Fisher A-1E Conversion - Couple of Questions

[John1]

Title says it all lads. 

 

Wondering if there are any decals out there for a 1/32 A-1E.   I actually have no preference, USN / USMC / USAF are fine. 

 

What is optimum for the donor kit?   I assume the Trumpy A-1J but could I get by with the Korean War versions?  What about the ZM kit?  

[ScottsGT]

Got a kit without decals?  Caracal did the design work, maybe reach out to him to see if he might have a set laying around? If not, I had to use some generic decals for my Cougar since the decals were brittle and falling apart when I tried to use them. Might have to go this route. 

I built the guppy and from memory, it’s basically the engine, wing, horizontal stabilizers and landing gear used from the kit.  It would be a big waste to use a ZM kit as a donor. Any of the Trumpeters will work, but when I started shopping for a donor kit I think I read something about one version has armor plating that shouldn’t be there on my version.  Sorry I cannot give more details.  

[Oldbaldguy]

I think Paul said either Spad donor works but the Trumpeter kit works a little better.  The ZM kit gives you way more plastic than you’ll need and costs more.  All the Trumpeter Spads are pretty much the same, so any you can find will do because you will use mostly just the wings, gear, horizontal stabs and maybe a couple of other parts. The A-1E used the same underwing pylons and stores racks found on all later Spads and these parts along with the correct drop tanks come in all the Trumpeter kits no matter which one you get.  Decals?  Don’t know,  but it shouldn’t be too hard to cobble up whatever you want - most E models were pretty plain and were painted glossy sea blue, light gull gray or were camoed, depending on when they were flown and by whom.  The Navy had a handful that had brighter coloring, but not many.  If you go off into the weeds with some of the different versions like the EA-1E, then you’ll have to come up with colors for specific squadrons.  Personally, I like dark blue airplanes, but for some reason the GSB in combination with the blue tinted canopy on the E model gives me a headache.  There is more in the aft cabin than you’d think, so some scratch building will be in order.  Tommy’s Tailhook Blog site has some really good information on A-1Es and Spads in general.

[paul fisher]

Your best and lowest cost solution is to use the Trumpeter AD-4 Korean War kit, the conversion is really designed for it , using the ZM kit is a major adventure and a big waste of money as said above.You'll want to get the nifty corrected propeller for Roy Sutherland at Barracuda Studios.

 

Also remember to put a .040" sheet plastic shim between the wingroot and the fuselage to correct the excessive dihedral of the Trumpy wings, it makes a huge difference in getting the proper look.I can't help with the decal issue, but scrounging up the right stuff should be possible.The kits all came with decals for multiple aircraft so perhaps someone who built their model has some leftovers?

 

good luck!

[thierry laurent]

Why not getting the AoA decals for the SVNAF single seaters? The "fat face" airframes had close to identical markings and the sets are easy to get.