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AH-1G Cobra


mtncolonel

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I got some good info on my previous post about the Bell H-13E, for which I found that an MRC 1/35 kit I have is for the H-13E with the earlier lateral fuel tank, bench seat, and dual controls. I now have 1/72 models for all the helicopters I need except for a Vietnam AH-1G Cobra. I have Hasegawa and HobbyBoss 1/72 kits of the AH-1S and AH-1F, and I obtained through e-bay a MasterCraft AH-1G, but it is very poor quality molding and detail. It is also not very accurate, according to my Squadron in-action/walk-around books. I think I can kitbash something, but I am wondering if any of the companies have made an accurate and well-detailed model of the Nam-era AH-1G - someone like Italeri, Hasegawa, etc. I don't want to waste any more money on poor quality kits, especially for a display like this.

-mtncolonel

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Monogram did the early Cobra (an AH-1G if I'm not mistaken) back in the late 1960's. You can still find them from time to time--check with Rare-Plane Detective or look on Old Model Kits website. Matchbox and Kitech have also produced 1/72 AH-1G's...

 

They're all older kits, but you can build nice models from them.

 

Ralph

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Mark - I can backdate either the HobbyBoss AH-1S or the Hasegawa AH-1F to an AH-1G, but I have to use the Mastercraft body shell to provide the turbine exhaust and adjacent body shell, the tail rotor fin, and the nose. None of the Mastercraft body looks very good due to the poor molding. I am hoping to get a kit which presents an acceptable AH-1G without extensive kitbashing. The Mastercraft is just poor quality molding and detail, as well as inaccurate. If there was not a better model, I wish there was a good aftermarket kit. - John Manion

Any chance of back dating a better Cobra to the earlier one?

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I have found a 1/72 kit of an AH-1G on e-bay by ZTS Plastyk and another 1/72 by Chematic. Does anyone know of the quality of either of these manufacturers?

- mtncolonel

Edited by mtncolonel
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Thanks Dan! I love seeing people post their personal experiences here. Great info. There's nothing like getting it straight from "the horse's mouth" so to speak.

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Dan - I have been an infantryman since 1967, so I have not had behind-the-stick experience. I was in Nam in 68-69 and flew as observer in a few Fireflys. We had a UH-1D with a set of lights in the left door to fly roads and rivers. We had two Cobras with us and when we spotted something, we sent the Cobras in to fire on them. Anyone who was on a road or especially a river after dark was a target, and the Cobras would really light them up. It was a hairy experience, but I know we did a lot to keep Charlie back in the woods at night. John Manion, 11A5S, Vietnam 68-69

 

John - I have built the Hobby Boss 1/72 AH-1F and it is actually an updated AH-1S [ not quite acurate for either], but still might be your best starting place. I hope you do not mind if I reminisce a little on these topics as I spent quite a few hours flying these plus Huey UH-1 charlie model gunsihps and UH-1 d/h slicks in Vietnam in 1969/70 and 73. Attached is me in back seat of a AH-1G getting Hot Fuel and Rearm. This Aircraft was very different from the C-model Hueys I had been flying. With full fuel, fully armed and high temps we could barely get them off the ground. The Air handeling system inside the cockpit was a joke, we carried rags so we could wipe down the inside of the canopy, we were often asked by people on the ground why we were often seen flying sideways [crabed] and we would tell then that was only way to let the rain we got inside the cockpit out! In combat situations we very much missed having a door Gunner and Crewchief watching our six. Enemy would hold fire until after our gunruns then pop out and fire at our ass, there was no practal way to see behind you so only way we knew we were taking fire was hearing bullets hit! We developed techniques to counter this, but it was a good thing that Cobra was so rugged. I have not been to Denver Museum you are working on, but next time I am going to Denver I will stop by. Dan King, Greyhound 10, Vietnam 69/70/73

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Dan - I looked over the photo you included of a hot refuel of an AH-1G and saw that you had what appeared to be the 19-tube 2.75 rocket pod on the stub wing. The chin turret gun looked quite slim. Was this the 7.62 minigun? Did your AH-1Gs usually fly with the 7.62 minigun, the 40mm grenade launcher, or some other weapon in the chin turret. I call it the chin turret, although it might have another name, because I am used to this term, as I have spent six years on the ground crew of our B-17, which will be arriving from Oshkosh, WI, on June 6 for a week. I have flown in it twice, and it is an impressive machine - and loud. As we watch it take off, I wonder how that sounded with hundreds of B-17s taking off at the same time. The English probably didn't get to sleep late on most mornings during the war. John Manion "grunt" 68-69

John - I have built the Hobby Boss 1/72 AH-1F and it is actually an updated AH-1S [ not quite acurate for either], but still might be your best starting place. I hope you do not mind if I reminisce a little on these topics as I spent quite a few hours flying these plus Huey UH-1 charlie model gunsihps and UH-1 d/h slicks in Vietnam in 1969/70 and 73. Attached is me in back seat of a AH-1G getting Hot Fuel and Rearm. This Aircraft was very different from the C-model Hueys I had been flying. With full fuel, fully armed and high temps we could barely get them off the ground. The Air handeling system inside the cockpit was a joke, we carried rags so we could wipe down the inside of the canopy, we were often asked by people on the ground why we were often seen flying sideways [crabed] and we would tell then that was only way to let the rain we got inside the cockpit out! In combat situations we very much missed having a door Gunner and Crewchief watching our six. Enemy would hold fire until after our gunruns then pop out and fire at our ass, there was no practal way to see behind you so only way we knew we were taking fire was hearing bullets hit! We developed techniques to counter this, but it was a good thing that Cobra was so rugged. I have not been to Denver Museum you are working on, but next time I am going to Denver I will stop by. Dan King, Greyhound 10, Vietnam 69/70/73

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John - Sorry I did not get back to you sooner, my wife and I do a lot of our traveling this time of year before the schools let out. Since we are retired it cuts down on number of people at various places like Yosemite or Yellowstone etc. Regarding the photo of the AH-1G I believe that it is a standard Minigun, M-129 40 MM Granade Launcher combo. The rockets are M200 19 Rocket Pods. The orginal photo was taken with a 110 Cartrage camera and although I scanned orginal negitive at highest res at the time the quality of the photo's are not great. We did not have the 20mm Valcun chain gun at that time. I never got a chance to fire that weapon, believe me I wish I had! I have added a photo of anothe cobra flying away from the Fuel depot. Another thing I missed about not having door gunner/crew cheif is that unless it was a large Refuel/Rearm Depot or home base we had to do our own fueling and rearm. Not the most fun to do in 100 deg/90 % humidity. Don't get me wrong, we still helped out when I flew Charlie Models Hueys, but it was better spread over 4 people that 2! Your doing Spotlight duty on a Huey to find Targets for your Cobra's is wild. Was that a Volunteer job or were you "volunteered to do that? It sounds very dangourous to be on the back end of a big beam of light going down into the Jungle or along roads. The VC or NVA were almost always along roads. Most of the "Convoys we covered were done during the day and that was bad enough. Well the main thing is that you and I are still here to discuss this.

 

Duke - Thanks for the kind words. I hope that I will get a chance to see you at the San Diego IPMS Model Expo at Gellispe Field this coming Sat June 4th. The Wings over Gillespie Airshow is also going on this same week end and I should be there also [on Sunday] with the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. I am currently the Vice President of the Lindberg Chapter and have very busy with varous events for that group. Dan King

 

Ps - I tried to attach photo and for some reason it will not let me. I will try in another reply.

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John - You had mentioned a B-17 flying into visit your Museum. I attended a funeral today for Mr. Don Stull who was a Navagator on B-17's. Don flew 32 missions over Germany for the 8th Airforce and was badly shot-up on his last mission in 1944. They were able to make it to Sweden before the Aircraft gave out and they had to Bailout. He was Interned by the Swedish Goverment for the rest of the war! The services were at Ft. Rosecrans Nationial Cemetary today and it was a brite sunny day with a unbeilivable view of North Island Navy base and downtown San Diego. A B-17 is here this week for the Wings over Gillespie Airshow and I understand that several of Don's Family Members got to fly in it as it made a pass over the Cemetary on Wed. Members of the VFW, DFC Society and POW Society were present for the services. It is unfortnate that so many men who flew these aircraft in WW-2 are leaving us. If you get a chance to meet and talk to one of these men it is worth your time to do so. Dan K.

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  • 2 weeks later...

John - My friend Chuck sent me a few photo's of the B-17 flyover of our local Military Cemetery's in Don Stulls honor. Don was a Navigator on B-17's with the 8th Airforce, 92nd Bomber Group,327 Squadron. His plane was damaged over Peeneumunde Germany in August 1942 and they made it to Sweden and were interned. Don was long time member of CAF and was involved with "Sentimental Journey" that was here for Wings Over gillespie event. Some members of his family, plus representitives from DFC Society and Pow Society were also aboard. I attended the funeral at Fort Rosecrans that you see in one of the photo's. Don would often sit with me and my wife at DFC events and tell us great stories about flying Bomber missions over Germany in B-17's. He always showed a lot of interest in the Helicopters that I flew and talked about "Rumors" of Nazi Helicopers in WW2! Dan K.

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Built the Monogram kit a few years ago for the Ft Douglas Museum. Definitely needs to be rereleased or have an upgraded version made.

 

Hueycobra1.jpg

 

Hueycobra2.jpg

 

Hueycobra3.jpg

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Phil - Very nicely done cobra! I have difficult time getting my canopies done that cleanly. The Monogram Cobra is a good model of early G models. The turret is the dual Minigun and 40mm Grenade Launcher version that we used. Monogram seems to rerelase these about every 3 or 4 years, so it's about time they did it again. Dan K.

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  • 3 weeks later...

John - You had mentioned a B-17 flying into visit your Museum. I attended a funeral today for Mr. Don Stull who was a Navagator on B-17's. Don flew 32 missions over Germany for the 8th Airforce and was badly shot-up on his last mission in 1944. They were able to make it to Sweden before the Aircraft gave out and they had to Bailout. He was Interned by the Swedish Goverment for the rest of the war! The services were at Ft. Rosecrans Nationial Cemetary today and it was a brite sunny day with a unbeilivable view of North Island Navy base and downtown San Diego. A B-17 is here this week for the Wings over Gillespie Airshow and I understand that several of Don's Family Members got to fly in it as it made a pass over the Cemetary on Wed. Members of the VFW, DFC Society and POW Society were present for the services. It is unfortnate that so many men who flew these aircraft in WW-2 are leaving us. If you get a chance to meet and talk to one of these men it is worth your time to do so. Dan K.

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We have had a B-17 flying out of Centennial Airport for the past six or so years, and the most recent has been EAA's Aluminum Overcast. I have served on ground crew. We have a team of WWII B-17 vets lead ground tours and answer questions. Unfortunately, we lost one of our best back in April, Casey Clark, who was a very sprite and active fellow right up to his death. I helped haul the materials for the flight support in my F-250 and trailer, and on 13 June we were loading everything to take it back to Lowry, when one of the guys showed us his cell phone. He had a photo of the Liberty Bell on the ground near Aurora, IL, mostly burned. It is such a shame to lose a classic like that, but fortunately, everyone got out without serious injury.

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Watching closely on e-bay, I have now acquired all the 1/72 helicopters I need for my models on Army helicopter development. I obtained a Monogram 1/72 AH-1G and two Tamiya 1/100 AH-1G, which are tiny but very well detailed and accurate. I even expanded my collection from a Squadron/Signal book on US Army Aviation in Vietnam by Wayne Mutza. I now have a DHC-3 (U-1A) Otter, DHC-2 (U-6A) Beaver, and a OV-1A Mohawk to add to other models I have had for some time - a CV-2A Caribou, O-1E Bird Dog, and a P-2H Neptune. You may wonder what I can do with a Navy ASW aircraft such as the Neptune, but ASA had three of them equipped for electronic warfare. They were painted exactly like the Navy scheme except for ARMY in large black letters - not a low profile scheme for aircraft in the intelligence community.

 

 

The only model I have not located was also used in the intelligence role in Vietnam - the Beech Twin Bonanza or Queen Air (U-8). Has anyone seen a model, preferably 1/72, of this type of aircraft in either the civilian or military version?

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The only model I have not located was also used in the intelligence role in Vietnam - the Beech Twin Bonanza or Queen Air (U-8). Has anyone seen a model, preferably 1/72, of this type of aircraft in either the civilian or military version?

 

 

I would love to find one of these in 1/72...too.

 

If they need yet another military reference, the Queen Air was also used as the Navy's multui-engined trainer (T-44). There were some very sharp-looking liaison markings from the Cold War/Vietnam era, as well. The closest model resource I've seen is the old, RarePlanes King Air vac kit, which is not close enough.

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If they need yet another military reference, the Queen Air was also used as the Navy's multui-engined trainer (T-44). There were some very sharp-looking liaison markings from the Cold War/Vietnam era, as well. The closest model resource I've seen is the old, RarePlanes King Air vac kit, which is not close enough.

 

The T-44 was actually a 90-series King Air, I believe that Hawker Beechcraft calls it the H90. The L-23 and U-8 were Queen Air variants...

 

Ralph

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The T-44 was actually a 90-series King Air, I believe that Hawker Beechcraft calls it the H90. The L-23 and U-8 were Queen Air variants...

 

 

Learning in progress - Thanx!

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