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Trumpeter A6A Intruder:UPDATE:8/21/17: The Nose Gear: unpained

Guest Peterpools

By Guest Peterpools
in Works in Progress

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Joel_W

Joel_W

Posted
Posted

Looking forward to this one, Peter. It's a big plane - start planning now for nose weights!

 

Pete,

  Have no fear, I have fishing lead wt. sinkers up to 1 lb. for sale at very reasonable prices.  :whistle: 

Joel

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Guest Peterpools

Guest Peterpools

Posted
Posted

Thanks Bill

The Big Guy is Huge as I'm finding out and I have a BIG Note on the bench: NOSE WEIGHT!

Peter

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Guest Peterpools

Guest Peterpools

Posted
Posted (edited)

Update: 7/29/17: THE FRONT OFFICE


While Trumpeter chose to start with the engines, my choice is always to get going with the front office. The kit's offering isn't bad but lacked the finesse and detail I would prefer plus there were a few accuracy issues as well. The Avionix Cockpit set - certainly a mixed bag. and I'm still out to lunch if it was worth the expense.


The Instrument Panel seemed only marginally better then the kits and both suffer from poor representation of the gauges, screens and no pizazz. Enter the Eduard Interior PE set. Using the Avionix IP as the base, I replaced all the steam driven gauges with Eduard's PE and detailed other areas on the IP, picking up a lot of the missing details. It took quite a bit of time to work my way though the IP and then figure out how to blend in the PE's black color with the IP color. I started with Nato Black from both Tamia and Model Air, then settle on Tamiya Fat Black, a light dry brushing with Apple Valley Light Gray, two clear flat coats of Dullcote and then a top coat of MRP semi mat to get everything to blend nicely. All the knobs, dials and switches were painted one at a time with a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #0 brush - for me nothing holds a sharp point as well as this series of Red Sable brushes. All the glass was done with Gallery Glass and the IP started coming together.


The cockpit tub and turtle deck are basically Avionix resin with a boat load of Eduard PE used for the extra details. I was amazed how much Avionix missed with their upgrade set and not a speck of PE comes in the box! - Thank goodness for the folks at Eduard.


The biggest disappointment are the ejection seats. The kits seem to represent GRU7 seats, which are for the A6E and Tram. Yes, later on A6A's started being retrofitted with them but for the Vietnam era Intruders, it's incorrect. Avionix seat while beautifully detailed, seem to be a cross between the GRU5 and GRU7 seats and not really usable. To the rescue;  Harold (AMS) cast a gorgeous set of the correct Grumman GRU5 seat and they are the way to go. Finding a few accurate color photographs of the seat was no easy chore but finally after 3 nights of searching on line, I found just one with the correct colors I needed for the paint work.


The IP combing was cleaned up, HUD added, details and a light dry brushing to pop the details. Now for the fun part of trying to replace the kits parts with a complete resin set, which normally always have fit issues. Throw in modifying the AM resin with loads of Eduard PE and AMS seats and there are fit issue all over the place. I'm slowly working them out and it does amaze me how many fit issues there are. Still more to overcome.


The rear deck behind the ejection seats is the absolutely best part of the Avionix set (maybe, just maybe worth the price of the whole set by itself) and yet I manage to use nearly every piece of Eduard's PE set that they made for this area plus a few bits of my own.


The front office was primed with MRP Gray Primer and then painted with MRP FS36231 paint, side and center consoles were masked and painted with Tamiya Nato Black, dry brushed and then all the dials and switches were painted one at a time with Model Air paints. X22 Gloss sealed in the Turtle deck, followed by applying hours of pin washes with Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash and then sealed with MRP semi mat, reproducing the look and feel of painted metal much better then a all flat finish.


There is still a lot of work to do before the front office is done: finish all the detail painting, add a near boat load loads of small parts, finish the detail painting, adjust all the remaining mis-match parts so they fit together and complete the  pin washes.


Thanks for checking in


Peter


 


 


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Kit IP on the left


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Kit parts on the right


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Harold's seats on the left, Avionix still on the casting blocks


 


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Edited by Peterpools
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Maurice

Maurice

Posted
Posted (edited)

Wow, Peter the front office is alive. The detailing of every single button, knob and lever is just spot on. Magnificent start that will be an eye catcher in the contest.   :piliot:

Edited by Maurice
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Joel_W

Joel_W

Posted
Posted (edited)

Bro,

  The wait for update #1 was well worth it. the pit looks fantastic. Your dry brushing just was the icing on the cake. And those GRU 5 seats really do look quite different then the GRU-7 seats I'm so use to seeing everywhere. painted and dry brushed just kicked them up a notch or two. Same deal with the Turtle deck, as all  that detail just comes alive with those panel line washes. 

 

Bro

Edited by Joel_W
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