Trumpeter A-6A "VA-65"

[MikeMaben]

Well above average work Jeroen !! 

[Finn]

Very nice work Jeroen, if you still plan to go with the early cruise this pic from the Cruise Book shows the fuselage speed brakes were open on deck:

 

 

Jari

[jeroen_R90S]

On 11/12/2020 at 12:35 AM, Squizzy said:

I’ll be watching this with interest! I’ve got one in the stash, and for some reason this kit has we worried about starting it! Must be the cost and the Trumpeter factor, but from what I’ve read, they had Trumpeter’s A team on this one. Good luck!

Thank you! It is a good kit so far, and even from the box with some inaccuracies it will build up into an impressive model. There sure are a lot of parts, though, though I guess about half of it is weapons. And most of these are only fit for the spares bin...

 

On 11/12/2020 at 2:07 AM, Padubon said:

Quite impressive!  
It is interesting that there is not a simple A-6A, F-16C of Fw190, there is always something that needs modification, correction of upgrade.

Excellent work!

Thank you! Yes, there's always something -though it would be less work to build NH-505, as that's pretty much the A-late configuration from the box. If desired some modifcations would still be needed to the fuselage and such. Personally I'd rather not have the bird-cage internals and radar and set of decent GRU-5 seats....

 

On 11/12/2020 at 10:30 AM, Starfighter said:

Very nice, I'll be following with huge interest! 

Thank you!

 

On 11/12/2020 at 12:22 PM, dodgem37 said:

Good stuff.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

THanks!

 

On 11/12/2020 at 1:20 PM, Crew Dog said:

Outstanding work on the Intruder so far! Really like the effect you've done on the Mk.82's! Welcome aboard, and I'm pulling up a bench for sure.

Thanks! Though they were a lot of work, I'm happy with the ordnance too, though they're still not all that accurate.

[jeroen_R90S]

On 11/13/2020 at 6:08 AM, MikeMaben said:

Well above average work Jeroen !! 

Thanks!

 

On 11/11/2020 at 8:53 PM, Barry said:

Great looking Intruder underway!

 

FYI, all the MERs and TERs I've seen have the Firing Cables encased in a woven wire mesh covering like this.

 

Keep up the great work!

Barry

 

 

Thanks, also for the pictures of the MERs -now that it's been seen, it can't be unseen, so I'll change them to a metal colour. They remind me of the "stahlflex" brake hose on my BMW motorbike

 

On 11/13/2020 at 6:25 AM, Finn said:

Very nice work Jeroen, if you still plan to go with the early cruise this pic from the Cruise Book shows the fuselage speed brakes were open on deck:

 

 

 

Jari

Thanks Jari, I'd been trolling through the cruise books as well, and this page is particularly interesting, as it not only shows open speed brakes, but also shows the interiour appears to be red, and the actuator cilinder and the brake itself appear white. In the cruisebook of the ill-fated 1967 Forrestal cruise there is a picture showing "USS Forrestal" being painted, that also shows dark bay interiour, with white hydraulic lines. That will surely add a splash of colour

This page also shows how feelble my GRU-7-to-GRU-5 backdating is -what a mass of stuff on those ejection seats!

Interestingly it also appears to show those upright (shields? those things with all the rivets on it) that appear black on most models, seem to be the same colour as the rest of the cockpit.

 

I'm just too busy and worn out to make some proper progress these days... (hospital IT-networking guy for a job)

Hopefully some paint progress later on...

 

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

Just a quick update showing some work on backdating the kit's GRU-7 seats to a somewhat more representitive GRU-5, though the detail level reminds me more of 1/72 than of 1/32. Man, those ejection seats, even those older ones, are complex, and there's no way I can capture all that with my limited attention span, time and above all, skills....!

 

Anyway, here's my attempt with Milliput for the parachute pack and rear cushion (the rear cushion is a bit meh, not happy with that) , lower cushion is Evergreen attacked with a #10 blade.

The rest is the kit, some details removed/added from the kit seats, copper wire, punched disks, etc etc.

The ejection pull rings have been made from 0,5mm tubing as that bends better. They're just in their base-colours, there are not a lot of references out there regarding the colours.

black: Revell Tar Black

cushions: revell Ferrari Red #34 with #15 yellow 50-50, matched approximately to the orange-red decal colour from the A-6E's on the decal sheet (looks a bit odd in artificial light)

hoses/lines: Revell #47 Mouse Grey with #39 dark green mixed in

 

Still a lot to do...

The seatsbelts are made from a Verlinden set, where I replaced the PE belts with doubled up Tamiya tape. I still need to do the leg restraints. I read these were light blue, is that correct?

 

Hope you had a great Christmas, and all the best for 2021,

Jeroen

 

 

[themongoose]

Enjoyed my lunch while catching up on your build. Wonderfull work you’re doing! The details on your seats really make them stand out, sharp.

[allthumbs]

 

 

"...I still need to do the leg restraints. I read these were light blue, is that correct?"

 

 

Most likely yes. It was definitely the case for the later GRU-7 seats as seen here for example...

 

 

As far as I know, the only GRU-5 seats on display today are those at the Oakland Aviation Museum in California. Unfortunately, the leg restraints are missing (or tucked away from view) on these examples. However blue would be consistent with Martin Baker practice for the period.

 

Some GRU-5 pics from my visit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by allthumbs

[jeroen_R90S]

On 12/27/2020 at 5:36 PM, themongoose said:

Enjoyed my lunch while catching up on your build. Wonderfull work you’re doing! The details on your seats really make them stand out, sharp.

 

Thanks! Although the pictures from "allthumbs" are actually showing how simplefied my detailling is -but sometimes I just have to accept things, and I'm my own worst critic. One of the problems with a build this size is that it's easy to get lost in all details, which will in the end make it look fantastic, my attention span is too short for that so it'd never get done.

 

On 12/27/2020 at 7:37 PM, allthumbs said:

"The seatsbelts are made from a Verlinden set, where I replaced the PE belts with doubled up Tamiya tape. I still need to do the leg restraints. I read these were light blue, is that correct?"

 

Most likely yes. It was definitely the case for the later GRU-7 seats as seen here for example...

 

As far as I know, the only GRU-5 seats on display today are those at the Oakland Aviation Museum in California. Unfortunately, the leg restraints are missing (or tucked away from view) on these example. However blue would be consistent with Martin Baker practice for the period.

 

Some GRU-5 pics from my visit...

Many thanks for sharing these -they're awsome, though as I wrote above also show how simplefied my seats actually are!

I'm leaving them alone for now, though I had a facepalm moment now that I can properly see the overhead ejection handle shape -I threw out the now-best looking ones for new ones, that have a less prominent kink at the front.

They're still loose, so I might redo them again... they are quite prominent.

 

Thanks also for the info on the leg restraints, noted!

 

Jeroen

[allthumbs]

Jereon, 

I think your seats look great. You took Trumpeter’s “GRU-7esque” parts and turned them into what is, unmistakably, a pair of MB GRU-5’s.

And once they’re dressed up with belts, harnesses and AOA placard decals, they’ll really look the part.

 

Keep up the good the work!

 

Rich

Edited December 30, 2020 by allthumbs

[jeroen_R90S]

Thanks, Rich -I'm usually my own worst critic! With a model this big it's hard to call things 'enough' -if I were to go full-out on the seats, the rest of the cockpit would need dressing up, then the wheel wells, speed brake area, etc etc and it would never get done.

I'm having a lot of fun so far, and IMHO that is what counts. Who knows, I might even do an A-6E in the future!

 

Happy 2021,

Jeroen

[blackbetty]

very nice work

are you going to correct the ip angle of the pit?

[chrish]

Nice tutorial on corrections! I have one in the to do pile so I’ll be sitting in on the build

[Whitey]

Wow, great work Jeroen. Watching closely to see what I need to do to my A-6E when I get around to it. I'm thinking of doing "Devil 505" from Flight of the Intruder. Got the decals too.

[jeroen_R90S]

On 12/30/2020 at 6:38 PM, blackbetty said:

very nice work

are you going to correct the ip angle of the pit?

Thanks

The thought to correct the IP/tub did occur to me for about a minute or so... but I'm building this one with the cockpit closed and it would probably too much effort, and I'd never get the whole model done in the end...

 

On 1/1/2021 at 6:18 AM, chrish said:

Nice tutorial on corrections! I have one in the to do pile so I’ll be sitting in on the build

Thank you, Chris! There are a lot of great builds with helpful hints and tuturials here. And credit must go to to Steve of AOA decals for providing that great info sheet with most of the corrections to make it a bit more accurate.

 

On 1/1/2021 at 7:23 AM, Whitey said:

Wow, great work Jeroen. Watching closely to see what I need to do to my A-6E when I get around to it. I'm thinking of doing "Devil 505" from Flight of the Intruder. Got the decals too.

Thanks! One option I was contemplating before going with VA-65, was VA-196. But that AOA sheet is very large (and, though good value, it is on the expensive side as a whole), so I went for VA-65 instead. Those flight of the Intruder markings are neat, too -especially the misshapen insignia. Are you going to do a Skyraider to go along with it?

 

I'll post a proper update later, I've finished the basic paint on the cockpit parts today (there are some advantages to working several days at home, no travel to and from work is a nice time saver) and thanks to Rich i've done some more work on the seats -there were so many nice details on those pictures so I added some of those canvas(?) hoses to the top, the canvas-looking cover on the top, and the red cilinder-gizmo. They are less black now, and honestly, using some white-glue soaked tissue and Milliput it wasn't a lot of work. As I wrote it's going to be a closed-cockpit build, so I'm focussing on the things you can see.

 

Speaking of which, either I seem to have lost the throtte lever, or there isn't one in the kit?

 

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

Thank you, Maru!

 

---------------

one picture, but alot of work and going cross-eyed:

Still need some touch-ups, a wash, weathering, filters, etc, but it's IMHO a nice start. Looking at the flat uninspiring kit panels and mostly black and grey switches and knobs made me keep pushing this job ahead of me, but by using white and grey for labels and lines (some need a bit of retouching, photo's are always killing!) I'm actually quite happy with the result. As I wrote before, the cockpit will be closed, but it's a large and clear transparency, so I didn't really want to  rush this as well.

The extra's on the seats can be seen here as well, I added the canvas cover and hose(?) covers. Hopefully I can add the seatbelts and leg restraints sometime soon, then proceed with extra detail painting, and some washes and decals.

 

Jeroen