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20 hours ago, 82Whitey51 said:

Thanks Steve!
I'm pretty sure it was Kuwait they operated it from...may have been Masirah , Oman??

pg-L-TG-10031-007.jpg

I did a little research on them when you started your build and, it said they flew out of Al Jabber AB, Kuwait but, I never saw them. I worked from 6am to 6pm. It's hard to tell but this pic above does look like Jabber.

 

Steve

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1 hour ago, A-10 LOADER said:

I did a little research on them when you started your build and, it said they flew out of Al Jabber AB, Kuwait but, I never saw them. I worked from 6am to 6pm. It's hard to tell but this pic above does look like Jabber.

 

Steve

OK, cool! I don't think they were in theater very long. Chucked a few drones in the opening days of OIF and then split.
 

I'm working on modifying the kit drones to look like the ones in the photo; wing tip pods and horizontal stab fins...resisting the urge to paint up at least one in bright orange.

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Andy, FYI,  the AQM-34 drones were all gray. They were all tricked out with some emerging technology.  I  think the DC-130A Ieft after four or five day/nights of operations as the hole had been kicked in the air defences and the need for the drones had diminished.  The orange drones you are thinking of are the Beechcraft BQM-74s which were ground launched from rails setup in northwest KSA. 

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This is an amazing build!!! That cockpit looks terrific. :worship:

 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 11:01 AM, 82Whitey51 said:

Finally some progress! This paint job has been a chore of masking and a solid arm workout. As God is my witness I will NEVER pre-shade any area that is to be painted yellow...it took 3 bottles of Mr. Color Insignia Yellow to cover until I finally decided enough was enough and I'd just weather it a bit more than I previously had planned. It'll represent the aircraft as it appeared operating out of Kuwait in 2003 so it likely was dingy enough.

...

Next, on to the tail and upper walkway areas.

Oh ya. Anything below Mr Color C329 yellow is glaringly visible. Nothing subtle about it! I'm surprised 3 bottles was enough. I went through a half a bottle for a 1/48 XF5F.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright, got some more painting done on this over the weekend. Lots of masking! Had to resup my Tamiya tape supply. I was happy that there was ZERO red overspray to be found once all the masking was removed.

For the tail color, I hemmed and hawed over what "RED" to use. Photos show the tail red to be a different shade than the Insignia Red ID stripes of the wings. I messed with lightening Insignia Red, darkening International Orange...but ultimately plain ol' Tamiya Flat Red looked most perfect to my eye. So that's what I used.

 

53637735_10219390999634061_3480126847927

 

53429797_10219391000154074_8973086090445

 

53330508_10219390992353879_4960901867870

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wooo Hooo! Getting into decal time! Man, this project has been draaaaaaaaaagin'. OK, I knew I'd have to make decals for the tail logo, because it's fairly big. I didn't count on having to make all the numbers too...because they're fairly big too! I figured there had to be sheets out there with "Navy" font letters and numbers big enough (30" on the tail numbers, 24" on the modex [nose] numbers) but, nope. No problem, I can make them pretty quick. Just had to track down decal paper. On that note, I can't recommend "Expert's Choice" decal paper enough! The white paper is super thin, so when doing color imagery they lay down very nice, and the clear paper makes the numbers/letters look painted on. I've used the paper from Micro Mark in the past and found it is a bit thicker, leaving a noticeable "edge". Go with "Expert's Choice", and be sure to get the paper made for the printer you are using (ink jet vs laser jet). https://www.bare-metal.com/experts-choice-decal-film.html

When I made the tail logos (color, so printed on white paper...), I knew I'd have to cut them out, and perfection being key to a good looking model I wondered how I'd do that, giving that it's a circle with a "banner" attached. Scissors aren't gonna cut it (see what I did there...). So I used my Shadowhobbby circle cutter along with the center finder accessory to cut the main logo out, then used scissors to cut the "banner" from the paper, attaching the two when I applied them to the tail. I was pretty happy with the results:

 

IMG_7856.jpg


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As I mentioned, the numbers went down like paint. The "UNITED STATES NAVY" on the wheel sponsons came from a Scale-Master sheet. Those folks used to make some really nice letter/number sheets but I guess they are no longer in business (???), snatch them up when you see them at the vendor tables.

 

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Aircraft 497 had a unique piece of "nose art" for it's deployment to CENTCOM. I made it after cropping a photo and changing some background color. Pretty happy with the result there too;

 

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IMG_2697.jpg

 

Still awaiting a decal sheet from Australia that has the rest of the aircraft data and warning markings in color. The old sheet of kit decals are faded, and though most of the old Testor/Italeri kits used to use Scale-Master decals this one does not, and they have a dull appearance to them that lead to heavy silvering when I tried using one. So, no thanks.

 

 

Edited by 82Whitey51
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Great work Whitey. 

 

Whats the story on the "Combat Talon" noseart? I ask, because that is associated with the USAF's MC-130E/H, not much else. 

Could that have been a zap that was just kept? Or were the DCs working alongside the MCs on ops?

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11 hours ago, ST0RM said:

Great work Whitey. 

 

Whats the story on the "Combat Talon" noseart? I ask, because that is associated with the USAF's MC-130E/H, not much else. 

Could that have been a zap that was just kept? Or were the DCs working alongside the MCs on ops?

I'm not sure the exact story behind it, but your theory sounds reasonable...appears to be an MC-130 in the background here:

pg-L-TG-10031-007.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

Andy, I saw the DC-130 at IPMS Nats in Chattanooga.  I took several photos.  Very impressive build with the interior and the modified drones.  It looks really nice!   I was only there for a few hours on Friday before seeing the grandkids and picking up my son on his cross-country helo flight.  How'd you do?  R/ Dutch

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