Zoukei Mura - AD-6 Skyraider Rebox

[CRAZY IVAN5]

I've always had thing about the Skyraider ever since I was a youngster . We had 2 of them[ Navy birds ] come over my home town in Northeastern Ohio ~ 1964. The thing that still stands out in my memory is that they had orange tails. I'm thinking now that they were from a training unit, which is odd considering that there were no units like that anywhere near us.I do like the overall GSB scheme the best ,it wears it well.

[Oldbaldguy]

7 minutes ago, CRAZY IVAN5 said:

I've always had thing about the Skyraider ever since I was a youngster . We had 2 of them[ Navy birds ] come over my home town in Northeastern Ohio ~ 1964. The thing that still stands out in my memory is that they had orange tails. I'm thinking now that they were from a training unit, which is odd considering that there were no units like that anywhere near us.I do like the overall GSB scheme the best ,it wears it well.

Most likely from a RAG (Replacement Air Group) or a Naval Reserve unit.  Both sported international orange markings on their tails and sometimes outer wing panels.  It was not at all unusual for a while to see a LOT of orange on Reserve airplanes, especially when they were flying mostly hand me down airplanes.  After a while the Navy stopped doing that when Congress required Guard and Reserve forces to be trained and equipped equally with the active duty.

[CRAZY IVAN5]

5 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Most likely from a RAG (Replacement Air Group) or a Naval Reserve unit.  Both sported international orange markings on their tails and sometimes outer wing panels.  It was not at all unusual for a while to see a LOT of orange on Reserve airplanes, especially when they were flying mostly hand me down airplanes.  After a while the Navy stopped doing that when Congress required Guard and Reserve forces to be trained and equipped equally with the active duty.

Most probably right about that, still an awesome sight and SOUND. They landed finally at the Youngstown Muni airport where we went out to see them , waited for them to takeoff [which they did] , fantastic ! 

[CRAZY IVAN5]

2 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Most likely from a RAG (Replacement Air Group) or a Naval Reserve unit.  Both sported international orange markings on their tails and sometimes outer wing panels.  It was not at all unusual for a while to see a LOT of orange on Reserve airplanes, especially when they were flying mostly hand me down airplanes.  After a while the Navy stopped doing that when Congress required Guard and Reserve forces to be trained and equipped equally with the active duty.

I've been doing some sniffing around and found that during the timeframe that we're talking about there was one unit I found that indeed had orange or red/orange tails , VT-30 out of Corpus Christie NAAS and they were using, wait for it...... AD-6s, hmmm. Now IF they were from there that's a pretty good distance from N.E. Ohio. The closest Navy reserve unit to us at the time was Willow Grove NAS. So they still could've been squadron hacks . Wouldn't mind doing one of those birds, it doesn't take much prodding to get me rolling on Skyraiders. Willow Grove had them, well, Johnsville actually, but they had gotten rid of them well before 1964

[CRAZY IVAN5]

Seeing that Z-M is getting back into the Skyraider business, we could really use some more aftermarket decals [ we still got the Trumpeter kits on the loose too] so there is a market . About the only thing out there [that I can find ] is AoA South Vietnam machines and Berna decals for a French AD-4[which do look nice]. Anybody feel the same way?

[thierry laurent]

You could ask Eli from Zotz if he is not interested in re-releasing the two sets he produced some years ago. I did for him the research work for a USAF set and a US Navy one. Phoenix also released two sets (Navy & AF generally available from Hobby Easy). ZM also released themselves two or three sets. And I'm sure there was another US one from Flying Leathernecks (Korea?). This is a classical issue. Sets are available in the two years following the initial kit release and then we get a black hole...