Military AI Works

I was looking through a magazine the other day and found that Dyess are getting the C-130J.
My question is, can I take a Dyess paint from a C-130H & use it on a J model & just leave the J model props BMP in place, or is there a repaint for this already?

You might be able to but you would have to compare the two model's texture files side by side to see how much, if any, they differ. If they are identical, it should work. If not, you'll need new textures.

Cheers Mike, I will give it a try & see what happens

They are distinctly different especially in the tails and fuselage. It is easy to copy over, when i copied Ramstein E's to the J's all i had to do was copy the tail bands and move them to the J.

I have copied the textures over from the H model & kept the prop BMP for the J model but could not get any texture to show on the aircraft. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Copying them over isn't enough. You have to rename them to what the model is expecting. Look inside a scheme for a C-130J and you will see the required names.

Cheers Steve
I am at work at the moment, but I will have another look tonight.

If you look at Henry's original paint kit he included all 3 models in the same texture, excluding the -30's. I have come around to Henry's thinking and my master C-130 template includes all 3 models.

The 2 main differences for me are the propellors and the cooling intake duct on the forward RH fuselage. If it does not have one then I use the C-130E model regardless of what the title is.

After these the main paint differences are the window/door combinations and the APU in the LH Wheel Sponsoon. The C-130J only has one window at foot level and only one at waist level, although in service modifications are putting sensors in the waist level windows for the E/H models. The C-130J also has a black square on the front of the Lower LH Tail, an HF Aeriel I think.

Most C-130J's have slime lights which will affect the night map and it's alpha layer.

So for me I can paint most USAF grey aircraft off the one template. I just have to add the tail scheme and see what shields are on the fuselage side, most of these are standard and so I included them. The same also applies to the text, AMC, AFRC, etc. on the tail.

There are a few different positions of the ID on the nose and also the where the wing name is positioned.

The other thing I have been picking up on lately is the different variations of Static Ports between the model and also in the year of build.

So in theory if one squadron flew C-130E, C-130H and C-130J you would only need to paint one scheme for it and be able to paint the whole squadron off the same template.

Moving on to the -30 models the only difference to the non stretched texture are the 2 fuselage forward sides. The wings, tail, aft fuselage and the nose pieces can be transferred directly between the stretched and non stretched paints.

Henry was also very clever when he positioned the 2 forward fuselage sides. Everything from the parachute door forward to the forward cabin window can also be transferred directly between to two, and with a little thought you can also transfer everything forward of the crew door between the two as well.

Graham
I only have the basic MS paint program. I take it that I must have paint shop pro or something to do aircraft paints/modifications etc?

david lock wrote:Graham
I only have the basic MS paint program. I take it that I must have paint shop pro or something to do aircraft paints/modifications etc?

I recomend Photoshop, but it can be done in paintshop as well. you will want something that works with layers.

Thanks, I must get a myself a good paint program.

I'm showing the 39th and 40th AS still flying C-130H's.

Yes, you need a program that has layers. Paint Shop or Photo Shop and I believe Gimp which is free will work as well.

Thanks Graham, I think I have an old copy of paint shop pro that I got free from an old PC Pro mag.I will give that a go.

Hi Victory 103. I have C-130J, serial 73170, just came out of the Marietta paint shop destined to join the 317th Airlift group at Dyess later this year, the first of 28 aircraft.

Dave

Oh I see, just getting a head start! Good work.

David,
Did you get this sorted? I'm adding AFSOC's 73rd SOS MC-130's to Cannon AFB. They now have the new MC-130J, so I need to transfer the "E" textures to the "J" model. I noticed the HC-130J is out as well and looking forward to seeing the finished AC-130J.

Hi Victory103
No, I did not bother with it in the end. I tried an old paint program but it did not work.
With a bit of luck someone will do a repaint of the J later on when it arrives at Dyess?

Regards

Dave