1/48 AC-130U Spooky II - She Lives! (Just about)

[Phill318]

Really good mate. Am I right in presuming you're not going to bring it back to lboro?

[Ben Montgomery]

Not sure yet Phill, depends how much I get done before next weekend. Rest assured, I will bring the 1/32 Spitfire for you to have a gander at, and the F-22 as well. I might bring the AC-130 back even if its finished, just for a bit of "decoration"

[Ben Montgomery]

Ok, another update before I go to bed! After working all morning (mmm aircraft systems and performance lectures) I spent an hour or two getting the props done up. I painted them with a mix of grey/silver for the main part, and matt black for the tips and hub. The grey/silver mix gives it a nice sheen when the props spin, maybe a bit too silverly but it looks OK to me:

NOTE: The "sheen" here looks stupidly exaggerated, because of the torch lighting the prop and the camera exposer playing around with the lighting.










If I have enough time/funds I might get the "Hamilton" prop transfers from Archer to add to these. I still intend to make the custom propart thingy on each 3rd blade.

Ben

[BOLLO]

Ive waited till it was all done and i can now say that is the "dogs nads"Ben.I would leave that home mate,all that work getting smashed would gutt me should anything go wrong.

[Ben Montgomery]

But Paul, its not all done! Lots to do, and I'm going to try some "nightops" shots when shes finished, see how real I can get it to look

[Ben Montgomery]

Well, some preliminary nightops. I said I would wait until she was finished, but it was just too tempting!

Only bad side is that the long exposures and bright torch really bring out the faults in the kit, so please try and ignore them!

Also makes my post shading light greys along the panel lines stand out far more than they do, I might have to try and dull them down a bit.







Ben

[viper3111]

Cool

[BOLLO]

Whats next Ben,ya gonna get the 105mm to fire. It looks stunning mate and you say its not finished yet?

[Ben Montgomery]

Yeah someone else challenged me to do that! Somehow I dont think so

Yup, still a lot more to do:

Landing Gear Doors
Paint front gear.
Finish crew door/paint inside and position
Chaff/Flare dispensers behind 105mm
Finish painting and weathering wing underside and flaps
Fuel Drop tanks
Static Dischargers on wings
Some little bumpy things on the tailplane
LOTS of oil stains, smoke and the like
Scratch build and add the last few antennae
Long air probe underneath starboard wing
Find a LANTIRN head for that last DIRCM
Buy and put on some decals for the props
Attach to base, and wire up.
Paint base
Build and attach LED powered floodlights to the base
"Aircraft Armed" placards and things
Finish the panel wash
patchy finish of matt varnish - real thing is not perfectly matt.

Yeah, just a bit!

[tc2324]

A fantastic bit of kit that Ben. Really looking forward to the finished product pics.

[SamP]

Looking great so far & the finished product is sounding fantastic But how are you going to get it home, what with the base aswell!

[Ben Montgomery]

Sam - it is all at home!

I'll have to post a photo of my cunning transportation device (cannibalised box effectively). Its probably going back to uni with me, but the base will stay here.

[SamP]

Oh, thought you were back at Uni with it, glad thats not an issue then!

[Ben Montgomery]

Looks like that's it till March guys - I dont think I am taking it back to University with me. Don't want to risk the thing breaking.

In the meanwhile, I'll be starting my Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk.IX, and Academy F-22A.

Back soon!

Ben

[Phill318]

Right you're back home now get off COD and get this finished!!

[Ben Montgomery]

I'll have you know I havn't played on COD (apart from an hour of SpecOps)!

Yeah, I'll haul this out tomorrow probably, get cracking on finishing her up.

[Phill318]

Good good. Can't wait

[Ben Montgomery]

VERY slow progress, I'm having a bit of difficulty getting back into modelling at the moment. I've started doing some of the detail work on the underside (painting wheels, cannon barrels and the like).

Definately won't get her close to finished this holiday, sorry guys! I'm needing a 3-4 day slot of just solid work to get back into it, but just dont have the time!

[nick197]

Looking good mate

[Ben Montgomery]

3 Weeks.......