lmagna

Hard to remember sometimes that you are working in 1/700!

Impressive building and details. It is nice seeing one of these finally come together. Obviously not an easy model to do.

If you fired an anti radar missile it would indicate that you were flying Wild Weasel, in which case it was a big Whoopity doo. At least in my book. The idea of intentionally playing flying target always seemed counter intuitive to me. We got plenty of practice with our M-16s here in the states prior to deployment, (I only fired an M-14 once in basic) but then we left them here and were reissued rifles when we were assigned to our duty stations in country. Luckily I never relied on mine all that much. It was beat to hell already when it was issued to me. Functioned OK I suppose, but looked like it had been through the wringer. Which it possibly had. Never did much of anything with the .45 except carry it and clean it.

I have had three surgeries now just on my back and they would like to do two more! But with the last, a fusion at my L4, I have personally had it! No more for me unless they either come up with something radially different or pull me in already unconscious. On me it is now a daily, and nightly reminder! Nothing occasional about it. Add a left hip replacement and shattered left foot that will never be the same again and my right knee starting to hurt and it is no where near the life I imagined just a few short years ago. Not really complaining, things could be FAR WORSE and it is for many but I do miss some of the fun of being more mobile.

Four times a year! Hell, we didn't even qualify with our weapons that many times! I think I requalified with my .45 pistol once while I was in country, and never with my M-16 or M-60. It was during monsoon when we had more than the normal no fly days and they had no idea what to do with us. Heaven forbid a little extra sleep or warm chow on time would have been on their minds. I was lucky I guess in that I arrived in country after Tet and door gunners had taken it a little heavy at that time and there was a shortage. Someone figured that it was just like a gunner on any vehicle except you flew. How hard could that be? They were asking for volunteers and the idea of flying interested me. I gave no thought to the landing part. The common joke of the time I found out later was "How long is the life expediency of a door gunner from the time they take off to the time they ALMOST land?" I personally never found it all that hard and never regretted my impulsive choice. I am certain that others may have found it a case of YMMV. The other joke, "Taking off in a normal manner is required, landing intact is only desired." Did hold true.

Got to lay out in a hammock. The chair things just aren't as comfortable and over time put a lot of strain on my busted back! Besides one looks much more regal while laying in a hammock.

I'll be right back I ran out of hammocks! Don't do to much before I get back!

Oh come on Ken. You know you miss SOME of it. People pay perfectly good money to do many of those things.

It's not fair Mark. As I was just a lowly door gunner not a crew chief I didn't get any of that cool type of training! Our stuff after volunteering was pretty much "Here's your gear. Don't walk into the tail rotor. Do you have a next-of-kin you want us to send your stuff to? " Oh yeah, a couple of weeks learning to clean an M-60 and which end the bullets came out so you would be less likely to shoot your own chopper out of the air. At least that seemed to be the reasoning. Mostly they seemed most interested in filling the right back door with a warm body. Pretty much the way everything went in the Army I guess.

Great to not only see that you are able to make progress Mike but also that the progress is so impressive. I also am glad that you have either solved any issues with the unproven plans or that there were none to solve, making the build that much more enjoyable. Looking forward to seeing even more of your very impressive talents at work. Thanks so much for sharing.

My wife goes to Leavenworth, (Washington) in a few weeks so I will be stocked up as well Edward. Just have to settle in on the old hammock and watch the paint fly.

I can bet it does. Not only is it an impressive size but the detail and workmanship. That includes getting the printer to do what you wanted as well as the mods along the way and the finish. It has been a captivating build right from the start. Yes, I would think that at over four feet long it would have presence as well. I am very glad you did not stop at just building the hull as you were originally thinking. I really enjoyed the journey.

Have you ever used or considered using contact glue like they use on laminate counter tops? When used with counter tops it gives NO leeway in placing but once placed only acetone or destruction will remove it.

Can't put a "like" on that, not even an "agree."

Congratulations Greg I have no idea what the competition was like but having seen the pictures of these models I tend to agree with the judges. Best in show, well deserved. Does this mean that the models will get promoted in the cabinet to a higher shelf?

Welcome aboard John. Like Dave_E I am a bit north in Everett but still close enough to be able to see and follow your works to come.

Favorite location, favorite lounge furniture, one of my favorite aircraft, FAVORITE FOOD! You have company Edward........... Hope you are willing to share the brittle! I have to wait until early March for my stock!

I always thought it was kind of funny when people would run up on a Huey all hunched over to avoid being hit by the main rotor. As you can see, not really a big issue with us!

Speaking of old photos! Just for fun:

Well as I am pretty certain that I was not taking any drugs back then and it does not exist on the internet then it must be the drugs I have to take now, combined with the years. IF it had existed it could have looked something like this I suppose: I know, those are all pictures of a modern-day restored Huey, But my ex wife kind of cleaned me out of almost all of my pictures, if I even took one that included the top view of the blades. That is also lost in that same drug induced unsupported haze. But I was able to come up with this, two at any rate: If limited memory serves this should be sometime around 1969-70 at least that is the dates on my DD-214. Sorry, best I can do. Nice job on the H-13s. I think I will have to go for the ambulance one as well. #241 just looks too pimped out for my aging OD stained eyeballs. I still can't look at that model Bell and not really see a "Whirlybird" in my questionable mind's eye.

At least you didn't have to deal with the real price tag. I read today that they cost over $35K an hour just to fly. I have no idea if this is true or how they come up with the number but it was a little shocking. Most of the other newer "specialty" aircraft were up there as well. I think the older almost indestructible Warthog was only something like $9-$10K.

You have certainly created an inspiring model Yves. I have no idea how you resisted the temptation to RC it and the ability to see it operate in it's proper element now and then. But all that aside the achievement and the talent it took to obtain it is nothing short of amazing. I bought my grandson a 3D printer for Christmas and we put it together a few weeks ago. Your build makes me want to sneak into the other room and take it over for my own nefarious ends! Can't wait to see what you print up and build next.

Admittedly we are talking about over 40 years ago and I was trying for at least half of that time to hide and forget most of that year. Memory on some details may be faulty or even lacking. But if memory is any indicator then the only "Unit marking" on our slicks was the 4th army patch or more often: As I remember all tips were yellow or white. This would make a blurred circle on the tail rotor and a kind of dashed circle for the main rotor. Kind of looking at the dashed center lines in a highway as you drive down it. As I remember it, most of the choppers also had a single white blade on the top which made a very distinctive sweeping line, (Kind of like the sweeping radar line you see in the movies) in the blade ark that was even visible when you were not looking at it. Kind of a out of the corner of your eye thing that you were aware of even when you could not really see it, if that make any sense. (Probably not) I think this was an added signal to mark where the Hueys were even from a distance when the go fast guys flying the fixed wing ordinance came in to make deposits. Kind of "We are here" thing. But like many aspects of the choppers that filled the flight line nothing was 100%. Rotors were being replaced all of the time for one reason or another just like doors, panels, gauges, windows and almost everything else. The white blade was probably not on all of them but it is in my memory. It could have been some kind of unit directory at one point or another, I have no idea. I was busy with other things and no one consulted me on the matter. My only involvement with any painting at all was to cover up some repair or another and the colors involved were usually OD, gray, or black. We had a little red here and there as well but I don't remember ever using it. The high visibility markings were more to keep someone from walking into the tail rotor or when landing or taking off in confined spaces or LZs where you needed to keep the troops or cargo in a small area. When flying point to point we would tend to be spread out and flying low. Once in a while we would fly higher when in no danger areas.

If you looks at walkthroughs of HMCS Sackville you will see that they are slowly placing additional DCs in all kinds of places along companionways at each "upgrade" in her restoration. I suspect that this was the case in WWII as well and when the ship left port it would have them stuffed into any nook and cranny that worked, I think this is a work in progress.

In our unit we only had the top of one blade painted, (In our case white with both the tips on some of the ships done in yellow) They were all black from below.