What's up with the RAH 66?

OOOOH THAT would be too cool! 1/32 Comanche....
*wiping off the drool....*

My company built a full scale RCS mockup of the Comanche. What an intimidating helicopter!

It is a very different looking bird.The videos of that sucker in flight are
impressive.It flies like 90knots sideways and reverse.All weather N.O.E.
Very fast,and armed to the bone.
The last we heard they were still flight testing 3 prototypes in West-
Palm Beach,Florida at Sikorsky Aircraft's facilities.That has been going on for a
couple of years now.
The Revell / Italeri kits in 1/48 are good ,and can come out sweet. A 1/35 kit would be killer. What a great dioa that would be .Hawks& Thugs &66's.
I wonder how far along the program is if it has not been canceled
by the government.They almost squwashed the whole project a few years back.
I have been following this project since 1983,but have recently lost touch.
What company made the mock-up? That must of been a
great job. I have tons of photos of the mock-ups. Mostly in the
desert camo ,sand and sun look.I have a couple of a green schemed RH66 at a Sikorsky / Boeing roll-out ceremony.
Thanks for any and all replies Rotorist
Davey5 (Dave H DHI69@AOl.com)

Davey,
My last information was the same as you mentioned. Flight envelope expansion in progress in Florida with a/c to see deployment in about 2006 to 2008. I worked with Sikorsky on my book on the Black Hawk and they have a good web site. You might be able to get the latest at Sikorsky.com.
Good luck,
Paul Pickett

I forgot to mention in the previous post, that along with helping in the Full scale mockup, I had the good fortune to fabricate empennage parts for the "iron tail" of the Comanche in the flight tests in Florida.

Thank-you Mr Pickett
That is probably the best place to look.My brother who works at Sikorsky
in the number crunching office was not able to up date me on the project.
I will have to locate and retrieve a copy of your book .It would be in good
company in my rotorhead library next to The Story of the Winged-S three times,
and my Sergi Sikorsky signed copy of Igor Sikorsky His Three Careers in Aviation
I look forword to reading your book, and talking to you in the future.
That 1/1 mock-up job must of been great. Thanks for all you guys
who have ansered , Talk at ya soon
Dave DHI69@aol.com

Thanks Dave,
It's been sold out and out of publication for some time but I'm sure there are a few copies still around. Maybe I can talk Squadron/Signal to republish ... Congrats on your signed copy of the Sikorsky book. They are a fine company and were a pleasure to work with on the Black Hawk book. Ray Leoni and his team did a fantastic job in building a high performance combat a/c that is state-of-the-art. It's reassuring to know our guys are flying tough a/c such as these. My nephew (pictured in the book wearing NVGs) has just about as many hours in Black Hawks / Pave Hawks (yea .. he transfered to the blue suits) as anyone and I know his chances of coming home safe are better because of the job the Sikorsky team has done. Believe me, it wasn't easy for them to convince an old Huey crew chief ... but they did!
Thanks,
Paul

hey the gov cancled the RAH-66 about month ago and one week later greatmodles sent me an email saying that a RAH-66 in !/35 was comeing out but i dont know who it was from

Yep, I also have been reading about the cancellation of the RH-66 project, but VERY happy to learn of the upcoming BIG plastic representation!!!

I want me one!!!

Take care,
Frank

just one? lol

QUOTE: Originally posted by osiveon just one? lol

Yeah, I have so many "pending" projects backed up now, I'd be really lucky to even finish ONE of the RH-66's.

It would certainly be a fitting, however, to have one of the ACH-47's and the RH-66 in 1/35 scale, sitting across from each other on my mantel! (hmmmm... then I start thinking of all the others that should be included in the story.... maybe a line up of EACH of the Army's Helicopter Gunships?)

Better not push my luck...

Take care,
Frank

So wait...is the Comanche cancelled or not??

Yes.... afraid so.... reference this old report from ABC news....

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040223_1266.html

Take care,
Frank

Its a shame we spent billions of dollars on it, only to scrap it. It makes a very interesting model, and it will be quite a challenge. But I am glad they have switched to new ROV's(Remotely Operated Vehicles), so no men will be killed. The new ROV's I have seen would make some interesting models...

UAVs aren't replaceing people just yet. While some of the missions the RAH-66 was to undertake can be done be the Predator or similar platforms, there will still be a need for manned aircraft over the battlefield.

Based on the development problems and cost of Comanche, I am glad it was canceled. I do believe that it is an incredibly capable airframe, but it was sucking up 40% of the Army Aviation budget and in development for 20 years. I will finally be getting the necessary countermeasures on my aircraft now that this money has been made available for other purposes. Unfortunately I will not get them before I redeploy home in ten months. It will be fun to add these as detail items to the current Blackhawk kits.

Did someone say there was a kit in 1/35 coming out???? I may need a whole 'nother room for all the helos I want to build now!

Welcome to the boards Screaminhelo. So you're part of Blackhawk crew?I should warn you, as many people building Blackhawks and Pavehawks here, you're going to be real popular in no time! Can I ask where you're deployed?

Been away a while Trigger. I'm deployed for OIF II in the Iraq/Kuwait theater. I don't get to the net as much as I would like to , but I LOVE talking about my airplane and making people think that I knopw what I am talking about

just bought the italeri 1:48 Comanche. haven't started it yet. looks rather plain, not many markings, etc. no pilots either! anyway, i plan to paint her desert sand + dark yellow (like an m1a1 deployed in the middle east). maybe try the desert snake camo they proposed? we'll see...