mtaylor

LOL.... you're right about Da Nang. The times any of us went over to Da Nang, we stopped at the USO. As for the "good Captain", I heard that he got shot a few months after I left. Seems a VC sitting outside the wire. Apparently they were watching. He wouldn't wear the black rank insignias and I think it was the troops saluting him that made him a target. Oh well... long time ago. "I was so much older than, I'm younger than that now." - The Byrds

OC, When you're ready to start building, let me know and I'll fix the title and you can carry on here with the build. I'll be patient, or try to be at least.

Boy.. that's a surprise Lou. If you can mix and match and the fit is right.... that's good. I didn't realize the Huey's had padding on the floor. The -34's and 53's didn't have it but had the sound absorbing padding on the overhead and sides. Not surprisingly, on the -53's it was removed in 'Nam.

This guy was a work of art. He'd inspect (at random even if not on as OD) the guys on perimeter. Write them up for dirty uniforms or dusty rifles. I actually had to carry my M-16 on guard duty instead of my "prefered" weapon. CO told me just take the M1 with me and stash it in the bunker because he was tired of seeing guys getting written up. This OIC actually hounded people he didn't like. On lad was overweight and he was first target. Eventually getting him kicked out on a General Discharge. Others.... any reason at all to write someone up. My final act of nastiness occurred while turning the rotors under power while trouble shooting a funky gyro problem. The bird suddenly shot straight up about 20 feet before I could kill the autopilot. On the ground, I climbed out the cockpit, and he's standing there holding a gyro in hand yelling "I found your problem stupid... the gyro is loose". I didnt'say a work, I threw a wrench and hit in the forehead. Then walked out side, sat on the ground and had cigarette waiting for the MP's. They showed up in the morning and took me to the Colonel's office. He fined me $10 and told me not to do it again. As for the Captain.... he had a royal asschewing that was heard well out into the hanger. Uh... no. Ah yes. Anyone who flew a 53 or is flying them have probably seen that video. He won a Navy Cross as I recall. Semper Fi, my brother.

Nice work, Jack. Let's call it snow. Trying to wash the stuff off might make more problems than it solves.

I'll just add what others are saying... beautiful work. And fascinating to see it come to life.

That was my problem with the aftermarket stuff for the CH-53. Most of it didn't seem to "add" anything. And pictures showed it looked worse than the kit bits. I'm still waiting on the machineguns from them.... <sigh>

The new carrier is to be name for Doris Miller who was a hero at Pearl Harbor. https://www.foxnews.com/us/doris-miller-what-to-know-about-the-african-american-pearl-harbor-hero-honored-by-us-navy If you want to know more about him... https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2016/11/14/dorie-miller-a-mess-boys-heroism-at-pearl-harbor/

Mum's the word, sir.

A little spray starch and an iron and the sail will be shipshape.

I'm sorry to hear about your father. My condolences. Rubber cement, IMHO, is the best glue for paper to wood. MDF is available at most home improvement shops like Home Depot or Lowes. They will also cut a piece to size for you. Take the plan and roll it up but not tightly. Spread the rubber cement on the wood and roll the paper onto it like you'd roll a pie crust into the pie pan. Burnish the paper as you roll it on the MDF. Someone else might have a better way, but that's way I do it. Now that I think about, next time I'll try using a rolling pin to put the paper on.

Excellent recovery, Eric. Show me someone who's never screwed up and it's probably the same person who's never tried.

Uh...hmm.... all of them. I will hold off on some until I put them together and smooth out the seam lines before painting. I'm kind of winging this as I go. Lou, We had guys getting promotions for less than that. It was a time of fast promotions for us. I was a E-4 for a little longer than a year and my name came up on the Sargent's list. I got E-5 the week after I got to 'Nam. I was seriously thinking about re-upping. The bonus would have been about $25,000 based on my MOS and rank. But with the stress from wife at the time, I left. I should to her to take a hike and stayed it. The bonus would have been tax free by signing in 'Nam. We had pretty good docs on base. If an injury was serious, over to the Medevac crowd. You had "housemaids"? Wow. The Air Force was getting "sub-standard housing" pay because their lovely barracks didn't have air conditioning. We had wood shacks. Yeah.. different rules for junior enlisted, senior enlisted, and officers. Along with different benies. There was one... though.... he had it in for me and I for him. He insisted on being saluted all the time. So when I was on perimeter guard duty, if he was the officer of the day and showed up, I made sure, in a very loud voice to call the guys at our position to attention. <evil grin> The bad part was he was my OIC. A rear-echelon paper pusher. Due to minor paperwork problem, he had me busted back to E4. The re-enlistment guy told me if I signed up, not only the bonus, but I have my E5 back in a week along with the E5 bonus.

In addition to the blade Keith mentions, Xacto makes one like you showed but it's not a photo etch.

Lou, show us the parts!!!!!!! Mine still haven't shown up. Maybe they went into the Twilight Zone. No heaviness today. I've focused on painting. I'm going to try to paint first (where I can) and then assemble. Though it looks like somethings should be assembled first like put the sponsons on the fuselage. I noticed that there will be a lot of "extra" parts. Apparently Revell made one set of parts to cover everything. Includes a jeep, and towed howitzer and parts to turn the bird into later models with the added tanks on the sponsons, etc.

As for as the accuracy of bombing, it really wasn't until (as Ken point out) that they had to go low. They found out late in the war that there was "gap" in the German coverage between the flak. I think it was around 6-8000 feet. The 88's couldn't hit them as too low for the fuses, the other AA's couldn't go higher.

Lou, Ken, I feel the same way about things. I'm hoping the ugly stays buried. I was told early on before I went in... "you don't have friends in the military, you have acquaintances". The last time I saw anyone I knew was my armorer buddy in 'Nam who stopped by on his way home. Didn't see him or hear from him again. Life got in the way. The other thing I found true..." You can never go home again. It's not the same like it's never was there.". Somethings changes. Mostly good if you let it be. Exactly, Lou. We're none of those "labels" some tried to brand us with. The closest I've come to having a "Nam" buddy is my shrink of all people. He served in "Nam" and we can be talking and suddenly is that like reading minds.

Welcome to MSW, John. MSW is a great resource. There should be plenty of builds for you follow for "how-to's" and pitfalls. Open a log for yours as it's a great way to get help and meet folks.

When I started this, I didn't realize what it would stir up in my memories. Maybe I should stop writing them, I don't know.... In the squadron, I had mess duty which was a month, twice. The first time was just after we transitioned to the 53's. I was a newbie so I got the rotation and ended up in the scullery. One day during a break and sitting outside, looked up as we heard strange noises. It was one out CH-53's. Some thought it was "stunting" but it wasn't. It was out of control. It disappeared from sight and an hour later, we heard... it's crashed, no survivors. Those of on mess duty, guard duty, got a day off to go the funeral(s) in the base chapel. Pretty hard on all of us. A week or so later, they'd found the cause. The bleed valve on one of the actuators came loose. It was lock wired. The day I went back to the squadron, there was an all hands meeting. We were visited by both Senators from California and about 5 Representatives. They had just come back from North Island (all the 53's were shipped there for final prep before being issued). This crash cost a bunch of managers and employees there (a federal installaton) were fired due to negligence and couple do to being drunk. My other mess duty was about 6 months later. I ended up in the spud locker... chopping up veggies, making salads, and pealing potatoes. This was bit of a punishment for "pushing" to come back to the squadron from TAD to a 2nd level maintenance unit. A week after starting there, the mess cook in charge went AWOL so, being the senior person, I was put in charge. This involved ordering supplies, making sure we our goods ready for the cooks, etc. Had two run-ins with the mess hall OIC. When mess duty was over, I went back to the squadron. The Avionics OIC and NCO-in-charge were waiting for me. I thought I was going to be hung by the yardarm but no... the OIC of the mess hall recommended me for meritorious promotion to Corporal and they wanted to know what happened. We talked and two days later I had my corporal strips.

It would be logical (to me anyway) that after pulling them up on shore, they might run the anchors from the stern further up the beach just in case of tide and waves.

Thanks OC. I'm thinning it with distilled water as I've a couple gallons on hand used to cool the Deathstar. I'm using the jugs not what was in the Deathstar.

Early on, the Army Air Corps brass figured that with all that firepower, the bombers would be safe. This Hap Arnold and band of "we do bombers, don't need anything else" types. What fighters were available when the bombing Germany started, didn't have the range. They had to turn back at the German border. There'weren't drop tanks at that points. Losses were extreme for the bombers and they had to stop the daylight raids until the drop tanks could be provided. Part of the problem was the British did the night bombing. They "offered" to have the US join them at night but with the amount of planes to be used, it was felt to be too dangerous as the planes couldn't run any position lights. Besides, Arnold said "US does precision bombing" and needed daylight. The fact the Nordon bombsight has "issues" along with dodging flack, etc. didn't help either.

The collective is to the left of the seat to control the amount of pitch on the rotors for lift. The cyclic sits directly in front of the pilot to control angle of attack and roll. Somewhere in the back of mind is a memory of being told the pilot sat on the right since that was where the cargo door was (before rear ramps were invented). He sat there to ensure that everything was "clear" during take-off, landing, etc. when personnel were in the area. It wasn't fun getting into either seat with the center consul in the way and then the cyclic in front of the seat.

I've washed down the parts, they've dried and I'm starting to lay down paint. I'm using the brushes and the paint is smoothing out nicely. If was going to do more plastic, I might invest in an airbrush. But not at this point. Yeah, I'm still finding it in the carpet and still settling. But spring will be here soon enough.