Fujimi A-6A 1/72

[Mark4700]

I bought this at the model fair at Huddersfield last year. I used to love building Fujimi kits in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into this one. Also I’ve never built an Intruder before so it’s new territory. 

 

I’m not buying any additional parts, so it’s straight out of the box on this one, with perhaps a little enhancement along the way if it’s obvious and needs it. 

 

 

The plastic seems much harder than I’m used to with my last couple of builds being modern Airfix and Revell kits, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. 

 

The panel lines are very impressive, being fine and crisp. The sprues are also free from flash, so all good so far. 

 

The clear sprue is also very impressive, the plastic being appropriately thin and clear. 

 

The decal sheet is still in good condition and looks very usable. I think I’m going to build the aircraft on the cover, a Navy aircraft from VA-52 Knight Riders from the Vietnam war in 1969.

 

The kit does provide a wealth of decal options and paint schemes.

 

I’m excited about this build. 

[billn53]

I have this one in my stash, so I'll pull up a seat and watch your progress 🙂

 

[amblypygid]

I'm in too, always liked the Intruder. That's a jazzy cover, are you going to recreate the neon speed trails?

[Lovely Pig]

I'm in too, this looks like it might be fun.

[Hook]

Lovely kits, those. 

 

One thing to look out for - on the real thing the flaps and slats extend and retract in unison, Fujimi only gives you extended slats. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Mark4700]

10 hours ago, amblypygid said:

I'm in too, always liked the Intruder. That's a jazzy cover, are you going to recreate the neon speed trails?

It is a bit jazzy. I think I’ll give tha neon speed trails a miss though. 

[Mark4700]

On 27/04/2018 at 07:07, Hook said:

Lovely kits, those. 

 

One thing to look out for - on the real thing the flaps and slats extend and retract in unison, Fujimi only gives you extended slats. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Thanks for the tip. Will probably do everything retracted in that case. 

[Mark4700]

Back on this now. Summer was far too warm to be sat inside modelling. I have been building though, a big patio in the back garden to keep my other half happy. Harder than any kit I’ve ever done 😨.

 

I decided to build the kit on the box lid, so I drilled out the air brakes. Happy with the result. 

 

 

Here’s a pic of the patio that earned me all those brownie points. 

 

Also so a couple of weeks ago I took my car to the local Jag dealership for a service and ended up buying this.....

 

 

Never in in all my wildest dreams did I think that I’d ever own a brand new Jag.  Can’t afford to go out now though so it’s back to the Intruder. 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Hello Mark!

 

I looking forward for your build, the kit looks great 👍 The other pictures also amazing, all the things on its are trimmed to perfection (I love it)! Nice start, it’s always interesting to look at the kits with that old school flavor.

 

Cheers! 🙃

[Mark4700]

15 minutes ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Hello Mark!

 

I looking forward for your build, the kit looks great 👍 The other pictures also amazing, all the things on its are trimmed to perfection (I love it)! Nice start, it’s always interesting to look at the kits with that old school flavor.

 

Cheers! 🙃

Thanks for your comments. Back in the late 80’s early 90’s Fujimi kits were my favourites. The plastic seems much harder than modern kits, but I quite like that. And you are right, there’s no flash or mistakes on the sprues. I also love building the older kits. 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

10 hours ago, Mark4700 said:

Back in the late 80’s early 90’s Fujimi kits were my favourites.

Unfortunately I haven’t had an opportunity to build one of these in 90s because they were pricey, so I’m in!

[Vultures1]

The Fujimi A-6 range are certainly lovely kits. 

 

Not much to suggest by way of alterations: I pretty much just added some hoses and piping around the cockpit and undercarriage, and that was about it.  One thing to note: the leading edge slats are extended in the kit but not the trailing edge flaps, whereas apparently it should be "all up" or "all down".  Fortunately, it's a really easy job to fit the slats "up" (albeit a lot harder to put the flaps "down"!!)

 

Enjoy - I did

[Mark4700]

4 hours ago, Vultures1 said:

The Fujimi A-6 range are certainly lovely kits. 

 

Not much to suggest by way of alterations: I pretty much just added some hoses and piping around the cockpit and undercarriage, and that was about it.  One thing to note: the leading edge slats are extended in the kit but not the trailing edge flaps, whereas apparently it should be "all up" or "all down".  Fortunately, it's a really easy job to fit the slats "up" (albeit a lot harder to put the flaps "down"!!)

 

Enjoy - I did

Thanks for the heads up. Slats and flaps up it is then. 

[Mark4700]

I’ve managed to get a bit more done over the weekend amongst work commitments. The cockpit has been finished - 

 

And has been fitted into half of the fuselage. Very happy with how it looks 😁

 

 

I’ve also glued the wings together, having first remembered to drill out the holes for the underwing stores. As has been pointed out by a couple of Britmodellers it has to be both slats and flaps up or down. So mine are both up. 

 

 

 

The only issue so far has been the decals. Although they have kept their colour over the years, one ones used for the instruments seemed very brittle. Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. I’ll hold off ordering an aftermarket set for now and see how I bet on with them. 

 

Otherwise it’s a very enjoyable kit so far, cannot fault the finish and fit. 

[ArmouredSprue]

Nice progress so far

[Mark4700]

Made a bit more progress recently. I must say that I’m really impressed with the moulding of this kit, I also like the hardness of the plastic, it seems to make the fine detail really stand out. 

 

The only slight issue so far is the mouldings on the bomb racks which had dimples and a mould join line around the top and bottom. A slight amount of clearing up and they look fine. 

 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Mark4700

[Mark4700]

More work has been carried out on the inside. Jet nozzles installed and painted. The rear fans aren’t visible when installed, but they’re there none the less. I’ve also installed some blutac behind the instrument panel just to add a bit more weight, I’m always paranoid I’ll end up with a tail sitter, so usually end up adding double the weight actually needed. 

 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

11 minutes ago, Mark4700 said:

The only slight eight issue so far is the mouldings on the bomb racks which had dimples and a mould join line around the top and bottom.

We’re having it in practically every kit and it’s good when the modellers take a care of it 👍 It’s nice to see how the pieces puts together well, good work Mark!

 

Cheers 🤝

[Vultures1]

Nice work so far.  Looking good!

[Booty003]

Mmmmmm, Intruder.  Lovely piece of kit.

[Mark4700]

The internals are all done. Pleased with the way the inlet fan blades have turned out. Will look fine with less light on them. 

 

 

The fuselage halves are together. Went relatively well with just a slight ridge along the joint. 

 

 

 

[Mark4700]

Wings now fitted and hardly any filler needed at all. A superb fit all round. Really impressed with the fit of this kit. 

 

 

Note in the photo of the underneath I got carried away with drilling out the location holes for the underwing pylons and had to fill the outermost ones. 

 

 

[Ad-4N]

Great start.  You're right about Fujimi.  There was a time around '87 or so when Fujimi was making the best 1/72 aircraft in the world, rivaling Hasegawa.  Evidence:  A-4 family, A-6 family, A-7 family, CH-46 family, CH-53 family, F-86, F7U, F-14, British Phantoms, and Sea King.

 

They do the occasional 1/72 aircraft now, like the Lightning II and Hornet.  But they do not turn them out like they used to.  I guess top-notch 1/72 post war aircraft did not make enough money for them.  They seem to concentrate more on cars.   

[Mark4700]

I thought the ‘dashboard’ looked a bit plain having looked at others, including some nice pics I found of a 1/48 scale kit.

 

 

so I decided to scratch build a bit of detail using plasticard and thin fuse wire copying off the larger scale kits. 

 

 

Then I masked it and gave it a coat of black Vallejo Model Air (still new to this paint, but love it).

 

 

Finaly a spot of weathering with a lead pencil. And I think it’s made a big improvement. 

 

 

[Hook]

On 10/17/2018 at 1:14 AM, Mark4700 said:

 And I think it’s made a big improvement. 

 

Hard to disagree with that one - nice work!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre