Product Review - 1/300 F Toys C-130

I've been keeping an eye out for a C-130 for some time now. You can get one in 1/300 at http://www.armamentsinminiature.com/ for the great price of $12 but as with my previous review of their aircraft, the model will be devoid of any panel lines or cockpit or any real detail at all. You are expected to paint those details in yourself. I ended up finding some nice Russian planes on Ebay in 1/288 scale but it was nothing I could use for my Iranians or Syrians. Finally I found some C-130s by F Toys. I bought one from this guy and he has one left here http://www.ebay.com/itm/F-toys-1-300-Famous-Wing-Collection-Vol-2-C-130-Hercules-Blue-Angels-1C-/121099967563?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item1c321edc4b. Obviously that link won't be valid for long and I am seriously considering buying another one just to make an AC-130 Spectre Gunship out of it.

Anyway I got one like that as they have several colors available. With some searching you can find other "flavor" aircraft you may want including civilian aircraft to populate an airport map. 1/300 DC-10 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hobby-Craft-1-300-McDonnell-Douglas-DC-10-CP-Canadian-Pacific-Airliner-/330693141813?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4cfed8e535 and here is a E767 AWACS http://www.ebay.com/itm/Doyusha-400333-E767-Awacs-1-300-Scale-Plastic-Kit-/320756539329?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item4aae945fc1 I mean who DOESN'T want an AWACS?

Here is the box I got. I couldn't read a lot of the words because it is in French language.

And here is the back of the box showing several other aircraft they make in this line. Again, much of it is in Spanish.

Here is the instruction booklet. Couldn't read any instructions because it is in Russian language but thankfully pictures transcend all language barriers. Honestly though you don't need instructions. The model is a snap tight model that I only glued to be permanent.

The aircraft comes in several parts protected in a compartmentalized container and has two sprues, one for the landing gear in landed and airborne configurations and the other sprue for the turbo props. I was too excited to get it put together so I didn't get pics of the plane until I had finished it. Sorry about that. But here she is next to a 1/285 GHQ Israeli Namer HAPC and a GHQ AH-64D Seraph attack helicopter.

As you can see from the gears I have opted for the landed configuration. The model will need to have seams filled and sanded but after that she's good to go with a primer coat so I can get her in Israeli colors. Now about that scale. A C-130J's wingspan is 132'. At 1/300 scale this model comes out to just over 5.25" wingspan so it is just about dead on scale wise. However, if my math is correct, at 1/285 scale the wingspan would need to be 5.55". Basically this model is only 0.25" off scale wise which equates to 8' in real life. I can live with that seeing as how the C-130's wingspan ranges from 97' to 132' depending on which version it is B/H/E/J etc..

Anyway my final verdict is that this is a worthy product as a flavor aircraft for any 6mm army that uses C-130s (and there are LOTS of them). You can either have it on display with some units or you can use it as a transport to airdrop infantry or supplies, or even as I stated earlier convert it into an AC-130 gunship and actually use it on tabletop as a combat model which is represented in GHQ's rule set. Would buy again.