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Hi everybody, this is my first in progress-thingy on this fine site - the Trumpeter RA-5C Vigilante. It's a great kit, looks fab. I am planning to build it mostly out of the box but anything could happen. It's quite pricey if you can find one and looks like just the sort of thing I can botch beyond belief, which is why I was afraid to touch it. I am going to try and take my time building it, rather than hacking through it at my usual pace, cos it's for my dad, who is a great bloke and served in the Navy for 25 years. He got me into modelling as a kid and the Vigilante is his all-time favourite plane - he remembers one blasting past his ship (HMS Blake) at below deck level on Exercise Midlink 74 while they were in the Indian Ocean with USS Constellation. So - the version I am building uses Aeromaster decals for a RVAH-11 Vigi on board Constellation in 1975. I will also be using some artistic licence to correct some egregious Trumpy errors, but it won't be an exact replica or whatever. Here's what's in the box, plus a set of Aeromaster decals: This is a little something I spotted while looking for Revell 1/72 U-boat accessories - a Nautilus Models wooden brace for the slightly mis-fitting fuselage halves: Let's see how this thing turns out...

Hello friends! 🤝 Just looked at the @Alan P‘s resurrected thread and decided to post some pictures of my Vigilante. I bought this kit some time ago for my friend and feel no rush to build it - just putting some bits together from time to time... The box is large and sturdy: And all the details are well-packed there: The Runner A contains the two fuselage halves (very big, I must say): The wings and protected intakes are on a Runner B: The Runner C with control surfaces: And D with a pylons: The Runner E contains wheel wells and the cockpit details: And the two Runners G is for the engines and some other parts: The clear Runner H, the tail and ventral canoe are packed in a separate plastic bags within a separate cardboard box: An instruction and the painting sheets with a protected decals is also here: The top box cover is already employed by my Wool Companion: And some parts are off the trees: I want to make as much little subassemblies as possible to speed up the build... As you can see, the seats are already glued and wheels already dry-fitted: The plastic is very good and the fit is well, too. Thanks for looking! 🙂

Joining you with this kit, from a choice of many. Bought at a show a Coventry Air Museum in 2002, for £3. All parts are removed from sprues, - I hope they're all present. I've built this kit previously, in 1988.

The North American A-5/RA-5 Vigilante W.I.P. by Andrii Dzhuran, Revell kit 1/72 History: The rapid evolution of aircraft design in the 1950s led to new aircraft types with sleek lines and impressive performance. One such aircraft was the North American A-5/RA-5 "Vigilante". The Vigilante was designed as a carrier-based strategic nuclear bomber, but would see action over Vietnam as a fast reconnaissance aircraft. In the postwar period, the US Navy was determined to obtain a nuclear strike capability, first acquiring the North American AJ "Savage" and Douglas A-3 "Skywarrior" bombers. These were both subsonic aircraft, and since aircraft design was evolving quickly at the time, both soon became obsolete for the missions for which they had originally been designed. The new aircraft was originally referred to as the "North American General Purpose Attack Weapon" and later given the company designation of "NA-233". After discussions with the Navy, the NAA-233 concept took shape as a twin-engine aircraft with advanced combat avionics, Mach 2 performance, and an interesting "linear bomb bay" in which a nuclear weapon was popped out the tail to give the aircraft a better chance of escaping the atomic blast. North American engineers also considered fitting the aircraft with an auxiliary rocket engine powered by jet fuel and hydrogen peroxide for an additional burst of speed over the target area -- but the Navy didn't like the idea of handling a nasty, toxic, reactive, and unstable substance like hydrogen peroxide on board a ship, and so it didn't happen. The Vigilante was long and sleek, with a relatively small high-mounted swept-back wing, and all-moving slab tailplanes and tailfin. The aircraft had tricycle landing gear, with the main gear retracting into the fuselage. All three gear had single wheels and retracted forward, with the main gear rotating 90 degrees during retraction to fit into the wheel wells. The Vigilante was powered by twin General Electric YJ79-GE-2 engines, with engine bays made mostly of titanium, and covered with gold film to reflect heat. The aircraft had a large fuel capacity to give it long range and permit extended flight in afterburner. This period of history is interesting to me. Also, you might be interested. My new build in the WIP chapter “The North American A-5/RA-5 Vigilante” by Revell`s old kit begins with: Day 1 - Review of the kit; - Instructions study;

North American RA-5C VIGILANTE Warpaint Series No.97 It was a pleasant surprise for me when I found that Guideline Publications had brought out the North American RA-5C Vigilante in their Warpaint series. It is produced by Charles Stafrace and is compiled in what is now their easily recognised and highly respected format of high resolution photo cover and with an average of 62 pages of text, photos, illustrations and pull-out general arrangement plans to 1:72 scale. This volume, which is number 97 in the series, is produced to Guidelines' excellent standards with a fine mix of historical narrative and interspersed with beautifully illustrated profile drawings by Richard J. Caruana; plus sheets of informative data on versions, units and air-wings, including their deployments. This aircraft is one of those from the era of hi-vis colour markings and the book is a boon for those modellers who wish to finish their Vigilante build with colourful unit and wing markings. Having said that, the Vigilante could be classed as a bit of an odd-ball in that it had many 'first of type' features but also had an unpopular record with its crews. As Charles states in his introductory paragraph "The North American RA-5C Vigilante was a paradox, introducing aerodynamic, technological and electronic features that were state-of-the-art at the time of its introduction and which were to become standard characteristics in the combat aircraft that followed it." however it was not a popular aircraft with its crews as it cited as being very difficult to land on an aircraft carrier with the high approach speed resulting in a number of ramp strikes and associated losses of aircraft and crews. Most pages contain descriptive narratives detailing the history, advancements and variants that evolved and are interspersed with good quality colour and black/white photographs, plus illustrated with fine colour profile drawings which are professionally produced by Richard J. Caruana. A few also have data tables containing informative facts such as the specifications and dimensions of each type. As I have already mentioned, the book contains some beautifully illustrated profile drawings of the Vigilante. Each profile depicts a specific aircraft in full colour livery and markings. Beside each profile there is a narrative which describes the serial, squadron and location for the aircraft at the particular date described. In many cases, alongside the narrative is an image of the unit badge. Articles contained within the chapters give a useful insight into the development of the early pre-production airframes, again with fine colour images, and describes the efforts and issues that progressed with it becoming accepted as the RA-5C VIgilante. There are over 50 colour photographs of aircraft within this 62 page book and another 60 or so black and white photographs also. In addition there are over 35 full colour profile view illustrations of individual airframes. The pages are interspersed with tabulated data inserts, as with the one below detailing the buNo serials and their designators. Around the inserts the historical narratives continue and are complemented with photographs, many in colour, to further enhance the referencing of the these aircraft for the model enthusiast. Each book in the Warpaint Series is well known for having a set of scale plans of the subject aircraft and this edition is no exception. The pull out plan is A3 size and is printed on both sides with line drawings, giving plan and profile details of the A-5 in diagrammatic detail and is printed to 1:72 scale. Along with the excellently produced profile illustrations and individual narrative, there is also an enlarged imprint of the unit/wing emblem (if carried) for that aircraft. The extra detailing here is of great help to those possibly seeking to make their own decals if none currently exist. Additional tabulated data sheets provide where, and when these aircraft were deployed as with the table below that provides information on the ships or stations they were allocated to, for what period and their associated tail codes. All modelling enthusiasts have a desire to know more and Guideline do this by adding walkaround style photo images, detailing areas close in such as the cockpit, instrument panels and wheel wells etc. Conclusion Another fine book from Guideline Publications, detailing the markings and colour schemes of this famous aircraft. The illustrations are complemented by good historical narratives which flows nicely around a multitude of photgraphs and finely drawn illustrations. This is yet another book which should become an essential reference work on the RA-5 Vigilante alongside the modelling bench. Review sample courtesy of