Blue Thunder!

I remember my dad bringing me to see this in the Cinema, that was in 1983, i was like, 7? :p Anyway, back the the only cool parts i remember were whenever the helicopter of that namesake came on-screen. I loved the look of the heli (it looks ancient now yeah, but back then, with the chaingun and all, it was sooooo coool. :) It probably was the precursor to the AH-64 Attack Chopper). Found a cool pic with the late Roy Scheider above.. very garang pose!

 

 

Picked up the blue thunder heli from ORGANIC/Dream Machine, a Japanese toy maker. It's a (mostly) die-cast in 1/32 scale. Kinda an odd scale but makes sense now, cos if it was in 1/72, it'd be kinda teeny! And the details won't be there.

 

 

Pic in packaging.... didn't take out as usual! No place to display...

 

Another pic in packaging... No lights/or special features like Aoshima's Airwolf! Another heli i'm waiting for.

A product pic.. looks cool! Some interesting facts :

The helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy. Two modified Gazelle helicopters, a Hughes 500 helicopter and two F-16 fighter aircraft were used in the filming of the movie. The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, CA where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver Murphy performs at the end of the film was carried out by a radio controlled model.

 

Think Singapore uses Gazelles as our training choppers.

Finally, cockpit detail....... Nice... Kinda spacious!

 

Apache Overwatch

I've always wondered how many klicks away these Apaches are watching the Insurgents without them realizing it, kidna scary knowing there's a 30mm gun trained on you, and at any moment, a hellfire missile can just drop from the sky a mere few feet away from you?

There was once during my reservist days when we were outfield, the Guards were using the area to practice heli-ops, basically loading/unloading of troops and gear via a chinook. Swear the chopper was no more than 200metres away in a clearing, and other than the initial 'whup-whup' sound when it was coming in to land, the darn thing was near silent when it landed with blades spinning and all! Even when it took off, it never made too much of a racket, but heckuva lotta dust though. :p

Lots of these videos on Youtube. Some 'gorier' than others. From their chatter, it'd seem the gunner/pilots are sometimes a little 'too' eager to shoot on the enemy... but this is war. A assumption now will cost the lives of your own soldiers later.