I am wanting to build a fire retardent tanker with working drop tank. I am considering a C-130 at this time and was wondering what the best plans would be to use. I am considering the Palmer plans, but was wondering if there are better plans out there. I am looking at something in the 80-90 in. wing span. I am also wondering how much the materials cost from someone that has built a C-130.

There is a company (KitCutter Inc.) that sells the Palmer plans, but will also sell the full kit or part of a kit. The full Kit of the 87" C-130 is about $270. Is it cheaper to order the balsa and other wood on my own or buy a kit?

Thanks for the help.

I'd recommend you check out this one at: http://www.qualityfiberglass.net/LOCKHEED%20C-130.htm
It may be a bit bigger than you're looking for, but the price is right and it is a nice kit. I've got less than 1k in mine, less radio.
Randy

Thanks Randy, I will check it out.

Steve

Hi Randy,

I took a look the that sight. I could live with the larger wing span. My question is, How hard would it be to put bay doors between the landing gear for fire retardent drops? I presume that would be the best place for the tank since it would be where the CF is.

The price is right for sure. Let me know what you think.

Thanks, Steve

Here is an pic of an Herk water bomber.

Grinder-RCU

hey Randy, does that 130 have built up wings or is it foam?

Kelly

It has a foam sheeted wing, the wing tips are detachable, and also a foam sheeted horizontal stab. The vertical stab is molded in with the rear fuse. The fuse comes in two pieces, for ease of working on when putting the stuff inside.
Randy

Thanks Randy, Does it comes sheeted already? If so are the controls surfaces precut or would I have to do that? What about retracts? Sorry for so many questions, but I've always wanted a C-130 and this one looks promising.


Thanks Again
Kelly

[quote]ORIGINAL: cowboyway88

Thanks Randy, Does it comes sheeted already?
=============It does not come sheeted. You get the foam cores in their shucks, jackets, or whatever you call the pieces they lay in after they are cut. You supply the sheeting.

If so are the controls surfaces precut or would I have to do that?
===============The control surfaces are not pre-cut. You must do that. I actually screwed up and made my ailerons about 3" longer than they were supposed to be. I wasn't paying attention and cut out my servo hole before I realized it was too far inboard. So, I just extended the aileron to get to it!
What about retracts?
==============Retracts are available for it, but I didn't put them in. (I think they are between $375-$500.)It doesn't really look bad with the gear down, since only about half the main tires stick out of the sponsons. Mine has a gloss black bottom and they really don't show. Jimcork on the other hand, installed a retract on the nose gear. I think with a little ingenuity, one could devise a retract mechanism for the mains that wouldn't be too much trouble, since they would just come straight up into the sponsons.

Sorry for so many questions, but I've always wanted a C-130 and this one looks promising.
==============Questions are not a problem here. I had lots of questions when I built mine. If you get a Herk, you'll get lots of help here.
I was talking to the Jack Stafford people this evening about a question I had on the B-24 I'm building, and he told me that there is a pic of my Herk in Model Aviation this month. I haven't got my copy yet.
As far as I know, other than the JHH C-130 which is/was out of my price range, I think the Quality Fiberglass is the closest thing to a kit you can find in the C-130. I bought a GSP C-160 Transall at the Joe Nall last year. It was the closest thing I could find that resembled a Herk until I found the one I have. The C-160 is a twin, but it flies exactly like the Herk.
If you decide on the QF one, might want to order it in advance, it takes some time to get. I think Bob makes them up as he gets the orders. Frankly, I think it was worth the wait.
I hope someone comes out with a B-29 kit that takes .25's. That's the next one on my list. Building a .25 size plane is a lot cheaper than one that takes .60's or .90's.
Randy
Randy

You have to use C-130 of fiberglass and not of balsa and other wood. The interior have to be empty to put the tank. The c-130 must be bigger than 80". It´s important the relation between the weight and the power, because the liquid is too heavy.
I don´t know what is the weight that it can elevate the C-130 of Randy, my advice is that you could use the engines bigger.

Lucky with the project.
Enrique

There's plenty of room in the fuse for a tank. If I were to do it, I would try to get the tank right on the CG so there would be no trim issues. That would put it over the main gear. I don't know how much you're talking about carrying, but I would think that 1/2 gallon of liquid would be about max for this size plane. That would amount to just over 4# of water, plus the weight of the tank and dispensing equipment. My plane weighs 17# dry. I believe it would fly all right up to about 23-24# with the .25's I have now. But I certainly wouldn't want to deal with much trim changes during the flight or during the drop of the retardant.
Randy

More information

[link=http://www.scalercmodels.com/modern_military_kits.html]http://www.scalercmodels.com/modern_military_kits.html[/link]

This Herk is more big but also it is more expensive (can carry up to 10 lb)
Enrique

Thanks agian Randy. I've never built with foam before, so maybe I should try something simple first. Then agian I will talk with my buddy to see if he has any experiance with foam. He's a master builder. Maybe I could sucker him in to building the wings.

Kelly

............. I've never built with foam before, so maybe I should try something simple first...........
Far as I'm concerned, building up a foam wing is much easier than a built up wing. Really not bad at all.
Randy

Steve, I assume you are and experienced multi engine flyer, I fly the 102 " C130 it all up weight is 17 lbs,it flys great but I sure wold not add four more pounds, my choice would be the CL 415 I have a 96"CL 215 with two 60s and it would handle the weight easy, it a simpler plane to build with a ton of space in the hull 2 engines instead of four Attached is a picture of mine a a fly by Mike

Hey Randy, I saw your AC-130 in MA today. Looks great. Also I had to carry a friend to the Airport in Jacksonville NC and a C-130 landed while I was there. That was very cool!!

Kelly

......... Hey Randy, I saw your AC-130 in MA today........

====
Sure wish I would get my copy. I think everyone else has theirs except me! I sent that picture in a long time ago. I believe I sent it in about a month before Jimcorks picture was in there.
Randy

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the advise. I have not flown multi engine planes yet. This project is going to be down the road, but I wanted to get some ideas now. I will probably start with a simple twin to get used to first. My idea was to drop dry retardant such as jello mix just for affect. My first idea was the C-130 or C-119, or C-123. These are all planes used by CDF in California. They are also all high wing planes, so it will be easy to have the bay doors under the wing and I will still be able to take the wing off.

A question I have about the C series is is there enough room between the spontoons for a bay door for the tan? I am willing to go bigger if that is what it will take.

Also, I am also looking a the S-2T twin engine tanker used by CDF, but I can't find plans. Does anyone know who makes plans upon request?

Thanks
Steve

..............My idea was to drop dry retardant such as jello mix just for affect.............
========I have experimented with carpenters chalk that you use in chalk lines. they make it in red. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the bomb bay to keep from making a mess. It looks good when the bag opens. Dropped some that the plastic didn't open and the package dropped right to the ground. I think the mechanics of it could be worked out for a good effect. Probably cheaper than Jello also, but the chalk dust is heavy.
Randy

I tried baking powder, the problem was that to figure out how to dump it, it was not dense enough and a lot leaked out before I could dump it, I worked repairing and recharging dry chemical fire extiguishers and I started kicking around the idea that a small unit like that would work, maybe using air retract tank to charge it Mike

Here's what I think I'll try next on the powder dumping. I'm going to wrap the powder into a piece of plastic wrap, and attach a string to the bottom of it and attach the other end to the landing gear or something on the plane. (I didn't mention that I'm doing this with my Sr. Telemaster and not the Herk.) When the bomb bay doors open the bag will drop and the "static line" should stop the plastic wrap and cause the powder to fall out the bottom of it. Of the three I dropped, two of them didn't open and just fell to the ground, plastic wrap intact. but the one that did open looked very realistic with the red chalk dust. Looked like the red slurry they drop. I know that putting loose powder in the bomb bay would make a real mess and probably all leak out due to vibration before the drop.
I have dropped 3 or 4 golf balls at a time and that works real well. But for some reason, when I announce "Golf balls coming down", all the other guys seem to want to get their planes under something!
Randy

I used to do "egg" drops from my Telemaster but I used ping pong balls in, no one knew because we loaded them from an egg carton,and I would pick the upwind side of the crowd to drop them, sure made them duck !!!Tell me guys, Does anyone hold fun flys anymore, limbos, balloon busting, ribbon cutting all kinds of fun ?? Mike

...............Tell me guys, Does anyone hold fun flys anymore, limbos, balloon busting, ribbon cutting all kinds of fun ?? ................
========
Mike, our club used to do that, but the interest seems to have dropped off in recent years. I don't think we've held one in two years or so. We had various complaints, like, "I'm not good enough to fly in a fun fly, but I can't fly during the contest. That's not fair!", and various other trivial complaints, so we just stopped having them. Frankly, I like them. We used to have a blast. And now, the only plane I have that I would enter in a fun fly is my Sr. Telemaster.
Randy.

i hace a rc C-130 that i am trying to finish and i dont have plans for it was hoping someone might beable to help me. i tryed contating joe the e-mail is no good but i think that mine is the same as joes but it is set up with fixed landing gear i am going to change it to retracts. it is supost to take 90-120 four stroke 4 engines and it has the refuel pod on the wings out side of where the engines are. Can anyone help me?

my email is [email protected]