1/48 A-6A Intruder, VA-75 'Sunday Punchers.' Finished 13/11.

[DaveJL]

18 hours ago, Collin said:

USN ROCKEYE MK-20 series are white. Never saw, carried, or dropped one that wasn’t a white body, with either blue or yellow stripes.

 

Cheers

Collin

Thanks Collin. I'd never seen a non white USN example myself.

[PeterB]

Well I said I was likely to be wrong - the film clip I remember must have shown practice bombs to demonstrate the coating - makes sense I guess as it was during a peacetime deployment I imagine

 

Pete

[Collin]

4 hours ago, PeterB said:

Well I said I was likely to be wrong - the film clip I remember must have shown practice bombs to demonstrate the coating - makes sense I guess as it was during a peacetime deployment I imagine

 

Pete

All ROCKEYE are white....the MK 7 outer canister is white with either yellow or blue bands to denote if the cluster munitions inside are either live or inert and if the weapon is thermally protected.  I've dropped thermally protected (TP) and non-TP ROCKEYE...both with inert and live munitions inside, outside canister has always white.  Peacetime/wartime isn't a factor.  

 

Below...on this BUFF...first yellow stripe means the munition is thermally coated, the second blue stripe means the munitions inside the canister are inert (some even have blue "X"'s....see below). 

 

 

TP coated weapon, inert munitions inside.  This is a leaflet CBU...because of the big BLUE 'X" on the side.  Those are to denote that it's a leaflet munition

 

Below...this A-7 is carrying TP-coated ROCKEYE with live munitions inside (Gulf War 1). 

 

 

Typically shore-based aircraft will use non-TP CBU's...hence only the single stripe.  See below links for an example of both.

 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6366880

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6437868

 

 

Now I have seen MK-20/CBU-99/CBU-100 rounds in solid blue or natural dark metal...but these are static ground training units used for practice loading or looking pretty next to aircraft parked for display.

 

Examples:

 

 

Below is from the Aviation Ordnance manual:

 

A    yellow    band    around  the  forward  end  of  the cargo  section  indicates  the  explosive  content  of  the weapon.The Mk 7 Mods 3, 4, and 6 bomb dispensers have the Mk 339 Mod 1 fuze, which provides the pilot within-flight selection of the fuze function time.

The Mk 7 Mod 4 bomb dispenser differs from the Mk  7  Mod  3  by  modifying  the  dispenser  and  giving interface  capabilities  with  a  wider  range  of  military aircraft. The Mk 7 Mod 6 bomb dispenser is the same as the Mk 7 Mod 3 except that the outside of the Mod 6 cargo   section   is   coated   with   a   thermal   protective coating  and  has  an  additional  yellow  band  around  the forward  end  of  the  cargo  section.  The  addition  of  the thermal coating increases the overall weight of the Mod 6 to 505 pounds.

 

 

Cheers

Collin

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On 09/10/2020 at 22:35, trickyrich said:

gee that's a mass of bombs.......actually what do you call a lot of bombs?

 

A "dump" of bombs. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On 09/10/2020 at 23:25, PeterB said:

I must admit I am a little surprised that the Mk 20 Rockeye II variant of the Mk 7 dispenser was so popular in Vietnam as the bomblets were primarily anti - armour as I understand it and the VC were a bit light on tanks  until late in the war I believe. The SUU-30 series of anti personnel CB's would seem to make more sense.

 

Believe me, anti-armour weapons make an awful mess of... well...  everything!

[PeterB]

I stand corrected on both counts - mea culpa😳.

 

Pete

Edited October 13, 2020 by PeterB

[trickyrich]

3 hours ago, Collin said:

All ROCKEYE are white....the MK 7 outer canister is white with either yellow or blue bands to denote if the cluster munitions inside are either live or inert and if the weapon is thermally protected.  I've dropped thermally protected (TP) and non-TP ROCKEYE...both with inert and live munitions inside, outside canister has always white.  Peacetime/wartime isn't a factor.  

 

Below...on this BUFF...first yellow stripe means the munition is thermally coated, the second blue stripe means the munitions inside the canister are inert (some even have blue "X"'s....see below). 

 

TP coated weapon, inert munitions inside.  This is a leaflet CBU...because of the big BLUE 'X" on the side.  Those are to denote that it's a leaflet munition

 

Below...this A-7 is carrying TP-coated ROCKEYE with live munitions inside (Gulf War 1). 

 

Typically shore-based aircraft will use non-TP CBU's...hence only the single stripe.  See below links for an example of both.

 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6366880

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6437868

 

 

Now I have seen MK-20/CBU-99/CBU-100 rounds in solid blue or natural dark metal...but these are static ground training units used for practice loading or looking pretty next to aircraft parked for display.

 

Examples:

 

Below is from the Aviation Ordnance manual:

 

A    yellow    band    around  the  forward  end  of  the cargo  section  indicates  the  explosive  content  of  the weapon.The Mk 7 Mods 3, 4, and 6 bomb dispensers have the Mk 339 Mod 1 fuze, which provides the pilot within-flight selection of the fuze function time.

The Mk 7 Mod 4 bomb dispenser differs from the Mk  7  Mod  3  by  modifying  the  dispenser  and  giving interface  capabilities  with  a  wider  range  of  military aircraft. The Mk 7 Mod 6 bomb dispenser is the same as the Mk 7 Mod 3 except that the outside of the Mod 6 cargo   section   is   coated   with   a   thermal   protective coating  and  has  an  additional  yellow  band  around  the forward  end  of  the  cargo  section.  The  addition  of  the thermal coating increases the overall weight of the Mod 6 to 505 pounds.

 

 

Cheers

Collin

 

Thanks for all that great info!!!   That final picture with that poor old A-10 is quite sad!

 

Gee Dave she's coming along really nicely, the finish in those weapons and pylons is awesome.

 

I've been trying to get some of that Flory Wash for ages, it always seems to be out of stock on the site.........plus I can't seem to find it down here!

 

[DaveJL]

@Collin thanks for all the info and great pictures!!

 

On 10/13/2020 at 9:57 PM, PeterB said:

I stand corrected on both counts - mea culpa😳.

 

Pete

I've been there many times mate

 

On 10/13/2020 at 7:57 PM, Enzo Matrix said:

A "dump" of bombs. 

That works pretty well! I suppose 'dump' is a rather another name for the term I had in my head! 🤐

 

On 10/13/2020 at 10:57 PM, trickyrich said:

Thanks for all that great info!!!   That final picture with that poor old A-10 is quite sad!

 

Gee Dave she's coming along really nicely, the finish in those weapons and pylons is awesome.

 

I've been trying to get some of that Flory Wash for ages, it always seems to be out of stock on the site.........plus I can't seem to find it down here!

 

Thanks Rich. There's 9 bottles of the dark wash Available on the Flory website at the minute.

 

Back to the kit and due to the unique shapes and colour locations, I had to break the painting down into more stages that normal. So after the primer, I sprayed the frame of the windscreen in MRP Light Gull Grey and then masked this off. Then the pre shading was done. The nose was sprayed black and given a light coat of gloss to protect the paint from the masking tape that will be going on. I also painted the leading edges of the wings (Tamiya XF-57 'Buff' looked a good match for this) and masked up. I'll also need to mask off the black on the intake lips.

 

 

Wings and stabilisers also had the leading edges painted and masked before a pre-shade:

 

 

Refuelling probe done:

 

 

Canopy was sprayed, weathered and given flat coat before the plethora of internal parts were added (10 in total):

 

 

I'm hoping to get the initial coats of white down next week.

 

Cheers and take care

 

Dave

[modelling minion]

That looks great Dave, with the top colours on she is going to be fantastic.

The canopy is really good, a very neat masking job.

[DaveJL]

14 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That looks great Dave, with the top colours on she is going to be fantastic.

The canopy is really good, a very neat masking job.

Thanks mate.

 

The New Ware mask set is very good.

[trickyrich]

now this is starting to get exciting!!  

[DaveJL]

13 hours ago, trickyrich said:

now this is starting to get exciting!!  

Thanks mate! Will be glad when the painting is completed!

[DaveJL]

Back to the bench after a bit of a hiatus. Masked the nose up and sprayed all the necessary areas in Tamiya XF-2.  Some detailing added to the landing gear bays.

 

 

Wings:

 

 

Stabilisers were glossed (these are all white, top and bottom) and given a Flory panel wash:

 

 

More masking now - upper flaps on the wings, then the demarcation areas between the white and Gull Grey, not forgetting the intake splitter plates. Hoping to progress that midweek.

 

Stay safe,

 

Dave

[modelling minion]

That is nice paint work Dave, really smooth.

The wash on the stabilisers has done a great job of highlighting the recessed details on them.

[DaveJL]

29 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That is nice paint work Dave, really smooth.

The wash on the stabilisers has done a great job of highlighting the recessed details on them.

Thanks mate!

[Hewy]

Looks very promising dave👍

[ziggyfoos]

On 10/16/2020 at 2:11 PM, DaveJL said:

...

I also painted the leading edges of the wings (Tamiya XF-57 'Buff' looked a good match for this) and masked up. I'll also need to mask off the black on the intake lips.

...

 

Dave excellent progress so far. 

If it matters, the wing, tail, and pylon leading edges on early A-6s (like many other USN aircraft in that period) were Corogard, an aluminum grey color. The tan/brown tape on the leading edges came about later (70/80s).

Here's a detail pic from their 1965 Indy cruise that you're doing:

Edited November 4, 2020 by ziggyfoos

[DaveJL]

On 11/3/2020 at 6:42 AM, Hewy said:

Looks very promising dave👍

Thanks mate!

 

3 hours ago, ziggyfoos said:

 

Dave excellent progress so far. 

If it matters, the wing, tail, and pylon leading edges on early A-6s (like many other USN aircraft in that period) were Corogard, an aluminum grey color. The tan/brown tape on the leading edges came about later (70/80s).

Here's a detail pic from their 1965 Indy cruise that you're doing:

That's what I get for relying on the Hobbyboss painting sheet!

 

Thanks for the info, I'm about to re-mask and correct the leading edges in aluminium.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Good progress over the past 2 days. Gull grey on in a few light coats, masking off, various small areas detailed and the leading edges corrected as pointed out above. Quite happy with how it's looking.

 

 

Just need to paint the airbrakes on the fuselage metallic steel then I'm hoping to get the gloss coat on tomorrow.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[modelling minion]

That looks really great Dave, the pre-shading has worked very well and given a nice variation to the tone.

Very neat job on the corogard, re-doing something like that and getting it neat is never an easy task but you have done it really well.

[DaveJL]

2 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That looks really great Dave, the pre-shading has worked very well and given a nice variation to the tone.

Very neat job on the corogard, re-doing something like that and getting it neat is never an easy task but you have done it really well.

Thanks mate. The leading edges were simple enough to fix, using the MRP colours helps as they dry so quickly to a good strong finish. They're not 100% as I've left a gap from the edge of the slats to stall strip on the inner most leading edge as per the Furball diagram but the picture above would suggest that's not correct. But I'm happy to leave it as is!

[coneheadff]

Looking great Dave!!

[DaveJL]

1 hour ago, coneheadff said:

Looking great Dave!!

Thanks Alex!

 

I've also just remembered I need to mask and spray the walkways

[DaveJL]

Walkways masked up and sprayed MRP Dark Gull Grey, followed by the airbrakes in Tamiya X10 Gun Metal. Once dry, a few light coats of Alclad gloss went on.

 

 

Should have the decals on tomorrow.

 

Dave

[modelling minion]

That is some neat masking Dave, very nice.

Looking forward to seeing the decals start to go on.