PeterB Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) In the Nordic GB I have built a number of planes which, perhaps inevitably are similar to very many other entries, so for this GB I thought I would try and find a more unusual subject. I initially was thinking of a Cutlass and Demon, but clearly they are not unusual enough as others have already entered them, so after a bit of head scratching I thought I would start with this. Back in the mid 1970's I picked up the Hasegawa A-6A which they released in 1968, and sometime in the 1990's I picked up their reboxing as an A-6E TRAM. Later I came across a couple of interesting Fujimi versions on sale at a reasonable price – KA-6D and EA-6A. I bought the latter but as Enzo would say should really have bought both – oh well! As far as I know only Fujimi and Italeri have produced these versions in 1/72, though there have been re-boxings by Tamiya, Testors and the like. According to In Detail and Scale (D&S) the USN issued a “Request for proposals” in 1956 for an all weather capable attack plane. There were no less than 12 designs submitted and in 1959 a contract was awarded to Grumman for their design 108 which was then designated A2F-1 and first flew in April 1962. First deliveries of the now renamed A-6A were made in March 1963. During its long service life several modified versions were produced, including 19 converted to A-6B fitted to carry AGM-78 Standard anti radar missiles, and 12 A-6C which carried the TRIM (Trails, Roads Interdiction Multisensor) sensor pod which was an early version of TRAM (Target Recognition and Attack Multisensor), and used infra red and low light TV to find targets such as convoys in the dark. This led to the definitive A-6E which had the TRAM sensors and started to enter service in 1971, at about the same time as the KA-6D tanker version. This build however is of the EAW version of the Intruder. Most of us have heard of the EA-6B Prowler and indeed many will have built one – my first was the Matchbox kit, but I now have a Hasegawa one in my stash. However, the Prowler was in fact a later development of the earlier EA-6A developed in response to a request from the USMC in 1960. 27 were built, 12 by converting A-6A and 15 from new, and they began to enter service in 1965, equipping what were originally Marine Composite Squadrons (Jamming). VMCJ -1, -2 and -3. In 1975 the remaining active EA-6A were concentrated in what became VMAQ-2 until replaced by Prowlers in 1979. Only VMCJ-1 saw action in Vietnam according to D&S but Wiki says VMCJ-2 sent planes and crew to support/reinforce them, so presumably they flew in their own markings? To be continued... Pete Edited February 13, 2020 by PeterB 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Great choice Pete How does the Frog version of this aircraft fit into all the versions you describe above ? cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Hi Pat, The Frog kit is a release of the Hasegawa A-6A as I understand it - you will of course recall the arrangement they had for a few years whereby they reboxed some of each others kits to sell in their respective home countries. I seemed to miss the Frog boxing so bought the Hasegawa one a few years later. In their review, D&S say that the original Hasegawa -A was not too good, but that many of the errors were corrected when they revised it into the -E version, and they do provide markings for an -A in hi vis colours, though it requires a hole or two filling in if you wish to model the early version. Their only real criticism of my EA-6A kit is that the jamming pods are not quite right although much better than the ones on the Matchbox Prowler. It seems the basic chassis of the pod could be modified to accept different jamming components, and that the Prowler had later modified ones, but some manufacturers can't work out which pod design applies at what point in time. Also it went through at least 3 upgrades so you have to be careful which level any particular machine was at, at a certain date if you want 100% accuracy. Whilst on the subject of the Prowler D&S point out one problem with the Hasegawa kit. The canopy was tinted but depending on which release you look at, Hasegawa have also incorrectly tinted the windscreen of some boxings, but not others! Modelling can be fun! Cheers Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Love it! But then again, I might be a little biased towards the Ironworks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Excellent choice Pete. As I remember a superb and crisp kit - looking forward to seeing your's being built. This is a kit that I've built, and remember fondly as my first win in the contest a local IPMS branch meeting. 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Thanks Tim, There is an awful lot of plastic in the box! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 2 hours ago, PeterB said: Thanks Tim, There is an awful lot of plastic in the box! Pete Hi Pete, the more plastic, the better! Have a lot of fun with it!!! JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Nice choice Pete, I was planning an A-6E or EA-6B build once my first build is on its way. I have had a few of these Fujimi kits in the stash over the years but never built one, watching with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I haven't built one of Fujimi kits yet, but I have an A-6E TRAM & KA-6D in the stash awaiting my CVW-11 build. After seeing the plastic of the Fujimi kit, I got rid of my Hasegawa right quick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Excellent choice! Grumman Iron Works are always a good choice. I did some fatigue analysis on the A-6 while at Grumman. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Hi Pete, I have some Fujimi Intruders in my stash, for about the same price and age I know I have this Black Bunny aircraft, not sure what else, so I will be taking an interest in your build, have fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 Thanks guys, This could be fun. Given the age of the kit, a lot of parts can mean a lot of complications, and with all the large cut outs for seperate panels, the bottom of the fuselage is nearly non - existent so alignment could be a problem - we will see! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Great choice Peter, I have always had a soft spot of the intruders looks. Looking forward to your work on this one! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almac Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Excellent choice. As I have several Fujimi Intruders in the stash I’ll be following with interest. Cheers Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 The funny thing is that on the basis of my old Hasegawa kit this is going to need a lot of weight in the nose, but although they have a symbol for add weight" there is no sign of it anywhere on the build instructions that I can see! I just hope that my faulty new airbrush is fixed by the time I need it as the old one is prone to spitting. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Two-seater electronic Intruder? Have not seen that before. I have the Hasegawa EA-6B Prowler which is the more common four seater variant I suppose. In any case - big bird! Kinda looks not so intimidating on pics - but it's quite sizeable when you have it in your hands and compare it to other planes. Speaking of Intruder - I'm planning to use Italeri A-6E Intruder as 'backup' kit for this GB, if I for some reason have excess time after the Vigilante (and all the Nordics). Found quite interesting gulf war desert camo scheme & decals for it. Good luck with the build & have fun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 As is traditional here are the sprues. Together with the decs for the 4 optional schemes. As you may be able to just make out there are high and low vis versions of Marines VMAQ-2, together with high vis versions of the Navy East and West Coast VAQ 209 and VAQ 309. I will probably go for high vis Marines Playboys! As I said earlier, a lot of plastic including goodies like slats and engine intake trunking. There are also 2 noses - I guess one is for the normal A-6A/KA-6D and the other is for the slightly longer EA-6A - presumably the one on the sprue to the bottom right. Hopefully I will make a start in the next couple of days. Pete 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janneman36 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 40 minutes ago, PeterB said: As you may be able to just make out there are high and low vis versions of Marines VMAQ-2, together with high vis versions of the Navy East and West Coast VAQ 209 and VAQ 309. I will probably go for high vis Marines Playboys! As I said earlier, a lot of plastic including goodies like slats and engine intake trunking. There are also 2 noses - I guess one is for the normal A-6A/KA-6D and the other is for the slightly longer EA-6A - presumably the one on the sprue to the bottom right. Hopefully I will make a start in the next couple of days. Pete Hello Pete, nice to see this kit built..I started one a long time ago and surfaced today from my secret stash haha( just a place at a friends place untill I got my home moving sorted) As I allready started it once I can tell you that the fit needs some attention at the intake section as they are a little oversized compared to the fuselage wher they need to mate up.. Nice detail is the pilots as they have a very proactive pose...not seeing this often.. I surely think that this will build into a nice example of a Intruder! Following this with interest.... cheers, Jan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 29, 2020 Author Share Posted February 29, 2020 (edited) After a short delay to have a break and finish off the last of my entries in the Nordic GB, I have now made a start on the Intruder. Still a little touching up to do and the belts to paint but the pit and IP are nearly done. I must admit I am a little worried. The instructions could be better and the fit of the 4 parts which make up each seat was decidedly vague. I think this may be one of the cases where it might have been better not to paint the parts on the sprue, but it would have been a sod to paint afterwards - perhaps I should have bought some resin seats after all. The joysick is rather long I would have thought, but I could be wrong. Also, as you can see the various instruments are decals and they were a real pain to put on, but then they are probably 20 years old. They were stiff, did not adhere to the painted plastic so had to be "glued on "with diluted varnish, and were far to big as well! I will have a test run with some of the "spares" to see how the external decs work but am not too optimistic about the ones on the radome, fuselage spine and around the canopy - may have to paint them. At least they should not fall apart. Speaking of decs, there are 4 versions shown on the instructions but they have apparently also included decs for a variation - or possibly a correction. For VMAQ-2 there are 3 versions of the "Playboy Bunny" badge, serial numbers and the large letters "CY" on the tail. The grey set are clearly for the low-vis version and correctly numbered as such, but the main sheet also has a black set of CY and serial numbers which are numbered to go on the black tail of the high vis one - there is a replacement set of CY and numbers in white which makes a lot more sense and matches the box illustration. As to the alternative high vis bunny with a red outline there is no mention of it in the instructions, but on the cover of the Aerofax Minigraph there is a pic of 156983 with that alternative version - the rest of the pics in the book show the plain version. Incidentally, D&S said in 1994 that the "Playboys" had "recently" to change their name to the "Panthers" as the original name was deemed "politically incorrect"! Fujimi do not say what colour the inside of the fuselage is, but going on the pics I have I would think the same Dark Gull Grey as on the tub and seats. They say the seat cushions are "khaki green" but I have gone with Khaki Drill as they look brown in the pics. The next job is the ducting and intakes and cutting out the locating holes for the fuselage airbrake tabs - on the EA-6A the brakes were still operational, unlike the standard A-6A. Then I can glue the fuselage together, which should be fun as there is virtually no bottom to it - can't decide if it would be better to glue the various inserts in before joining it up, or leave them off so I can adjust the trunking so it fits at both ends - definitely a three handed job if ever I saw one. I think this is going to be a complicated build, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. Cheers Pete Edited February 29, 2020 by PeterB 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 Grey for the cockpit, white in the wheel wells, and zinc chromate inside turtlebacks and other internal fuselage access points are the likely suspects. You should be able to use reference photos from A-6As as well, since they were built & in service at the same time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 A great choice Pete I've got a 1/100 Tamiya A-6A in my stash which I somehow never quite get round to building. It's been a candidate for several GBs in the past but never made it. I must try harder! Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) I have been looking forward to building this kit for a good few years but it is proving somewhat harder than expected. A good bit of that is due to the poor instructions. The interior is quite complicated with no less that 16 parts to make up the intakes and exhausts. In the top pic you can see the 2 part intake/splitter which is not a particularly good fit and I had to take a couple of mil off the splitter as it stuck up above the outer part - still not convinced the shape of the intakes is right. Further back you can see the jet exhaust which again is not a brilliant fit either. In the lower pic you may be able to see the front trunking and fan which sticks out just behind the nose wheel well, and the "S" shaped 2 part jetpipe and another fan which plugs into the exhaust. There are no pics showing how any of these parts or the cockpit tub actually fit into the fuselage so I had to fiddle around quite a bit to ensure they did not cause any problems. You will also note the cause of another difficulty - the fuselage is around 21cm long, but the lower parts only touch at the nose "bulkhead" and for 1cm just in front of the air brake well and finally for the last 3cm under the tail, the rest being cut out to take 3 seperate panels. Not surprisingly it flexes an awful lot! Anyway it is done and painted and I have placed 10g of lead in the front - I can always put more in the nose cone. Now I will check the fit of the IP and glue the halves together. Incidentally, behind the tub is a panel which fills the gap and presumably covers equipment/services. There is also a sort of panel which attaches to the rear canopy and slides with it over first fixed panel and the instructions do not say what colour it is. I will see what I can find but I presume it is either grey or black. Hopefully once the fuselage is together and fettled the hard part is done, though I expect I could have problems fitting the wings as they have to sit over the exhausts and the shape looks complicated. I have opened out the slots for the airbrake tabs and am trying to work out whether or not to drill the brakes as they look to be perforated, but Fujimi have only moulded "dents". The interior of the brake and well were red but I cannot see it showing though on any pics. Wonder if it is like the Supermarine jet I built recently - Swift of Scimitar I suppose, where the well had "rods projecting out which closed the holes in the brakes to improve airflow? As Jan mentioned earlier the crew figures are quite nice with poseable arms and heads but I probably won't be using them. See you another day. Pete Edited March 5, 2020 by PeterB 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helios16v Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 No rods. The brakes were perforated, though they were only operational on the early A-6s. They were eventually fixed in place and replaced w/ air brakes on the wingtips. Later models the speed brake panels were solid (non-functioning). I'm not 100% sure when then switch happened off the top of my head. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Blimey Pete, looks like you have enough decals for everything else on the flight deck as well. Look forward to seeing your next instalment. cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 5, 2020 Author Share Posted March 5, 2020 11 hours ago, helios16v said: No rods. The brakes were perforated, though they were only operational on the early A-6s. They were eventually fixed in place and replaced w/ air brakes on the wingtips. Later models the speed brake panels were solid (non-functioning). I'm not 100% sure when then switch happened off the top of my head. Hi Chris, You are certainly correct for normal A-6A, but apparently the EA-6A was different according to all my books and the kit instructions. When the first 12 entered service they carried the ALQ-53 ECM pod and for some reason it was mounted on an extra pylon fitted to the outer folding section of the wing. After that was replaced with the ALQ-76 jammer on an inboard pylon, the outer pylon was retained and could be used for chaff pods, small fuel tanks or even Shrike missiles it seems. The position of the outer pylon meant that the split speed brakes (aka boards) on the wing tip could not be used so the fuselage ones were reinstated, which seems a bit odd as they were reportedly found to be unsatisfactory on the A-6A! The kit has the wing brakes, but the instructions are to cut off the hinge fairings, and I will probably fill in the appropriate panel line too. The new build versions after the first 12 conversions from the A-6A also had the outer pylon and fuselage brakes it would appear. The other change to the wing was an extra fence on top. Of course if anybody knows differently then I will be pleased to hear from them - my info is based on " In Detail & Scale No46" and "Aerofax Minigraph No7". All my pics show the perforated fuselage brakes, usually in a dark metal finish but I cannot make out any sign of the red interior showing through the holes! I see @dnl42 worked at Grumman so perhaps he or @Tailspin Turtle can advise me on this and the colour of the "screen" or whatever it was which hung down from the canopy? I know there were anti-radiation screens but I am not sure if this is one. I have finished joining up the fuselage and putting the various panels in the bottom, and will post a pic shortly. Now I will start on the wings and see how they fit - could be fun. Cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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