Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy

Yep, that would've been my backup. Was trying to avoid....

Suits me, yes please!

P.S. They don't have to be totally fresh, I'd gladly take a set off a junked model....

Looking for maingear for a Legacy Hornet. Got the tires, need the legs. Happy to offer anything in return. Thanks! jollyrogers5 at hotmail

Looking for suggestions for a Soviet/Russian guided air to ground weapon (preferably missile but I'm open to ideas) that would fit in a 1/72 1.25 inch/3cm weapons bay. Think this means something under 7 ft or just over 200 cm. Everything that I think looks interesting is about double that. Something from the 1980's through modern.

Paul my friend, you're always generous to a fault! PM coming....

Looking for a pair of Lockheed Skunk decals, presumably leftover from an SR-71 or similar. Preferably around a half inch/1 cm, but will be thankful for anything in the ballpark. Possibly even one more much larger, up to 1.5-2 inches for the display stand, but really I'll be thrilled just with two small ones. To trade, I have mostly 1/72 US jet, plus MiG jets and WW2 Soviet, some various insignia, and generic numbering/lettering in several colors. At jolly rogers 5 at hotmail. Thanks!

Yep, I believe it's only that issue (GBU-27) and the Desert Storm release. Trouble is where to find one now??? I'm not even having any luck finding an aftermarket bomb bay, only details for it.

Tough to identify by the box, at least with my weak tracking skills, but as far as I can tell, neither Ebay nor SprueBrothers have any bomb-bay-included releases.

Done! Both pod and aircraft. Here it is loaded under the wing of the A-7D, its "cover story". 1/72 Fujimi with Aires cockpit, Wolfpak decals.

Got those from MiG-29 kit decals 😄

Here we go...not perfect, but close enough for 1/72?

Brilliant! Yes, I recognized the very last one, but hadn't considered that the others wouldn't even have existed during the time of the pod's use. So, if the other two are after-add-ons, then probably all three. So now my last puzzlement is whether to add the ACC badge at the front.... I do recall reading that a nuclear badge had been used, presumably the yellow and orange disc?

Any thoughts on whether or not they would've actually had the 4 different badges on it when they actually flew it? Or is it more likely they were only added for display purposes?

My understanding, from what I've read in a couple books and elsewhere, was that it was created specifically for one of the overseas deployments in the A-7's. At first I thought it was to England where there are vast numbers of "spotters", but I'm finding other sources claiming it was SKorea. They knew that aircraft watchers would identify their A-7's as belonging to the Stealth unit; so they thought, why not mess with them? It's a fantastic gag 😄

Exactly. I'd always said that if I built a 4450th A-7D, I'd want to build it with the fake pods they devised to fool observers during one of their deployments overseas in the 80's. They knew they'd be known to those-in-the-know that their unit was rumored to be the one operating stealth fighters. So they thought, why not make them wonder if the A-7's are specially modified and are themselves the shadowy stealth fighters? They took simple napalm canisters/travel pods and fitted them out with false aerials, intakes, and a big flashing light on the front. They put on quite a show! So, t

Been re-thinking that, now I'm wondering if there was nothing below. I mean, they were making a prop, but didn't necessarily want to make something too difficult to handle and store. The last photo that you and Habu shared showed me where other blade antennae were (sides). Only other thing I'm wondering is that I remember reading somewhere that they slapped nuclear stickers on it; I'm thinking either it was on some and not others, or on all of them and the markings seen in the photos here are not what they actually flew with but are for display purposes only. Maybe?

Ok, how's this look so far for 1/72 then?

Oh, wow!! Those are BLADE antennae on the sides then, not the bulges I thought! Gotta redo those now, but I'm thankful!! LOVE how you can even read the white stencilling near the front that says "Reactor Cooling Fill Port" 😄

As I'm making mine, I'm considering adding 1-2 more blade antennae underneath...wondering if the cradle might be hiding one? No way of knowing, but might look the part....

Actually, they said they used a front lens from an electro-optically guided glide bomb if I recall....it was a prop meant to fool observers who knew these A-7's were attached to the Stealth program while it was still top secret, so there was nothing functional about it. Except that they put a flashing red light in the nose lens.

Fair enough, I'm convinced....thanks so much!

Ah, yes, I should have specified the side, the little port on top is easy enough to see and build. See, the descriptions included "fake intakes", and I just can't seem to find anything like that unless it was only on the other side. Also mentioned multiple false radio blades, but only one is visible to me. As far as in the circle, yes, I mostly look at that bit and think it's just a reflection on the glossy paint, as both you and CoolHand concur, the light bit at the bottom of it makes me wonder if it's even possible that could be a big, rectangular-ish fake intake put there. Certainl

Trying to figure out in the area circled in red if there's an intake that was put there, or if it's just a trick of the light that I see. Don't try to analyze the pod too much, it's a nonworking prop made as disinformation for the Stealth program's A-7's when it was still top secret. 😄 So, intake or no? These pseudo-pods were described as having false exhausts and intakes, etc. Any chance that's a big intake there?

Perfect, so other than the occasional metal, it was usually just the camo color? Guess I wrongly figured on something more.... Thanks so much!