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Trumpeter 1/32 A7E Corsair II


AndyL

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At last I have got my hands on my kit for this GB, and it's a monster! 22 sprues, nearly 700 parts, with white metal u/c legs, and a PE fret. In fact 12 of those sprues are weaponry alone. I couldn't resist taping the fuselage halves togther to show just how big this beastie is...

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Rest of the sprues and decal sheets...

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Looks like I'm plumping for the VA-192 option with the yellow flash on the tail. The aim of this build is to ideally have it on the table at Yeovilton on Feb 14th. So, I have three weeks. I may just do it OOB, apart from some RBF tags, and a small etched fret from Eduard to tart the ejection seat up. These items have been ordered from Hannants today, so in the meantime, I'll be cracking on with building up weapons, wings, u/c bays etc. Going to be fun :)

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Oh nice one Andy! I got this for Xmas, so will be watching this with great Interest!! Let us know what the Eduard Bang seat spruce up kit is like as i was looking at them and wasn't sure or not!

Good luck with her

Adam

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Andy you lucky :tapedshut:

Nice kit, It is one I really want in my stash!

Looking forward to watching your build,

Dave

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Right, a bit of progress...

Built the u/c bays up, just need to add the piping supplied with the kit, assembled the intake and front u/c bay. This needs a a couple of 5 thou plasticard inserts to cover the horrible join lines at the front and back of the bay wall.

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Built the upper wing sections and external fuel tanks too. One of the tanks didn't fullu form in the mould at the rear, but nothing that a little milliput won't cure. The flap assembly isn't too good at the trailing edge...one again milliput will sort it out.

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Will finish off and paint the bays later today, and assemble more underwing stores.

Thanks for looking.

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Good stuff Andy, you're a mentalist trying to get this one done in 3 weeks though! :mental::lol:

I'll be following this one with much interest :)

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Progress of sorts...built the AGM-62A's and the underwing tanks, primed the u/c bays and fitted them to the fuselage. I currently have a pile of bits (60 in fact) which will eventually turn into a pile of MK82 iron bombs. The avionics bays are fitted, but will be totally closed up. Have also assembled and painted the cockpit coaming too.

The hardest part has been assembling the wings - I think the kits is more or less engineered to be built with the wings folded, even though the instructions give the option of the locked in the flight position. To get them to fit, I had to break out the sanding sponges, and remove all the moulded detail on the inserts which go into the main wing section tips. This simulates part of the wing structure and wing fold mechanism, but in practice fouls the area to be glued. After much sanding, and opening the hinges with a file, I got them to fit.

Looks like my efforts to get this ready for the table at Yeovilton on Feb 14th will go to nothing, inasmuch that I am waiting for two etched frets from Hannants, and if they don't come by Wednesday, then it's a no go. I mean, two etched frets from Lowestoft to Reading...how long can that take, eh?

To make matters worse, my back up plan was to take my F104 from the JASDF GB if the A7 didn't make it. While moving it, guess who dropped the bloody thing! Wiped off the tail, rudder, pitot probe (which has disappeared somewhere!)u/c doors and snapped the nose u/c leg. I'm keeping away from any more model making today, lest I totally feck anything else up.

Will post some up to date pictures soon.

Regards

Andy

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Rich,

They just came unstuck in the impact :blush:

F104's sat on the bench looking rather forlorn, but I'll repair it tomorrow. I noticed I've put a small crack in the canopy too...if it gets to Yeovilton, it'll go at the back of the table, as some JMN will point that out :lol:

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Hey Andy, i have the Victory Productions sheet with a LOT of options on, I be using the VA-25 markings but there is still,

VA-195 1971 Light Gull Grey/White

VA-146 1972 ""

VA-147 1972 """"

VA-46 1991 Dark Ghost Grey

VA-72 1991 "" ""

I don't mind sending you one of the options as i won't be using them. let me know.

the sheet

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  • 3 weeks later...

Apologies for not spotting this sooner, Simon. Thanks for the offer but I'm going to go with one of the options that came with the box.

Anyway, I'd lost my modelling mojo over the past few days, mainly due to not being able to get to Yeovilton. However, I dragged out the box and did a bit more, mainly to the cockpit so I can get the fuselage halves all closed up.

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I knew my model assembling skills couldn't do the cockpit justice, so I cheated with an Eduard pre painted set for it and the seat. The seat is just resting in the tub, as I still have to add some small etch to it...well, the small etch that I haven't lost yet :lol:

All the small bits on the seat were affixed using Klear, the rest of the PE in the cockpit good old CA. Next stop the fuselage halves!

Thansk for looking

Edited by AndyL
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  • 3 weeks later...

Progress so far...

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The build has been hard work...the fuselage halves were slightly warped, and it became obvious that you really need to get the intake trunking located in the slots correctly too. The fit around the airbrake and intake is pretty poor, though all things considered, it may be my lack of skill! However, much sanding beckons.

The wing section is dry fitted in, and will need sanding to get it to fit correctly. But it's on the backburner in favour of the A4.

Thanks for looking

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  • 3 months later...

Nice work so far Andy, I really like this kit as well. The Victory sheet is excellent, my Corsair will be from VA-195, love those markings.

Keep up the good work

Joel

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oooh i'm building one of these too lost my mojo on it so far its been an 6 month project

wearing me out a bit now

lets see yours matey . it might kick start me again

PLEASE :frantic:

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Cheers Karl! Much appreciated!

Will be posting some more pics later this weekend - have since glued the wing section to the fuselage, and I'm trying to address the join lines front and aft of the insert. The avionics bay doors were hard to fit - and the more I've done of this, the more I think Trumpeter designed it to be primarily displayed with wings folded and bay doors open. I had to sand most of the detail off the inner faces to get them to sit in the respective areas.

In hindsight, the cockpit looks nice, but in this scale, it's either leave it as it is, or go for the Aires set

I've been faffing about trying to fix the clear glazing into the canopy frame, and found it to be a bit of an awkward fit, only sorted by clear PVA, Tamiya tape and and locking tweezers. Am now currently sticking loads of sway braces to pylons before getting a load of Mk82's ready for paint, then a bit of masking for the final goat of light gull grey.

Thanks for looking.

Andy

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Some progress...

While trying to address the intake, bearing in mind the kit has horrible seams down the inside of the one supplied (and I suppose a resin seamless one would be the way to go) I decided to put covers in the intake and burner end. I went and bought an Oasis block from a florists, and armed with a scalpel and contour gauge, came up with this. They look a tad rough, but that's because they're covered in glue, drying, ready to tidy up with a sanding stick prior to painting.

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Cockpit - all I need to do is glue the seat and rails in place, and the front part of the canopy. The fit leaves a gap which I'll fill with PVA.

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Am now running out of room...1/32 kits this size = need for a new bench!

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Thanks for looking.

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