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I present to you the well-known trumpeter kit in which I have used the following aftermarket products. Undercarriage,seat belts and mask by Eduard Cockpit by red fox Pitot tube by Master Wheels by Reskit PE by profimodeler The camouflage's colours are by Gunze

First of all I'd like to point out that I've been a long-time lurker that has gotten a lot of information on large scale aircraft here and figured it might be time to send something back. I'm actually a mostly 1/72 modeller, but after finishing a beautiful WnW Fokker D.VII as my first 1/32 kit in ages, I kind of picked up the bug again. My last 1/32 somewhat modern aircraft was a Revell F-14A in VF-1 markings that I put on the television back then -until my mom dusted it off and it fell off, despite the rubber grippy tires! As it would fit nowhere near on a modern TV I guess that tells something about how long ago that was... (I'm 42 now and live in the Netherlands). Some may know me from the Dutch Modelbrouwers or WW1 Aircraft forum there I go by the same name. The Intruder has always been a favourite with 1/72 builds of Italeri, Hasegawa and Fujimi kits, but I'd never gotten one as it was too big and expensive... however, when I discovered AoA decals I got a set for VA-65, and somehow managed a nice deal on an A-6A, mostly still factory sealed. It's this set: My kids want me to do the camouflaged version, but bought it for NL-413 or AA-511, though as you can see later I finished the MERs already and it'll have to be NL-401 or NL-413 now. I can decide later on, but it does feel like a bit of a waste of decals to only use so few on top... I started our with ordnance, as one of the things I dislike about modern aircraft is just that. The kit only comes with 12 simplefied Mk82 Snakeeyes and 2 MERs, but a fellow modeller who would replace them with aftermarket gave me another MER and 6 Mk82s. I'll be loading the A-6 up with 2 MERs outboard, and 1 on the centerline, leaving the inner pylons empty as I saw on a photo of this cruise. As I can't justify the additional costs of 18 Mk82s and 3 MERs in aftermarket I set about to improve what came with the kit. These Snakeeyes fit poorly and required a lot of work to get them to look acceptable. I poked the hinges (which should extend much more to the rear and be much taller as well) with a drill bit and needle, and used a JLC saw and a scriber to open up the fins. The rear part was modified with some punched card disks. Accurate? Not quite, but IMHO a lot better as what came with the kit. I'll be using pins to attach all of it to the model once done so if my lottery ticket proves a winning one I can always replace them. I used black basing and mottled purple red, yellow and some green, deliberately painting some parts more than others. This was then overcoated with olive drab and the noses painted yellow. All of this was Revell Aqua Acrylics, except the glosscoat, which is my trusty Tamiya X-22. The decals are from the kit and worked well, but don't have any letterin on them, they're just yellow squares and rectangles... better than nothing I guess. The fuses are Revell Aqua "Eisen" (#91) with an oil wash and satin varnish. The MERs needed a lot of filling and sanding, and had the extra wires for the top positions added, for some reason Trumpeter supplies only the lower ones. These were also painted black, mottled with medium grey and pure white, then painted with my Insignia White mix (95% Revell Aqua 04 gloss pure white with 5% Revell Aqua 43 medium grey mixed in) I wish I replaced the lower wires as well, they do look a bit different now. The VA-65 decals are from the AoA sheet and worked well, final finish was another glosscoat, some washes with oil paints and a satin coat finished them. In case you're wondering why one of the decals is angled, I saw that on a photo and figured it would be a nice little detail. I'm now working on a few more mods to the wings and fuselage, so more to follow! Jeroen

Cheers everybody, it's bee a while since I finished my big Prowler - buying a new background for my photo booth was a good opportunity to finally take some photos of the finished model. For those who haven't followed the build, here's the link to the WIP thread: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/57040-how-to-destroy-an-expensive-kit-with-just-a-few-cuts-or-prowler33/ Photo quality is not ideal, I've been playing around with the photo settings but I am obviously not a good photographer... Anyway, comments, questions and critique are welcome as usual. "Beaker" waiting for the rest of the crew to board the aircraft.

Silly me... I've got AOA's excellent "Intruder Sandbox" sheet in 1/32 and recently got a great deal on an A-6E. Somehow, my current VA-65 build makes me want to build another VA-65 aircraft, but in this scheme: AOA decals does a VA-65 Part II sheet with these markings, but for AG-500, whose instructions (review courtesy of LSP, thanks!) state that the aircraft may have been overall FS36440 but were (as can be seen) rather weathered and this is far from certain. While browsing around some this morning for no apparent reason I stumbled upon this interesting shot of similar looking AG-501: It may not have been at exactly the same time as AG-500 depicted in the AOA decals (these aircraft miss the "E" marking near the "S" that AG-500 did have) but at least on my monitor there is a tonal difference between 501 (overall grey) and 511 and the A-7 in the back (both rather clearly still in grey/white). I love the weathered walkways on 501 Seeing this I'm even more tempted to go with this scheme... Any guesses on what the overall colour may have been? Light or Dark Ghost grey? Jeroen

I keep coming back to my favorite aircraft, here's more new upcoming A-6 Intruder sheets and updated reprint of the stencil sheet. Similar to the previous VA-65 Tigers sheet, these again only cover one squadron, this time VA-75 Sunday Punchers. 32-027 (Part 1): Includes two sets of basic schemes, both CAG and line jet schemes included. First pair (A-6A) cover their third and final Vietnam deployment and the next pair (A-6E) cover their more well known postwar white tail scheme. Includes markings for MER identifications as well as fuel tank markings. Also included is a new expanded release of the complete A-6 stencil/marking sheet (32-026) which supersedes the original (32-002), this new sheet also includes a landing gear placards, walkway striping, and a few other minor additions. As before, it will also be available for purchase separately. 32-028 (Part 2): A relatively small sheet covering two low viz schemes from the late 80s to the Desert Storm period. Decals also included for fuel tanks, tailhooks, ejection seats, ladder wells, landing gear, and speed brake interiors. www.AOAdecals.com 32-027: 32-026 (included with 32-027) 32-028:

First of hopefully more, here's a new "budget" minded sheet of the high viz period. This new release, 32-029, is another 1/32 A-6A sheet and continues focus on VMA(AW)-533 Hawks. The first AOA 1/32 sheet (32-001) included their three overall schemes used during their Vietnam War deployments (1967-69 at Chu Lai and 1972-73 at Nam Phong), and another earlier sheet (32-003) included their Desert Storm scheme. This new sheet 32-029 expands that coverage to include some of the schemes in the early to mid-1970s at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan. Similar to the earlier 1/32 F-4 sheets, this time again only primary airframe stencils and markings are provided (for one aircraft). However, for those looking for full airframe coverage, a specific extensive sheet covering the A-6 airframe stencils and markings is available to purchase separately (32-002 and now 32-026). Only $13.50 w/free shipping in US http://www.aoadecals.com/

Hello modelmakers, This is my recently finished 1/32 A-6A intruder by Trumpeter. This was a wonderful kit to build, lots of fun. It tok me about 3 month to build. The build is oob, painting was done with mrp & gunze. For whetering i used oils for the first time. I know the bird is a bit dirty, theese hi-vis birds maybe did not get this dirty, but i have a soft spot for dirty warbirds. I hope you guys like it.

Will be doing another A-6 sheet afterall.... only covering VA-65 Tigers. Will span 25yrs of their aircraft though, starting with their three Vietnam War deployments (including the early camo test scheme and the ill-fated 1967 Forrestal cruise), then into the mid 70s period with their more well known schemes, and the beginning of low viz in the early 80s, and ending at Desert Storm with several options. Both sheets now available at www.AOAdecals.com 32-023 - six schemes covering the high viz period (includes full stencils for one aircraft): 32-024 - four schemes covering the low viz period:

Well, what do you do if you have to wait for parts for your other projects being milled or 3D printed? Easy, get one of your most expensive kits out of your shelf and start hacking it into pieces, add some styrene and make it look even uglier than before, just for fun. Well, that's not exactly how it was. While it's true that I cannot proceed with my other projects as I am really waiting for essential parts to be produced, I was planning to build an EA-6B since the Trumpeter Intruder was announced. The only problem was - the kit was just too expensive. Having spent a few hours on the net looking for good offers, I found somebody in Austria who sold his slightly started A-6A + Avionix cockpit for much less than 100€ - now that was an excellent deal! The wait for the kit was spent finalizing my drawings and once it arrived, everything went rather quickly. A few cuts, some styrene and voilà , it starts to look like a Prowler. I've cast a copy of the windscreen to find out which modifications are necessary without destroying the clear part. It's not quite perfect yet, but I am getting close. Since these pics were taken, I've given it a light coat of primer and added some groove lines. The next step will be finalizing the windscreen shape, adding the football to the fin and starting the cockpits. More pics will follow!

I thought I posted about this already on LSP but I guess I didn't. AOA sheet (SS-001) will be for the A-6 Intruder again but this time it will be a small special sheet with all three scales on one sheet. These Intruders were A-6E TRAM aircraft modified in 1989 to represent A-6A during Vietnam in 1972 for a particular movie. The sheet includes the exterior markings to reproduce Devil 501 or 505. Decals for crew helmets for both aircraft and one external fuel tank are also provided. (The national insignias are intentionally mis-proportioned on the decal sheet compared to specs, this is how they appeared on the actual 501 and 505) Now in stock. Printed by Microscale. Price $13 www.AOAdecals.com

AOA's favorite "modern" aircraft. Did not anticipate releasing another A-6A release in 1/32 but couldn't resist, too many combat schemes not covered. This is a LARGE release, largest by AOA (so far) - four full sheets of decals. 16 options, including two A-6B Mod 0 Iron Hands and two KA-6D tankers. Plus three CAG schemes - including the never done in any scale "patience my ass" vulture 224 scheme VMA(AW)-224 Bengals: USS Coral Sea 1971-72 (5 options - 3x A-6A including CAG scheme, 1x A-6B, & 1x KA-6D) VA-95 Green Lizards (technically not "war" but supported Operation End Sweep along North Vietnam): USS Coral Sea 1973 (2 options - 2x A-6A, including CAG scheme) VA-165 Boomers: USS Ranger 1967-68 (1 option - A-6A) USS Ranger 1968-69 (1 option - A-6A) USS America 1970 (1 option - A-6A) USS Constellation 1971-72 (1 option - A-6A CAG scheme) VA-196 Main Battery: USS Constellation 1968-69 (1 option - A-6A) USS Ranger 1969-70 (1 option - A-6A) USS Enterprise 1971-72 (2 options - 1x A-6A & x1 A-6B) USS Enterprise 1972-73 (1 option - KA-6D) Now available www.AOAdecals.com (Click image for larger view)

My next project ist the new Trumpy intruder. i chose a sheme from the Osprey book, only i will do 155679, because it has the early non camuflaged radome. Loadout will be 6 CBUs on the centerline (i got Harolds and they are beautiful), two gasbags and six Zuni pods on two TERs. i have a set of fisher zuni pods and am looking for another two pairs (at 20$ plus shipping a pair i couldnt get me to order them directly - anyone got some hes not going to use?). i will use CAM TERs, they look pretty nice (and i have them) i have done the graphics for the decals allready, the white hawk is cut from solid whilte film, the rest is laserprinted black on clear. the rudder will be painted. i want to do the rest OOB. watch this space

This is my review of the new Avionics A-6A Intruder cockpit set for the Trumpeter kit. First I will say that I am thrilled to have the kit in 1/32 (the A-6 has always been a favorite) and happy to see aftermarket companies like Avionix start releasing stuff to "gild the lily" on an already quite nice kit. What you get in the Avionix set (as listed in their instruction leaflet): 1. Tub 2. Rear deck 3. Hydraulic Jack Piston 4. Hydraulic Jack Actuators 5. Hydraulic Housing Duct 6. Throttle 7. Control Column 8. Throttle Quadrant Handle 9. HUD 10. Electrical Junction Box 11. Bulkhead 12. ECM Console 13. ECM Stick 14. Ejection Seat 15. Ejection Tube 16. Coaming 17. Instrument Panel 1. Tub: the resin tub appears based on the kit part but the control panels have been replaced with new detail. This is nicely done and much more three-dimensional vs. the kit parts which have fairly low-relief raised detail for the buttons/switches/etc. There is some additional conduit/wiring detail added on the rear wall to the control boxes mounted there. Comparing to pictures and a map of the control panels of the A-6A pit there is not a 1 to 1 correlation between some of the panels, switch locations, etc but I think the impression looks good and appropriately busy in the right spots. You will need to use the kit rudder pedals and platforms. There are some small molding defects/damage along the B/N side console in my example. 2. through 5. the rear deck has received significant new details in the sunken middle area - new conduit and piping, new I beams for the canopy rails, junction box with wiring etc. The forward edge of the rear deck is near identical to the kit plastic and you must use the kit parts that come off the back of the seats and attach to the rear deck. From comparing to the instruction leaflet picture it looks like my example has lost some of the wiring detail or it did not get fully cast. 6. through 9. These parts are all nicely cast. The Trumpeter kit does not come with a throttle so having a detailed part supplied with this set is a plus. 10-11. These parts fix to the interior of the sliding rear canopy - the bulkhead has new conduit/piping and is an improvement vs. the kit parts. 12.13. This is the console that sits between the B/N's legs - it has good button/switch detail and it carries the "handles" on the sides of it as the real thing. Unfortunately the casting of those handles on my example is weak and they are little more than resin flash. 14.15. Ejection seat. These have already been discussed some on the LSP forums. The A-6A should carry the Martin Baker GRU-5 seat - what is included in this set appears similar to the GRU-7 from later Intruders in some respects but not others; the headrest in particular is wider and differs in detail, as do the lower frame sides. In my photos below I have compared it to the GRU-7 from Avionix intended for the F-14. I am unsure of what seat this might be modeled after but in my opinion it does not capture the look of the GRU-5. That being said, the detail and casting is very nice - there is a lot of detail present and it is very crisp. 16. Coaming; this has had a cover added with some creases plus new control "boxes" and wiring. 17. Instrument Panel; this appears to be the kit panel with added raised detail for many of the switches and buttons. This improves the appearance of the panel given that the kit part detail is rather flat in comparison. Some additional buttons and a lever/handle has been added to the pilot side of the panel. Though the panel does look better I would have liked to have seen Avionix do a new replacement panel that better matches the real thing vs. just adding some detail to the Trumpeter part. Unfortunately the lower part of my example is cast poorly - too thin and damaged - it will need replacement with new dials and structure. Thoughts and conclusion: overall I am torn on if I would recommend this set. Many parts show notable improvement over the kit and will paint up better and look very nice; the tub itself, rear deck and most of the supporting parts I would rather use vs. the kit plastic. The odd seats and casting defects detract from a aftermarket set in this price range though. Tub Comparison: Avionix Tub: Rear Deck Comparison: Avionix Rear Deck: Coaming Comparison: Seat (Avionix F-14 GRU-7 on left, A-6 seat on right): Seat (Avionix F-14 GRU-7 on left, A-6 seat on right): Instrument Panel Comparison: Avionix Panel: Misc Parts: