First of all a big "thanks" to all of the talented repainters who have done such great liveries for the fabulous KBT P3C - this has got to be one of the best freeware releases in recent times.Now for my note. If you are depicting an A or B model of the P3 (ones with Bureau numbers in the 149XXX to 154XXX range) those aircraft did not have the external sonobouy launch tubes typically shown as a red bordered rectangle on the aft underside of the aircraft. That came with the introduction of the C model. So repaints designated as early model Navy or "after Navy" uses (such as NASA, U.S. Customs, firefighters, etc) P3A or P3Bs should have that part of the fuselage solid versus depicting the red border area containing the external buoy launchers. It's possible that some individual special use test and evaluation aircraft were retrofitted with the external launcher capability but the vast majority of A and B models did not have this feature.Not being an aircraft repainter I have no idea how hard or easy it would be to make this change on repaints but it would make the aircraft more accurate.Also - for some knowledgeable performance tweakers - the A model had the somewhat less capable T56-10 engines (as opposed to the T56-14s on the B and C). As a result the A does not have quite the performance of the B and C (lower service ceiling and climb performance). Not a biggie but in the interests of accuracy would be nice to be able to note the difference when flying.Otherwise I'm lovin this return to the days of my youth!Bill

I'm with you on that, it's one of my pet peeves as well. Very unrealistic, not to mention the stbd long wire was the same length as the port longwire on the Alpha's and Bravo's... IMHO it give's people the false sence of knowledge...As for removing sonochutes, you can't, they are in the model, not "painted" on.FS-KBT is working on some of the P-3 varants so hopefully a P-3A / P-3B ASW will be one of them... They have showcased pics of the EP-3C flown by the JMSDF, and the P-3A Firebomber. They have also hinted that the EP-3E and WP-3D are in the works as well.Some worthless trivia...After 1990/91 all P-3A varients(P-3A was no longer flying with the regular VP squadrons at that time.) in the fleet were retrofitted with the -14. We did the retrofit in the squadrons. The five VP-3As built in the mid 70's were outfitted with -14's then. Was quite a simple job, take -10 off put -14 on, that's it, nothing else was required. :)Zero Alpha's have externial sonochutes like the Charlie. Only one Bravo has them,(actually couple more, but don't need to go in that direction.) 153443 a late model Super Bee, she was coverted into the Charlie Prototype Aircraft YP-3C, later redesignated a NP-3D, currently I believe she's is apart of the Naval Test Pilot School fleet.For service ceilings, Charlies orginally off the line had the same service ceiling as the Alpha's and Bravo's. NOAA's requirement for a higher ceiling for their mission were the first two Charlie Aircraft with the new cabin pressurization controller that allows for the current Charlie service ceiling. All Charlies built prior to the two NOAA WP-3Ds(which I might add are the only two non-ASW built P-3s on the assy line, all other varients were modified from retired ASW aircraft.) were retrofitted with the controller.:-outtahttp://publish.hometown.aol.com/p3superb/i...s/sign_name.jpgThere is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness".- unknown"My daddy gives me up, to fight for you"- a US Military Members Child

Jeff: Thanks for all this good info. My last real world association with P3s was in 1979 so I'm a little out of date. Looks like a lot has happened in the time since then in terms of peaks and tweaks to the aircraft.I kinda thought the sono chutes were part of the model but it was worth a try! Hopefully the FS-KBT folks will give us some of those other variants correctly modelled. Not that I'm complaining mind you. This is as good a FS aircraft as has ever been released free or pay. Looking back out the left side window at those T56s climbing out of Jax, Pax, and Lajes/Rota/Bermuda or on station with #1 caged are real world views forever burned into my memory and ones that I never thought I would see again! Thanks to the magic of flight simming I can. Now if I could just conjure up the Mateus and portugese rolls in Lajes, snorkeling the beaches in Bermuda, and sherry/wine tasting in Rota together with the associated females at those garden spots my life would be complete! (On second thought forget the on station part)! Probably about 10 years hence technology will enable those addons - downloadable right here at the Avsim Library!Bill