Not to derail the "Oopps, I Bought Another Model" thread any further:
BLUF: I picked up the Testors 1/48 boxing of the Osprey - plenty of differences from the later Italeri kit so I had the idea to mark is as a "civilian" aircraft that is actually owned/operated by the CIA for supporting "people that aren't there, doing things they shouldn't be doing."
Just remember, the Hellfire racks have to be positioned so that you don't kill your rotor, with the nacelles in the flight, forward, position, when you fire. That effectively means they'll need to be forward, close to the cockpit, as on the armed demonstration done with the ATTR. You could put something that just drops, like drop tanks or torpedoes, aft of the rotor but not something that shoots forward. Working with the aircraft for a few years now has given me a much better appreciation for it and the restrictions the concept imposes. Also remember that any fuselage guns need to be aft or out the rear ramp to make sure you don't hit an engine nacelle. If you have any questions on the V-22, feel free to message me.
I'll definitely ask for some help/ideas for these nacelles - I'm pretty sure they don't have the "elephant ear" scoops on them...
The rough idea now regarding weapons' emplacement is that the hellfires will be mounted in covered, recessed bays on the belly, so they extend down for launch but can only be used in "helicopter mode." Same for the miniguns - they'll be mounted to retract into the fuselage at the forward door, with an additional hatch put on the opposite side, and probably one on the tail ramp for good measure.
Maybe put this one "on a stick" and have it gear up, weapons out, coming into an LZ? Then I'd need some 1/48 pilots and gunners...
Yeah, the "elephant ear" scoops are very noticeable and quite missing on a lot of kits (in 1/72, I think only Hasegawa has them). If you go with forward-firing Hellfires in under-fuselage bays, you could use them in forward flight, too. I suspect side door/hatch miniguns could only be used in helicopter mode. As an odd bit of armament, how about an MLRS "six-pack" or an equivalent sized box firing out the ramp?
I have 4 M134s coming from Live Resin, and they'll all go aboard this recently acquired V-22. I also found some Air America markings, so that's the livery she'll be wearing, probably in an aluminum or silver with blue stripes/trim paint scheme. I'm also thinking of taking a stab at making prop blur discs in place of the protors...if it's going to be on a stick, I may as well go all out, right?
