otis252 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 (edited) Need some advice on a couple things. I'm picking up a A-7E and plan on building it as a DS VA-46 Clansman jet and I wondered which was the better AM cockpit to use. For this time frame jet is the Aires or Black Box/Avionix Set more appropriate and opinions on the sets? Also which ejection seat is right for this time frame, the Stencil the ESCAPAC? Looks like Quickboost does a nice ESCAPAC seat also. Thanks for any help and advice, anything else I need for this build? Chuck Edited December 29, 2015 by otis252 azzaob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Williams Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I prefer the Aires cockpit set with the quickboost seat with belts. By DS, they had been fitted with the Stencil ejection seats. kalashnikov-47 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitali Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Dave is correct by DS all A-7E's had the Stencil seat. I also prefer the Aires cockpit and Quickboost with belts. The cockpit fits easily without much sanding.Really wish the correction set would become available again. The kit will take some work as it's one of Trumpeters early kits. It can be made into a really nice model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 There has been some talk about a new correction set by Alistair at Studio 27, so it might be worth hanging on a bit if he decides to do it. Essentially, the inlet, nose and canopy are far too squashed - as if the top and bottom were squished between a giant's thumb and forefinger - and the uncorrected kit nose shape is just plain awful. The Zactomodels correction set is long OOP so here's hoping somebody will fill the void. It's otherwise a very nice kit! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otis252 Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 That sounds great Tony. I've really nor understood why Zactoman has not re-released his set or at least a corrected intake ring and radome. If not him maybe GT Resin or Studio 27. Thanks for the info. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitali Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 That sounds great Tony. I've really nor understood why Zactoman has not re-released his set or at least a corrected intake ring and radome. If not him maybe GT Resin or Studio 27. Thanks for the info. Chuck Apparently he has problems with getting the clear vac canopy made. Lost his supplier or similar so he shelved the correction kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Andy (Kagemusha) might know more. I think he lent Alistair at Studio 27 a SLUF kit for feasibility studies. Alistair is our only hope, but not a frequent visitor here afaik. Yes, I know Chris Wilson at Zactomodels has a life and allegedly hasn't lost interest, but as the ARC thread on this correction set has accumulated more cobwebs than a Hammer Horror film set I'd say that he's lost interest. Am very fortunate in having two Zacto sets, both underway, and ironically it's the scarcity of the items that's holding back the build progress - am almost too afraid to use them, just in case I goof and there's no hope of a replacement. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otis252 Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 Well, got the kit yesterday, frankly disappointed. I'd thought there's no way that intake inlet lip, radome and canopy can be that badly miss shaped. I was wrong, it's worse. After looking at mine and just shaking my head and then searching the web for builds it's evident to me it's more "off" than any kit I've personally seen. The OOB builds I saw where done great by competent modelers, but the pictures taken head on or in profile of the nose show it to be just horrible. All that being said, the aftermarket fixes seem very easy. A new resin intake lip that's more rounded fixes the "squashed flat bottom" problem, a copy of a "corrected" radome easily solves that and a vac or resin canopy with the proper height and we're done. Even better would be the intake lip attached to a one piece intake trunk. Hello Rhino, you listening? New radome and canopy parts made from the corrected ones seems easy. Hopefully some one like Gary at GT Resin are reading this, seems like it would be a good seller. With Jake's new A-7 book coming soon there might be a lot of renewed interest in this otherwise nice kit. Thanks for all your input. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggyfoos Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 (edited) Am very fortunate in having two Zacto sets, both underway, and ironically it's the scarcity of the items that's holding back the build progress - am almost too afraid to use them, I could alleviate your fears and buy them off you. New radome and canopy parts made from the corrected ones seems easy. I think that part of the issue is that it's not that easy for someone to consistently produce good vacform canopies. The A-7 is a favorite of mine (after the A-4 and A-6 of course). I was just about to buy the Zacto set when he announced awhile ago it was OOP because of the canopy. Very annoyed. I have since dumped (sold) the kit. I would definitely get another or two if a good correction set was made. Always wanted Vietnam and Desert Storm A-7s. An A-7A/B backdate would be ideal as well.... Edited December 30, 2015 by ziggyfoos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Steve, It's one of my faves too. The two builds here are at the almost-closed fuselage stage and both are Es, one (NK/VA-27/Big E) with the ALQ-100 DECM and a second (AJ/VA-82/Nimitz) with the ALQ-126 DECM configuration. It's the vacform canopy that's the scary part, but the Zacto inner windshield framing and canopy hood should take care of that. Aires wheel wells but Eduard/kit cockpits. If there is a new conversion set I'd be in so as to build an A-7B from the Barn Owls. Here's hoping! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 (edited) Ali now has the kit, so will have to wait and see what he comes up with, I think a new canopy is a given... Chris had an order of two of vac canopies which were less than satisfactory, which is why the set is oop. Edited December 30, 2015 by Kagemusha Tony T 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magic Mike Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I saw years ago a build where the guy fixed the intake without the Zacto kit, but for the life of me can't find the article. Frank Mitchell (I think) had a build on Hyperscale where he converted it to a TA-7C and he fixed the intake as well when he lengthend it but making the lip rounder would be the same I would think. Either way, I have a kit and look at building it from time to time, but the nose just screams at me. I've looked at different ways, but my scratchbuilding/modifying abilities SUCK. MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 A shame, really - the nose is THE distinguishing feature of that plane to me. I'll wait to get one til there's a suitable replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydesign Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 I made the kit a few years ago, using the Zactoman correction set but also did some additional corrections like the tailpipe, check out here: http://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/a7-32/a7-32-1.htm Hope it helps building your model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richter111 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Love you website, been bookmarked for years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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