was modified for survey work. If you have access to SS C-130 Hercules in Action, p. 9 has a photo of the whole aircraft. MAC badge on the rear fuselage and tail band with ACGS. Detail and Scale's Color and Markings Vol. 7, C-130 Hercules, p. 54 has another picture, taken by the same photographer, possibly at the same time. The tail band does not extend across the full tail. It starts behind the forward leading edge panel and ends before the small movable rudder. You might have to draw cover panels for the camera windows on the belly. Hope that this is helpful for you. Someone else might provide more information on the location of the camera windows. Sorry that I can't provide an easy scheme for you. Can you find the MAC decals? Best wishes, Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gmat Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 ElectroSoldier, How about this C-130A? 54-1635 Taken at Andrews AFB, 5-10-63 by R. Besecker. I got a bunch of C-130 and othert B&W pics from a Carl Porter (?) when I was at McClellan. I met him through Peter Lewis. Thank you, hope that posting this is OK. Grant Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Perfect, it even has the TAC badge on the vertical stab. How would I either get those decals printed, or piece them together? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
artbykenb Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 This is the kind of markings im looking for The photo that you have is an RC-130A with the 1370th Photo Mapping Wing (PMW). Here's a link to the 1370th web site in particular for the RC-130A 54-1632. RC-130A 54-1632. The only time any of the 1370th PMW RC-130s were painted CAMO is when we were in Tuy Hoa, RVN. Let me know how you do with this one! Ken B BTW: The doors for the cameras are (were?) on the bottom center line and begin just aft of the UHF antenna on the belly to just forward of the wheel wells. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.