1/72 scale A-6E Intruders 

	The USMC A-6 is the Fujimi kit built to represent a Desert Storm veteran from VMA (aw)- 533 on a night tank  "plinking" mission.  It is armed with 12 Mk 20 rockeyes and 2 GBU-12Paveway II 500 lbs smart bombs. The rockeyes came form the Italeri kit and the spares box and the GBU-12s came from the Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons: VI kit.  The decals came from Super Scale sheet 72-631.  The flaps were dropped using the "HighFlight" resin conversion. 

The USN A-6 is the Italeri kit built to represent an aircraft from VA-35 Panthers on the Theodore Roosevelt's maiden Med deployment in 1989. The kit seats were replaced with True Details resin GRU-7 ejection seat.  It is equipped with 2 AGM-84 Harpoon ASMs from the Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons: III kit and 3 drop tanks for a Surface Combat Air Patrol (SuCAP) mission. The decals came from Super Scale sheet 72-535.  The wing tanks came from the Fujimi kit.  Both were weathered with chalk pastels and an acrylic wash. 

	Each kit has its pluses and minuses! The Fujimi kit has more details and finer engraved panel lines, but the dropped slats option is incorrect.  On the real thing, the flaps move with slats; the flaps are molded closed! To take advantage of the down slats you have to scratch build or use a conversion to drop the flaps. IMHO, this is a major oversight in the kit engineering. But, as you can see, it's not impossible to overcome.  You can always cut the slat guides off and glue them up.  I have no idea how they fit in the up position.  One great option from the Fujimi kit is the crew figures! I guess it's a hold over from my days as a kid, but I love the crew figures in models!  The two guys in the Fujimi kit are top notch!  
	The Italeri offering has less detail and heavier (but not crude) panel line engraving. It s wings are molded in 4 parts with a wing fold option. Its drawback is if you want to model the wings down, there will be a HUGE trench you'll have to fill-in!  And of course, major surgery if you want to drop the flaps and slats.   Don't take these comments as I' m down on these kits; I think there're great and thoroughly enjoyed them! 

Both are highly recommended!
RJ