1/48 A-7E Corsair II

[Adam Baker]

Had this kit show up in the mail today, and couldn't wait to get started on it.

Kit is Hasegawa's 1/48 A-7D/E Corsair II. In place of the kit decals, I am going to be using Superscale decals #48-411 "Desert Storm Corsairs", specifically A-7E buno 160552, VA-72 Blue Hawks, stationed on the USS John F. Kennedy during Desert Storm.

So the required start images.

And a shot of the jet I will be doing. It was the aircraft for the Commander and Deputy Commander Air Wing 3 (CVW-3) during Desert Storm.

The current plan is to build this out of the box, with the exception of the decals. Depending on what I feel like, I may add ordnance from a couple Hasegawa weapons sets I've got, but that is about all I've got planned. Hoping to actually start cutting parts & such this weekend, but depending on how things go over the next couple of days, that might happen sooner.

 

[Swordsman]

cool looking aircraft Adam I'll be watching to see what you do with this one ...

 

[SA Dave]

Now thats a rocking :woohoo:

 

[Sherman 18]

Great choice!

 

[moon puppy]

Had a buddy who was in the ANG and talked about how they loved these birds. The ANGs got the avionics upgraded and then the USAF wanted them back, ANG said no.

 

[lupanzer]

Fantastic !...

Luiz

 

[Hippy Ed]

Oh this is gonna be interesting... :drinks :drool

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks guys. I've been looking forward to doing this build for several years. I don't know how long I've had the decals for this built, probably at least 7 or 8 years, and several times have almost pulled the trigger on a kit, but finally did it.

I've heard/read similar stories Bob, that pilots absolutely loved the A-7's, and personally it's a jet I've liked the look of for a long time. It's not my favorite jet, but it's definitely in my top 5.

Had a buddy who was in the ANG and talked about how they loved these birds. The ANGs got the avionics upgraded and then the USAF wanted them back, ANG said no.

 

[phantom II]

Thanks guys. I've been looking forward to doing this build for several years. I don't know how long I've had the decals for this built, probably at least 7 or 8 years, and several times have almost pulled the trigger on a kit, but finally did it.

I've heard/read similar stories Bob, that pilots absolutely loved the A-7's, and personally it's a jet I've liked the look of for a long time. It's not my favorite jet, but it's definitely in my top 5.

Had a buddy who was in the ANG and talked about how they loved these birds. The ANGs got the avionics upgraded and then the USAF wanted them back, ANG said no.

Ah, a dusty sluf I'll keep an eye on this one :skipper

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[ij001]

Interesting so many appreciate the A-7... I do too, one of my favourite machines.

Adam, watch the loadout when you get around to it, A-7E's in 1991 were very high time airframes, so they weren't loaded wall-to-wall like the earlier days because of concerns over stressing the wing-spars.

Ian.

 

[Hippy Ed]

Interesting so many appreciate the A-7... I do too, one of my favourite machines.

Adam, watch the loadout when you get around to it, A-7E's in 1991 were very high time airframes, so they weren't loaded wall-to-wall like the earlier days because of concerns over stressing the wing-spars.

Ian.

Good point!!

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks for the info! I've managed to find several images of this particular a/c, but none w/ ordnance on it, so it might not have ever had any weapons on it while painted this way.

According to the info sheet w/ the decals, this a/c wasn't painted w/ this scheme until after it had returned to the US from Iraq after Desert Storm. However, time frame seems to be a bit sketchy, b/c I've found info saying it was painted during operations, during the cease fire, and after returning to the US. Trying to track down info as to whether it carried anything or not. If it never did while painted this way, then I wont put any on it.

*edit* Ok, from people who would know, it looks like the a/c was painted in this scheme sometime between the beginning of the cease fire, and the USS JFK getting back to the US, so it seems very unlikely that it ever carried any ordnance while in this paint scheme, so that means I will do my build sans any ordnance, it will just have the drop tanks which I do know it had on it.

Interesting so many appreciate the A-7... I do too, one of my favourite machines.

Adam, watch the loadout when you get around to it, A-7E's in 1991 were very high time airframes, so they weren't loaded wall-to-wall like the earlier days because of concerns over stressing the wing-spars.

Ian.

 

[phantom II]

Hmmm ? ? ? I have no idea about what this bird actually did but there's plenty of mission markings on it.

Either it did or something else is bogus :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Skinny_Mike]

Cool subject!

 

[moon puppy]

Hmmm ? ? ? I have no idea about what this bird actually did but there's plenty of mission markings on it.

Either it did or something else is bogus :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

Their role around this time was CAS and SEA Chris, yeah I bet the markings are correct.

 

[Swordsman]

Still watching ...

 

[Adam Baker]

Yea, the mission markings are correct.

What I've been told is that the aircraft arrived on the JFK wearing the standard grey paint scheme, but after the end of the war it was painted this way. It was already known that this was going to be the last combat cruise of the A-7, and VA-72, so it's not entirely sure whether it was painted this way to commemorate the end of the Gulf War, the last cruise of the A-7, or the disestablishment of the squadron (which occurred on June 30th, 1991).

So basically it was painted like this at some point between Feb. 28th, 1991, and when the JFK left the gulf to head home on March 10th, 1991. I don't know how long it actually carried this scheme, but during the time frame it was painted this way, combat operations had ceased, so it never carried any ordnance during that time.

I'm not a huge stickler for absolute accuracy, if it's something easy to do, to make sure its accurate, I'll generally go ahead & do it, and putting no ordnance on this build is an easy thing to do to ensure accuracy, so I figured I'd go ahead & do that.

I did make some progress last night, since I was feeling decent after work. Started working on the intake, which took most of my evening. Had some pretty bad mold pin marks on both sides of the tube, which took quite a bit of time to clean up, and then I cut the end of the intake tube off to make it easier to fill the seams, and paint the intake. Going to work on it more tonight, and then post pictures of what I'm doing.

Hmmm ? ? ? I have no idea about what this bird actually did but there's plenty of mission markings on it.

Either it did or something else is bogus :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

Their role around this time was CAS and SEA Chris, yeah I bet the markings are correct.

 

[phantom II]

Don't want to make a pain of myself but

" Their role around this time was CAS and SEA Chris, yeah I bet the markings are correct."

Both of those missions would involve underwing stores :idonno

Not trying to steer you Adam . Just trying to get this to make a bit of sense to me.

It'll be cool no matter what . Aircraft don't always have a load on while on the ramp anyway.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Adam Baker]

This specific jet participated in the air operations during Desert Storm, so the markings would be correct. During those operations, it was painted in the regular grey paint scheme. After the end of the war, it was repainted to the desert scheme in the image. When repainted, it also had any missing markings painted/repainted as well. During the time it was painted that way, it never carried any ordnance or participated in any bombing missions.

Don't want to make a pain of myself but

" Their role around this time was CAS and SEA Chris, yeah I bet the markings are correct."

Both of those missions would involve underwing stores :idonno

Not trying to steer you Adam . Just trying to get this to make a bit of sense to me.

It'll be cool no matter what . Aircraft don't always have a load on while on the ramp anyway.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

1/200 Trumpeter Bismarck with Pontos 27001F1

I think what Ian was telling us about the stress load was they likely would not have loaded it down with fully loaded MERs with MK84s. Probably could have gone to work with a couple of JDAMs or Harms. I don't know, just making it up.