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North American RA-5C Vigilante (Revell 1/72)


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Hello modellers!
Yesterday have finished this 1/72 North American RA-5C Vigilante more than 25 years after I started it!. It´s from the old Revell kit that came out in 1989. I bought it when it was available in the shop and immediately started to build it as there wasn´t such a huge stash to choose from! Unfortunately the canopy fell from the workbench and while searching for the part, I stepped on it and it broke to pieces. As it was caused by my on stupidity, I never asked for a spare part and I lost motivation for the project until I formed a new windshield for the Cessna Skymaster, shared some weeks ago  and I remembered this candidate from the shelf of doom! Except for the small nose landing gear door, the kit was complete and I decided to finish it. Originally planned as a quick build, I discovered several areas that needed improvements. According to my references, I extended the wing roots, modified the air intakes, undercarriage, wheels and exhaust nozzles with sprue, rod and styrene sheet. As the pins of the elevators were broken of, I replaced them by brass tubing and nails with the additional benefit of making them movable as well as the arrestor hook. The visible parts of the cockpit were also detailed and a Hasegawa pilot added. The camera pod was improved with pieces of clear plastic and the camera lenses got a drop of sparkling nail laquer which I have discovered together with some nail art rhinestones in the lady´s beauty hardware store. From these are the taxi light and the red beacons. The pitot tube is from brass tubing and silver rod. Paints used were enamels from Humbrol and Revell, sealed with Gauzy Shine Enhancer and Tamiya acrylic semigloss clear for the finish. The decals worked surprisingly well after all these years. Originally I wanted to use the white decals for the tail fin, but compared to the rest of the plane, the yellowing was too obvious. So I masked the areas, oversprayed the decals and printed new black tail codes and numbers. Finally I decided to use the tanks and pylons for the better look although I learned from my references that they were never used operationally as their drag consumed exactely the amount of fuel they carried!
Hope you like the Vigilante and Happy Easter days

Mario

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Edited by Mario
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Hi Uncle Mario!!!!

 

Congratulations for this wonderful build!!!...or can call it a Resurrection????

 

Its nice and refreshing to watch finished those kits that were by some things neglected and a little condemned to be consigned as time  goes by to the "Spares Boneyard" revamped, retouched and well  embelished!!! 

 

This is one of the benefits of the curiousity, ingenuity and inventive you have, as our "Cousins of the North" say ussually: "One thing leads to another"...the discovery for the Vaccum Former Maker and two projects before marked the gold chance to have a nice built kit that, even after 25 years in the limbo trying to be a "Quick Build Project" , emerged as a true beauty that so well built as your nice kit, have NOTHING TO ENVY to the newcomer kits of this aircraft now in the market.

 

Have watched this project since the start in this modern times, and have enjoyed the advances you have done with this one and enjoyed the new finds and additions to things normally used by girls with "Modeling Aplications" and really all the process was amazing!!!

 

Thank you very much for sharing,

 

Cheers,

 

Luis Alfonso

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Brilliant model of a very interesting aircraft.

I have read, that this kit of the Vigilante was the model that the Russians just up scaled to 1/1, to get so data from about the real aircraft , and helped them with the Mig 25, project, it's a good story, apparently all modern equipment is not perfect because of this practice 😎

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Hello Mario.

Nice build on this large carrier based aircraft.

Regards, Orion / The Netherlands.

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Thank you for all the positive comments! Very much appreciated!

 

17 hours ago, Gerrardandrews said:

Brilliant model of a very interesting aircraft.

I have read, that this kit of the Vigilante was the model that the Russians just up scaled to 1/1, to get so data from about the real aircraft , and helped them with the Mig 25, project, it's a good story, apparently all modern equipment is not perfect because of this practice 😎

Sounds very interesting! Only knew the similar case of Italeri´s F-19 Stealth Fighter back in the eighties. Don´t know if the 1/72 Vigilante kit is that old but remember Revell also had a 1/100 model of the bomber version. I built it when I was a child.

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Lovely! I remember getting this kit as a Christmas present from my parents back in the day! It's actually a nicely done kit with recessed panel lines. Finished it with paint brush. Grey and semigloss black was enough. I remember being happy with the result :lol:

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Thank you Steve, Knight_Flyer and Cheezburger for the comments. Have also built the Airfix Vigilante before and was quite happy with the recessed panel lines of this one.

Cheers,

              Mario

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Great looking Vigilante Mario, and a nice save from the shelf of doom- almost like getting the kit all over again. I've always had a soft spot for the Vigilante after ruining this very kit as a boy- nice to see it it done properly :)    Cheers, Dave

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Hello,Mario - I've been looking forward to my next visit to Kempen Airbase!😀

My full compliments to you on another superbly built and finished subject.

The 'Vigilante' is a very imposing aircraft and so is this splendid model and tribute to the type.Great work as always,my friend.

😉👍 All the very best,Paul.

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I've always liked the Vigilante since my late grandparents bought me the Airfix kit one Christmas (Roy Cross simple but beautiful box art helped too).  You've chosen a beautifully simple colour scheme there and who cares if the tanks have more drag than Danny la Rue?  The jet simply looks like it really means business.

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Nice job, Mario!

 

I like how you rehabilitated it when you retrieved it from the shelf of doom. Good on you for adding the late-build leading edge root extensions too. They're rather prominent in photos but with the exception of the Trumpeter kit, all other 72nd Vigilantes depict the early configuration.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

david

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Thank you very much Dave, Paul, stever 219 and David for the nice comments.

Have developed a kind of soft spot for these hopeless cases as somehow always pick my projects from the shelf of doom instead of the stash! Regarding the tanks, I hesitaded quite a while. As I wanted a realistic model had already filled the holes in the wings but later re-opened them as the Airfix model with the tanks on the shelf looked far more spectacular!

Cheers,

                Mario

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Vigilant is so elegant machine... Your is very nice indeed.

Many years ago I did one by Airfix, but then I reduced my interest to years '35-'45 and she went to people....

Cheers

J-W

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Thats a great saving from the shelf of doom. Looks fantastic :)

25 years is not really like just purchased, guess this kit is nowadays quite rare.

Well done !:thumbsup:

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Hi Bernd!

Thank you for the kind reply! As always very much appreciated. Believe it or not: The mishap made me buy a second kit which rests in my stash complete and with undamaged canopy!

Have a nice evening

                               Mario

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