Almansur Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Thinking about producing a sheet featuring Desert Storm A-7Es and a colorful pre-DS one. Not sure if there is a market for them, so I am asking your input with a small pool... these decals will be high-quality, researched until my eyes bleed, rivet counters' stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 (edited) Seeing how there were only 2 A-7 squadrons in DS1, VA-72 and VA-46, which do you plan on doing? VA-72's tan and brown "sh*t bird" have been done to death as Dave mentioned, as has the CO's jet. VA-46 was covered by both CAM and SS and are still readily available on the market. Unless you've got some super hard to find info on the line jets from either squadron, you may not have much interest for them. Best of luck to you either way. Personally I would want new VA-72 and VA-46 decals. I have yet to find a sheet that suits me, but that's just me. Edited July 17, 2007 by VF-103guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j-basset Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 For the colorful A-7 sheet, I would love to see a jet from VA-93, CVW-5 USS Midway represented in 1/32. Jason C. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Expat Tomcat Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 (edited) You might consider doing VA-72s Low vis scheme, the CAG Bird / hi-vis scheme was already done by SSI but there are currently no decals on the market with the low vis scheme in any scale. I hand painted this scheme once before in 1/48th scale A wish list for this decal sheet for me would be: 1) Include the aircraft carrier stencils above the BUNO for the Kennedy 2) Make it of MODEX AC402 or AC403, these two birds are historically significant because; AC402 was CDR John Leenhout's (squadron XO) personal bird. He flew the first launch of Desert Storm on a Anti-SAM mission the first night of the war. He currently holds the record for most carrier traps by any pilot Navy wide. This bird is currently in a museum in Chicago. He also flew the most sortees of any A-7 pilot during the war. AC403 crashed aboard JFK, 3 days into the war. The waist catapult was set to the wrong weight setting and they nearly threw the nose gear out from under the plane on take off. Pilot made it off the boat but couldn't collect the damaged gear and had to land it in the barracade on the intake,with a full bomb load still on the bird. This bird was stripped to the bare airframe and dumped overboard in the Red Sea. 3) Correct BUNO for either bird. AND include the Lo-vis (BLACK) Bluehawk on the tail 4) No red, white and blue diagonal stripes needed, those were a post-war ( fly-off ) addition to the scheme My personal preference would be MODEX AC402 that would save me having to do all that fine fun work with the friskit film on the tail I can corroborate all this information and have the links to pics and the Tailhook Association if you want to confirm. PM me if you want further info P.S. you can be assured I'll buy at least one set in 32nd scale and probably 2 or 3 in 48th and even if you produce only a few I'd be willing to pay you to do them in both scales Edited July 27, 2007 by Expat Tomcat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anytime Baby! Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 You might consider doing VA-72s Low vis scheme, the CAG Bird / hi-vis scheme was already done by SSI but there are currently no decals on the market with the low vis scheme in any scale.A wish list for this decal sheet for me would be: 1) Include the aircraft carrier stencils above the BUNO for the Kennedy 2) Make it of AC402 or AC403, these two birds are historically significant because; AC402 was CDR John Leenhout's (squadron XO) personal bird. He currently holds the record for most carrier traps by any pilot Navy wide, this bird is currently in a museum in Chicago. He also flew the most sortees of any A-7 pilot during the war. AC403 crashed aboard JFK, 3 days into the war. The waist catapult was set to the wrong weight setting and they nearly threw the nose gear out from under the plane on take off. Pilot made it off the boat but couldn't collect the damaged gear and had to land it in the barracade on the intake,with a full bomb load still on the bird. This bird was stripped to the bare airframe and dumped overboard in the Red Sea. I can corroborate all this information and have the links to pics and the Tailhook Association if you want to confirm. PM me if you want further info P.S. you can be assured I'll buy at least one set in 32nd scale and probably 2 or 3 in 48th and even if you produce only a few I'd be willing to pay you to do them in both scales I'd definitely be interested in AC402 as well. See this site for more info on that aircraft: http://aviationartstore.com/leenhouts_2.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 I've seen pics of 403's landing and they don't s how bombs, I find it pretty unlikely the pilot would not jettison the bombs before making an emergency landing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Expat Tomcat Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 (edited) Stand back, I'm flying without a wire here! NO gear retraction means NO weight-on-wheels switch light OFF. NO W-O-W light OFF means NO Weps ARMED light ON. NO Weps ARMED light means bombs NO DROPPY!!!! ;) Like I said, on the intake, WEPS still aboard! The photos you have seen are taken right after the landing after the barraicade was taken down. Heres a link to the FIRST photo taken after it landed, while its in the barricade, taken from Vulture's row . With a bit of magnification theres a MK 82 under the starboard wing and a sidewinder on the rail. The subsequent photos, taken from the flightdeck have a lot of Ordies (Red shirts) standing around. Ordies are there to REMOVE the ordinance, which they have just finished doing. The large forklift is there to stick the forks in the intake and manuever the bird back to the #4 elevator and into the hangar bay to be stripped. I personally witnessed this happen, the barricade landing was incredible. SCAAAARY! 1) link to in the barricade photo http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Stil...SC-92-09478.JPG 2 ) link to with the fork lift photo http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/DVIC_View/Stil...ST-92-09481.JPG Sorry to have to link these like this but ARC wouldn't upload the files onto the server See told ya I could corroborate, I got my sh*t in ONE sock on this one boys! Edited July 20, 2007 by Expat Tomcat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mhoupt Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Thinking about producing a sheet featuring Desert Storm A-7Es and a colorful pre-DS one. Not sure if there is a market for them, so I am asking your input with a small pool... these decals will be high-quality, researched until my eyes bleed, rivet counters' stuff. If you are interested. I have access to an A-7E from VA-46 that has not had much more done to her than the paint fade since they retired the aircraft. Modex 304. Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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