usmcski6502

Still here, a few times a day.

Still here several times a day! Don’t post much, as life has gotten in the way of building lately, but I build vicariously through your builds. Semper, Ski

Just an excellent study in subtle weathering and perfectly executed scale modeling. Extremely well done! Semper Fi, Ski

Nice Frankenraider! Following this build with interest… Semper, Ski

My thoughts exactly. You’ll even see the pilots doors removed, especially during the summer WTI classes.

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear! Kit flaws aside, I think your Super Bug turned out just fine. Consider it a warmup to an upcoming Hasegawa build. Well done! Semper, Ski

I’d rather be cold with excellent SA than buttoned up inside the aircraft. As aircrew, your eyes belong outside of the aircraft, regardless of weather, to call out threats, air traffic or obstacles. Hard or do with the doors shut! Semper, Ski

On the actual aircraft, the cabin doors CAN be closed with door guns mounted, but with the feed chutes not attached and stored within the cabin. When I crewed UH-1Ns and UH-1Ys, I don’t recall ever flying with cabin doors closed (seems to me that was an east coast thing, given the weather). The only time we’d close the cabin doors was on engine startup so we could access the engine panels, which would otherwise be covered by the cabin doors. We’d only connect the feed chutes once we were cleared by the pilots mid-flight to arm our guns. That said, a Huey on the ground would be correctly depict

No, we were there in 2005-2006, after the Second Battle of Fallujah. Much of our missions were in support of the operations in Ramadi, Haditha, Hit, Rawah and Husaybah. I wish we had APKWS back then! Think of it as a poor man’s Hellfire with less collateral damage.

Hey Crease, If you’re looking for variety, we flew dual-LAU-10s on a BRU-33A/A CVER on either St.2 or 8 for a few weeks. We even flew Inert GBU-32s on a few missions to disable a pontoon bridge and render it impassable to vehicular traffic, but not destroy it. Not a very sexy combat load, for sure. Ski

Flying Leathernecks is about to release a SUU-25 pod soon…

Hi Luigi! You’re correct in that the initial dimensions of the early Cobras were consistent. However, starting with the AH-1T, you saw an 18 inch extension (or “plug”) between the canopy and transmission housing (or, “doghouse”). Later, the Whiskey variant had the requisite black boxes for the TOW system moved forward, hence the noticeable cheek bulges on the AH-1W. Also, starting with the AH-1T, a truncated tail was incorporated vice the tall tail consistent with the early Cobras. Semper, Ski

Will do!

Fantastic feedback, I appreciate it! Semper, Ski

Greetings, all! In light of recent online reviews, I pulled the trigger on what I deemed the better option for a 1/35 UH-1Y “Yankee” (nobody I know ever called it the Venom), and was delighted at what I saw right out of the box. Academy’s Yankee does have some shortfalls; the lack of a GAU-17 ammo can and messed up “eggbeater” antenna, for instance, but nothing that can’t be overcome with a bit of aftermarket or creative scratch building (Live Resin and Flying Leathernecks are great aftermarket resources). However, from what I’ve seen of the Trumpeter Yankee, it’s an absolute turd

Dave is my go-to for ANYTHING aftermarket these days if it’s in his line; I can almost guarantee that if you put his stuff against a comparable product from another company, his stuff will be more affordable, more accurate, and better packaged. He even goes so far as to take care of one of the more frustrating aspects of 3D printing: cutting off all of those annoying printing nubs that are just begging for you to eff it up and throw it in the bin. He is very open to suggestions and at least for a couple times in my experience, has replaced an item at no cost (his initial run of 1/35 AH-1W turn

Yep, duds were the bane of my existence as the Squadron OrdO. I went so far as to working the entire flight schedule every day to sort out any potential issues we might have during ordnance deliveries, vice just working days. Reviewed hours upon hours of BDA footage post-flights to determine if we had a high-order or low-order detonation or to try to identify any duds. As you alluded to, it was mainly LGBs; our JDAMs seemed to do fine. The aircraft were working just fine, we ended up sorting out the LGB dud issue later. Always loved it when our pilots Rifled an LMAV with good effects on target

No problem, good luck on the build! Semper Fly, Ski

Hi Crease! I was the Aviation Ordnance Officer for VMFA(AW)-332 in Iraq from 2005-2006. We relieved -224, who had subsequently relieved-242. Our Standard Combat Load then was a centerline Litening Pod (St. 5), AIM-9s on Stations 1 and 9, drop tanks on Stations 3 and 7, and a GPS weapon and laser guided weapon on the outboard stations. That is to say, we had a JDAM (GBU-38, -31 or -32) on one wing station and a laser-guided munition (GBU-12 or Laser Maverick) on the opposing wing station. That way, if weather prevented our use of laser-guided munitions, we could default to GPS-guide

What a GORGEOUS bird, Gunny Dan! Just how I remembered them when I was first exposed to Marine Helos when I used to frequent the airshows at MCAS El Toro in the 80’s. Semper Fly, Ski

Unreal!

Hey Kevin! Yep, that loadout would be fine. Be sure to post pics! If you’re looking for some outstanding rocket pods, Flying Leathernecks is my go-to. Their stuff is second-to-none when it comes to accuracy but they don’t have any LAU-61s in their lineup just yet (they should be forthcoming): https://www.flyingleathernecksdecals.com/c/135-3d-printed-resin However, BlackOps has a set that includes LAU-61s and -68s with empty tubes and individual rockets, too, like Flying Leathernecks: https://blackopsmodels.com/products/black

Our Standard Combat Load in Iraq was a TOW Missile Launcher (TML) on Station 1 (left outboard), LAU-61 19-shot pod on St. 2 (left inboard), LAU-68 7-shot pod on St. 3 (right inboard), and a Hellfire Missile Launcher on St. 4 (right outboard). The rationale for this particular loadout was twofold: TOWs were generally loaded on the left side of the aircraft in case the wirecut logic of the TOW launcher failed; St.1 lies on the opposite side of the tail rotor, and if the wire didn’t cut upon missile detonation, at least the aircraft wouldn’t be trailing hundreds of feet of copper wire on the tail

Ahh, yes! Vietnam Marine Cobras are some of my favorites. From the original G models of VMO-2 to the MarHukers of “Pistol Pete” HMA-369 (I actually sailed to Kuwait just before OIF I on a MarHuk ship, the USS Dubuque, with nine AH-1Ws and one CH-53E aboard). If I’d only known then, the history of the operation. A couple of the original nine airframes from MarHuk survive; one at the airfield at Camp Pendleton, and another is being restored at the former MCAS El Toro, where it’s being restored to it’s 1972 markings. I’ve seen those pics before, I have a bunch more on an external hard drive

Holy cow, BW, and I thought Whiskey tailbooms got dirty! Great shots, and congrats on the Sand Snake! I never have figured out the full story on the camo’d HMA-169 AH-1Ts. There were some experiments at camoing Marine Corps Helos in the early 80’s, mostly with water based paints during exercises at 29 Palms, but they predate the gray/green/black USMC “land camo” by at least five years. Before that, everything was “Marine Green”. Semper, Ski