AOA Decals 1/35 Loach Low Level Scouts Decal Set First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

AOA Decals has returned with another impressive new set. When I opened the package, here was the first of two new releases and this one hits a favorite spot - the OH-6A Cayuse. I had read Hugh Mills' Low Level Hell while a freshman in college and while I had already wanted to fly the Hughes 500, here was the Army using the aircraft as the OH-6A in the scouting mission. Don't get me wrong, Mills was very clear that the job was dangerous, but that wasn't going to deter me. It was the Army recruiter that told me that there were no slots at Fort Rucker but 'trust him' and go in as a mechanic. Not. Halfway through my Air Force service, I had another opportunity to go to Fort Rucker and I had an Army pilot and company commander as a sponsor. The paperwork was ready, I'd passed the initial tests and flight physical, but then Desert One had just happened and the running joke among my peers was that Fort Rucker would be adding a new course on landing in sand. I stayed in the USAF and ended up in C-130s instead, but I sometimes regret that decision...

Back to the first-look. There are 24 disctinctive aircraft provided in this set with thorough notes on corrections to the DML OH-6A kit and provides the variations in the lettering found on different airframes. This set also provides two sets of airframe stencils so you can produce two models from this set.

The subjects included in this set:

• OH-6A, 68-17331, A Troop/7th Squadron/1st Cav Regt, 1971, 'Electric Olive'
• OH-6A, 66-14384, D Troop/3rd Squadron/4th Cav Regt, 1969, 'Paper Tiger'
• OH-6A, 67-16092, F Troop/4th Cav Regt, 1972
• OH-6A, 67-16067, F Troop/8th Cav Regt, 1969/70
• OH-6A, 68-17167, D Troop/1st Squadron/1st Cav Regt, 1969-70, 'DDAP'
• OH-6A, 68-17348, D Troop/1st Squadron/1st Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 68-17291, D Troop/1st Squadron/1st Cav Regt, 1970-71
• OH-6A, 68-17793, A Troop/7th Squadron/1st Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 67-16290, C Troop/1st Squadron/9th Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 68-17220, C Troop/1st Squadron/9th Cav Regt, 1970-71
• OH-6A, 68-17361, D Troop/1st Squadron/10th Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 68-16052, A Troop/2nd Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1972
• OH-6A, 68-16039, B Troop/2nd Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 66-7935, C Troop/3rd Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1971-72
• OH-6A, 67-16141, B Troop/7th Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1970
• OH-6A, 67-16373, B Troop/7th Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1970-71
• OH-6A, 67-16108, C Troop/7th Squadron/17th Cav Regt, 1969
• OH-6A, 67-16435, B Troop/25th Avn Bn, 1969
• OH-6A, 68-17234, B Co/123rd Avn Bn, 1971
• OH-6A, 66-7930, Casper Platoon, 173 Avn Bde, 1969-70
• OH-6A, 67-16254, HQ Co/3rd Bde/101 Airborne Div, 1969
• OH-6A, 67-16254, 326th Airborne Med Co, 3rd Bde, 101 Airborne Div, 1969
• OH-6A, 67-16023, unknown unit, 1970, 'Captain America'
• OH-6A, 67-16299, unknown unit, 1970

What a welcome release for Loach lovers and a nice variety of subjects from which to build. The nice thing about the Loach is that even in 1/35 scale, it doesn't take up much shelf space!

For more information about this set and the other releases from AOA Decals, visit their website at www.aoadecals.com.

My sincere thanks to AOA Decals for this review sample!