Just finished this 1/144 AC-130H. Kit is from MiniCraft and was built stock out of the box. Canopies are always a problem for me and this one was no exception. Still need some practice in that department. Kit was of decent quality and went together nicely.

Really, really nice work there! I enjoyed looking and would like to build a C-130 in this scale sometime! Russell

Thanks, Russell. This scale has become very popular and there are tons of great kits out there. Hard to beat the C-130, it's many iterations have been a workhorse for the military for decades and will continue to be for the forseeable future.

The canopy of the C-130 is certainly one of the more challenging ones out there, but, that canopy looks excellent.

how is it less than you could wish?

I agree with Jonathan, canopies are a real bug a boo for me at least! I've never been very good at masking them, so I brush paint them as carefully as I can. Russell

Just not quite as clean and crisp as I would like. It does look passable in the picture and I am satisfied with the model overall, but I do think I have some room for improvement. The fit of the canopy in this kit wasn't great either, my only real complaint with the kit.

Thanks for the compliments guys. You're right, the C-130 canopy is a bit more challenging than those of other aircraft.

so, I'm no expert, bit of hack really, but I get ideas and try them out.
I think this one is promising.
I assume you are cutting tiny squares of maskng tape, as said, that is an outstanding job at that method in 144th scale.
rather than masking the windows and painting, I tried decaling the bars with very thin strips cut from trim film. this sheet of film isnt the same color as the blue Ive painted the rest of the model, ignore that, more in a moment.

setting the strips with micro sol. theres no way I could mask that, I tried, and had to strip it off, then I tried brush painting and that had to come off too.
this looks dam good in my estimation, and was super easy.

now I just happened to have a sheet of blue trim film, and Iwas eager to try this and thought the color would be close enough. but I also have some clear film. To do this in the right color, I would spray paint a bit of the clear film, let that dry and overspray with krylon, than cut the strips from that. I havent tried that yet but I will.

That does look great and is an excellent idea. I imagine you can purchase the sheet in various colors so it would just be a matter of matching it up.

Microscale has only a limited selection of mainly railroad relevant colors,
but painting the clear with your specific color is an idea I copped off another board, so I know it's the way to go.

Painting the interior colour on the trim film first is also a good idea. It prevents the exterior colour from being visible through the windows. This is usually more important in larger scales, but it would be worth doing for a Herc in 1/144.

If you don't mind a little extra work and decal windows, the Welsh Models Hercs are really nice, especially the newer issue ones with resin wings and detail bits.
Here's the newest issue.

this works better than Id hoped. I didnt even get the airbrush wet, I just brush painted a slab of clear trim film, and I didnt top coat it, just let it dry overnight.
I use PollyScale acrylic paint.

I had stopped work on this Helldiver because painting the canopy was impossible for me.

in one day, canopy lining has become one of my favorite modeling tasks.

That looks really great, I'm going to have to give it a try.

now that Ive gained some experience with this method, Id say in future I will take your advice and always put down the interior color first, or else use a close-enough color film, because with these very small bits, it's difficult to to tell which side is the painted side when applying. if you fix them film side out they have a slightly different i.e. glossy finish.

Your AC-130 looks great. Nice to see some heavies being built