A-6E VA-65 Desert Storm "500"

[A-10LOADER]

On 5/18/2021 at 2:40 PM, Marcel111 said:

Thanks Matt!

 

So a double whammy on this build.

 

I had lengthened the Tamiya MER's to accomodate the Rockeyes but then went ahead and bought the Eduard MER's since they have some really nice detail and I figured Eduard would ensure that their Rockeyes would fit on their TER's and MER's.

 

Turns out the Eduard MER's are far too short, so I will once again have to lengthen these:

 

 

Also, on the wings, I thought I'd use Mr Surfacer 500 to fill the spanwise rivets since some fasteners are still faintly visible along the span of the real thing. This didn't work out at all, so after filling and sanding both wings I'll need to go back to the drawing board and fill all of the wing rivets with superglue, just as I did on the body of the jet.

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

Marcel, I feel your pain. I had the same issue with the Eduard MER's and Rockeyes for my 1/48th Revell-Monogram A-6E. I ended up using the kit MER's and having to "adjust" the front Rockeyes slightly forward and, the rear Rockeyes slightly backwards just so once I put the fuse covers on, they didn't touch.

Like you said, you would think that their parts would fit each other but, sadly no. The Eduard MER'S were not cheap and, they were warped to boot so, they went right in the trash can. Sadly Eduard is not as good as they think they are.

Beautiful work so far.

Steve

[Marcel111]

Thx guys!

 

17 hours ago, Squizzy said:

That detail is going to pop once painting and weathering is complete, I can’t wait to see more! Great work Marcel.

I’ve got this kit sitting in my cupboard, but I’m reluctant to start it, I don’t know why?! I know it’s expensive, don’t care about that, it’s big, don’t care, maybe past Trumpeter kits have scared me off! How have you found it Marcel, I know you have completed an awesome looking trumpeter tomcat, is it a similar type build in construction?

 

I am having waaaaay more fun with this Trumpeter kit than with the Trumpeter F-14. The shape of this Intruder looks spot-on to my eye, the only really obvious blooper I have come across is the location of the inside wing fence, but that's an easy mistake to make since they differ from A to E, plus not so hard to correct. Filling the rivets is pain but I think if I had done this prior to assembly it would have been a whole bunch faster... it's the type of work that can be done on vacation by sneaking the parts plus some sandpaper into the luggage :-). All the additional, many hours are really just enhancing a really nice kit. On the other hand, with the F-14 I felt like most of the many hours I put into that kit were just spent correcting bloopers. And as much as l like the final product in my display cabinet, the shape is still off, with the entire front section just looking to heavy.

 

Steve, yeah, the Eduard stuff always looks great and the production quality is fantastic but the accuracy isn't reliable. I will say that their customer service is exceptional, some sway braces were missing and they sent me some I think the same day I contacted them.

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

[allthumbs]

Marcel, I like how you re-textured the outer airframe surfaces...it looks much more realistic than what you started with. Keep up the great work!

Rich 

[alain11]

Good job Marcel !!!! The Intruder is one of m’y favorit plane . I will follow this thread 

maybe you ve already read it , but , I recommand you this book from S Coont « the flight of the Intruder » , you will get a nice moment

Alain

[Marcel111]

On 6/9/2021 at 9:47 AM, alain11 said:

Good job Marcel !!!! The Intruder is one of m’y favorit plane . I will follow this thread 

maybe you ve already read it , but , I recommand you this book from S Coont « the flight of the Intruder » , you will get a nice moment

Alain

Thanks Alain... I haven't read the book but have seen the movie quite a few times, some of my favorite actors and some nice Intruder shots... but also some really painful-to-watch reenactments of bombing runs.

 

I have started the extreme splotchy paint-job, refer back to the first page of this thread to see just how dirty this aircraft was and also how some far darker bluish gray paint  was used for corrosion control.

 

I started out by applying some black (and on the belly area brown) pre-shading over the Mr Surfacer base coat... not following panel lines but just introducing random shapes. Then came the FS36320 and FS36375. I'm using Vallejo since I noticed the Gunze gray cracking on my F-16A NSAWC, years after completing the model. The Vallejo doesn't go on as smoothly and the light ghost gray was darker than the dark ghost gray, so I added about 60% white to the light ghost gray but lost much of the pre-shading effect on the underside since I applied two coats. No big deal, there are many more weathering effects to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

Edited June 10, 2021 by Marcel111

[Squizzy 78]

That paint job is looking awesome Marcel! Sorry to hear about the paint cracking on your F-16, those builds are incredible. When using the Gunze paints do you remember if you used the self levelling thinner or something else? 

[Marcel111]

53 minutes ago, Squizzy said:

That paint job is looking awesome Marcel! Sorry to hear about the paint cracking on your F-16, those builds are incredible. When using the Gunze paints do you remember if you used the self levelling thinner or something else? 

 

I just used regular alcohol thinners for Gunze, sometimes no thinner at all. The cracking happens when paint is laid down thick (and of course also when Future is laid down over Gunze).

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

[easixpedro]

7 hours ago, Marcel111 said:

Thanks Alain... I haven't read the book but have seen the movie quite a few times, some of my favorite actors and some nice Intruder shots... but also some really painful-to-watch reenactments of bombing runs.

 

 

Oh, you should really read it!  The movie did NOT do Mr. Coonts' writing justice. Been friends with him for years--his writing style will take your breath away (his descriptions of night carrier ops make my palms sweat).  Perhaps my favorite after Flight of the Intruder is Cannibal Queen--a book about flying. More to the point, across the states in an open cockpit stearman.  It's just a great book!

 

For more 'recent' Intruder stuff, I recommend Peter Hunt's "Angles of Attack." He flew with VA-145 off USS Ranger in Desert Storm.  Still lives up around NAS Whidbey Island, but is slowly losing the fight with Parkinson's Disease.

 

-Peter

[Finn]

Marcel here is a view from bellow of a A-6E with a load of LGBs:

 

 

note how the inner wings are more weathered compared the outer wings which are normally folded so they get some sun. Also note the chaff/flare load.

 

Jari

[Marcel111]

Thx Peter! I've made a note to get both books, always good to have a solid vacation read. Hope Peter Hunt is ok, I unfortunately have some family experience dealing with degenerative diseases.

 

Jari, great pic and very useful insights!

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel

[Huey195thAHC]

21 hours ago, easixpedro said:

Oh, you should really read it!  The movie did NOT do Mr. Coonts' writing justice. Been friends with him for years--his writing style will take your breath away (his descriptions of night carrier ops make my palms sweat).  Perhaps my favorite after Flight of the Intruder is Cannibal Queen--a book about flying. More to the point, across the states in an open cockpit stearman.  It's just a great book!

 

For more 'recent' Intruder stuff, I recommend Peter Hunt's "Angles of Attack." He flew with VA-145 off USS Ranger in Desert Storm.  Still lives up around NAS Whidbey Island, but is slowly losing the fight with Parkinson's Disease.

 

-Peter

 

Peter, I have read both of those books and cannot agree with you more.  His writing style made me feel like I was right there in the cockpit with them.  Highly recommended!

[Anthony in NZ]

Now that's how a Carrier Based plane should look!  This is going to be amazing when finished.

[STM]

Having spent over 1500 hours of my life in the left seat of one and know the "office" intimately, even after 30+ years, you have done a terrific job. 

[A-10LOADER]

Great start to the weathering process !!

Just curious but, what airbrush / needle size are you using for this work ?

Steve

[Marcel111]

On 6/12/2021 at 4:07 AM, STM said:

Having spent over 1500 hours of my life in the left seat of one and know the "office" intimately, even after 30+ years, you have done a terrific job. 

Thanks, it's an honor to receive your feedback!

 

11 hours ago, A-10LOADER said:

Great start to the weathering process !!

Just curious but, what airbrush / needle size are you using for this work ?

Steve

Steve, here are the airbrushes I have used thus far for this build:

 

1. H&S Evolution with a large nozzle/needle to lay down the Mr Surfacer basecoat. I use this airbrush for large area work, e.g also clear coats. Also good for white and other paints that otherwise clogg easily.

2. Olympos* 100 HP100C for general but tighter work.

3. Olympos Micron 200C for the "touch-ups". The Vallejo paints tend to clogg this very sensitive airbrush very quickly, the very fine Gunze paints work well with the Micron... I won't be using Vallejo in combination with this airbrush again.

* Olympos are about equivalent to Iwata.

 

Cheers,

 

Marcel