Zvezda 1/72 C-130H Hercules

[Deleted member 7181]

Thank you gents, and yes, it's pretty much taken over the shed. At least most of the sprues are out of the way now, but I still seem to have no space left to put anything, especially now that I've started a base for it!

The underside was masked up, then I sprayed on the Dark Sea Grey. Somehow in my excitement I forgot to get a picture of that though



I gave the grey an hour than started to mask it up for the green. I'd thought about going freehand but I'm still not happy with the results I get from that, and she's a bit unwieldy anyway. It was too cold to get blu tack worms to stick, so out came the tape.



I ran out of time to get the green on, but my legs and back were aching anyway from being stood up masking for so long so it's a job for tomorrow.

I assembled and painted the props today too. I decided to spray the tips rather than use the decals. They aren't perfectly straight but at this scale I'm happy enough, and I doubt the decals would have gone on any better anyway!



Probably teaching most of you to suck eggs, but here's some SBS thumbnails for anyone that's interested.




And there's more lol.

I started making a simple base for this by getting the trusty saw out and slicing up some left over laminate flooring



I scribed some lines into it to represent concrete expansion joints then gave it a coat of primer



Then splashed a few colours over it.



It would probably do as it is with some grass on it, but I intend to do a bit more.

Thanks for keeping with me

 

[therapy]

More quick work Andy. I usually leave it several days before risking any masking tape.... the base is looking good.

Nick.

 

[Steven000]

Lovely work Andy, looks all great to me
Steven

 

[Tim Marlow]

Base is coming on well Andy, it will set this big old bird off well.

 

[boatman]

Base is coming on well Andy, it will set this big old bird off well.

YEA SPOT ON

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks again for the all your comments & reactions.

I have no fear with masking Nick Obviously the lacquer paints help - once they're dry, they're dry. Water based acrylics generally dry fast but take further time to cure and harden up, so I wouldn't be quite so reckless.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

A couple of corrections are needed around the tailplane where my masking went astray, but pretty successful. The tonal variation on the green doesn't show up so well on camera, but I'm chuffed with how the grey looks here.





Oh, and it doesn't actually fit through my shed door without some gymnastics

 

[JR]

Congrats Andy, love the whole build, have you done much masking before, your getting good with it .

Joking aside that's some size to work on esp spray.

 

[outrunner]

Looking the dogs bolx Andy.


Andy.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Andy. And John, thanks. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and got cracking

The whole thing has had a watercolour wash which has added a bit of grubbiness, and some of it actually stayed in the panel lines lol. I've sealed that in with a couple of coats of aquagloss, ready for decals. No pictures as it just looks weird being all shiny.

I'm back at work tomorrow so that means I'll have to take the decals steady, a section at a time. That can only be a good thing as some span the whole width of the wings and length of the fuselage. I'm hoping they go better than the similar ones on my Lancaster! Touch wood I've had virtually no problems since I switched to the VMS 2 in 1 solution, I just hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that...

 

[Jakko]

It’s a plane, it should be able to go on its side

 

[adt70hk]

Andy top work as always!

ATB

Andrew

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Cheers Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looks great, love the colour variation on the grey, gives it a nice lived in feel....

 

[scottie3158]

Andy,
All looking splendid lovely paint work.

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thank you Tim and Paul.

 

[rtfoe]

Andy,the paintwork is excellent as expected from one who sprays vehicals for a living.
Do you do the masking as well in your profession as it shows in your build...very neat and precise. I think the only think you contend with is the difference of scale, paints, air pressure and distance. Love the finish on your paint job.
Lots of stuff need moving out of the way for the Herky bird to display.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Thanks Richard.

Yes, masking is part of my job too, although not usually on such a fine & delicate scale of course.

I'm sure that masking models has helped me in the day job too, or maybe it's just the new glasses

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Gradually working my way through the decals.

I've decided against using the bright yellow markings for the no step lines for a couple of reasons. They are printed on a large section of clear backing to keep them straight and allow alignment with each other. That would cover over 50% of the top of the fuselage & wings, tempting fate with silvering. I did try trimming them from the clear part (using the spare black version) but they were just too flimsy and nigh on impossible to keep straight and perfectly intersecting with each other. That's probably the reason why the person building the model for the box photo's didn't bother with them either

No point putting myself through that is it was bound to be anything but "fun"





Once they've dried out I'll hit them with a coat of Aquagloss to seal them in, sand it lightly to reduce the step at their edges, then it's ready for a flat coat and final assembly I think.

 

[adt70hk]

Gradually working my way through the decals.

I've decided against using the bright yellow markings for the no step lines for a couple of reasons. They are printed on a large section of clear backing to keep them straight and allow alignment with each other. That would cover over 50% of the top of the fuselage & wings, tempting fate with silvering. I did try trimming them from the clear part (using the spare black version) but they were just too flimsy and nigh on impossible to keep straight and perfectly intersecting with each other. That's probably the reason why the person building the model for the box photo's didn't bother with them either

No point putting myself through that is it was bound to be anything but "fun"

View attachment 407859

View attachment 407860

Once they've dried out I'll hit them with a coat of Aquagloss to seal them in, sand it lightly to reduce the step at their edges, then it's ready for a flat coat and final assembly I think.

Looking great Andy.

Don't blame you with the decals for the lines. I had to do separate ones for my Spitfire and that was hard enough, so can only imagine what it would be like on something this big.

Looking very good indeed.

ATB.

Andrew