The Canadian Air Force/Armed Forces is one of the many users of the Lockheed Hercules, having operated the type since the early 1960s. I have to assume the first few were C-130A or B models as when the C-130E model came into being around 1965, the first serial of those types was 130305. In 1995, they retired the highest flight hours Hercules so far, 130315, an aircraft with 45,277 flight hours in nearly 21,000 separate flights.

The CAF purchased 20 C-130E airframes and followed that with a batch of C-130H models along with a few KC-130H aircraft that have outer wing refueling pods. The H models can be differentiated by longer side sponsons and a large, boxy heat exchanger on the right side just aft of the cockpit glazing.  Whether there are J models in the pipeline is unknown, but I believe the Hercules production line is still turning out aircraft.

This particular sheet provides markings enough to do any CAF C-130 that used the tactical camouflage scheme used from 1980 until the early 1990s when the fleet started to be painted an overall dark grey. Basically, if you have a photo, you can reproduce that plane with this sheet. The sheet concentrates on '315' so those serials are provided as a block. The sheet also includes prop tip warning bands or separate white stripes for those that wish to paint the red. A complete stencil suite is given as are markings for the refueling pods used on the KC-130s. These pods will need to be built up from plastic card. Fortunately there are scale side drawings to help you build your own.

Typical of Leading Edge, the instruction sheets are first class providing not only detailed placement information, but other tidbits of data that help the modeler to make the best presentation possible. For kits, well, you are pretty well limited to Italeri for this one. Make sure you leave plenty of space on the shelf for this one as it will be a biggie!

Review sheet courtesy Leading Edge Decals. Thanks for your support

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