firehawkordy

Coming from the Maintenance side of Naval Aviation I have to say that I am appalled at what has been reported. I had it hammered into my head that we were to ALWAYS use our check lists. Now you know why it's been said "checklists are written in blood". I want to know what was going on in that units Maintenance Control office, who the hell thought it was good to allow an aircraft to fly with a known engine gripe? If I had my way the senior enlisted maintenance staff should be sacked and gone. Safety is never tobe sacrificed for operational commitments, I heard that for 20 years, right out of the Naval Safety Office, the same office that tells the Marines the same thing. Four relived and nine others disciplined? Good, I hope the pilot faces some form of punishment also, if only for not going to the first field available. I'm going stop ranting before I say something about nugget pilots that I shouldn't.

If you need music I have the Battle Fugue (opening song) for the Anime series. You guys missed one bird from the OVA movies, The Bronco, a whole section of them gets pasted on the ramp in I believe Area 82. It would be a shame to let the OV-10 go to waste. If I recall they were only painted in the green Euro pattern with no markings.

It was christened the "Flying WASP".

All kidding aside, it's a blessing that the crews were unharmed. When I first saw the headline on a newsfeed I thought of the Thresher,Scorpion and Kursk.

This is what happens when you drive on the wrong side of the ocean

Another reason the A-4 was good for carriers, it was small enough to operate on the Essex class boats and didn't need folding wings. The folding systems added weight the Scooter didn't need let alone more hydraulics to maintain.

73. If the chump don't want no help, the chump don't get no help. 72. The red zone is for loading and unloading. 71, The fastest land animal is the Cheetah

The A-4 is not a legend because Sen.McCain flew it, it's a legend because of it's ability to carry ordnance loads out of proportion to it's size. Mr. Heineman designed out all unnecessary weight and gave it a powerful engine. It is still being used in a few countries today, the Argentine military have had their fleet of A-4's modernized in the past ten years. It's like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going and......

My worst experience was about 17 years ago. Built a 1/72nd Airfix A-10, airbrushed the Euro scheme and just letting everything cure before decaling. I came home from work went up to my desk, picked up the model and found that my son had "helped" me paint the thing..... with a brush loaded with lacquer thinner for the airbrush. Melted everything down to the plastic. Salvaged the ordnance, racks, gear and cockpit. Worst close call, my ex and mother came within a few minutes of tossing out my parts boxes, not box, boxes. I have parts and spares going back to the 4th grade. And I can tell you what kit a part came from and when I got the kit. Don't parents and spouses know that the part boxes are more valuable than the kits?

You guys see a carrier around here?

True, If it's there I'll bomb it into the stone age. The person below me has gone thru all 400+ pages of LOL Catz.

I found this site awhile back, just saving my money for one or two things.... http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php Looking at the prices and remembering what I originally paid for them I kind of feel bad that I blew up a lot of Hawk brand kits with m-80's.

You have a nice start on this one. Since you state that it's more or less finished let's talk about your next project. 1 Tools, this is a basic list of tool that is affordable and multi-use. Nail clippers, use this to remove the parts from the sprues, use the file on it to finish the bit of plastic left. An Xacto or hobby knife with #11 blades, use it for general trimming and clean up, the back of the blade works great as a scraper to finish long seams. Small scissors for your decal sheet. An assortment of emery boards, the cardboard nail files these are used to smooth the joins on the wings, fuselage, and other parts. Tape, use a low tack clear for the canopy and masking for the rest of your kit. An assortment of paintbrushes, when I started I just had a flat for large areas, a #0 round for general work and a #000 and #00 for fine work. An eyeline brush works great for fine detail also. Glue, I use two liquid cements both from Testor Corp., the first comes in a glass bottle and the second in a plastic container, this is a little thicker and I use it more on the larger sub-assembly's. 2 Paint Since, I assume you are starting out I'll keep this simple Any good hobby paint will do, make sure you stir them up really well before you use them. If you are going to use just one color a spray can will work, you can also use a spray can for a base coat and then paint the remaining camo by hand. One note, for light or metallic colors make sure you first give your kit a primer coat of flat or matte white otherwise the final color will be too dark. One can each of clear gloss and clear matte this is for later and is important for the decals. 3 Putting it all together, since you can put a kit together I'll touch on things to improve it's look. Remove the parts with the clippers, trim and file to smooth the surface Follow the instructions and join the parts dry, no glue. Using a #0 paintbrush, this is one different from the one you use to paint with, apply the cement with the brushes tip down the seam. The glue will flow into the seam and bond the parts together. Wait a minute and GENTLY squeeze the the seam forcing out some of the melted plastic. Let this dry solid, sand the bead of plastic with the emery boards down to the parts assembly, if it's done right there should be little or no join line and what is left will be covered in paint. Repeat until you have a completed kit . Paint as indicated in the instructions or with what colors you wish. Painting is not that hard and like everything else you get better as you go along. I suggest you use single colors at first and then move on to more detailed schemes. Make sure you mask the clear parts with tape before you paint, using clear tape cover the clear part completely and run the tip of you hobby knife around the frame work. Remove just the tape covering the frame and apply the paint. When the paint is all dry after at least 4hours with matte paint and 24 for gloss you can add the decals. If you used gloss paint skip this next bit, Leaving the canopy masking on, spray you model with a couple of light coats of clear gloss and let dry. This is done to give your decals a smooth surface to adhere to and not have that shiny "halo" look with them. Wait a day and then add the decals per the instructions and wait another day for them to set and dry. Depending on your final finish, add one more light coat of clear gloss, if you want a dull finish let the gloss dry for about two hours and spray one to two light coats of clear matte. At this point you are finished and I'm out of things to say. Hope this helps on your next model kit.

They were, but since the Tomcat is gone the Pt Mugu DET closed shop and returned to NAWS China Lake.

Yes, I did, I hate you

FYI, The weapon in question is the AGM-45 Shrike. This, along with AIM-9, in one or NAWS China Lake's signature developments.

My grandson thinks his mom looks like Haruhi, the rest of the family agrees. The anime is confusing at first though I've started the manga last month.

Thanks for the answers. As I thought adding just some art work is beyond my skill at this time. I have some vacation coming up so I'll have time to experiment.

As of 1997-99 the F-111B still existed, in the boneyard. No, not Davis-Monathan but in the back 40 at China Lake. Seems the Navy want's this dog-turd out site forever.

One more thing, sometime you don't even need a bomb with explosive installed. During the 90's aircraft enforcing the "no-fly" zone in Iraq would hit SAM sites with BDU-45's with a laser seeker installed. It was easier to drop a 500lb chunk of concrete and steel onto the RADAR van than it was to blow it up, same result, trashed equipment but the school yard it was parked in was still usable.

The GBU-28 is in the packs, at least the ones I have in my game. Try the latest Mirage factory and Community packs one of them should have it. Note I left out the GBU-28 because it's specific to one airframe, first the F-111 and now the F-15E, The Mk 84's are used daily by all services in multiple airframes. I still don't understand the intent of the original post, just because you lug the biggest bomb don't mean you can use it, especially with the concern regarding collateral damage. Bigger now days is not better when you want to take out a room and not the whole neighborhood. Plus it's a waste of fuel needing at least one IFR after takeoff.

The heaviest weapon a US fighter-bomber can operationally carry is the the MK84 bomb body, 2000 lb class weapon, and any guidance kit that is attached. The largest ASM operationally carried is the SLAM-ER. I won't mention nukes because they are not carried regularly and you don't need to know.

The airframe served it's purpose,even with a SLEP they are high time birds,it's time has come. Anthony, they did make an ES version and a COD version but the C-2 carries more payload and the EA-6B was better suited to the EW mission. As for the refueling role, thats what they make "buddy" stores for. Sad to see it go but the world and times change and so does the mission of NAVAIR. Next to go is the Prowler, looks like all the birds with the exception of the Hornet and Hawkeye, that I worked on or around now reside in museums and petting zoos

Try this one .... Weapons Pack 2.52 by the WO*/SFP1 Community or the latest one from the Mirage Factory, Both are on the CA download section.

If it weren't for Ordnance, NAVAIR would be just a single seat charter service. IYOAYAS