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The A-7E Corsair's Last Hurrah - VA-72 "Blue Hawks"


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After having a look through the stash for a suitable subject for this GB I decided to select this Hasegawa boxing of the A-7E. I have ordered some decals for the Blue Hawks aircraft. I have also ordered some pre coloured etch to detail the cockpit, but I still need to source some weapons to hang underneath. 

 

More information about the Corsairs deployment and hence the idea for my choosing this as a subject for the group build can be found in the link below.

 

https://www.historynet.com/gulf-war-the-corsairs-last-hurrah.htm

 

And here are the box and contents shots.

 

50912562341_891c9ec119_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

50911872303_89807bb23c_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

50911872418_2c85660af2_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

John

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14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

A cracking choice John, if slightly bigger than your other builds of late!

Despite it's age the Hasegawa A-7 is still a good kit, but you just wish that they would give you some whizz bangery with them, an unarmed Corsair just doesn't look right.

Looking forward to this one mate.

 

Good to have you tagging along Craig. I don't have many 1/48 kits in my collection and only a few of those are jet aircraft, this being one of them. It will make a change for me not to have to use the special glasses :nerdy: for this build. 

 

Cheers

John

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All your good work with the new desk tidy will go out the window when you start building this monster 48 Corsair. 

Its absolutely crazy times if Johns venturing into this scale. 

 

Good luck dude. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been steadily plugging away at some of the interior bits for this over the past week or so. The intake/nose bay has been assembled and the tricky interior seam was filled, sanded and repainted, it needs a bit more work yet before I fit it in the fuselage. The instrument panel and HUD have been replaced with etch parts, and I still have to fit a small amount of etch to the sidewalls and canopy rails though. There are a couple of seat options but I still haven't determined which option is the correct one for a Gulf War US Navy A-7E. 

 

The cockpit, intake and exhaust parts

50962792861_e3df2b83bd_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Etch instrument panel

50962082853_1fbc957eca_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

 

The remaining etch parts like sidewall details, canopy rails etc still need to be added.

50962792736_43575f3fb6_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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48 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

There are a couple of seat options but I still haven't determined which option is the correct one for a Gulf War US Navy A-7E. 

 

The cockpit, intake and exhaust parts

  

by John L, on Flickr

 

 

look'n good.  Use the seat on the left of your picture.  that is the SJU-8 ejection seat that replaced the seat on the right.  Aires does make a very nice set of it.

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1 hour ago, Benner said:

look'n good.  Use the seat on the left of your picture.  that is the SJU-8 ejection seat that replaced the seat on the right.  Aires does make a very nice set of it.

 

Thanks for the info Benner, I'll start looking round for a replacement.

 

John

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9 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Thanks for the info Benner, I'll start looking round for a replacement.

 

John

Benner is correct, at this point in time the USN had replaced original ESCAPAC seats with the SJU-8, so if you want to replace the seat, look for an SJU-8.

 

he SJU-8 seat was black overall, unlike the previous seat which was the same grey as the cockpit (FS36231 DGG), the new seat still used the old guide rails

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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On 20/02/2021 at 22:02, desert falcon said:

That instrument panel is looking so nice !!

 

Cheers DF. It looks quite a busy area and being a larger scale than the one I usually work in, it is a lot easier to work with.

 

On 21/02/2021 at 05:09, Pappy said:

Benner is correct, at this point in time the USN had replaced original ESCAPAC seats with the SJU-8, so if you want to replace the seat, look for an SJU-8.

 

he SJU-8 seat was black overall, unlike the previous seat which was the same grey as the cockpit (FS36231 DGG), the new seat still used the old guide rails

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

Thanks for your input Pappy. I have sourced a seat, and decided to splash out on some wheels too. I am now in the process of deciding on what I am going to hang off the pylons, so that I can sort those out before I place the order.

 

On 21/02/2021 at 09:50, Hockeyboy76 said:

Nice start dude. The etch on the IP looks great. 

 

Cheers matey, It's not bad for one of Eduard's earlier sets. I was working away yesterday and remembered that 12 months ago we met up for the first time in Nantwich for the model show, before Mrs. N and I headed off to North Yorkshire for a 5 day break the following day. 

 

I dropped the spare scraper in the post yesterday so it should be with you this week.

 

UPDATE TIME

I picked out a few of the details on the side consoles and lightly dry brushed other areas before fixing the assembly in position on top of the intake. I should be able to fit the bang seat in later once I have everything buttoned up.

 

50969596946_ae605a389d_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

50968895718_a5212c15b6_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

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18 hours ago, Jabba said:

Cockpit looking very good.

 

 

15 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice work on the cockpit John, it looks very convincing. 

 

Thanks for your comments guys. I have added the etch parts to the side walls and the inside of the canopy rails, then I decided to fix the intake/cockpit assembly into one of the fuselage halves. Things were going so well up to that point, it was a couple of minutes into holding things together that I realised that the glue had seeped under my finger leaving the the dreaded gluey print. I have sanded and polished that out and now just have to reinstate the fastenings, a small drill will sort that out.

 

Cheers

John

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Here are a few photos of todays progress, in the first shot you can make out some of the etch detail added to the sidewall and the inside face of the canopy rail, there are similar details on the port side

 

50974243821_2076031a0a_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

The following images show the fuselage with the cockpit fitted and everything closed up. I'll leave things harden up for a couple of days, then start to clean up the join before adding the rest of the fuselage details.

 

50973547963_48a172bcb0_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

50974243726_b48eb18431_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Cheers

John

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14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Taking shape very nicely John, didn't take you long to get the fuselage closed up at all.

 

Thanks Craig, it went together very well, but on closer inspection there is still a bit of work to do on my gluey print. It's behind the canopy opening and you can just make it out in the first of the photos.

 

I have been looking at a few pics of A-7's in the Gulf and they look pretty well worn as would be expected for an aircraft coming to the end of its service life. I am scratching my head as to how I am going to recreate the very patchy paintwork, it's not something that I would be too bothered about in 1/144 scale, but I think that I will have to make some sort of attempt at creating a similar look in this scale. @Hockeyboy76's technique of a dark base colour with lightly brushed on topcoats has produced a nice effect on his Bedford Tanker for this GB, maybe something similar would work here. I think that it could soon be time to try a few things out before committing them to the model.

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1 hour ago, nimrod54 said:

 

Thanks Craig, it went together very well, but on closer inspection there is still a bit of work to do on my gluey print. It's behind the canopy opening and you can just make it out in the first of the photos.

 

I have been looking at a few pics of A-7's in the Gulf and they look pretty well worn as would be expected for an aircraft coming to the end of its service life. I am scratching my head as to how I am going to recreate the very patchy paintwork, it's not something that I would be too bothered about in 1/144 scale, but I think that I will have to make some sort of attempt at creating a similar look in this scale. @Hockeyboy76's technique of a dark base colour with lightly brushed on topcoats has produced a nice effect on his Bedford Tanker for this GB, maybe something similar would work here. I think that it could soon be time to try a few things out before committing them to the model.

Your far tooo kind Sir,

as for my technique it’s purely along the lines of those famous decorators “Bodge it & Scarper”

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  • 1 month later...

It has been a while since my last update, but in between other projects, I have been slowly plugging away at the A-7, and after priming I made a start on the painting last night. I airbrushed on a thin coat of paint using Xtracolor X135 FS16320, and whilst it is not easily seen in the bright sunshine, I allowed a hint of the grey primer layer to show through in a few places. The decal instructions state that the overall colour was FS36320 but that this has faded to be closer to FS36375, so I may add another thin layer of a lighter shade to the upper surfaces (maybe a mix of 6320 and 6375) to enhance the patchy appearance further.

 

51105019738_ab5e4b6c9f_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51105893110_6f5444b4f8_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

51105019658_38c9187cc1_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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Thanks Jabba, not quite together yet though - the wing is just placed in position for now, I thought that it might help when it comes to fixing the undercarriage doors etc in position. I added a lighter shade on the model today, I am not sure how successful it was, it's my first attempt at trying to attain a patchy appearance and I think that the paint mix wasn't light enough, I hope some weathering might help me to achieve the look I am aiming for though. 

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Coming along very nicely John.

Showing subtle variations in colour is something that I struggle to show with photography, it can be a matter of having to get the lighting just right, and then trying to repeat it again later!

I think your plan to add the second colour sounds like a good one, should work a treat.

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On 10/04/2021 at 21:42, modelling minion said:

Coming along very nicely John.

Showing subtle variations in colour is something that I struggle to show with photography, it can be a matter of having to get the lighting just right, and then trying to repeat it again later!

I think your plan to add the second colour sounds like a good one, should work a treat.

 

22 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

Looking good dude, nice paintwork. 

 

Cheers guys. I had a second look at the paint earlier today and have decided that I need to add a paler colour. I used a 50-50 mix of 6320 and 6375 but it is still too close in tone to the base colour. I think I will have another try with 6375 on its own, then some weathering with white oil over that should get me somewhere close.

 

John

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