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Just out of curiousity, what would happen if one of these jets broke the sound barrier during an airshow? I've seen video's of supersonic fly-bys on aircraft carriers and it doesn't seem like the shock wave has any real effect on the crew or ship.

Andy, I agree with you. I typically will only make one model of any type of aircraft and with my modeling budget being tight, I can't afford and don't need an expensive decal sheet with every squadron on it. I'd much rather have my choice of 2-3 smaller sheets, each with a couple of marking options so I can get the one set of decals that I really need. Regardless, I look forward to seeing these decals when they come out. I don't know much about what is out there for models of the Osprey but one feature that would be nice would be a resin set that would allow you to model the aircraft

Nice job indeed. The 727 was one of my favorite planes. Can't believe they are all gone. The one note I would make on your model is that the plane looks to clean! Most airliners (and the 727 in particular) seem to be pretty dirty. Lots of streaking and oil / soot stains. Regardless though, I really like your plane. John

Great pix Ken. Just wondering, doesn't the vapor cone only happen when you break the sound barrier (or at least get into the transonic region)? And if so, I thought that was a no-no over populated areas? Regards, John

Message sent, thanks so much for the offer. John

I tried looking for the Italeri kit, no luck either. I guess I need to put my Loach project on hold for a bit. I remember seeing these kits all the time at the local hobby shop. Figures that as soon as I want one, they are all gone. John

Anyone know if the 1/35th Dragon OH-6A kit is still available? I've tried Squadron, Sprue Bros and a few others, it's not even listed. If anyone has seen it available online, please let me know. Also, just wondering if anyone has feedback on the Czechmasters resin interior set for this model. From what I have seen, it looks like it doesn't add much to the orginal kit but I'd be interested if anyone has actually seen this up close or has come accros any online reviews. Thanks, John

I should be good to go then. Just need to do a little cleanup. Hey- on another note, I am already looking at my next project which will be the Dragon OH-6A Loach. I thought I had read somewhere that you were thinking about releasing a resin mini-gun for this kit. Just wondering if you could confirm or deny this and if you are, any rough idea of the time frame? If you are a way out on this, I may put this kit on hold and go with something else. Regards, John

You may want to do an expanded search, there are other articles (I believe either in the research or jet modeling forums) that go into more detail and provide some other techniques. John

Hi Floyd, I think you are refering to part B73, it is the flat fairing that goes on the rear of the cockpit assby. Your online build mentioned it and I did leave it off. I'm not even sure if the doors are supposed to be 100% flush. Regardless, I'm not too worried. John

Hi Anthony, Yes and no.... I've sealed up the fuselage and added some more bits to the cockpit. They include the door jettison handles on the door frames, the cockpit airbag housings behind each pilot, some additional wires / blackboxes, etc. However, I've got some issues with the fit of the fuselage and the cockpit. It's going to take some work to get things aligned properly. Still have complete the bulkhead at the rear of the cockpit (made it from sheet plastic) and some final painting / weathering. I also cut out the kit's engine cowling and IR jammer pedestal (to be replaced with

That Apache surely is in rough shape. Looks like it has been sitting in a park on display, being used as an LZ for the pigeons. I'd love to see one you expert modelers take a shot at that aircraft John

That Apache looks brand new. Here is a dirty helo...

I think they just wedge this stuff in and hope for the best. Here is one example - I've seen maps, water bottles, loose M-16 mags, log books, etc. on the glareshield. My guess is that in peacetime, they are pretty strict about things like this since in a crash, this stuff becomes flying projectiles. However, in wartime, they may cut the crews a bit of slack. They do have brackets to secure the M-4's to the glareshield though. The OH-58D walkaround book has some good pictures of them. With regard to your other question about crews taking their weapons with them when they leave the ai

Liran, Good question, I have been wondering the same, since my Kiowa Warrior is going to look as dirty if not worse. That Apache looks almost immaculate compared to some of the KW's I've seen pictures of. I was pondering the use of pastels for the dust. I've never used them before but one of the other folks on this forum had mentioned them (Rotorwash?). If anyone else out there has any suggestions, please let us know.

On a side note, for those of you that have access to the Military Channel on cable, they occasionally have repeats of a feature called "Kiowa Down". It is the story of a Kiowa that was shot down in northern Iraq (Mosul?) and the subsequent rescue of the crew by a company of Strykers. Pretty good documentary. I'm thinking about doing a 1/35th Stryker to go alongside my KW, just don't have the courage right now to deal with those insane photo-etched slat armor kits (or the money for that matter)!

Wow, those are some of the best looking resin bits I've seen in a while. Do you have any other sets available? I'm impressed by what I have seen so far. John

In some of the pictures of Iraq based KW's, I've seen loose M-16 mags stuffed onto the glareshield, also have seen a bandoleer with some mags in the same place.

I just figured it out: Bison = Russian Tweet

All in all, I found that briefing to be pretty interesting. I find it hard to believe that if this was truly classified content, how could someone have been able to record the entire presentation on his cell phone camera or camcorder with no one noticing? If our security is that lax, we have some serious issues indeed. The one thing that I did note was the comment that the Indians could jam our radars to the point that we had to get within guns range to kill them. I thought the entire point of our strategy was to kill them from a far distance and avoid the merge. If this is really

Found this while wandering around another site. It is a couple of you-tube clips of a USAF pilot briefing his fellow pilots on the Indian SU-30MKI's that were participating in a recent red-flag this year. Pretty interesting stuff. It appears that the Flanker is not quite the uber-fighter that some people make it out to be. Not sure if this is something that belongs on this particular forum or not. If anyone has issues w/ this let me know and I'll remove it. http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewl...-iaf-su30m.html John

It's amazing what a bit of paint will do to hide a somewhat sloppy job I could never get away with that if I was modeling modern jets!!

Thanks for the kind words Jon. I've been looking for that set, I'll see what is out there on E-bay. The two M-4's that I scratch built out of those -16's came out ok but they just don't look completely "right". One question I had was - do you know if Apache crewmembers get issued an M-4 while flying on operations in a combat zone? None of the pictures I've seen of Apache's overseas show any weapons in the cockpit area - unless you guys have room to stow them behind the seats. Also, would you have any idea if the M-4's issued to pilots in Iraq have all the high tech 11bravo laser