What version of the C-130 is primarily used for doing the aerial refueling of the AF and Army SPECOPS helicopters, and what are the recommended kits for this in 1/72 scale? Are there any conversion kits for this aircraft out there as well? Thanks.
Mike
The USAF uses the HC-130 and the Marines use the KC-130. There are several vacuform conversions kits. They are probably difficult to find now.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Doesn`t Special Ops Use MC130s for covert ops?
I`d like to do a Combat Talon C130 but unsure of where and how to do the Strange Radome they have and also would like to add the Fulton Recovery forks
The vacuform conversion kit I have somewhere has the Fulton nose used on ARRS birds and Combat Talon I. Combat Talon II has a even bigger nose,huge in fact.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
There are three versions of the C-130 that are used to refuel Spec Ops Helos. They are: HC-130N and P, MC-130E (used by the Guard and Reserves), and the MC-130H. I will detail the differences below.
HC-130N/P aircraft: The original, ‘factory fresh’ HC-130P had a Fulton Recovery System forks on the nose. These were removed shortly after the Vietnam War. Here’s an image of an HC-130P: 
HC-130N’s are similar, except that they retained the ‘normal’ nose without forks. A lot of these aircraft are currently undergoing upgrades to remove the Fulton nose and the radome on top of the fuselage. The modern bird would look like this:
MC-130E aircraft are similar; but have a different nose:
MC-130H aircraft have yet another nose:
Falcon makes a conversion set for the HC-130N / P; you can use the in flight refuelling pods on a MC-130E or H conversion. I am not aware of any other ‘nose’ conversion kits for the HC-130 or MC-130, though I could be wrong. The best basic kit that I have found to use is the Testors/Italeri kit in 1/72.
If I can help you any further, just drop me a note. Hopefully, I haven’t made this too confusing [:)]… I’ve worked on these C-130s during my AF career.
Yes, the MC’s are used for covert ops.
And conversion kits are available in 1/72 scale at
http://www.djparkins.clara.net/fltpath/fpmaster.htm
go to the USAF/NATO/ RUSSIAN header.
HTH’s
Don
Thanks for the link
Does anyone have any experience with these conversions?
I`m gonna order an MC130E
Phil/Rt4957
The only experience I have is with the Falcon vac conversion kit. However, I am willing to help as much as possible with details, paint schemes, etc. Just send me an email [:)]
I checked the link that paraclete1 provided (Am I the only one who didn’t see pictures of their products on that site?). I am not sure what they are referring to by ‘long engines’. The C-130A engines did have a shorter nacelle than the later aircraft; Testors molded their C-130E/H with the correct nacelle. Another note: I have never seen the MC-130E with the Tracker Radome (the one on top of the fuselage) installed.
Thanks for all of the information. It was a tremendous help and saved me a ton of research time.
Mike
I, for one, would like to see this when it’s finished.
I would also like to see the end result! [:)]
The other day, on the new “Military Channel” or whatever it’s called, I saw one of those endlessly repeated leftover Wings docs about the 1st SOW, and they showed footage of the MC-130’s with the Fulton Recovery System booms on the nose. I thought that system had gone away in the '70s, but this footage looked awfully new, and this was no old Herc. The narrator said the system remained in use until 1997. Does this mean it was in use, or simply was installed until then? Before this film, I’d seen lots of C-130’s with the squarish radomes that had obviously had the system removed, but haven’t seen it in place until this fairly recent documentary footage. What’s the deal? Was it used that late?
TOM
The system was installed on the aircraft until 1997. I can’t speak for if it was actually used until removal, but one of my friends sent me pictures of the last Fulton Recovery pickup using the forks. IIRC, it was done as a ‘last hurrah’ for the system… and they used it to pick up a package of some sort. I’d share the pics, but I lost them in a hard drive crash of my 'puter last year. The ‘square nose’ rescue birds had the ‘whiskers’ removed shortly after the Vietnam War… AF decided helos were a better alternative. LOL, just for trivia’s sake… we maintainers called the ‘square nosed’ HC-130’s… ‘pig noses’ . [:D]
I can’t say the Fulton system was used operationally until 1997, but I’m sure they practiced with it in the early 90’s. I saw the system used at an Eglin Air show in 92 or 93. And I saw the rear of the MC configured with the wench/hoist equipment on seveal ocassions. It was mounted in the center of the floor in the ramp area.
I was told that they used to practice with volunteers until one of them who was disoriented from the ride happened to wander out the back of aircraft while the crew was securing the equipment. Don’t know how true that is. I did see the Suited up man size figure that they used to practice with sitting on the air craft a couple of times.
For anyone who doesn’t know what the fulton system is, you can see one used in the John Wayne film, “The Green Berets”.
Don
You can also see one attached to a B-17 in the last scene of "Thunderball, picking up Janes Bond and his beautiful woman friend from a lift raft.
Now if I could only find some nice decals for a HC-130P and a kit of a HH-3E I’d be in hog heaven!!
The machine with the fulton gear is the coolest.
When I was on active duty we had a Combat Talon II drop their flares, jam us and then drop us a small bottle of Jack Daniels!
Man was that ever good![:D]
If anyone is interested in the MC-130 Combat Talon I and II aircraft, there is an awesome book call “The Praetorian Starship” by Jerry L. Thigpen, Colonel, USAF, retired. I worked on the Talon I aircraft when they were stationed in Germany and at Hurlburt Field, FL. The book covers the history of the aircraft from the initial concept all the way through the mid 1990s. Most of the active duty tanker versions were converted HC-130s to MC-130P/N or Combat Talon III. Their nickname is “Combat Shadow.”
I picked up a couple of the Falcon HC-130 kits. The AR pods are resin and are nicely done as is the “pig nose” which is also resin. The Cook Tracker radom is vacuformed clear plastic and the Fulton forks are metal.
If you are going to do the Fulton installed, don’t forget to make the cables extending from the nose to each wingtip. These had, for lack of a better term, razor blade like protrusions imbedded in the cable/wire to cut the cable of the ballon, if the pilot missed it with the yoke.
My squadron currently flies 4 HC-130N (H-3’s). They are 1993 new build aircraft and NEVER had the Cook radome or pig noses. They are state of the art, NVG compatible flight deck, FLIR and SPS (full flare, chaff, IRCM, RHAW). one is a complete glass cockpit where the other 3 are a mix of glass and analog instruments. I point all this out because most of the HC-130’s out there are old 1960’s era airframe “P” models, and they’re pretty tired birds. The "P"s had the Cook radome and Fulton nose and many retained these even after the system was discontinued. In 2003 while playing in Desert Rescue XI at NAS Fallon, we had 4 HC-130P’s from Moody. Most had (and have now) the Cook radome taken off, but several still have the Fulton nose.
The only difference between an MC-130P and an HC-130P is the unit that operates it (AFSOC or Rescue). Now that AFSOC is taking over as the lead agency for CSAR in the USAF most will probably be referred to as MC-130P’s.
Now just like any other airframe out there, you’ll see aircraft from any particular unit which will have more up to date upgrades than other aircraft in the same squadron. It just depends on whether they’ve been to depot or not. Every time an upgrade comes out, you don’t just flush all the birds down to get the Mods, you schedule them when they’re due a depot visit and the like.
MC-130H’s don’t do HAR (helicopter air refueling). This comes straight from one of our HC-130 drivers who we got from the 1st SOW down at Hurlburt (he flew MC-130E’s Talon I’s for 8 years). The MC-130H Talon II’s had the plumbing for HAR pods but you don’t see them installed. What you do see is ECM/IRCM pods installed where the HAR pods would be located. That’s because the Talon II is a deep penetrator dropping SOF and conducting resupply. The Talon I does that as well, but is also used for HAR. The long nose on the MC-130H is due to the addition of a Terrain Following Radar. By the way, he also said they still trained on the Fulton system in the mid 1990’s. And don’t forget that many of the WC-130’s (if not all) had Fulton noses. These were used to snatch satellites and other stuff re-entering from space under parachutes.
I also purchased the long engine kit from Falcon. My understanding is that they’re for use on any aircraft having the -15 or later engines.
Damon…are you sure the italeri 1/72 scale C-130H has accurate (longer) engine cowlings? My understanding is that they were the shorter cowlings. If they’re in fact the long ones, then I’ll have to rethink using the Falcon resin ones, but they are nicely done.
Lastly, Grant and I are in the process of doing a reference site for (among other SAR airframes) the HC-130. I’ll be supplying many detail shots of the interior and exterior of our birds and am planning on doing very involved models of an early HC-130P from the 71st ARRS in Alaskan Arctic markings, along with a current HC-130N(H3) from my squadron. So stay tuned. Grant is also planning on making a pitch to a decal company to maybe make these markings available to the modeling community. Anyone interested??? They really are some pretty spectacular looking birds, especially the older Arctic painted King Birds.
I compared the H engine pods of the Italeri kit to their A model kit, and they definitely are longer. I’ve also had the pleasure of crawling all over a C-130A on display at the Pima Air Museum (and crawling all over my EC-130…LOL) and the engine QEC’s look correct, lengthwise, for a -7 or -15 bird. However, my biggest beef with the Testors kit is that the QEC is not shaped entirely correct, and those horrid seams, not to mention the gaping “air intake”… does the Falcon resin accurately portray the intake to the compressor face of the engine? Testor’s did a shabby job of it on the 1/48th version.
I’d be DEFINITELY interested in both your site and any rescue decals you come up with. If you need more info, I’ve got one bird in mind that would make for an interesting decal sheet… it was an interesting bird, to say the least… here she is: 
The paint scheme and markings are completely accurate. I also have references to other versions of the European 1 paint schemes. And I also have a circa 1989 batch of interior shots of an HC-130P, including, IIRC, the Overhead Delivery System that was removed a few years later. BTW, does any of your references list 65-0987 in Alaskan markings? We picked her up at Kirtland after a PDM in 1988, she’d been repained in the Europe 1.
Even though you are doing a different C-130 than I am working on, you could use some of the same ideas that I have on mine. Mine is called a L.A.P.E.S. aircraft and I’m currently working on it.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36938
That is if you want to use them.