C-130T Fat Albert Airlines (Blue Angels)

[Retired_for_now]

JATO hasn't been used operationally on the Herks for decades. It was intended to get a full, heavy airplane off of a short strip. Heaviest use was for polar resupply flights, extra rocket thrust offset the drag (and weight) of the skis and helped break the aircraft loose from the surface.

It's a show item for the Blue Angels. The Blue Angel's Herk flies light, so he doesn't need JATO - and a Herk will easily get off a short strip with a full tactical load and head for the sky without any assist. Lightweight, it's an elevator - slightly more so with the JATO but the rockets burn out very shortly after liftoff. Most of the climb is just a testament to the power of the Herk.

Yogi

[airdave]

Fat Albert Update!

Please refer to milenio3's build of the Blue Angels C-130 HERE
a possible error was uncovered in the panel lines of the fuselage.

This error occurs in Nobi's original C-130 kit
and for some unknown reason was ignored by me during the Fat Albert repaint.

Obviously I didn't ignore the problem, but there is definately a visual problem that needs correction...
and I will quote my post in milenio3's thread to address this issue:

are these panel lines supposed to mine up horizontally?
I doubt it...because there are many panel lines, all over the plane,
that don't line up in this way.
I guess a plane this size, has many different shaped panels that don't all line up with matching seams and right angles, etc.

BUT...I do agree that that one area (both sides) looks very odd.


I have created an updated Page Four.
Did a little panel line rework and hopefully this will work better visually.

So for the time being, I'll make the updated page available right here
And here it is - click this link for the Fat Albert PDF Page 4 download

anyone else who may have this model is welcome to get the replacement page also.
(At some point, I will have to update the entire kit. but it will take time to go through the kit and repackage it properly)

This does not fix Nobi's original kit, only my repainted fat Albert Version.

I am hoping to do a couple more C130 repaints in the future, I had one request for a Viet Nam era camo...and at that time I can go through the entire kit and include this and any other updates up to now.

so, to repeat...download an updated Page Four for the Fat Albert C-130 kit:
click this link for the Fat Albert PDF Page 4 download

[richkat]

Watched Fat Albert at an airshow in Grand Prairie,Texas a few years (ok maybe 10 or so) they used the RATO (rocket not jet) during the take off and started a grass fire next to the runway, burned from one end to the other with firetrucks chasing it the whole way. Some show!!.........Rich

[Retired_for_now]

Yah, Rich. They're little rocket motors, not jets but for some reason we called it JATO ... go figure. For a really wild set of rockets on a herk take a look at YouTube - Credible Sport Test YMC 130 H . A whole bunch of various rocket motors (missile stages) were used - with some serious internal bracing.
Yogi

[richkat]

Retired_for_now,yah that is some incredible footage, I'v seen some of it before but that is the best look at it out there. You know that was going to be used to free the Iranian hostages out of a soccer stadium!! didn't work out but gave the world some of the wildest C-130 footage ever. I think I remember that no one was badley hurt in that landing but it was the end of the plan...Thank you Jimmy Carter!........Rich

[DEATH ANGELS]

Bert Kinzey Of Detail and Scale had a Blue Angels book that had photos of the 130. There is also another D&S book on the C-130 with more photos of Albert. Some guy at classicwings at bellsouth dot net has a lot of original copies of the books and sells them. Beautiful plane...except after about 30 hours stuck pushing yourself upright in the web troop seats crossing all the way to Japan. Looking forward to the gunship version and drone carrier version.

[airdave]

Work is progressing slowly but steadily on my new Herc and Gunship design.
...just trying to get a few other projects and some test builds out of the way.
Was hoping to have something for Xmas, but that isn't gonna happen.

Also haven't decided which version of Gunship I will produce...will probably be determined by which parts I can design and which I can't!