The
A-7 series of aircraft might not be the sexiest aircraft around, still they were
there, performing what they were designed for from the skies of Vietnam in the
60s to their latest operations over Irag in the early 90s.
Furtherfore,
in common with the Harrier series of aircraft, I like their aggressive stance
that make them look like wild beasts sitting on their rear legs, ready to attack.
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The
model
All
three models are built from the Esci kit (very similar to the current Italeri
kit). Of note here is the fact that I strongly believe that the Esci models were
loosely copied from the Fujimi offerings. Panel lines, some details tend to
prove just that. The big change between the two models is that Esci incorporated
the massive air intake into the main fuselage parts. This might be an advantage
over the Fujimi kit as this eases construction, but this also is the cause of the
major shortcoming of Esci Corsair II models as the air intake is just 5 mm (0.2
in) deep and with such a big mouth it shows. The obvious solution (and it is
Italeri solution too) was to conceal the air intake with a cover.
Building
The
kit builds well, but few points needed correction though. The first part is the
cockpit. There are some bulkheads but there are few details. Still the major
problem with the cockpit area is that in common with Fujimi and Italeri
Corsair lls the rear cockpit bulkhead is flush with the ejection seat (see
my old hi-viz VA-37 A-7E to see what I mean). This area has to be completely
rebuilt, cutting the bulkhead off, recreating it further aft, scratchbuilding
the structure that comes next to the bang seat (photo of #316 being rebuilt shows
what I mean quite well). Seats were built using the Airfix F-15A ESCAPAC seats
as a start although better aftermarket resin parts are available. Remember there
are differences between US NAVY and
USAF A-7 ESCAPAC seats (upper D ring on USN a/c, foldable canopy breakers
on a USAF machine). Consoles and instrument panels are photo-etched parts.
The
rest
of the model builds easily. I just decided to detail some bays and I simply
scratchbuilt them. I used both the Details and Scale and Verlinden books on the
A-7 as guides.
Some
details were added on landing gears. I also wanted a US NAVY aircraft with
folded wings, which is quite easy to do with the quite simple A-7 wingfold
mechanism. As I was building late A-7s in both USAF and US NAVY services a
number of fairings and blisters had to be added.
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Painting
and decalling
I
built these models some time ago. #300 was my first Esci A-7. I really loved the
bull on the fin back then. It was a High Viz light gull grey/white aircraft and
it was brushed with Humbrol paints.
US
NAVY #314 and the Pennsylvania ANG A-7s were amongst the last models that I
brush painted. #314 might be the very model that made me decide to invest in an
airbrush and compressor. At the time I generally was quite satisfied with my
brush technique but I always had a special problem with US NAVY lo-viz models. I
could not reproduce the subtle or heavier touches up which are so predominant on
TPS camos.
Old
#314 therefore was one of my first attempts to use the airbrush and was
re-finished as #316 after the previous paint job was scratched.
The
Pennsylvania ANG aircraft also is brush painted but due to the darker colours
and simple disrupted camo I did not feel it was necessary to repaint it.
Decals
mostly are Superscale. Relatively few decals were available for the A-7 until
Superscale released sheets months ago and the recent works of Icarus, Albatros
and the current Airdoc and CAP Pro productions.
All
models were weathered with thinned black paint in the panel lines.
With
the
recent release of the above mentioned decal sheets and the release of resin
cockpits by Aires in 1/72nd scale I believe one other Corsair (Fujimi this time)
will find its way to my workbench.
Eric
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