Revell 1/144 MC-17

[RGrande]

While walking through my local Hobby Lobby a few months ago, I spotted a Revell 1/144 C-17 and thought I'd give this 'Whiffing' thing a try.  I always thought it would be cool to see what an AFSOC MC-17 replacement for the MC-130E would look like.  I figured it would be a good chance to clean out the spares box and tubes of old putty.




By rgrande at 2012-02-29
 




By rgrande at 2012-02-29
I always thought the original nose was too darned short so that became #1 on the list.  After a lot of sculpting and sanding, I made a new one out of White Milliput.  I also carved a FLIR out of sprue and modified an unused panel or something from a 1/48 Hasegawa F-4 for the chin antennas.







By rgrande at 2012-02-29
Of course we need Mk15 Air Refueling pods... They were fashioned from Tamiya putty, 1/48 CBU-58s and an unused pylon from a 1/72 F-111.







By rgrande at 2012-02-29
I modified the front and rear of the fin but I'm open to suggestions for a better way to finish the front antenna.  I'm not sold on the 'bullet.'




I thought about adding buffer boards but I figured they wouldn't be doing many personnel drops from the ramp.  The ALE-54 Sensors for the LAIRCM as well as various comm antennas will be added soon.  The model just has a shot of primer to check my seams but I'll finish it off with the modern AFSOC 'Shamu' camo.  





By rgrande at 2012-02-29
More to follow.

[AeroplaneDriver]

"You've taken your first step into a larger world"-O.W. Kenobi

Welcome to the whiffing world.  Love the model, especially the new nose.  As for the bullet antenna, how about a more rounded profile...struggling to think of an example other than the fairing on the BAC 111...

[RussC]

"You've taken your first step into a larger world"-O.W. Kenobi

Welcome to the whiffing world.  Love the model, especially the new nose.  As for the bullet antenna, how about a more rounded profile...struggling to think of an example other than the fairing on the BAC 111...

  Too right! Great idea here.

[NARSES2]

Wellcome aboard and with such a good start 

[Mossie]

Globemaster gunship is a good start, nice to meet you!

[ChernayaAkula]

That nosejob is a thing of beauty! 

[jsport]

looks for the beginnings of beautiful.

[lancer]

Welcome to the nut house, pull up a chair and join the madness Good looking build. It makes an over complicated cargo hauler into something remotely useful.

That nosejob is a thing of beauty!

Is that hint of jealousy I read there Moritz?

[kerick]

There was talk about a C-141 gunship at one time.  I think the Air Force needed the C-141's as trash haulers more than gunships.  Would have been impressive.

[RGrande]

There was talk about a C-141 gunship at one time.  I think the Air Force needed the C-141's as trash haulers more than gunships.  Would have been impressive.

I think a number of factors would make it not a viable gunship, not the least of which is its sheer size.  They'll need to be pretty close to the ground to be effective with the gun, well within the range of the bad guys.  If weapons are desired, it would be much easier to deploy something like a VIPER STRIKE or Hellfire.  I thought about replacing one of the Air Refueling pods with a rack of Hellfires or something but that's pretty delicate at 1/144th scale.  I can still cut the ramp open and put some sort of munitions in a rack.  The other option I have is to build an extension to the front of the left gear pod to house a rotory launcher for MALD (Air launched Decoys) or Small Diameter Bombs.   I don't want to get too weird, these are budget conscious times in the Air Force and I have to live with this thing on my desk for a while so I'd like to have a somewhat plausible configuration. 

Thoughts?

[Army of One]

Welcome to the madhouse.....!!! Great work so far.....!!!

[jsport]

beleive a ramp mounted missile rack would be enough.  Hellfire's on the wing are standard nowdays.  Spectre's can work at 25k ft though.

[Gondor]

I think this looks great, just the job to take over from the MC-130 as described in the first posts, not the AC-130 as some here believe.

Gondor

[jsport]

The USMC Shadow Harvest  allows KC-130Js to operate tankers as well as gunships. USMC Specs can use KCs as (M)ission aircraft as well.  The USAF has taken up the idea of MC -AC missions utilizing the same aircraft. This is an old idea under the A(atk) M(Mission) X concept. An C-17 size craft allows a great deal more speed, payload for both missions.

[RGrande]

Almost done!  This has been a tremendously fun project.  Someday I'll figure out how to print custom AFSOC Grey decals without them being transparent.  I ended up printing them in black but they look pretty good so I'm not too torn up.  Those who know the back-story on the tail number may get a little chuckle on their use here but maybe that's just me.  I'm happy with the results.
I still need to add the gear doors, various antennas and the generators for the refueling pods.  I'll probably wait until I move in a month or so.  


By rgrande at 2012-04-19


By rgrande at 2012-04-19


By rgrande at 2012-04-19


By rgrande at 2012-04-19