MC-130E & H, Combat Talons

[Dez]

I'm a total noob as far as posting here, but I read often enough.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of making an MC-130E conversion of the testor's 1/48 scale C-130E kit. I managed to score the very last MC-130E resin nose kit from cutting edge, but now I've run into a wall trying to find the refueling pods.

Anyone have any leads, or know of any custom made resin stuff?

Edited July 5, 2009 by Dez

[Dez]

The ones I've got are from a company called DB Productions. They are UK based and I dont know if they are still in business. I picked my set up at the vendors area in Belgium a few years ago in anticipation of doing a Talon I also.

Hope that helps.

Jeff

I looked and looked, but couldn't find much more than a reference to DB productions on 72scale.com, and that seemed to be associated with flightpath. I went there again and they still just have the 1/72nd scale pods. So... the search continues.

I appreciate the help.

[Flyboyf18]

Look for DJ Parkins, that's the company name for the resin stuff. Excellent service, my Herc stretch sets arrived in just over a week; England to Canada.

[Dez]

Look for DJ Parkins, that's the company name for the resin stuff. Excellent service, my Herc stretch sets arrived in just over a week; England to Canada.

I shot him an email, hopefully I'll get an answer soon.

Thanks!

[Dez]

I haven't even solved this problem yet and I'm already looking to future problems... lol.

I know I'm going to have trouble finding decals for this beast. I'm assuming standard stenciling would work, depending on if I do the gray camo sheme or the older euro I scheme. Otherwise, the reference pictures I have don't show a lot in the way of markings other than national insignia and an odd bit of nose art here and there.

[Chappie]

Bad part is most of his C-130 stuff is 1/72.

Chappie

[Dez]

Bad part is most of his C-130 stuff is 1/72.

Chappie

Yeah, I know... but I hold out faint hope. Otherwise I get to experiment with resin casting! Woo hoo!

[terryt]

If you would look at the DJ Parkins website (Flight Path), the only 1/48 C-130 part is the Photo Etch. The other C-130 parts are for 1/72 scale.

Here is the Link:

http://www.djparkins.clara.net/djp_smap.htm

Look on the right side under Flight Path.

[Flyboyf18]

IIRC the re-fuelling tanks used on the MCs were tear drop shaped with an opening on the bottom about 2/3 of the way back for the drogue. You may be able to come close to the shape by searching a spare parts bin or asking if anyone has something similar (drop tanks) they are willing to part with??? You can fake the drogue fairly easily, HTH.

[Dez]

IIRC the re-fuelling tanks used on the MCs were tear drop shaped with an opening on the bottom about 2/3 of the way back for the drogue. You may be able to come close to the shape by searching a spare parts bin or asking if anyone has something similar (drop tanks) they are willing to part with??? You can fake the drogue fairly easily, HTH.

I have plenty of reference photographs, and they're similar to the tanks already with the kit, but shorter and with noticeable alterations in shape. I've toyed with the idea of making a mold of the tanks I have and trying my own resin casting, then breaking out the files and sandpaper to get it to the proper shape. But it's a lot of work and more of a $$ investment to acquire all the stuff I need.

Anyone got 2 extra 1/48 C-130 wing tanks, or willing to make a resin cast for me? I'm willing to pay for that much.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Dez

[Dez]

Guess no one has any, eh?

PM me if you do, I'd be grateful for any help.

[Dez]

I suppose I could show a few progress photos...

Starboard rear interior, not even close to being finished.

Looking forward to the avionics rack, again, just bare bones with the deck just sitting in for the pic.

More pictures as I actually make progress.

Edited May 4, 2007 by Dez

[Dez]

I'm actually basing the interior on the MC-130E photo series from Prime Portal. So far, it's the best set of reference pics I can find for the inside. I still have to put in all the piping and wiring, build up all the various avionics boxes, plus all of the support work along the roof. I'm really not going to do much forward of the wing spar as it's about pointless, what with the interior all black and impossible to see. The detail work around the ramp and side doors (building them open) should be visible enough and look sufficiently busy.

It's the first time I've ever done anything like it.

[Dez]

Picture of one of the wings where I put in plugs to lengthen the engine nacelles.

[aircommando130]

The helo A/R pods on the T1 are the same pods that are on the HC-130 made by Sargent Fletcher. Don't forget to add the high speed tail mods and the beaver tail ECM changes. It changed appearance big time with the "MOD-90" update. The Fulton capability went away in 1996 I think so the "wiskers" would be removed from the nose. The QRC-8402A pods that are under the external tanks are 91 inches long and 10.19 inches in diameter. I measured a real one before they went away in favor of DIRCM. Your interior looks good so far...remember that AFSOC airplanes are black on the inside. I have seen some T2's when they come back from depot the inside is a gunship gray color. The T1 also has a EWO/RO console in the cargo compartment that takes up pallet position 1 and they have a curtain that can be drawn across the cargo compartment to keep "other eyes" from seeing their displays while flying and the light from their console from being seen outside when on the ground with the back end open. The markings on the MC-130E were 4 national insignia and the tail number on the tail. Up to about the MOD-90 time only the numbers were on the tail. It later added the USAF above it. A couple aircraft had nose art...the initial MOD-90 and the P-46 airplanes. They were test birds and not operational at the time. Air Refueling was added in 1976 as were the -15 engines. They needed the extra power to keep the airspeed up in order to hang on the KC-135 boom! HTH..."Anytime, Anyplace"...Ron

[Dez]

The helo A/R pods on the T1 are the same pods that are on the HC-130 made by Sargent Fletcher. Don't forget to add the high speed tail mods and the beaver tail ECM changes. It changed appearance big time with the "MOD-90" update. The Fulton capability went away in 1996 I think so the "wiskers" would be removed from the nose. The QRC-8402A pods that are under the external tanks are 91 inches long and 10.19 inches in diameter. I measured a real one before they went away in favor of DIRCM. Your interior looks good so far...remember that AFSOC airplanes are black on the inside. I have seen some T2's when they come back from depot the inside is a gunship gray color. The T1 also has a EWO/RO console in the cargo compartment that takes up pallet position 1 and they have a curtain that can be drawn across the cargo compartment to keep "other eyes" from seeing their displays while flying and the light from their console from being seen outside when on the ground with the back end open. The markings on the MC-130E were 4 national insignia and the tail number on the tail. Up to about the MOD-90 time only the numbers were on the tail. It later added the USAF above it. A couple aircraft had nose art...the initial MOD-90 and the P-46 airplanes. They were test birds and not operational at the time. Air Refueling was added in 1976 as were the -15 engines. They needed the extra power to keep the airspeed up in order to hang on the KC-135 boom! HTH..."Anytime, Anyplace"...Ron

Thanks for the info, Ron! Every little bit helps on a project like this. I do plan on doing the MOD-90 updates, and have already crafted the tail ECM mods, just need to get the fuselage assembled before I can attach it. That and I've liberally applied various "patches" about the fuselage where the previous ECM fittings were attached. It's looking ok so far, but the acid test is going to be when that first coat of paint goes on. I'll post a pic of all that shortly.

As for the fulton recovery system, I've elected to keep that on (with the MOD-90 refit) as it enhances the appearance of the model (in my opinion). However, I still want to do the bird up in the euro-1 paint scheme as the new dark grey over light grey AFSOC scheme is too bland for my tastes. I don't know if any of the birds retained the euro-1 scheme after the refits, but it's the route I'm going. With that in mind, I've seen the radome painted both green and black; which one was more prevalent? The bird I rode on way back in '92 (as a jumper) still had the green radome, and has been the inspiration for this build.

The EWO console isn't going to be a consideration on this one. The interior is going to be all black as you indicated, and so anything forward of the main gear housings is just getting a coat of paint and a prayer, and maybe that idiotic "mop and broom" they included in the kit.

Those measurements on the QRC-8402A pods is a godsend. I was going to just eyeball it when I got around to fabricating them. The DIRCM proved to be way too much of a headache for the present time.

Thanks again, and any more info you can supply would be most helpful.

[aircommando130]

I think when the airplane went to Ontario for the MOD-90 upgrades they came out in the 2 tone gray paint. The Euro-1 painted airplanes most all had the green radomes. Every once in awhile you'd see one with a black radome. Just like now with the all gray airplanes you'll see a black radome on a gray 130. On the Fulton T1's the HF antenna's were moved from the tail down to the forward fuselage (the wire antenna) to an attachment on the fuselage side aft of the troop doors and over to the horizontal stabilizer and then up to the top of the wing. That way it would not get tangled in the lift balloon for the Fulton package. Also, if they were flying a Fulton STAR mission there would be fouling lines installed from the nose to the wingtips that kept the lift line from wrappin up in the props. They had razor cutters that would cut the lift line. A good reference with some flight manual pictures is a book called Praetorian Starship...written by Col. Jerry Thigpen. He's my old Group Commander from Kadena. If you Google the book title it will take you to the Air University website and you can download the book PDF file to your computer and read and look up stuff as you need it. It has some good reference to the MOD-90 as well as the hisory of the Combat Talon. How did you make the engine plugs on yours? I'm working on a 48th T1 from the early years...the old black and green paint...no A/R pods. If you have any more questions and want to go direct to me my home e-mail is: aircommando130@comcast.net. I retired in 99 but work for Lockheed Martin here at Kirtland AFB,NM doing MC-130 crew training for the AF. Ron

[Dez]

I think when the airplane went to Ontario for the MOD-90 upgrades they came out in the 2 tone gray paint. The Euro-1 painted airplanes most all had the green radomes. Every once in awhile you'd see one with a black radome. Just like now with the all gray airplanes you'll see a black radome on a gray 130. On the Fulton T1's the HF antenna's were moved from the tail down to the forward fuselage (the wire antenna) to an attachment on the fuselage side aft of the troop doors and over to the horizontal stabilizer and then up to the top of the wing. That way it would not get tangled in the lift balloon for the Fulton package. Also, if they were flying a Fulton STAR mission there would be fouling lines installed from the nose to the wingtips that kept the lift line from wrappin up in the props. They had razor cutters that would cut the lift line. A good reference with some flight manual pictures is a book called Praetorian Starship...written by Col. Jerry Thigpen. He's my old Group Commander from Kadena. If you Google the book title it will take you to the Air University website and you can download the book PDF file to your computer and read and look up stuff as you need it. It has some good reference to the MOD-90 as well as the hisory of the Combat Talon. How did you make the engine plugs on yours? I'm working on a 48th T1 from the early years...the old black and green paint...no A/R pods. If you have any more questions and want to go direct to me my home e-mail is: aircommando130@comcast.net. I retired in 99 but work for Lockheed Martin here at Kirtland AFB,NM doing MC-130 crew training for the AF. Ron

I winged it on making the plugs. What I did was go ahead and assemble the wings and the engine nacelles minus the props, and then I traced a template (slightly larger than the nacelle itself) from the outline of the nacelle onto sheet styrene. I got the measurements for the extended -15 engines and calculated it down for 1/48th scale. Then I just made an appropriate number of templates for each engine based on the thickness of the sheet, glued them together and attached the stack to the wing, and then glued the nacelle onto the stack. The rest was filing and sanding to get it all straight. It went fairly quickly since the sides were basically flat, and the curves were straightforward. A little bit of putty to fill in the inevitable gaps and there you go.

[aircommando130]

That's how I was going to do it. Have you looked at airliners.net? If you go there and put in MC-130E you will see a few Euro-1 non MOD-90 and a bunch of gray MOD-90 airplanes. May help you out with some other details. Ron

[Dez]

That's how I was going to do it. Have you looked at airliners.net? If you go there and put in MC-130E you will see a few Euro-1 non MOD-90 and a bunch of gray MOD-90 airplanes. May help you out with some other details. Ron

Been there, done that. :( I have dozens and dozens of images I've downloaded. The best group were from Prime Portal.

Heres a few more pics of what's been done so far:

Forward fuselage with scratch made ECM blisters

Mid fuselage with the duct work for the GTC on the sponson, and the reinforcing rib along the underside

Aft fuselage with all the patches covering where ECM fittings used to be, and the reinforcing rib along the underside here too; also the aft windows are all sealed up

Edited May 5, 2007 by Dez

[aircommando130]

Looking good. The part where the front of the fuselage meets the rest of the airplane there is a ice panel that you can add to cover up part of that seam. The one on the left side is high and the right one is low. That way if that big Hamilton Standard slings a piece of ice it won't punch a hole in the fuselage. The rib on the back aft of the troop doors is the high speed tail mod. It allows the back end to be open at speeds up to 250 knots...regular herks are limited to 150 knots. That way you can airdrop equipment and not have to slow down and give away the drop zone location if your being looked at on radar (or observed from another hill top) or expose the airplane to ground fire or worse yet...surface to air missiles. If you are going to add the wing landing lights...on each side of the external tanks there are the regular white lights and on the other side of the tank pylon is the IR light (looks like a black light)...same on the gear doors for the taxi lights...white and IR. In the old days we had to tape IR covers over the white lights and when you'd go to use them...you may get two IR or one white one if the cover blew off!! So we got really good at doing blacked out landings with no lights! Ron

[Dez]

I know one thing that has been eluding me... the antennae on the underside of the fuselage!

I have all but one of them properly located, sized, and their proper shapes.

The antenna in the red circle... I know what it is, some sort of panoramic microwave receiver. But what shape is it? None of the pictures I have really shows it clearly. Sometimes it looks round, sometimes it looks square or triangular with rounded edges.

Edited May 6, 2007 by Dez

[aircommando130]

That is what we call the "hatbox" antenna. It is round with a small ring base to bolt it to the fuselage. There is one in the AC-130U kit...it also has the SATCOM antenna for the top of the airplane.

[Dez]

Grazie!

[Pinguinator]

Dez... are you going to rescribe te kit??? Because I made the testors AC130 long time ago and will be my next recicle but to do it right.

Outstanding job!

Saludos desde la Patagonia!