Its looking great Awood. I think you did a nice job rescueing the fuel tanks.
Mike V. Don’t worry I also thought it was a 20 mm cannon until I got a close look at it and asked the crew. And yes the one in my pics is a AC-130 U, it visited the airbase I work at in March when it was on its way home from Afghanistan.
Awood,
There are a pair of spare external fuel tanks for an AC-130 gunship fully painted right down the road from me. If you want I can take a picture showing the two tone scheme on them.
Everything is looking good, but I think you are ahead of yourself on todays update … it is still June.
Great Job. I’m going to have to start mine soon. Glad you got the rear guns straightened out and I guess I’m going to have to put in some extra time moving the operators booth over. I have to have it detailed as well as I can remember. And it looks like the booth door opens from the wrong side. I have to look at that as well. Having worked on the Sensors (IR, LLLTV, Laser) for the AC, I’m going to have to put in some extra hours on modifiy the Sensor platform in the front and I’m debating on moving the IR ball from the left side to the nose. When I started working on it, there was only one aircraft that hadn’t been modified yet and I only worked on it once.
I apperciate all the updates you’re giving us. Can’t wait to see the final product.
And Monrad, thanks for any and all the pictures you can post. Finding good quality pics is harder than finding hens teeth, and the memory’s startin to fade.
Don.
hey Awood23;
if go back into the Fine Scale Mags a few years back, there was an article on how to update & correctly scale the AC-130’s from Italeri, this modeler worked on them for years and if you can get this copy he also went ahead gave the interior colors too
Thanks for all the comments and tips guys.
AKlabunde, Thanks for the offer with the fuel tanks but Im not gonna need it. Now if you had the full bird Id be asking for some tall favors that would include a black ninja suit, Kodak, and a few hours of your time in the wee hours of the morning 
I have a few pics of the two tone grey Specters but Im going with the overall gunship grey. This is how I remember them from when I lived in Ft Walton Bch and they flew out of Hurlburt and Duke Fld. (important to what Im trying to do) And Ill have to go back and fix the date. When you work shift work in the Military its hard to remember what day of the week it is much less the month. All I care about is if I have to work tomorrow.
paraclete1 : If your planing on building this kit be ready for some disappointments. Monrads pics showed me just how much detail this kit is lacking especialy in the area just inside the rear ramp which will be visible when my gunships displayed. Sadly Im not a talented enough builder to scratch build or correct any of the deficiences (sp) There are also glaring mistake in the instructions. One I mentioned about the radar tracking and ALLTV sensors and the other Monrad was nice enough to point out. I dont know about the door on the Battle Managment Center. I was only inside one of these things once and I think I was about 12 or 13, more than 12yrs ago. But that was a lasting impression. Shes been one of my favorite birds since. Not to crazy about the U model though, I cant figure out why they traded to cannons for one even if it is of bigger calibur.
72Cuda: Had I that issue of FSM Id probably have had it framed and it would still be useless to me I wish I had seen it though. I haven’t
been able to find any reviews or builds on the net. ARC only had 3 reviews of the AC-47, I think one of the AC-119, but I have yet to see a AC-130 done by another modeler.
Once again, thanks for the comments and Ill keep the pics coming as I get more done
Ok some more pics. For you Awood and others who might be interested.
The control room.
The ceilling just above the 105. LOTS of wires.
The 105 in action.
I said it was crowded. We don’t see a AC-130 in denmark every day.
Thats it guys
monrad fantastic shots. thanks.
joe
I think I have a pic of that Control room door, but there are some people in it, I can post it if you want me to
Thanks Monrad for all the pics. Ima jelous man. You should think about contacting ARC and posting these pics in the walkaround section. Sadly these pics only remind me how little detail my bird has and the many inaccuracies that come with the instruction.
Here’s a link to an Italeri AC-130 by Peter Marshall. It’s an A model, Vietnam gunship, by the detail is excellent. The kit is 1/48th scale.
http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/mod/marshallac130.htm
This is the only pic I have of the control room door. It not very good, like I said it was crowded. I think there is a difference between the U and the H model, but this is all I have.
According to my father, who was a navigator on AC130 gunships during Vietnam (1968-1970), the -H model gunship was the up-engined model with improved Avionics and electronics. The early -H models still had the two 40mm Bofors, and the two 20mm Vulcans, but the 7.62mm miniguns were omitted. The later -H models had the 105 installed when they were sent to the theater, and they were put in place as shown in the AMT model. Later, the position was standardized as shown in the photos of the -U model above.
My father said that they originally wanted the 105 because of a couple reasons:
The NVA were rumored to be preparing to use tanks against the South, which they eventually did. Specter wanted something that they could use to knock out these tanks should the event arise.
Some VC bunkers were well dug in and ‘armored’ with layers of wood, sandbags and sometimes metal plate, particularly command locations. They wanted the 105 for its ability to bust through the layers to destroy the complexes.
My father was stationed in Ubon Thailand with the 16th SOS when they formed up. He has 115 combat missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos in AC130A’s, -E’s, and -H’s.
Thank you Awood for showing me this. I have the same kit sitting on my shelf, and will probably start building it now because of this. I’ve aleady build the -A model over 20 years ago; it is still hanging on my ceiling next to my AC119 Stinger.
I shall continue watching this thread!
OK, she’s actually starting to look like something that will fly and create craters on the ground or make scrap metal out of assorted soviet weaponry. Im really liking how shes starting to look especially when compared to how I have envisioned the final result pictured in my head. I had planned on using a wash to accent the panel lines but the other night a light bulb went off in my head (please hold your laughter) And I decided to use a pencil. I tried it on a small section to see how it would look. I like it. What do you guys think?
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=146&sid=530a5753950fd04ad16fc51369a3e932
Now I have some questions about decals. Its my understanding that a gloss coat will help hide the clear carrier film thats oh do visible on the tail of my KC-135
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=40&sid=530a5753950fd04ad16fc51369a3e932
and silvering. When I had planned using the wash I was going to apply a base coat of Future first, the wash, decals, and then finish it with a dull coat. Now that Im plannning on using the pencil instead of wash that kinda negated the need for the gloss coat. Now if I still use the Future does it have to be applied whole model, and if so do I have to mask the windows when applying the dull coat? Or can I just apply to the area I want apply the decal and dull coat just that area???
ok her she is at present…
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=147&sid=530a5753950fd04ad16fc51369a3e932
the props are just sitting there right now and will be appplied as one of the last steps, but I had to put in for the pic. Speaking of which, does any one know how to shrink a pic?
well I hope you guy are enjoying this. Thanks for all your tips, comments and great reference pics?? or if using this site I use can post the pics here or just the link like I have been? I’ll post some more pics as I go along. I have sunday off and should be able to spend a fair amount of time on the baby. Now theres a dilema… church or glue and plastic?[:D][angel][:-^]
Awood, you can just brush the Future on the areas where a decal is supposed to go. That should work well enough to prevent any silvering once you dullcoat it. Either that, or do all the panel lines in pencil, seal them with a Future glosscoat, apply the decals, and then dullcoat it.
To shrink a pic, open it in whatever photo editing software you have, such as Paint Shop Pro, Photo Shop, or any other editor software. Check the drop down menus for anything that says “Resize”. In my Paint Shop Pro, it is under ‘Edit’ and gives me the choice of downsizing by percentages. Once it is the size you want, Save it to your disk and then you are ready to post.
As for the choice of church or glue and plastic, why not a little of both? Church isn’t that long, and besides, you can pray for some peace from others and some patience so you can get the maximum enjoyment out of this build. That’s what I do every Sunday! [;)]
Anyway I hope this helps somewhat. I love the progress you’re making, it’s looking great! Man, I gotta go dig mine out…!!
not quite finished but getting there, all I have left is some minor detail work, accent the panel lines and apply decals. Sorry I cant get a decent pic of the rear area… dont know what Im doing wrong but in the case its a blessing. The lack of detail in this area is atrocious.
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=149
I encountered a serious “hey stupid what where you thinking?” problem after assembling and attaching the landing gears I found out this thing is tail heavy!!! why I never thought to find center of gravity before when I still had a chance to add weights inside the nose is beyond me. Ive know all along exactly how I wanted to dispay this thing and I can’t believe I didnt think of this sooner. The only defense I have is in all the models I’ve built that were tail heavy they tell you in the instructions to add weight if displaying on the wheels. The better manufacturers even tell you how much Not this time…[:(!][V][censored][%-)] Ive pried of the nose wheel cover as theres a small space infront of the landing gear strut that I may be able to add some weight but I have no idea what to put in there yet… gonna have to see if I can find a fishing store here in Belgium I guess… you can see in this pic how she sits on the tail ramp and the nose is off the ground
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=150
In all my reference photos I have of this theres an antenna array going from both sides of the forward fusealage to the mid front of the tail. The kit I have doesnt come with this so I attempted to make my own out of sprue sanded flat and cut to shape and fishing line. Im not to crazy how it looks where I attached it to the tail but its not too bad and better than nothing at all…
http://forum.alanger.us.alanger.us/album_page.php?pic_id=151
while I can point out many flaws with this build, all in all Im very happy with how she’s looking. One of my best builds, and leaps and bounds over the previous AC-130 I built. (its posted in my album if you want to compare)
Many of the flaws are inaccuracies with the kit and bad mold… things that a more tallented modeler could probably fix and add scratch built detail. If any one else is thinking about doing this kit and wants a list of problems Ive had with kit and Inacuracies Ive noted just ask. Hopefully yours will turn out better than mine and if you post pics I can drool [:D] plus I have another one of these bad boys waiting for me to decide Ive become a better modeler, which I think I have just by building this kit. I tried some new things that I liked alot ie super glue makes modeling much easier that using testors tube glue for everything!!![:D]
well its late and Im off to bed, I hope you guys are enjoying these pics as much as I am building this thing.
Take care guys (and girls if there are any… are there any???)
I don’t think you are wrong, Mike. I used to know a fella who flew them in Viet Nam and I’m pretty sure he told me that they had Vulcans. They were either Vulcans or miniguns, definitely not 25mm.
I do remember him telling me that they could NOT bring everything online at the same time because it would cause structurall failure of the tail assembly [:)]
OK, we will take this one again. 1st. Im an aircraft mechanic, I work on F-16, I see Vulcans EVERY day, this is NOT a Vulcan. Look at the pics, it has 5 barrels and NOT 6 like a Vulcan. The H-model had the 20mm Vulcans, the U-model ( the one in my pics is a U-model ) have a 25mm.
When I looked at it I could see that the barrels were larger than those on the Vulcan. Like I said I see Vulcans every day. And I asked the crew, and they told me that it was 25mm, and I hope that the crew knows what they are carrying. So believe me, the gun on the U-model IS a 25mm.
The H-model had the 20mm vulcans, and the H-model was used in Nam. So your friend is right Musiccity, but so am I.
MusicCity,
Monrad is correct, we were just referring to different models of the aircraft that’s all. Thanks Monrad for all the good info my friend. [;)]
Mike
Im thinking Im gonna build AMT’s U model next to shut every one up when it come to… “Its a Vulcan! no Its a 25MM!!! Your wrong!!! Im Right!!!” Only one my U Model Im gonna replace the 25mm with an M-16, the 40mm with a MK-19 and for the 105 Im gonna mount a turrent from an M1A1 Abrams. Then Im gonna piant the whole thing Bright Pink and mount it upside down on a pedestal.Then you guys can argue over whats wrong with it[:D]
That being said, I cant find one reference pic of this thing that looks anything like another H model. It looks like every one of them is cannibalised, chopped and remodified with different sensor, gun and hardpoint placement, even sensor placement that each one is drastically different than the one on the tarmac next to it. Kinda makes it hard to build an accurate model with this many irregularities and opens the door wide open for “hey you did this wrong”
Sorry if I came on a bit hard there, but it was early in the morning here, and it reminded me of a zimmerit thread we had in the armor forum. I didn’t mean to upset anybody, sorry.
Hmm Awood that U-model would involve alot of scratch building… Im looking forward to that hehehe[;)]
Yeah I know, they made changes to them all the time and still do. Its hard to make an absolutely 100% correct model of an AC-130H, but who says you have to! If you are satisfied with the model OOB then that is just fine. I often build models OOB and don’t give a s**t about reference.