Grumman EA-6A Electric Intruder***FINISHED***

[PeterB]

1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

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 

Hi Pat,

 

Yes, but given the problems with the decs for the IP etc, will they work? Must run a test.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

In spite of the problems mentioned earlier I managed to get a reasonable fit on the fuselage.

In the foreground you can see the lower wings - the top one as moulded, and the bottom one with the air brake hinge fairings removed. Now I can finish them off and glue the wings together. I need a little filler in a few places but it is not as bad as expected. Even the 3 belly panels fitted quite well.

 

Pete

[rob85]

That fit is not bad at all, great work! 
 

Rob

[PeterB]

The wings are a far better fit than expected but there is a mystery. Pictures and plans confirm that there is a sort of "dog-leg" at the wing root, and Fujimi have included this, but whereas the lower wing halves are correct, both the uppers are a couple of mil short resulting in a sort of "ledge".

Everything else is aligned properly and I don't believe it is a "short shot" as it seems deliberate but it seems wrong to me - perhaps they have included a wing spue from another version?

 

Anybody got any thoughts - unless I hear to the contrary I will put a little Milliput on and shape the top to match the bottom.

 

Pete

Edited March 5, 2020 by PeterB

[janneman36]

Hello Pete this is how the should be, if you take a good look at the picture below you should be able to see an extra edge...

It puzzled me at first but it isn’t a fault of the kit..t may need a little bit of trimming though but not much...

here an extra link to a very informative site regarding this plane ..according to this site it is a stall strip..

 

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/09/grumman-6a-vs-6e-intruder.html

cheers , Jan

[PeterB]

Thanks for that Jan,

 

As you say it might benefit from a bit of thinning down. Do you happen to know if Fujimi are correct in showing radome tan/cream leading edges to the wings, horizontal and vertical tail as I cannot see it in the various pics I have though one or two seem to have white leading edges? Tommy's site can be very helpful at times, and he does show one with the cream finish.

 

Pete

Edited March 5, 2020 by PeterB

[helios16v]

I think they originally used clear leading edge tape (LET) that would yellow w/ UV.....hence why a lot of the pics you see look like they have yellow leading edges.  In the '90s on the Prowlers we started switching over to a grey LET (rolling spec change) as we repaired sections of damaged tape.

[PeterB]

Thanks for that Chris - that would explain it, Funnily enough, in a different GB Serge @Aardvark posted a pic of some models on an auction site which included some sort of Intruder variant with yellow leading edges and I jokingly asked if it still had the masking tape on - seems I was not that far out!

 

Since posting my answer about the air brakes, I have read that the wing tip ones were introduced because they made it more stable during carrier landings, but as the EA-6A was intended to be a Marine machine used from shore bases they thought they could get away with the fuselage ones instead. Whether or not that is true I do not know but it does make some sense I guess. I have now drilled out the holes - easy enough if a little tedious, but I will leave them off until after I have primed it. Fujimi seem to intend them to be modelled in the open position, like the leading edge slats, but I am not sure if I will do that, or build everything closed.

 

Pete

Edited March 5, 2020 by PeterB

[helios16v]

I would probably recommend going slats up.  If memory serves me correctly, the flaps/slats were run off the same gearbox and could not be operated independently.  To do deployed flaps on the Intruder/Prowler is unfortunately not as simple as just nipping them free and dropping them down.  They actually slide back on tracks and rotate down, plus the flaperons actually cover part of the flap when they are in the up position, which would take a fair bit of work to semi-accurately reproduce.

Edited March 5, 2020 by helios16v

[PeterB]

Agian, thanks for that nugget of info Chris,

 

Gear down, everything else up then. The way my kits are stored I don't like open cockpits or everything down as they just get broken - at my age I am becoming quite clumsy at times!

 

The colour schemes shown on the instructions are I fear somewhat suspect. Most if not all the pictures I have seen of the High Vis scheme show the control surfaces on the upper side of the wing in white and possibly the entire upper horizontal tail as well, whilst Fujimi show them both in grey overall..

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited March 5, 2020 by PeterB

[Aardvark]

3 hours ago, PeterB said:

Thanks for that Chris - that would explain it, Funnily enough, in a different GB Serge @Aardvark posted a pic of some models on an auction site which included some sort of Intruder variant with yellow leading edges and I jokingly asked if it still had the masking tape on - seems I was not that far out!

Peter, as no strange but in 1990 I building for money Grumman A-6E  Intruder from Italery. I use

(everything was provided by the customer, mine was only work.)

decal with panther from Hasegawa A-6E, photoetched from Eduard and ejection seat from NeOmega. Funny, but I made it move on it canopy (open/close) and movably wing in position to flight/ to hangar. Unfortunately I do not have a photo of this model but I still have a box from

Hasegawa A-6E

and instructions from Eduard photoetched.

These are my memories of the A-6E.

 

B.R. 

Serge

[PeterB]

Actually, once the interior was sorted it has gone together pretty well.

Bit more work to do on a couple of seams and then it will be ready for priming. With regards to the leading edges Chris @helios16v has mentioned the "Leading Edge Tape" and Tommy @Tailspin Turtle agrees, though he says a few early ones might have had Corogard. However whilst Chris thinks it was clear tape which yellowed with age, Tommy thinks it was actually yellow/tan to start with. Chris also states that when he was involved with Grumman they were replacing the damaged tape with a grey version, and several of my pics seem to show this finish - I guess it depends on the date. Fujimi do not give dates for their colour schemes but as I stated in the intro the Marine machines were formed into VMAQ-2 in 1975.

 

As I said earlier their scheme does not match with the pics I have so I will have to think about what I am actually going to do.

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Pete

[helios16v]

My personal experience w/ the A-6/EA-6 airframe was from the 90s while attached to a Prowler squadron.  The general A-6 airframe had been in service for over 30 years prior to the time I was monkeying with them, so they had already gone through various updates/upgrades throughout the years.  A lot will depend on the era you want to depict, as EA-6A was in service for 30 years (1963-1993) so would have gone through a number of changes.  If you are doing a hi-vis scheme, a pale yellow/cream is a safe color choice.  The grey LET didn't come about until the TPS lo-viz schemes in the mid to late '80s.  So for a TPS scheme, you can go either way (late Prowlers 2000 on, would likely be mostly grey), or even a mix of the 2.  Hell, we still had some clear LET in the lockers as of '94.  

 

Just remember, it's your model.  Go the route you want to go and have fun.  They have this thing called artistic license.    I'm just enjoying recollecting my time associated with a similar airframe.
  

Edited March 6, 2020 by helios16v

[PeterB]

Thanks Chris,

 

Even the later "Tactical" scheme on the instructions is perhaps wrong to my mind as they say overall FS16440 Light Gull Grey! I believe he Prowler is or at least was in 3 shades of grey though now it may only be 2 shades and an old edition of Scale Aircraft Modelling shows the EA-6A in two - FS16375 and FS16320.

 

Pete

[Retired Bob]

39 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Even the later "Tactical" scheme on the instructions is perhaps wrong to my mind as they say overall FS16440 Light Gull Grey! I believe he Prowler is or at least was in 3 shades of grey though now it may only be 2 shades and an old edition of Scale Aircraft Modelling shows the EA-6A in two - FS16375 and FS16320.

Hi Pete, I cannot find much on these aircraft in my books and most pictures are B&W.   I know that the first toning down was to go overall Light Gull Grey and reduce the size of the national insignia, but they were still in colour.  Keep going, it's looking good. 

[janneman36]

Hello Pete, you had your answer allready on those leading edges and I wouldn’t know it anyway😁

The instructions are correct on that single color as I have seen a picture in a one tone grey of this type of camo with fully grey insignia...

 

cheers, Jan

 

 

 

 

[PeterB]

Hi Jan,

 

I guess that like many other colour schemes it went through a few stages before they ended up with the "current version" which in my case means 1990's - I think most of my grey USN kits are from the period (A-6E, F/A-18, F14D etc).  I kind of stopped trying to keep up with new planes and colours after that as I would need more aftermarket decals etc..

 

Pete

Edited March 7, 2020 by PeterB

[helios16v]

Prowlers were definitely 3 shades (35237, 36320, 36375) in the ghost grey era, and I believe the Tomcats were the same.

[janneman36]

16 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Jan,

 

I guess that like many other colour schemes it went through a few stages before they ended up with the "current version" which in my case means 1990's - I think most of my grey USN kits are from the period (A-6E, F/A-18, F14D etc).  I kind of stopped trying to keep up with new planes and colours after that as I would need more aftermarket decals etc..

 

Pete

Aftermarket decals for this particular type of aircraft is not been a popular subject...there are some but these are mostly high vis schemes..

My kits grey part printed decals have a small white edge due too some misprinting and I once bought it to do the all grey one from it.....this instantly killed my mojo then🥴

Now I want to revive it but with a high vis scheme😉

 

cheers, Jan

[PeterB]

Having made some progress on my Lincoln and built the IJNS Jintsu I thought it was time to start on the Intruder again.

It has had a quick blast of white primer and with luck I should get some top coats on in the next few days. I see that some other modellers use Halfords "Appliance White" and it would be tempting if I was going out shopping, but as I am staying in due to my age I will stick with normal model paint - I may regret that but we shall see. In theory this should not take too long now so I may get the Tigercat under way soon.

 

More anon.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

Well, that was almost a disaster! I guess that like me many of you have painted the woodwork in your house with gloss white paint. When covering either old white paint or undercoat I find it can be difficult to see what you are doing, and the Intruder was the same. Add to that the fact that my new airbrush has coarser spray controls than I realised, and the paint being over-thinned a little and I got a runny mess. Fortunately I realised what was happening and wiped the excess off but it was a near thing. So I will put that down to experience and try again later. Must get back to trying to find an on line delivery slot sometime this year for my groceries.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

The paint scheme for this high vis machine is basically Non Specular (Flat) Light Gull Gray on top and glossy white underneath, but then the problems start. The kit instructions show both the wing and horizontal tail in gray all over, but pics I have show that the flight controls on the upper wing were white and so was the entire upper horizontal tail as well, at least in most cases so that is what I will go with - there is no date shown for this particular VMAQ-2 plane but it must be after 1975 when VMCJ-2 was redesignated to VMAQ-2 presumably. It is possible that the detail of the paint scheme changed at some time, but I cannot be sure.

 

So far so good but then we come to the leading edges of the wings, horizontal and vertical tail. The instructions show them all in Mr Colour H34 "Cream Yellow" which is more orange/yellow that H318 "Radome Cream" but I have yet to find any pics showing this. As mentioned earlier "Leading Edge Tape" was applied at some point, which could look yellowish, but in the pics from "In Detail & Scale" and "Aerofax Minigraph" some seem to have just normal camo colour whist others have a thin strip which looks darker than the grey - perhaps dural. The jury is still out on that but for the moment I am leaving the leading edges camo colour.

 

Lastly we have the radome and the forward tip of the fairing on top of the tail. I have seen black radomes, cream ones, and others that look white and the same applies to the front of the tail fairing. I remember reading somewhere many years ago that Phantoms had either black or white radomes, depending on which fleet they were deployed with - black for the Atlantic Fleet and White for the Pacific Fleet I think, so the same might be happening with the A-6. Anyway I am going down the radome cream route as shown in this pic, which incidentally has the red outlined slanting "Playboy Bunny" insignia as mentioned when I was talking about the decal sheet, and a much smaller anti-glare panel.

Other pics show the tanks without the black nose and tail trim  and with the alternative bunny - I have no date for this pic unfortunately.

 

Getting there slowly!

 

Pate

Edited March 27, 2020 by PeterB

[Hewy]

An attractive scheme pete, 

[PeterB]

After a short delay whilst I got over an abscess in mouth, I have started on this again.

Quite a bit more painting/touching up to do but it is beginning to look more like it. I should perhaps have tried to mask the leading edge of the vertical tail as it may end up being white or radome tan, but it will be a lot easier to mask on the black, even though it will take more coats to cover. Just realised I should not have glued on the outer wing pylons as I am going to have to cut up the "star and bar" - over 60 years modelling and I still make silly mistakes - must be getting old!😁

 

More as and when.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

I have put this on hold whilst I finish off my Lincoln in the Lancaster STGB, but as that is nearing completion I will start on this shortly - just in case the moderators thought I had abandoned it!

 

Pete