LittleBirdTL Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LittleBirdTL Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 These next ones are my personal pics that I took while we were calling in AH-6J's at the range, we were calling in the guns/missiles danger close (guns were within 50yards and missiles were within 75yards). I was shooting the M60 marking a target for one of the gun runs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LittleBirdTL Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LittleBirdTL Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Hope you all like those pics. Those are the best ones I have. I have a bunch of other regular pics that I can try and post in the future. The hundreds others are detail pics of just about everything that I wont post on here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) Very cool pictures, those "danger close" one are pretty slick. Couple of comments - Never seen a Littlebird with the 19 shot rocket pod, didn't think it could even mount one. Never saw Hellfires mounted either. Lastly, What the heck is this pod all about? Thank you very much for posting these(and thanks for your service in the Rangers). This thread is turning out to be THE Littlebird reference on the net. Sounds like you have a lot more, if you get anymore time, please feel free to post others (my particular interest is in older LB's). John Edited October 14, 2011 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LittleBirdTL Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Very cool pictures, those "danger close" one are pretty slick. Couple of comments - Never seen a Littlebird with the 19 shot rocket pod, didn't think it could even mount one. Never saw Hellfires mounted either. Lastly, What the heck is this pod all about? Thank you very much for posting these(and thanks for your service in the Rangers). This thread is turning out to be THE Littlebird reference on the net. Sounds like you have a lot more, if you get anymore time, please feel free to post others (my particular interest is in older LB's). John That was an experimental external fuel pod/seat. I will get more when I have more time. Thanks Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MarioK Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Great pics Thanks for posting those. I hope you show us more and more and more Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tank Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Can we help you Sir? Yea, can I get 4 cans of ammo, 14 rockets, two cup of joe and a slim jim to go. Bob you want anything? I dunno I see something like that going on in that photo. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted October 16, 2011 Author Share Posted October 16, 2011 LittleBirdTL, Great shots. The first ones in that nice series were shot by Ted Carlson. We'd love to see any more you are willing to post and I'd love to add your personal stuff to the US Army Aviation Museum digital archives if you are willing to ahre them. Little birds are woefully underrepresented in the Museum collection. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LittleBirdTL Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 LittleBirdTL, Great shots. The first ones in that nice series were shot by Ted Carlson. We'd love to see any more you are willing to post and I'd love to add your personal stuff to the US Army Aviation Museum digital archives if you are willing to ahre them. Little birds are woefully underrepresented in the Museum collection. Ray yes you are correct on who took the pics in the first series. And yes you may use my personal pics for your the digital museum. The only ones that are mine were the ones where we were actually on the ground calling in cas. Only other one that is mine is the AH-6M in front of the hangers straight on shot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 (edited) Since this is turning into quite a unique repository of Littlebird pix and info, I figured I would add this link that I just came across over on the long quiet 160th SOAR thread on Military Pics: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?40746-160th-Special-Operations-Aviation-Regiment/page104 At the bottom are three newly posted AH-6 shots. A bit out of the ordinary, the first shows an unusual .50cal MG weapons fit, the second shows a pretty rare Hellfire rig (need someone to release sharkmouth decals for the Hellfire) and the last is the only NOTAR AH-6 I've seen. I believe that the NOTAR LB's were only trialed for short time by the Army before being rejected as unsuitable. Edited November 10, 2011 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thatguy96 Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 A bit out of the ordinary, the first shows an unusual .50cal MG weapons fit... Unusual indeed. Those are Global Helicopter Technology CFD-5000s, the same gun pod used with the OH-58D. I assume they would have been fitted with the M296 machine gun. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Thanks for the link to the latest set of photos on military pics. They are very interesting. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted November 26, 2011 Share Posted November 26, 2011 Over on AeroScale, there is a newly posted walk-around of an MH-6M. Not too many detail shots of the latest and greatest Littlebird are out there, so these are pretty nice. Never seen that new style plank with (I am assuming), a fuel cell built into the bottom. http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=4186 Regards, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 It occurs to me that since this thread has expanded well beyond Gt's original photos, I should post a link to James Green's nice set of AH-6J pics taken at Yakima. Check em out if you're looking for some good detail shots. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 It occurs to me that since this thread has expanded well beyond Gt's original photos, I should post a link to James Green's nice set of AH-6J pics taken at Yakima. Check em out if you're looking for some good detail shots. Ray Those are some great pics. I'd still love to know what the purpose is of that shroud / scoop on the aft fuselage. The exhaust pipe also has an unusual flanged fitting. Years ago, someone mentioned that Littlebirds could be fitted with an IR suppression kit similar to the old Huey's sugarscoop but it was only fitted in full for certain operational missions. I'm wondering if that shroud isn't part of that kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eri Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 are the internal cabin,instrument panels flat black or nato black? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eri Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 are the internal cabin,instrument panels flat black or nato black? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 are the internal cabin,instrument panels flat black or nato black? All interior surfaces should be flat black but it's a different flat black than the exterior :) I used Testors acrylic Interior Black for my AH-6C, it seemed to provide a realistic finish. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DonSS3 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I like the Modelmaster Interior Black as well. I'm thinking it's aVERY dark gray, and it provides just enough contrast that if you paint the panel interior black and the instruments/individual panels plain black, there is a slight difference. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eri Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I ll be using Tamiya Nato Black for the external and Tamiya Flat black for the instrument and internals. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FM-Whip Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Those are some great pics. I'd still love to know what the purpose is of that shroud / scoop on the aft fuselage. The exhaust pipe also has an unusual flanged fitting. Years ago, someone mentioned that Littlebirds could be fitted with an IR suppression kit similar to the old Huey's sugarscoop but it was only fitted in full for certain operational missions. I'm wondering if that shroud isn't part of that kit. Yes, the flange at the tail end of the exhaust pipe is for mounting the sugarscoop IR suppressing exhaust. That exhaust looks somewhat like the UH-1 "toilet bowl" but flares out and downwards. It's a strange looking device. I've seen several photos of it, but none of them very close. John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Yes, the flange at the tail end of the exhaust pipe is for mounting the sugarscoop IR suppressing exhaust. That exhaust looks somewhat like the UH-1 "toilet bowl" but flares out and downwards. It's a strange looking device. I've seen several photos of it, but none of them very close. John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com) Thanks for the info John.... Any pictures of that rig would be a great addition to this thread. Is that fuselage shroud shown on the picture above part of the IR suppression kit? Standard H-6's don't have any kind of vent in that position, so I'm trying to figure out what the purpose is of that intake. My guess is that it is to draw in air to cool the engine compartment. Any idea if another shroud was mounted on the opposite side? Regards, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FM-Whip Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the info John.... Any pictures of that rig would be a great addition to this thread. Is that fuselage shroud shown on the picture above part of the IR suppression kit? Standard H-6's don't have any kind of vent in that position, so I'm trying to figure out what the purpose is of that intake. My guess is that it is to draw in air to cool the engine compartment. Any idea if another shroud was mounted on the opposite side? Regards, John I was trying to post photos of the grill that's under that scoop but I guess on ARC you can only post a photo from a link. Anyway, I believe that the scoop forces ambient air into the engine compartment where it is mixed with the hot air leaving through the sugarscoop exhaust. From memory the OH-6A also had built-in forced air into the engine compartment - by design some of the air coming into the engine inlet was bypassed to the engine compartment and was then exhausted between the exhaust pipes and the engine clamshell doors. In the case of the side-mounted exhaust system, I believe ram air also exited from between the exhaust pipes and the fiberglas cover. The side exhausts have raised ridges on the exterior of the pipes, underneath the external curved covers. As far as the scoop, I believe it's only mounted on the left side. The right side has an oil tank. There's a smaller grill to the left rear of the oil tank. The grills themselves have changed designs - the photo I have of one on the upper left side shows a blank plate that's been drilled with many small holes. The later ones have wide-gap mesh. John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com) Edited January 19, 2012 by FM-Whip Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FM-Whip Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Over on AeroScale, there is a newly posted walk-around of an MH-6M. Not too many detail shots of the latest and greatest Littlebird are out there, so these are pretty nice. Never seen that new style plank with (I am assuming), a fuel cell built into the bottom. http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=4186 Regards, John I'm late on that posting but yes, you assumed right - those are a combined fuel tank/plank, made by Robertson. John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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