This Monogram 1/48 A-1H Skyraider kit came with four rocket pods but I am thinking they are not very accurate looking. They have seven holes in the back side of the pod which looks alright I guess but the front of the pod is nothing more than a rounded smooth nose section. Is this how they looked?
Does anyone have any good photos of them?
With all of the troubles I have gone through with this kit I will definitely be buying the Tamiya kit the next time I build an A-1. [:(!]
Mike
I think they are correct after doing some more checking.
They are called LAU-68D/A and I found this web page on them:
http://www.ordnance.org/aircraft_rocket_launchers.htm
Mike
The rounded section is I am guessing to be a fairing that could go on the front of the pods.
We used to have them when I was an Ordy in the Corps. It wasn’t very common to put them on though. For fear they would fall off. The only thing we really put a front fairing on were the SUU-25( if memory serves me correctly) para flare dispensers. But the only had 4 tubes not 6.
If you don’t like the looks of them I think I may have some spare 2.75 launchers lying around. You welcome to if you need them.
Paul
Mike,
I think the rocket pods are correct, but I’ve seen a number of pictures with the pods not having the fairing on:
http://skyraider.org/hook/weapons.html
By the way, that site is an awesome reference for Skyraider builders.
Regards,
The rounded pods are correct in theory, which is to say, that is how they came from the factory. The fairings were made of frangible plastic which shattered when the rockets were fired. The purpose of the fairing was twofold: a) to keep FOD outta the rockets and pod and 2) aerodynamic purposes because, obviously, a pointed shape produces less drag than a flat surface. I do not know why the fairings were so unpopular, but the fairings gradually disappeared from operational a/c and by the end of the Vietnam War, you’d be hard pressed to find a plane over the North with a faired-over pod.