Expat Tomcat Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Luca, your build looks great! Are you using the red, white and blue decal stripes or not? I was aboard JFK on the Desert Storm cruise and worked on A-7 and F-14 radar in w/c 63A. This paint scheme only actually flew two flights, it was only applied to their CAG bird( a/c # 400) and it was finished just hours before VA-72 flew off the JFK for the last time. It never actually flew in combat. When that first flight occured there were no red, white and blue stripes on that A/C, which I saw a pic in your post that will varify what I'm saying. The stripes were actually added back at the beach at NAS Cecil Field when VA-72 was decommissioned and most of their planes were sent to Davis-Monthan AFB. So you have the option to use the stripes or not according to what part of the timeline you want to depict. My current build is also a 1/32 A-7E. I'm also doing VA-72, but I'm going to be doing a/c # 402, flown by Cmdr John Leenhouts, VA-72's XO. He holds the alltime record for the most traps by any carrier pilot. I'll probably be doing another A-7E in VA-46 livery as these were the last two operational squadrons flying the A-7, and we deployed them both aboard JFK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icari Progene Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 thanks for the info, i was wondering if this aircraft ever flew combact missions in this livery. due to the lack of photos I'm doing it based on the pics i've found in the internet. Actually i'll do the plane as it was on the carrier so without the stripes. I'm loving this plane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Come to think of it, I believe there may be some photos of this aircraft in the cruise book. They're probably previously unpublished as well. I'll look at it when I get off work and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hi guys, I've got some news about my SLUF, Building is 99% finished, it only misses it's tanks and horizontal stabilizers. wing folding zone was little bit difficult to fit due to large holes between the two parts, but now seems ok. wingtips' lights are in place and internally painted. now it's time to start painting the beast. No paints available with exact referance so i've done some trials to determine the best colour. the light sand reference is FS 31667 but i'll use gunze H313 FS 33531 with one drop of Tamiya Nato Brown. the dark one is FS 30233 and also for this one i'll use H313 but now with 10 parts of Nato brown to give it the right tone and "redness". here are some pics of the trials, what do you think? the bottom panels are painted in that way. here is the real aircraft Ciao Luca Hi Great looking build. Love the work. The bottom color mix is the closest......almost there. could you add some buff color to the mix ? you are close anyway Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icari Progene Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Here is some paint on! Next stage is to fix some little details and spray the dark brown. Ciao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 WAIT BEFORE YOU MOUNT THE LANDING GEAR!!!!! fortunate we are working on the same kit at the same time. I'm almost positive there's an issue with the Aires wheel wells and the white metal kit landing gear. I did a dry fit and the ride height of the aircraft is wrong. It's sitting WAY too high. There are pics that exist on the Internet of aircraft with a stance that is nearly as high but these aircraft have been demilitarized and had their engine removed. The only time the gear is extended this far is when the gear is down and the plane is in the air, like coming in for a landing before it touches the deck. A combat ready SLUF with even a drop tank only loadout sits LOW, some where in the neighborhood of 30 to 45 cm off the deck. The nose wheel may be a bit easier to deal with but to get this right we may need to use the plastic legs because they may have to be modified to get the sprung stance correct. Put up a pic as soon as you can of your bird standing on the gear so we can take a look. They'll support the wieght dry fitted so there's still time to modify them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icari Progene Posted November 2, 2010 Author Share Posted November 2, 2010 yeah i've already noticed that, I'm working on the paintjob now but some time ago i did a dryfit. I really don't knowif the plastic struts will sustain the weight of my model, I also have resin external tanks 40g each, the internal zatco's intake and all the aires stuff... i'll try to modify and verify palstic struts, but maybe i'll copy them in metal once modified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Luca is there any way I could persuade you to cast a couple of those beautifully molded drop tanks for my build?I'd be willing to compensate you for your trouble. I have put up a call in ARC in the traders board for the original A-4 tanks but haven't gotten a response, options are narrowing. Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icari Progene Posted November 8, 2010 Author Share Posted November 8, 2010 Luca is there any way I could persuade you to cast a couple of those beautifully molded drop tanks for my build?I'd be willing to compensate you for your trouble. I have put up a call in ARC in the traders board for the original A-4 tanks but haven't gotten a response, options are narrowing. Let me know. yes for sure, PM me you personal adress, i'll send you the 2 tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Luca, PM sent, looks like I'm going to need those tanks after all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Luca I have my landing gear cut and the posts reAdy to epoxy back together, will have to also adjust the main gear wheel angle so they stand up straight. I cut and drilled the upper gear legs at the level where the oleo SHOULD come out of the strut( about 3mm from the bottom of the oleo) that way the excess metal you remove is on the larger part and it gives you more to hang onto when you're working on it. I used 3 different drill bits to enlarge the holes in the oleo shaft, ending up with 1/16" (1.5mm or so) hole and used stainless steel rod to insert into both sections. 3mm depth on the upper strut, 2mm on the oleo end. Looks like it should work fine. Haven't determined yet whether the nose wheel has to be hacked off too, will have to wait and see how it sits first. The hard part is done though. Hope that helps you out. J.D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat Tomcat Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Luca, PM sent (x2) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icari Progene Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 hi guys! here are my latest progress... later on more progress What do you think? Ciao Luca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I'm glad to see this build make a comeback. I think you've got a good show going on here. Can't wait to see more. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Looks Great was waiting on and update from this one Love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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