Testors/Italeri AC-130A Spectre
The box art,,,, don't care for their paint job! It looks funny.
If i remembr right I repacked the sprues when I first got the kit. Seems to me they were all in 1 bag!
We know what that means! Italeri,,,no surprise.
washing up the parts in the shower> i duct tape a piece of screen over the drain,,,,i've lost parts down the drain in the past. NO MORE!
all laid out to dry for a while
I can see some swirls in the plastic of the wings,,,it may be a problem.
I may be able to hide the swirls on the upper wings with the camo.??
engine nacels, props, under wing stuff etc etc,,,
close up engine nacelles
port side main gear faring??
close up of the guns & ECM Pods
cargo bay floor, wheels, fuel tanks, bulkheads etc
close up bulkhead, rear cargo door,,,
close up cargo bay floor
If i re-scribed it,,,I'm not sure panel detail would show up since the underside and up the sides is black anyway.,,,,
,,,unless I primer it all and do it in the grey scheme,,,,,
,,,haven't made up my mind about which scheme,,but im not sure these swirls will go away after scuffing and a flat coat.
kinda swirley!
the glass
the instructions & decals,,,and I forgot it came w/masks,,,, cant say i like the instrutions much!
I think thats the inside of the cargo door
good start on the clean up,,,,the plastic is a bit on the brittle side
big pieces put aside for the moment
OK,,, the prop hub,,,omg,,,i'm expected to glue the small washer over the larger one on the shaft without getting any glue in between,,,,
,,,so,,, the middle washer fits inside the nacelle halves,,,,
,,,and what do you suppose is going to hold it in there so the props will turn,,,
,,,so glue the small washer to the shaft,,,& glue the middle washer to the nacelle,,,without gluing each other together !! WE"LL SEE !
gluing up some stuff that doesnt have to turn!
I think there's a bit of warpage there,,,that's what happens when those large sprues lay on top of each other for 35+ years!
But,,,,, don't have much chioce but to glue them together and hope for the best
hard to see in the pics,,,but the trailing edge near the ailerons do have a bit of a swoop in them
,,,but I dont think it will be that noticible.
here the inst. say "drill holes" and they are showing a pair of scissors,,,,dont ask me what they want cut w/the scalpel !
B17 is the door,,, A18 the bulkhead,,, then why is it saying to cut off the corner of the bulkhead ????
maybe I just haven't figured it out yet !!
Here's a close up of the blue/grey scheme,,,
,,,,
I like this one,,,,but I think its a newer version
or even this one,,,,but it would be a bit harder to paint
and here's the "real" Azrael. It IS an AC-130A,,,the nose art is just slightly different and the numbers are different. ?? I like the look of this one!!!
the R fuselage side had some pretty nasty wrinkles where the sprue attached,,,,,
,,,,And some sink marks from the interior ribbing,,,,, but the L side is nice & smooth in both areas !!
give everything a good wash after prepping, ready for some paint
set it all out to dry
the cargo bay floor,,,
,,, and main wheel bays
pretty basic cockpit
just to tast fit
,,,,,
I think I'll go with this paint scheme
cargo interior
I'm pretty sure the ones on the right are the 40mm Bofors, the others are 7.62 or 20mm Vulcans
getting the little bits painted,,,,
,,,,
,,,,
fuselage halves &
,,,wings primed,,, now to try some pre-shading w/a paint pen !
my epoxy job on the washers fell apart, seems the Chapstick oozed up through the joint and they just came apart. They might not turn after all!
Well, so I cant paint a straight line with an AB, so I used a sharpie! Tried a paint pen, but the paint just ran under the template and made a mess. good thing I tried it on something else first!
Still took some time.
got the props painted
the colors came out pretty close to what I wanted, they look better off camera
at the right angle I can get the lines to show in the pic
not all bad!
pretty close to what I was hoping for
at least the panel lines show
Actually the colors came pretty close to what i wanted, pretty close in this pic
OOPs, the number is a bit croked
a bit out of focus
this one too
scratched a couple of the windows. The EZ masks that came with it are cheap plastic, they end up brittle and my tweezers kept slipping when I tried to get a hold of a corner. I don't like them, but they came with it. I'll know not to use them next time!
cargo bay view
Comentarios
5 February 2017, 08:30
Robert W MartelGot all but the fuselage parts cleaned up. So I decided to test fit the halves. The fit is fine, but the Right side has some pretty bad wrinkles at the sprue attachment point, and a bunch of sink marks from the interior ribbing on top near the rudder. Funny, the Left side is smooth and no sink marks. So the top is gonna be kinda ugly, as to fix that would take lots of filling, sanding & re-scribing, uh uh !
Hopefully it all won't show much under the camo scheme & flat coat !!
15 February 2017, 03:05
Robert W MartelOK, finally back at it.
Just trying to get the basic detailing done so I can close up the fuselage. I've decided on the blue/grey upper/grey lower paint scheme. This thing is going to be hard enough to paint, it's so big. I'm thinking about pre shading the panel lines, since they are raised a wash won't work too well.
I'm gonna have to do it in sections as it is. The fuselage will be difficult, covering the wheelbays and cargo area for painting won't be easy. I'll do the wings separately, then attach them and touch up the join, just don't see how I can paint it all at once!
Anyway, making progress,,,,, slowly !! lol
30 March 2017, 19:01
Robert W MartelThanks James,
I think the toughest part is going to be masking the openings to paint the fuselage. Those cargo doors have some pretty big gaps and the paint is going to get through and spoil the work I've done on the inside. I want to pose them open when I'm done. Not sure how I can avoid that! I can tape over them from the inside and push them open after, but only on one side. The open wheelbays aren't going to be easy either. And how to hold the thing while I paint it ???
I may decide to paint the halves separately, then glue it together and touch up the seam. I've done it that way before. Either way, right now I'm putting in the windows, so that gives me a bit more time to decide.
Just gotta keep going and see how it turns out.
A challenge for sure!
30 March 2017, 23:25
Robert W MartelYikes,,,, after putting in the windows I also notice there are 9 open doors & windows, 6 of them have guns hanging out of them,,,, more fun! I'm thinking more towards painting halves
31 March 2017, 00:39
Martin OostromIf there's only one path, you've got to follow it 😉
Your progress looks fine.
31 March 2017, 08:28
Jay DubyaI've settled into watch your magic happen Bobster, can somebody please pass the popcorn.
31 March 2017, 09:02
Holger KranichCool project! I like those Spectres. And it looks way better in grey, i agree! What canon set up will you make?
31 March 2017, 09:27
Robert W MartelThanks guys, It progressing slowly.
Holger, according to the Instructions it is armed w/ Dual 40mm Bofors, 20mm Vulcan & 7.62 Vulcan, whatever all that means. There are 6 guns, but don't ask me which is what! lol I'll add a pic in the album, I'm just getting ready to paint them now.
31 March 2017, 18:42
Robert W MartelA little more progress. Now, I just have to figure what order to assemble, clear, decal & flat coat. I'll let this dry for a day or 2 while I ponder it!
9 April 2017, 01:46
Robert W MartelThanks Guys, we'll see how it turns out, putting it all together without messing up the paint will be a trick,,,, it's getting close!
10 April 2017, 00:03
Robert W MartelIt's getting closer Bryn. I'm hoping to get the fuselage closed up today. Yesterday I got all the interior in, the guns were kind of a pain, but,,, so with a bit of luck,,,,,,,
10 April 2017, 18:06
Robert W Martel4/18/17
The AC-130 is finished. Didn't turn out too bad really, for an older cheepo Testors kit. I would have liked to have done a better job on the seams and wing joints, but the way I painted it made that difficult, besides I didn't want to spend any more time on it. The colors came out pretty much what I wanted, it looks just fine.
Generally not a BAD kit. Mine had some nasty ripples along the top of the right fuselage from the inside cargo bay ribbing, the left side was fine! Everything fit pretty well except for in the end the small inner wheel bay doors wouldn't fit in how they should, the wheel backs were just in the way, bad design! A few of the little antennas had no marking where the should go, most did. The instructions, especially the painting guide are terrible. Lots of thing left in doubt as to what color to paint! That's about the only things.
The EZ masks that came with it are JUNK! They ended up being so brittle that when I tried to grab a corner my tweezers slipped and I scratched a couple of windows. Haven't done that before. The masks for the small round windows were a bit too big, I knew they would be trouble, so I just used window maker instead.
All in all I'm happy with it. It will look great hanging from the ceiling, and my grandson thinks it's cool!
That's good enough for me!!
18 April 2017, 19:52
Robert W MartelThanks guys, I did get in some more good practice painting and I have improved (little by little). Maybe on the next big one I can figure a way to do it a bit better, but I won't complain! Cheers !
18 April 2017, 23:47
Clifford KeeslerNice one Robert. I built that same kit, ages ago. Where do you find all these things?. LOL.
19 April 2017, 04:28
Robert W MartelThanks Clifford. It is an older one. (snicker). I get them mostly from ebay, & Hobby Lobby too. lol
19 April 2017, 04:54
Clifford KeeslerMy Hobby Lobby never seems to have much of anything. I want to get Revell's recent re-release of their F-102A Delta Dagger.(EX Monogram.) I do usually find quite a bit at Michael's. I mainly buy glue and paint at Hobby Lobby. The only kits they usually have are Academy 1/72 stuff.
19 April 2017, 05:08
Robert W MartelClifford, that's funny. The HL here has lots of models. I got the F-102 there last year. They have a pretty good selection, I buy a lot of cars there, and every now and then they have a new plane, and I've bought some big trucks there too. Michaels is just the opposite here, they never have anything new. I can see the store from my bedroom window. I go there every once in a while, like when they have a 50 or 60% off coupon. In the past 2-3 years I've bought maybe 2-3 kits there. I was just in there the other day,,,, same stuff they had 2 years ago! At least HL keeps up with the new Revell & AMT, Lindberg, MPC, Polar Lights releases. I but lots of models there. They even sometimes carry a few others like Minicraft, Italeri, Hobby Boss, Tamiya, but never a Trumpeter or Moebius. Go Figure!!
19 April 2017, 18:31
Clifford KeeslerI will have to see if my HL has the 102 when I go there next week.
19 April 2017, 18:33
Robert W MartelThanks Ekki, I think I am getting better at it, a little at a time.
23 April 2017, 19:30
Album info
Like I said the box says "Hercules" Gunship and the instructions say "Spectre". Which I suppose is technically correct.
The 4 color dark camo scheme seems reminiscent of Vietnam.
I don't personally don't care for the paint scheme on the box! At least the model doesn't look that great. It will be tough to paint!
It seems odd that the decal option "Azrael, Angel of Death" was used on a ship during the Irag War.The crew of this AC-130A Spectre gunship, named Azrael (Azrael, in the Koran, is the angel of death who severs the soul from the body) displayed courage and heroism during the closing hours of Operation Desert Storm. On Feb. 26, 1991.
The nose art on that plane and the decal sheet from 1984 are very similar. I suppose this kit aircraft could be the same aircraft updated. But it does seem a bit odd, we were not fighting in the Middle East in 1984,,,,were we??
I actually like the updated paint better,,,, well at least it would be easier to paint! It's all Grey w/white props! If I do the camo it will be an
