Minicraft 1:144 Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules: Ethiopian Cargo ET-AJK

The Minicraft C-130J-30 kit [#14700] includes a cut out of the starboard forward sponson for the oval air scoop seen on late model H and J Herks with the long wheel sponsons. As this is to be an early L-100-30 with short wheel sponsons, I do not require part #71, the oval air scoop. 

As you can see from the parts diagram for kit #14700, the oval air scoop is molded with the long wheel sponsons attached to the AE2100 engine sprue. 

Here is the starboard side short wheel sponson that I cut out from the USCG HC-130H kit [#14524] to insert the long wheel sponson. I will trim out the forward tip to fit the gap. Lesson #1: Never throw anything out, at least anything resembling a plastic part! You never know when it will come in handy. 

Pretty close! I can file and sand the rest. 

I added a little gap filling super glue to the bottom to help fair in the sponson tip.  

Oh! I almost forgot to mention. Kit #14700 includes the starboard side heat exchanger [part #94] on the stretched fuselage sprue. The shape sits a little too proud and at an odd angle for my liking, but I will file it down a little once the glue has dried.  

Starboard side wheel sponson tip and heat exchanger filed to shape. 

Here, I reamed out the u/c mounting holes with the tip of a #11 x-acto blade. 

Wheel wells glued into fuselage sides and cargo floor with forward bulkhead glued. Remind me to add the nose weight. There, I just put it in the model box. 

Wings glued up. I will check for warpage and make corrections tomorrow. I will also fill the wing tank mounting holes.  

Bra.Z Allison 501D-22A [long nacelle] engines and Aeroclub Hamilton-Standard 4-blade props.  

Cargo floor and bulkhead in. Forward wheel bay and cockpit floor in place. A 1/2 oz fishing weight cut up and added to nose and between bulkhead and forward wheel bay. All held in place with a large foam peanut.  

And fuselage is glued up
 

Wing tank holes plugged with .020 plastic rod. 

Allison 501D-22A engines trimmed from their mounting block... 

...and now glued to the wings. One engine has a slight hump on its upper edge. I will see about filing it down to meet the wing mount profile. 

Well, after looking closely at each engine, I decided that they all could use a little putty. I also added plastic strips to the inside edge of the upper rear ramp to help hold it in place. 

When I glued up the wings, a small but noticeable gap resulted on the underside of the starboard wingtip (on the right). It is noticeable on the top wing in photos #10 & #14. I cut a piece of .010 plastic rod and using liquid cement, I glued it in the gap. When dry, I merely sanded it flush.  

While I was making final checks before painting, I noticed that the No. 4 engine had a damaged oil cooler inlet scoop. What to do? Once again, I took a piece of scrap plastic from the starboard wheel sponson off the HC-130H kit, placed it in a hand vice and started going to it laterally with a round rasp/file. The piece had a curve molded to it, I just want to thin the plastic to scale thickness.  

There, all super glued in place. Once dry in about ten minutes, I will sand down the sides as close to the original profile as I can without losing any detail.  

And the bottom view. I made sure to get the super glue under the white shim to ensure complete adhesion.  

Filed down & ... 

... with it's mate for comparison. I can live with that!  

Exhaust areas painted black. I will mask before the gloss gray coat, then masking center wing panels, followed by the chrome silver. Paint sequence is determined by the chrome silver not being able to take a mask; hence black first, then grey, then silver.