Fellow Rotorheads, gents, lend me your...

Sup Albert,

Don't know if I can be of much help, but I retired from the Army in May 1981, and the 58's then were generally a home grown mixture of plain ol' OD, ranging from very light to medium dark. I do remember when the "C" Model 58's made their appearance, and they were all a very dark OD, almost black it seemed. I don't know the official military FS schemes, as I was never involved at that level.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help....
Take care,
Frank

Alby,

There are still A model Kiowas in National Guard service that are Helo Drab.

Thanks Frank and Jon, I appreciate the help.
While googling around for pics (googling-lexicon for the 21st Century ), I found a few Kiowa pics. The one that has me most intrigued is this;



The Minigun option is included in the Italeri kit, so I think I'll go with this configuration. The only change I may make is to leave off the pilot/co-pilot doors.

Thanks again,
Albert

Albert,

I believe the F/8 Cav Association website has a bunch of shots of their Kiowas in Vietnam in the waning years of the war. The Blue Ghosts used a number of them in-country and I believe they did have the minigun mounted. If you go to www.vhfcn.org and click on their unit links, you can find the Blue Ghost Assn Webpage.

Albert,
To my untrained in olive drab eye, the H-58's we "tagged" (With nonradar reflective black ink not paint) were a greenish shade of green. Flat green at that.
Took two guys to change the whole rotor head on one that had an overspeed.
By the way we tagged them with a homemade stencil on the tail that read TONKA.
Great fun.

Don

Thanks again guys.

While browsing for more information, I found another excellent site;

http://www.casperplatoon.com/

Lots of good in-theater shots posted in the gallery. I found several Kiowa pics that will come in very handy.

Cheers,
Albert

The Army started using the dark heli drab was in the mid-70's, our Huey's were repainted at the depot level when undergoing rebuild, it was not uncommon to see Army helo"s paint in both the new heli drab or the Vietnam Olive Drab(I don't remember the FS number).
The standard dark glossy OD paint was replaced with the lighter OD shade used in Vietnam durin the mid-60's, the lighter shade was factory applied to new aircraft or when undergoing major maintanance, rarely at the unit level.
Hope this is some help.
John

Hi John,
Thanks a bunch, the information is very helpful.

Cheers,
Albert

Albert
You could also mount a 7-shot rocket pod on the left pylon of your 58 also, they were to be used by scout ships for marking target for gunships. Mini-guns were also used by scout ships.
John