Based on the Successful A-8 Crusader, but "shrunk down" to fulfil the light attack function instead of the then ageing Sykhawk, the Corsair enjoyed a long career with the US armed forces that spanned Vietnam to the first Gulf War, with the final units being drawn down in 1991 shortly after their return from that conflict.

During its period of service, the Corsair went through a number of versions, with the current kit a Navalised development of the A-7D built for the USAF. It therefore shared its single M61 Vulcan cannon and advanced terrain following radar with the air force version.

The kit arrives in HobbyBoss' usual top-loader box, with quite a selection of sprues, although not rammed to the gunwales. There are 4 sprues of grey styrene for the airframe itself and a further 5 for the wide range of ordnance that the SLUF could carry. The clear parts are on three small sprues, presumably to allow for the two-seater canopy to utilise the windscreen parts. There is a seam down the middle of the canopy that will need removing, and at first you wonder why, as the sides of the canopy seem fairly straight. On closer inspection however, there is a small amount of bulge at the top of the front of the canopy, necessitating a multi-part mould.



The intake lip is separate from the fuselage, and doesn't have quite the correct profile, instead being a little flattened at the bottom, and consequentially either too wide, or appearing too wide due to the changed proportions. A certain amount of adjustment could be made by judicious sanding, but it would be best fixed by a replacement intake lip. The two gun trough lip is also included in the box to confuse matters, due to the modular breakdown of the kit.



Each fuselage half is a one-piece moulding (ignoring the intake lip), which has two open avionics bays on the sides, which are sometimes seen open during periods of inactivity. The cockpit tub is well detailed for all but the most demanding, although the ejector seat is a little simple due to its one-piece design - another slightly different seat is supplied, so be careful which one you choose. Decals are provided for the instrument panel and side consoles should you wish to apply them over the raised detail already provided.

The nosegear bay is built as part of the intake trunking, which it should be noted does not provide full depth. It simply finishes at the front of the main wheel bays. It may be sensible to blank this off, as although it's unlikely anyone will see the lack of turbine face, there could be a little light to illuminate the interior if you've not closed every join 100%. At the rear is an inch long section of exhaust trunking, which is blanked off with a part engraved with a simulation of the afterburner ring - again, only the nosey would venture there.

Before closing up the fuselage, the interior around the exhaust will need a lick of interior green paint, as there's quite a gap around the exhaust.

The wings are provided without the possibility of folding them from the box, which is an odd choice, given the aircraft's use. The wing underside parts only extend as far as the hinge-line, and it will be necessary to punch through 6 flashed off location holes if you intend to add the nicely detailed pylons and their separate sway braces. Flaps are separate, so could be dropped, but the stabilators are moulded in place on the single thickness outer panel, so would have to be mobilised if you wish to portray the aircraft with flying surfaces deployed.



The landing gear provided is functional, but would benefit from the addition of some brake-lines to busy them up. The tyres are moulded without weighed flats, and be careful to choose the rather bumpy looking nose-gear tyres, as you have a choice of smooth or - from the looks of it, cross-country!

It's rare that a kit's armament sprues outnumber the airframe sprues, but as usual HobbyBoss provide plenty.

2x Fuel Tanks
1 x FLIR pod
12 x Mk.82 Bombs
12 x Mk.20 Cluster Bombs
6 x AGM-65 Mavericks (single or triple mounting)
2 x AIM-9L Sidewinders
2 x GBU-10 Paveway II Bombs



Do however check your references to decide whether the weapons were used, and if so, typically on which pylons.

A full color A4 painting guide is included, with additional instructions for painting and decaling the ordnance.

The two schemes you can model from the kit decals are colourful, as follows:

• 159308/403 of VA-86 Sidewinders on USS Nimitz 1975 in grey over white with orange accents.
• 157523/402 VA-195 Dambusters 1982 in a fetching dusky blue over dark ghost grey and lo-viz markings.

The decals are provided on three sheets, with national markings and stencilling separate to the rather bright orange stripes and chequers of the hi-viz scheme. The third decal sheet is provided purely to add stencils and striping to the ordnance. All of the decals are crisply printed and in perfect register on my copy, and color rendition is especially vibrant for the hi-viz markings. I do rather like HB's current habit of taping one side of the protective waxy paper to each sheet, as it stops you from losing them, but still allows you full access to the decals for planning and ogling purposes.



Conclusion
This kit should provide an easy build for the average modeller, and the shape issue with the intake lip shouldn't put you off unduly. The inclusion of a couple of rather colourful schemes and a host of weaponry should result in an impressive addition to your display cabinet.

Review sample courtesy of

Looks pretty good. May have get some of these.

Thanks for the review, Mike.

Does this kit have the same forward fuselage shape issues that the 1/72 HB kit has? The forward fuselage on the 1/72 kit is so wide as to make the whole thing a caricature of the real aircraft. The canopy looks like it should be on a F-111. I actually put a canopy from a Fujimi A-7 inside the HB canopy and it rattled around a bit!

Looking at the photos of the parts, it seems to me that the radome is far too small and pointed, similar to the 1/72 kit. The radome should be broad and blunty.

The two seats are not for the two seaters, the air force 'D' (which most of the bits are there in the refueling recepticle on the fuselage sprue) and the 'E' had a differant seat than did the early Navy versions. The one on the left is an Escapac seat that the early SLUFs had.

Also if you are wanting accurate tanks for the SLUF, take a look at your Hobbycraft and Hasegawa A-4 kits, those are Aero 300 gal tanks, the same as those used on the SLUF - except that the A-7 ones had a third fin that was on the bottom of the tank's tail end. Since the kit does have that part you can add it to the Scooter tanks. I figure those looking at the A-7s will probably have A-4s in thier stash or spares in thier weapons locker somewhere. I think I have 12 tanks I have accumulated over the years.

But something else to remember about early A-7s (Vietnam era) was that Navy birds often did not use the tanks, except during use as a tanker asset with a buddy pack under the outer left wing. It was as a result of even the early A-7s having a very good radius of action compared to many carrier based aircraft. A-7Ds during this period did often carry them as it was a longer flight from the bases in Thailand than from carriers in the Tonkin Gulf. In the 80's and later the tanks were more common.