The Hasegawa model
of the EA-6B was released some years ago. Basically this is a very good kit and
one of the first efforts of Hasegawa with recessed panel lines. Although the kit
has been re-released a number of times with newer decals, the plastic itself
remains quite unaltered. The constant flaw is the cockpit area which leaves a
lot to be desired and with the Prowler big canopies it really shows. Second
point is the fact that if the Prowler airframe still is the same after years of
operation, the array of antennas changed a lot over the years. You then have to
be careful about which aircraft you want to depict.
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Construction
2002 seems to have been a year
of interest for the Prowler in the decal community. Cutting Edge and CAM
released very interesting sheets of decals. They depict relatively recent
machines so I needed to check references to know aircraft subversions. I needed
to determine the correct array of antennas.
Construction was quite
straightforward as one can expect from a Hasegawa model.
Cockpit was detailed using Eduard
photoetched details, Neomaga GRU7 ejection seats and thin plasticard. Other
details, as antennas were added or replaced using plasticard.. Rest of the kit
was built as per instructions, except :
- access ladder which was built
from the Eduard set
- landing gears which were detailed
with Eduard parts and copper wires as brake lines
- engine exhausts which were
deepened with Evergreen tubes.
Painting
Gunze acrylic paints everywhere.
I used a mix of greys, mostly FS36375 (Light ghost grey) and FS36320 (Dark ghost
grey). A little bit of FS35237, was used as were other shades like FS36440,
white or black to alter some base colors. All this to depict a subtly mottled
paintjob. It is a CAG aircraft so I did not want a heavy patchwork effect. Panel
lines were enhanced with a dark grey oil paint wash.
All walkways were painted extra
dark grey.
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Decaling and finishing
Decaling proceeded along the
painting process as I wanted to blend my decals in the general paintjob by
spraying them with very light layers of grey paint. Decaling of the fin was
quite a challenge as the decal is large here, and a Prowler fin is full of humps
and compound surfaces. A good knife and decal softening solutions are a must
here.
Canopies were airbrushed with a mix
of translucent orange and smoke while central windscreen part were spayed
translucent blue, other (side and upper parts) were left clear.
It was quite a pleasing project and
I am satisfied with the end result.
Thanks to my friend
Jean-Emmanuel who shot the bright photographs while I was responsible for the
"rainy day" photographs.
Eric
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