Chap Mei C-130 Photo Review

[Fritzkrieg]

I picked this up at TRU today, and snaped a few shots. It's underscale for sure, but makes for a fun toy. The Pilot is a custom using the C-130's pilot's head on a BBI body. Chap Mei has made some great head sculpts recently.

Chap Mei's True Heroes C-130

[Sabrefan]

Interesting. Looks like a C130 with radial engines.

[iflabs]

Ah man, was really tempted to pick this one up if it weren't for the the few nitpicks: shark mouth stickers, carrying handle, no cockpit glass.

[zodiacflash]

Well, that does it for me. I'll get one. The carrying handle doesn't bother me so much. Besides, if it really starts to I'm sure it's removed easily enough. I'll try to come up with a solution for the cockpit glass. Perhaps the clear plastic from a window box type toy package. And the stickers are definitely coming off and being replaced with my own decals. Hmm... NOAA or AFRC hurricane hunter... or maybe NASA? Decisions, decisions...

[aferguson]

they're probably not stickers; most likely printed on markings so you'd have to repaint or remove the markings. Clear plastic from the package will work fine for cockpit glass, the problem is the type of plastic chap mei uses no glue will stick to it, so it's very hard to get the clear plastic to stay in place.

[pickelhaube]

How much was this bird ?

[aferguson]

$40

[Fritzkrieg]

TRU is having a buy one get the 2nd at 50% off, so you can pick two of these up for $60.00, not bad in my opinion. I picked up this and a Pirate ship for the kids. They also have a Wild west playset, that comes with a Stage Coach and Sheriff's office.

[pickelhaube]

It would be tons of work but maybe something can be done with it

It could be a fun project slice and diced stretched and filled and a good paint job.

Oh if I only had the time.

[tmanthegreat]

Not quite for me, but I can see why the GI Joe guys must be all over this thing. It better than anything Hasbro has put out for the GI Joe line in a long time outside of the figures. Hasbro just released the Skystriker for $40, which while cool in a nostalgic sort of way, can't compete with this Chap Mei C-130 in terms of size, functionality, and sheer playability - at least from what I can tell from the pictures. I like that map/control room.

[aferguson]

you know, as toyish as this thing is, i can think of a lot of uses for it. Gunship, paint it in vietnam colours and have it doing a LAPES (not sure how to make the parachutes though), special forces HALO jumpers out the back...

[aferguson]

so far all the reviews on TRU site are positive, granted it's only 3 reviews, but that is unusual for any toy that they are all so positive.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... howReviews

Looks like chap mei has a winner with this one.

[Tinman]

I got one, haven't assembled it yet. May be a while before I do. The shark mouth markings are stickers, by the way, so can be removed.

[aferguson]

ok, well, to my surprise i ended up buying one of these today. My plan is to hang it up high, facing into a corner with the rear end sticking out and hang my two Dusty Trail HALO jumpers under it. I've been looking for a way to display these figures for years and i guess this is a decent way.

May God have mercy on my soul.

For those not familiar with it, the Dusty Trail HALO jumper is quite a nice figure. No articualtion except the shoulders but a great sculpt. Hard to find now but this guy has had them periodically:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230675373532?ss ... 1439.l2649

[normandy]

I remember these figures, sounds like it would be a cool way to display them.
Hope you take some pics.

[aferguson]

yeah they were pretty nice little figures. The parachute gimick was lame but the sculpting of the figures themselves was very good. Aside from the halo's, i bought some modern 82nd airborne and 6 british red devils, which i have yet to use for anything, heh. Could never figure out what to do with a bunch of paratroopers wearing their harnesses, except a Sainte-Mère-Église type masacre, which i didn't want to do.

I have used a couple of the neat little sten guns they came with though.

[normandy]

The parachute and harness remind me of the BBI paras, cool but unless you hang them from the ceiling what do you do with them?

I had picked up the Dusty Trails 6" SS figure with the mg42, when Tower Records (of all places) was still open.
Its a cool figure.

[Panther F]

You went and got one aferguson? I bet that chaos meter is way off the scale, huh?

I'd get one but I only have room for one more 'special' plane and that's it!

~ Jeff

[aferguson]

" I bet that chaos meter is way off the scale, huh?"

ok, that does it. I'm taking it back to the store.

[pickelhaube]

What were the measurements on this again ?

It looks like it would be a fun project to mod.

Maybe a future step by step project on the customs forum.

But it could be a little toooooo big.

The C-130 in 1/18 scale

Wing Span-------88.38 inches
Length----------65.16 inches
Height-----------25.5 inches.

25 inches tall YIKES !!!!

1/18 Scale would be a large r/c plane

[aferguson]

it's about 32 inches long and has a 34 inch wingspan. A looong way from being 1/18. Would be virtually impossible to stretch it there. Be simpler just to scratchbuild one probably. The fuselage girth is around 1/24 scale but in length and span it's around 1/40 scale.

[pickelhaube]

I popped into ToyR U today and saw this. I almost pulled the trigger but did not have enough in my wallet ans did not want to put it on the card.

I still think it would be fun to play with. The wings would need to be lengthened about 25 inches on both sides and the fuse elongated another 30 + inches . that is a whole lot of stretching.

Basically twice the size of how it is now. But still it can be done. Would the diameter of the fuse be way to small ?

Anybody know how much it should grow ?

[aferguson]

a lot......2 humvees plus a whole lot of troops can easily fits inside a hercules.

[tmanthegreat]

I popped into ToyR U today and saw this. I almost pulled the trigger

I was kind of in the same boat the other day... Part of me really wants to get it as its the closest thing yet to a transport aircraft and the closest we'll ever get outside the RC realm. If I had your modeling talent, I would consider modifying the wings to say have a single engine (instead of 4) and making it my own sort of smaller transport instead of a C-130.

[digger]

I think one thing we need to face as a group is that while we called for more detail (even if at a higher price point) the market really wanted the opposite, which reveals we truly are the minority in all this. Nothing else can explain True Heroes releasing huge Missile Trucks, Jets, the Longbow Apache, Playsets, this plane and more unless the stuff was selling. They also have their wild west and futuristic lines cranking as well. Kids and Joe collectors have proved the day - better price, less detail with high playability sells to mass market.