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This is my build of the Italeri 1/72 Grumman EA-6A Electric Intruder Electronic Counter Measures aircraft, with a little help from the Fujimi kit and a simple nose mod. Italeri and Fujimi are the only big plastic companies to kit the EA-6A (Tamiya does a rebox of the Italeri kit) . I read that the Fujimi kit was the "better" of the 2 fit and detail wise, but the Italeri kit comes with folding wings and was more accurate. To save shelf space I wanted to do one with folding wings. Wolfpack makes a resin set of folding wings for the Fujimi kit but it is out of production and impossible to find. My first plan was to use the Italeri wings on the Fujimi kit. But when I put them together I realized that the Italeri wings were wider in cord then the Fujimi ones. So I broke out my scale drawings* to see which, if either, was correct. It turns out that while the Italeri ones seem to be spot on The Fujimi ones were too narrow So now I decided to go with the Italeri kit. One of the issues with the Italeri kit is that it is basically their A-6 kit with some jamming pods and EA-6A decals. But the EA-6A has a longer nose then the standard A-6 so it could fit more ECM equipment, so the Italeri nose is too short by ~8 scale inches. I first thought that I would use the Fujimi nose, which is the correct length, but the contours didn't match the Italeri Fuselage, and it would have been difficult to get it to match, so I ended up using a styrene strip spacer with the Italeri nose. While I had the drawings out I also compared the 2 fuselages. What I fond was the The Italeri tail was a bit too small in cord While the Fujimi one was a better match So I removed the Italeri tail and used the Fujimi one. I also found out that both fuselages were too long behind the cockpit I cheated the Fujimi tail a little forward but I couldn't move it very much and didn't see a good way to fix it, so I just ignored it. Here it is after the mods One final problem was that both kits had ALQ-76 pods that looked more like the later ALQ-99 pods used on the EA-6B. The ALQ-76 pods have flat side while the ALQ-99 are much wider at the bottom then the top. I ended up filling the insides of the Italeri pods with super glue and then sanded then flat, I also somehow managed to loose the Italeri speed brakes. Luckily I had the Fujimi ones and they were close enough to use if posed open. Once the mods were done the build progressed smoothly. The Italeri decals where the basic markings while the Fujimi ones had all the little "No Step" and other stencils. Neither kits had stencils for the jamming pods. On the Fujimi decals the white in the stars and bars was more of a cream color while on the Italeri decals white was white. So I used a combination of both. After all that I am happy with the results. Next up is the Sword T-38 Talon. Enjoy * I used drawings from the Detail & Scale EA-6B (that covers the EA-6A too), and the Aerophile EA-6B & EA-6A books. The D&S drawings where done by @Dana Bell and I could not find out who did the Aerophile ones, maybe Mr. Bell did them also. They both agreed but that does not mean that they were right, but they were all I had so I used them. I am sure Italeri and Fujimi had drawings that they thought were correct.

This is Italeri's 1/72 North American F-100F kit build as a USAF Wild Weasel I. The F-100F was the first USAF SAM suppression aircraft in Viet Nam, but due to both performance and load carrying limitations they only lasted ~6 weeks and were soon replaced by the more capable, and successful F-105F and later the F-105G. There are basically 2 modern readily available kits of the F-100F; the Trumpeter and Italeri. The Trumpeter kit has serious shape errors with the fuselage but has positional slats, while the Italeri kit seems to be accurate shape wise but the slats are molded closed. On the real F-100 the slats are free floating and controlled by aerodynamic forces not hydraulics, so unless the ground crew tapes or wires them closed they will always be extended when on the ground. One idea would be to used the Trumpeter wings on the Italeri fuselage, but the Italeri wings have a one piece lower wing that fills in the lower fuselage while the Trumpeter kit has separate right and left wings that fit into the fuselage sides so that would have been difficult. Luckily Blackbird Models makes an F-100F wings set for the Italeri kit with positional slats and flaps and I was able to snag a set. They were not quite as drop in as I had hoped. The center sections was just a little narrower then the Italeri fuselage but this was easily corrected with some sanding and filling. Another issues with them is that while the Italeri wing has slots for the pylon placement the Blackbird wings 2 hole for each pylon. The set comes with replacement pylon with pins for the holes, but no alignment pins or humps for the fuel tanks or ordnance. I ended up using the Italeri pylons and surface mounting them. The blackbird set also came with main landing gear legs which I used. One wing had a lot of flash between the slat actuators and the other did not. The instructions say to leave the flash on as long as possible to protect the actuators from being Broken off. I did this sure enough I broke 5 of the actuators on the side with no flash and didn't break any on the side with the flash. There are several small but important difference between the stock F-100F and the Wild Weasel version and I used @TheRealMrEd's excellent WIP article at as my guide to making these changes, only with less skill. I made the following 4 changes to make this closer to a Wild Weasel Added cooling intake to the vertical tail. Beefed up the vertical tail fairing and added the APR-26 antenna Added the APR-25 antenna under the nose Added some blade antennas I used the excellent Caracal 72071 decal sheet which gave me no trouble. So after all that, here it is: Next up is another ECM aircraft the Hasegawa EKA-3 Skywarrior with the Wolfpack folding wings. Enjoy.

This is my build of the Hasegawa 1/72 Boeing EA-18G Growler ECM aircraft. For this build I also used the Wolfpack flaps down wings and their cockpit interior. I would not have bothered with the interior, but the kit, wings and interior came as a package off of Ebay so since I had it I may as will use it. The Hasegawa kit is excellent and any issues I had with it were of my own making. The Wolfpack interior is nice, but the instructions it came with were totally lacking in guidance on how to install it in the fuselage. There is some minor surgery needed to the kit but no mention of it in the instructions. Below is what I needed to cut away: Once done the front and rear cockpit tubs fit well with minor sanding. This is the third F/A-18 variant I have built and the third set of Wolfpack wings, once on the Hasegawa F/A-18F and once on the Academy F/A-18C. As in both those previous cases they were a drop in replacement for the kit wings with no need to make any modifications to the kit fuselage. The only recommendation I would make is to wait as long as possible to attach the rear flaps. This will minimize the number of times you will have to reattach them since they are only held on by 4 very tiny attachment points and are fragile. The decals were very complete with a full set of stencils and were excellent to use. There are markings for VAQ-129 and VAQ-132. I planned on doing the markings for VAQ-129 which didn't require painting the tail. However, one of the squadron marking rolled up into an unrecoverable ball when I applied MicroSol to it and I was forced to switch to the more colorful VAQ-132 markings which did require me to paint the tail, setting me back several days. But ii does have a rather striking appearance. There was one other unsolved issue. After decaling I usually rinse off the kit to get rid of any solvent residue. This time water has made its way into the cockpit clouding the canopy. I tried several strategies to get it out, but none worked. I can only hope that if it found its way in, it will finds it way to evaporate out over time. If I haven't bored you too much here are the pictures: Next up is the Grand Models' Beech T-6 Texan II Enjoy

SPS-141 ECM pod for MiG-21 (672195) 1:72 Eduard Brassin The SPS-141 ECM pod was a Soviet designed POD for protection from both air and ground threats. The POD was designed to automatically affect the missile guidance head once it had launched and locked on to the aircraft. The pilot had to manually select the most probable threats in order of priority. It is reported that the Iraqis used the pod in numbers during the Iran/Iraq war and that no aircraft carrying it was lost. This set contains the 2 part pod, pylon, and two horn antennas. Also included is the pods control panel to fit in the cockpit. The casting is up to Eduard's high standards. A small decal sheet is provided for the markings. Review sample courtesy of

AN/ALQ-184 ECM Pod (Short) (672169) 1:72 Eduard Brassin The 184 pod is an Electronic Countermeasures & Electronic warfare Pod designed to provide an aircraft with a dgree of self protection against radar threats. Its modualr design allows for multiple frequency band capabilities, the pod is available in two & three band configurations. As usual with Eduard's resin sets, they arrive in the plastic box , with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts. The set includes a one piece pod with a small sheet of marking decals. This is a highly detailed unit and recommended if you want to add some protection to your chosen kit. Review sample courtesy of

C-46ECM JASDF Electronic Warning Training Aircraft PLATZ 1:144 The design for the Curtiss C-46 Commando was originally intended for the civil airliner industry, however its capability for high altitude flight, with pressurised cabin and freight space, plus the large load carrying ability it was soon identified as ideal for the military needs of transporting troops and logistics. The design of the C-46 was not trouble free and was there were constant series of modifications and version changes in order to try and overcome some of the major deficiencies. One such problem was the unexplained, at the time, losses of aircraft or those that exploded whilst in flight, which weren't really overcome until after WW2. The early versions C-46 Commandos had enlarged side door facility which allowed for the loading of abnormal loads, including Jeeps etc., but later versions such as the C-46D reverted to a single side door as typical for parachute drops. Post war many of the later versions of the C-46 were sold out to commercial interests, however some were sold on to developing nations for their military requirements. One such country was Japan, with the establishment of the Japanese Self Defence Force (JSDF) in 1954, who purchased 48 C-46D Commando transports between 1955 and 1957. The JASDF C-46D transports remained in Japanese military service for many years and until their own, domestically produced, transport the Kawasaki C1 entered production in 1975. Most of the JASDF C-46D's were retired out of service after that but three were kept in service; 91-1140, 91-1143 and 91-1145, and in 1973 were converted for Electronic Warfare (EW) training roles for which they operated between 1973 and 1978. These airframes were redesignated C-46ECM however all three were externally different from each other, most notably in the shape of nose-radomes and antenna fits. Of these three ECM variants, two have been preserved and are on display at air museums in Japan: 91-1143 (ex USA Bu No 43-47222) is on display at the Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park. 91-1145 (ex US Bu No 43-47328) is on display at the JASDF Iruma Airbase. The Kit The box is a sturdy, if somewhat large for this scale kit, lid and base design which does allow for stacking in the stash without fear of crushing. As I mentioned, the box is more 14 inches (36cm) wide and typical of a small 1:48 model rather than a 1:144 kit. The box underside contains colour art work for the colour call-outs,the decal positioning and also includes the relevant FS numbers in order to match your particular model companies paints to. Inside the box we find three sprues, in light grey plastic, holding the main aircraft components of fuselage, wings, engines etc. A futher clear sprue contains the canopy plus a clear 'bomb-aimer' style front canopy; the use of which would be dependent upon the version of C-46ECM you build. The fuselage is produced with fine engraved panel lines that look just about right to be still visible after a coat of primer and topcoat. The windows are depicted as solid indentations in the fuselage, however PLATZ has catered for this by providing neat little grey window decals. Looking at the jointing elements for the fuselage halves, this kit has rectangular male and female stubs, as opposed to circular ones on other producers kits, and this looks to allow for a more secure alignment when assembling the fuselage. The cockpit consists of a deck-piece, with intergral pilot's seats and instrument panel, and two control columns which should be adequate as visibilty into this tight space would be very limited. The engine cylinders are constructed as separate components from the cowling covers and this should be very beneficial when it comes to painting and detailing these tiny parts. There side covers are also moulded separately and, although there is no side engine/cylinder detail, this possibly could allow for a scenario with the covers open? The main undercarriage system consists of four pieces; the main strut, support calipers, wheel and tyre. Separating items into constituent components is excellent for painting as it minimises the chances of overpaint onto adjacent components. Looking at the main struts, they are very fine indeed and care may be needed not to snap them as they are removed from the sprue; plus they may be a tad fragile once assembled, even with the attached support calipers. The tail wheel assembly has been produced as a single entity and is a much sturdier unit. Interestingly, there are some hard points/hinges visible on the fuselage port side, between the nose and wing root, that are not obvious in photos I've seen on the web. At the rear of the fuselage, the hardpoints for the ladder to the cargo doors are also slightly more pronounced than need be and could benefit from sanding down slightly. The next Sprue has the wings, tail planes and wheel bay doors. Again, the panel lines look just right as are the small fillet extensions on the tail planes ailerons. These first two sprues appear to contain all the parts needed to make a basic C-46D Commando so, in effect, there are choices to make one of four variants of the C-46 in this kit. The third sprue is the extra sprue which contains the elements to make up the ECM variants; including a separate nose section, for use if modelling either 91-1145 or 91-1140, and all the ECM antenna pods and aerials for all three ECM aircraft. It would appear that only 91-1143 retained the original nose section (with the exception of the clear bomb-aimer type canopy) and therefore, if you are not building that one, this part of the fuselage needs to be cut away with a fine saw and a new nose section, shown below, has to replace it. The inside of the fuselage has a cut-out area prepared to ensure the new nose is attached correctly. The final sprue contains the clear glazing for the canopy and also the small window which fits at the front on 91-1143. If you were to build the basic C-46 Commando version then this clear front would just need to be painted over to look like and intergral part of the nose section. As I mentioned earlier, although all three aircraft have the designation C-46D ECM, they are each visually different in their shape and antenna fit. Care needs to be taken in ensuring the correct components are used in your build and PLATZ has been helpful here by providing profile views of each aircraft in the instruction sheets. Examples from the instruction sheet, describing the differences is shown below: 91-1143 has the least amount of changes with only the 'bomb-aimers' style front glazing and a few antennas to be added to the fuselage. This is also the version which could possibly be built as the basic C-46D Commando, by painting the glazing in the same colour as the rest of the fuselage and leaving off the antenna points. 91-1145 would require the front of the fuselage to be cut away with a fine saw and the new nose from sprue 3 to be attached and the join filled etc. Once the nose is installed then the relevent nose radome would need to be fitted along with all the antenna points as shown in the profile below. 91-1140 as seen in the profile view below, would also need to have the surgury done to it as 91-1145 but the smaller radome being fitted and the correct antenna points added. DECALS Once the kit has been assembled and painted then the decals would be attached and these variants were very colourful hi-viz aircraft. The bright red nose and fuselage bands have been provided as decals, thereby removing the need to mask off and spray those awkwardly shaped areas. In addition, there are pre-shaped cut outs for the windows and canopy, plus an additional canopy frame decal (35B or 37B) if wishing to match all the windows and not use the clear glazing part. The remainder of the decal sheet contains high and low vis warning signage and Squadron tail flash, walkway runs and the Hinomaru (red nationality disks) of the Japanese Self Defence Force; and altogether makes a comprehensive set of decals for a 1:144 scale model aircraft. Conclusion This is a very colourful and interesting aircraft and I am very please to see a plastic kit of this aircraft being produced to 1:144 scale. Although PLATZ has produced a C-46D Commando as a separate kit (No. PD-21) I suspect that all the parts to make up a C-46D Commando, with the exception of relevant decals, are contained within this kit so that is an added bonus. I think the undercarriage is really good however, because it looks accurately thin, it may just be a bit fragile when holding up this model. The panel lines look just right and the choice to build one of three versions allows for some interesting build variations. I may just have to get more of these to make up all three, or even four, versions. Review sample courtesy of