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Completed - Desert Storm Air to Air refuelling: KA-6D&A-7E


red Dog

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not much visible progress as I mainly worked on both fuselage halves this week.

 

I sourced the modern bang seat from quickboost so I can now decide which seat to use

 

A6A7_013_A7_seat.png

the escapacs, well at least the resin one looks like a escapac

 

 

A6A7_012_A7_seat.png

& the stencels (?) I really wonder why the kit's bang seat are often so bad. they must have some kind of agreement between the kit's manufacturer and the aftermarket industry :)

Well it works !!

 

The kit instruction doesn't mention the 2 seats but only the stencel - although all parts to build the escapac are available in the box.  

Neither of the kit's seat fits the resin pit. They are way too large to get in there. But surprisingly the resin quickboost seat fits perfectly the seat rails, just like the blackbox escapac.

 

A6A7_014_A7_cockpit.png

 

So the final choice is very easy

Edited by red Dog
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The next logical step is to chose the pilot.
 
A6A7_015_A7_pilots.png
John Master is huge and must be at least 7 feet tall :)
Paul Jones is middle size but borrowed a helmet from a friend
and Sue fa AKA demy seems middle size as well.

Masters will probably have to fly with his head outside the canopy
A6A7_016_A7_pilot_masters.png
Seriously I have that guy in the stash for quite a bit of time and I never found a suitable cockpit for him, and it's not because I didn't try. I wonder how you guys do it with that brand !!

Paul and Sue fit the cockpit nicely but my preference goes to PJ. Too bad they don't have a navy apparel in store
A6A7_017_A7_pilot_PJ.png

A6A7_018_A7_pilot_sufa.png
Obviously I'll have to remove and redo the moulded betls on the seat and as always for inflights dig into the seat for better pilot comfort

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Buddy, I wrote you two times, maybe my email went to spam. Your stuff is ready, waiting for you to decide how exactly to get it.

Let me know here or via email or whatever. :)

If you ask me, the bigger guy is for the Intruder. Remember Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton from the Flight of the Intruder? And right next to him Mr. Defoe, a pretty skinny fellow.

But actually I like him in the A7 as well.

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Hey Mitko, no email and spam folder is empty. But that happens sometime. I'll send you another email addy

 

if you ask me, the bigger guy is for the Intruder. Remember Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton from the Flight of the Intruder? And right next to him Mr. Defoe, a pretty skinny fellow.

 

Yeah I'll try him in the A-6 too :)

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Some work done on the right fuselage

The ECS intake and exhaust have been redone. The kit parts are not cutting it, especially the exhaust which has been replaced with 4mm tube

 

A6A7_019_A7_ecs_exhaust.png

 

A6A7_020_A7_ecs_exhaust.png

 

Closing the gear door wasn't expected to be easy.

Well it wasn't :) The doors are too large and need careful trimming. Some support were added before gluing in case I needed to sand the intersection of the two large doors. 

 

A6A7_021_A7_sidedoors.png

I wondered if I needed the gear bay placed but in the end I decided to do it anyway it can't hurt the internal structure.

 

A6A7_022_A7_sidedoors.png

 

A6A7_023_A7_sidedoors.png

 

The avionic bay door was modified a bit as well.

A6A7_024_A7_sidedoors.png

 

A6A7_025_A7_sidedoors.png

Some more work needed, but I'll wait till I can fit the speedbrake. The avionic bay door is not yet glued

 

 

Around the rear of the fuselage the starter exhaust was added with tubing as well

 

A6A7_026_A7_starterexhaust.png

 

A6A7_027_A7_starterexhaust.png

 

That's it for now.

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Late to the party but never too late to catch up!

Superb idea and superb work done so far on the a7 kit!

thank you for sharing the comparisons in sizes as i have the PJ and a couple of academy ones in the spares box. A refreshing build idea this in air refueling! Im curious at how you're going to pull off the positioning of the aircraft and keeping them steady and solidly attached. Looking forward to more!

Karim

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You really don't need the Zacto bits, the Trumpy A-7E can be built in to a nice looking plane as is.

I've heard a lot mean things about that kit actually. Especially the intake and nose shape.

I don't have it in stash and I cannot tell, but many people complain about the accuracy.

Too bad, since this jet is a legend.

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Well, it's not that bad honestly.

even without the zacto bit it will turn into a decent model. In the end, it's all a question of modeller feeling about it.

Is it required, no!

Is it recommended, i'd say yes!

but i reckon to me aircraft modelling is not only about plastic, to me it's resin, PE, imagination, originality and at the end of the line plastic. all this to reach the pinnacle of the hobby: painting.

 

 

The big drawback of the A-7 is the shape of the intake for me.

it's very visible when looked from the front, and zacto's bit address that perfectly.

The canopy details provided by zacto's are also a great addition, especially the detail on the windscreen structure.

 

The unadressed issue is the shape of the tail end and the lack of detail of the exhaust.

and probably the extra effort to glue the wings in the flying condition.

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Great job so far - as usual, Olivier!

 

I tend to disagree about the Zacto bits - they are absolutely necessary IMO as the Trumpeter kit is just a bad carricature of the real thing. The windscreen and canopy are even worse than the intake (which can be quite easily be corrected by hand). Of course it can be built into a 'nice model' without the correction set, but it will always be a 'nice model' which is a very bad replica of the shape and proportion of the real aircraft.

 

The STENCEL seat is the only correct choice for a Desert Storm aircraft as all VA-46 and VA-72 airframes were equipped with the STENCEL seat at that time. PJ has a 32nd scale 80s Naval Aviator and it's pretty nice! To make any figure ft properly, you'll have to sand his a**, his back and the seat cushions - in reality, all these elements are soft and thus deformed as well as the pilot is sitting "in" the seat and not just on top of it.

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here is a quick comparison between models build with and without zacto's part.

 

Without:

25.jpg2075-6.jpg

Left ted taylor from LSP, right Joe Bagster from LSP

 

with:

19.jpg06.jpg01.jpg

left John McCormick from ARC, centre from Axel Grundmann on ARC and right from Andre Dorion on ARC

I couldn't find any with zacto's bit on LSP built report

 

The biggest feature to me is the too flat intake, but yeah, the too flat and low canopy is also quite noticeable.

i just don't see it first personnaly, it's the intake that i notice first.

 

of course the zacto's picture tells the full story

zacto.jpg

 

To make any figure ft properly, you'll have to sand his a**, his back and the seat cushions - in reality, all these elements are soft and thus deformed as well as the pilot is sitting "in" the seat and not just on top of it.

Yep, that's what i always do indeed, but still that master's guy is way too tall :) i'd probably need to dig half way into the stencel seat just to ensure his helmet clears the canopy :) Edited by red Dog
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