SoftScience

I pulled down my Hobby Boss A-7 to see if kit bashing these two models would be feasible, and also to see why exactly the HB kit looks so funny. What it comes down to; really, is about 1mm at the ventral side. The hobbyboss kit is just a bit too flat. The Fujimi kit is the part sticking out from behind. Everything lines up except for the belly. This makes the intake flatter and wider looking. The Hobbyboss kit also taper much more in plan view, which makes the nose look pointier. And just for fun, here are the cockpits, side by side. The Fujimi cockpit is notably wider, and lacks any detail behind the seat, but has nice side panel details. Hobbyboss' seat is only marginally better. So a kit bash is likely out of the question. But the HB isn't as horribly disfigured as I thought it would be. Maybe I'll build them side by side. Just need to check if I have vietnam decals for the HB kit.

They were difficult to find in the US during the 80s and 90s. And greedy Marco Polo and MRC imports priced them so high that kids (like I was at the time) couldn't really afford them anyway. I've built a few since then (A-6, F-4K, F-14. A-4). I found them to be okay, but certainly not worth what Marco Polo and MRC were asking for them, 30+ years ago.

you and me, both! Thanks for the tip, Steve.

Hi there, Terry. Where in DE? I'm on the other side of The Bay from you.

Beautifully executed!

Thanks for the info, conehead. This kit is VERY basic, but at least the shapes look right. Maybe with a closed canopy, the basic seat provided will do. Or maybe I'll whip something up. We'll see. For now I glued the intake/chin parts to the fuselage halves. This should give me a cleaner join on the side than if I glued then together and then onto the completed fuselage. Easier to put a shim between two halves that it is to build up a potential stepped joint.

Hi folks, My next (and likely final) project for this build is this Fujimi A-7 in a Testors box. I used to absolutely adore Testors kits when I was young, and seeing these boxes really brings back some good memories. I bought this kit on ebay, and it came with a little surprise. I'm not sure what ejection seat was used on the a-7, but I don't think it's whatever this is. Can anybody help me out?

I wouldn't hold my breath for a 1/72 lightning from Tamiya. Too many people want one, so they won't do it. Seems to be their M.O.

Things got interesting at the wing. The upper wing has quite a large gap between it and the wing root. The wing is also about 0.25 mm thicker than the root. Sanding the flare at the end of the top wing as well as sanding along the joining surface, has flattened it sufficiently. Some styrene shimming should help it fit the root. We'll see of the other wing has the same problem. This being an SH kit, I'll wager the other wing has an entirely unique fit issue The upper wing has not been glued on yet, in this photo.

And here they are; parts, subassemblies, and complete. Not too tedious, as far as these sorts of things go.

I did trim some of the interior frame and helped. A tried to introduce a bit of curvature to the back piece, but as you say. It's thick and a bit on the brittle side.

Yeah, that's not great.

I know exactly what you mean. Some kits just call out to me to mess with them and improve them. This kit feels like each step is going to be a dare to see if I can make it through the steps without any issue. Like you, I've been slammed at work (and like you, I'm grateful to have work for getting slammed at) but with as frustrating as life has become, I want to minimize the frustration in my hobby. At least when it comes to spitfires, because once again, if this was a type I'm more into, I wouldn't mind screwing around with it a bit but enough rambling. Here is where I'm at today. the cockpit has been fitted and the out of box detail is fine. The fit of the fuselage halves wasn't great, but better than I expected. The fit of the lower wing was a bit worse. I just glued on the back for now, and I had to trim the cockpit sidewalls to get said back to fit. Unfortunately I think there may be a step between the back end of the part of the fuselage on the wing and the fuselage behind the wing. It was either step there or thick trailing edges at the wing root. We'll see after it dries and the tape comes off.

Balkans, seaplanes, and RS models. You ticked off three boxes on my "things I'm interested in right now" list. I'm very eager to see how this kit builds up.

That's really nice what you did there. Lately I've been finding myself feeling a bit more lazy about modeling. I kind of want the kit manufacturer to do the thinking for me. I don't know; modeling ennui, I suppose?