I finally found the best scale: 1/32!  Having lots of display cases full of 1/72 US Aircraft I fell in love with the big scale jets... After building Tamiya’s awesome F-14A I used a summer break between military service and beginning studies at the University of Zurich  to build some of the new (and old) big scale jets to improve my skills.  This is my recently completed Trumpeter  A-7E.  I used no aftermarket sets, just Decals from Super Scale, no 32234, Last Mission Desert Storm VA-72.  I’m quoting here military.com about VA-72 taking part in Op Desert storm: “The squadron participated in Operation Desert Shield, the build up of American and Allied forces to counter a threatened invasion of Saudi Arabia by Iraq and as part of an economic blockade of Iraq to force its withdrawal from Kuwait.

January 17, 1991: The squadron’s A-7E Corsair IIs participated in the first combat strike against Iraqi targets in Baghdad during Operation Desert Storm.

January 29, 1991: Squadron aircraft flew their first combat mission in the Kuwait Theater, striking Iraqi troops, tanks and artillery positions.

February 27, 1991: Squadron aircraft participated in the last naval air combat strike of the war, hitting retreating Iraqi troops east of An Najaf, Iraq.

During the 43 days of war the squadron flew 362 sorties without the loss of a pilot or aircraft.

June 8, 1991 : The last two squadron aircraft participated in the Desert Storm Victory Parade Fly Over in Washington , D.C. ”

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This Trumpeter kis is really a big bang: lots of parts, super quality and details.  I only tried to improve the avionic and main gear bays using wire in different colors.  The folded wings were the only area where I had real trouble; they broke 3 times, in the end, I had tho add two pieces of thick flower’s wire to strengthen the mechanism.  But I do like this feature, seeing an airplane like standing on a carrier’s flight deck is absolutely impressive.

I also put some time in the intake area, where I had to use lots of putty and improving my sanding skills.  I took two pairs of Tamiya’s Mk 20 Rockeyes (or CBUs?) from the F-15E “Bunker Buster” kit and the AIM-9Ms from Academy’s F-16CJ/CG kit, the rest of the weapons are out of box.  I tried to improve the iron bombs by adding a similar surface like the one I put on the GBU-24s which my Tamiya F-14A Tomcat carries. I know the bombs surfaces are a very rough, I’m always seeking new ways to do this fire-resistant coat.  Remove before flight tags are from Tamiya, weathering was applied as on the Tomcat. 

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Super Scale decals went on really nice, they are great work! I’m looking forward to building another A-7 in the future, perhaps the USAF Version A-7D when it finally arrives in my German suppliers stock.

Hope you like it!

Daniel

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