C-130H by Ola Moller (Italeri 1/72)

Italeri's 1/72 scale animated
Lockheed C-130H/TP 84

by Ola Moller

Lockheed C-130H/TP 84

Italeri's 1/72 scale C-130H Hercules is available online from Squadron

Introduction

This is my diorama showing 84001 in the Swedish Air Force at a temporary road base somewhere in Sweden.

The centrepiece of the diorama is the Italeri’s 1/72 Lockheed C-130H Hercules modified slightly to depict a Swedish TP 84. Photoetch details from Flightpath and Eduard have been added as well as a large number of scratch-build details, mainly in the cockpit and cargo bay areas.

The VW minibus is from PJ productions, the tractor is a modified Hasegawa Ford tractor from their ground equipment kit. The pick-up car is actually a 1/87 kit, maker unknown/forgotten.

The base is made of celluclay and carpenter’s putty.

The aircraft is animated thanks to Clyde Sasaki of Dynamic Scale Modeling/DSM

Background

In 1965 Sweden acquired its first C-130. A former USAF C-130E, delivered in 1964, it was first hired for testing and evaluation and at that time carrying the USAF serial (40546) together with Swedish roundels. In the Swedish Air Force it was given the designation TP 84 with the individual number 84001. This was the first C-130 acquired and operated in Europe. The 84001 was later upgraded to C-130H standard.

The main role of the Swedish TP 84s is of course as military transports but they have also served in other roles. The 84001 was used by the Swedish Red Cross in 1968 to fly humanitarian missions. During these missions it was painted all white and used the civil registration SE-XBT

Currently the Swedish Air Force is operating 8 TP 84s of which some have been modified to provide in-flight refuelling for the JAS 39 Gripens.

Construction

The C-130/TP 84 has always been a very interesting and beautiful aircraft in my opinion. I remember from my childhood, during the 70s, a couple of air shows where the TP 84 made spectacular appearances, demonstrating its STOL-capabilities and manoeuvrability. When given the opportunity not only to build a TP 84 but also to animate it, I put aside all (well, almost all) other projects and started my, so far, biggest but also the most rewarding kit building project.

To start it off, I rescribed all major parts of the fuselage, fin and wings. I also received an extensive package from Clyde at DSM. This package contained:

Wiring, fibre optic rods and LEDs for position lights (wings and tail), landing lights (wings and wheel wells) and rotating beacons (top and bottom of fuselage).
Wiring and LEDs for cockpit lights, cargo bay lights and loading ramp flood lights.
4 motors and wiring for animating the props.

1 motor for animating the rear cargo bay doors.
2 speakers and wiring.
A small acrylic board holding the sound processor and motor control circuit board controlling the animation, the magnetic switch and battery.
Remote control and sensor.
Drawings and diagrams for installation.

I put a lot of effort into dressing up the interior of the fuselage, making use of the Internet’s extensive library of reference photos together with a couple of books I had on the Hercules. Different materials were used such as plasticard and rod, brass wire, metal-, plastic- and resin parts from the scrap box but also pieces of mosquito net and tape.

After dressing up the interior, I installed the motor operating the cargo doors as well as the wiring for the different LEDs in the fuselage. Parallel to this I worked on the wings, installing the wingtip lights and the wiring for the motors. The motors were installed in the engine nacelles and then attached and the wiring connected to the wings.

One of the most demanding parts of the work was drilling the hole for the motor shaft in the propellers. This has to be done with extreme caution as if the hole is drilled ever so slightly off centre, the spinning of the prop will look awful. There are some useful tips on the DSM website on how to get this right.

The flight deck was also dressed up and some pilot figures from the scrap box were modified, painted up as SwAF crew and installed. Power comes to the TP 84 through two connectors installed in the right main landing wheel tyres.

The cargo doors were modified by having a brass rod attached to the upper lip of the lower door. The lower cargo door is attached to the fuselage by a steel shaft inserted through the fuselage and the cargo door rod and by this means making a simple hinge for the door. As the movement of the upper door would be smaller, the original plastic pins and locators of the kit parts were used.

A brass rod was bent into shape to form the lower cargo door pistons. This was then attached to the motor operating the cargo doors. The motor has two arms, one for the lower cargo door and one for the upper. When the motor operates it simultaneously lowers the lower door and pulls up the upper door.

After testing the electronics and a lot of dry-fittings, the fuselage sides were glued together with the cargo bay doors attached. Wings were then attached and the C130 was ready for painting, detailing and decaling.

Painting and Markings

Paints used came from the Xtracolour range.

Decals used came from the Airfix boxing of the Italeri kit which includes some useful modern TP 84 markings. However, figures (841) were of the wrong font so these were done by printing my own decals – easy as the figures used on the TP 84 are using the Times New Roman font.

The base is a picture frame which I made up as a stretch of a road base somewhere in Sweden. The sensor for the remote is housed in the small green structure.

Conclusion

With the remote I can operate the TP 84, having it run the full animation with spinning propos lights doors, sound etc. or operate each animation separately. In addition to all the relevant sounds of engines, props, pistons etc. Clyde also loaded the sound processor with a song relevant for the theme, “Up and Away” with Agneta Fältskog of ABBA-fame.

The TP 84 was entered in the Swedish IPMS show in April this year and won the prestigious trophy “A Connecticut Yankee in King Gustav's Court” which is a trophy established to promote American subjects with Swedish connections. The trophy is made out of a fan blade from the jet engine (American design) of a JA37 Viggen (Swedish design).

During the show I also had a very nice talk with a lady who said she had really enjoyed this model with its animations. Usually, she said, these shows are a bit boring but seeing this TP 84 about ready to take-off really made her visit worthwhile.

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