Grumman EA-6A Electric Intruder

[Pappy]

G'day people,

 

Here is my recently 1/72 Fujimi EA-6A Intruder built for the SSD GB.

 

Based on the earlier A-6A, the EA-6A was adapted for the role of Electronic Attack/Warfare during the Vietnam war. The nose was extended to accommodate additional avionics and the top of the tail (the 'football') was also enlarged to house jamming equipment, Even though the EA-6A remained capable of carrying all the weapons that the A-6 was cleared for, in practice stores were typically limited to the external fuel tanks, ALQ-76 ECM pods and the ALE-32 Flare pods. Some units also carried the AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard missiles. Although the EA-6A was not the sole EW platform used during the Vietnam conflict, it was considered the most capable

 

The markings represent the colourful COs jet of VMAQ-2 'The Playboys' and was adorned with the iconic 'Playboy' symbol on the rudder in the attractive LGG over white scheme. The unit retained the marking when the low-vis TPS was introduced  and eventually transitioned to the EA-6B, a dedicated EW platform. The long arm of the PC police eventually caught up with the playboys however, and they changed their Playboy emblem for a jester to become 'The Jokers', being the last unit to operate the EA-6B before it was phased out

 

Early A-6s used fuselage mounted air brakes however, issues with fatigue cracking resulted in a design change to the wings and horizontally split wingtip mounted speed brakes were adopted. The fuselage brakes were made inoperative during flight but could be opened for maintenance access. Later the solid doors replaced the perforated design however the EA-6A did not receive wing tip brakes and retained operation of the fuselage air brakes. The instructions correctly indicate that the external actuator fairings should be removed but do not instruct that the control surface outlines should be filled in. I missed this detail as I thought the surface would act as a normal aileron but this is not the case. I realised this error too late to correct it, hopefully others will avoid this pitfall

 

My WIP is here;

 

I initially was going to have the kit sitting on the ground so I added a few details to the cockpit and canopy

 

 

I decided I liked the look of the jet airborne instead and Fujimi include a pair of very nicely moulded figures for this purpose. The fit of the u/c doors in the closed position was mostly very good as was the fit in general. Anyhoo, onto the piccies

 

 

 

 

I also made a few additions to the exterior,

• AoA probe added to upper stb'd intake
• Pitot probe added to exterior of port intake
• the lower anti-col light was added to a small pedestal and added off-set to port
• An additional antenna was added to the stab'd lower fuselage nose
• A small ILS antenna was added to the underside of the stb'd intake
• The single point refueling cap was added to a recess beneath the stb'd intake
• The landing and taxi light was added to the nose wheel door. This was re-positioned off-set to stb'd to accommodate the large blade antenna but Fujimi forgot to include this detail
• The spinning RATs for the ALQ-76 ECM pods was represented with some acetate discs
• The perforated speed brakes were left just cracked open

 

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited May 13, 2023 by Pappy

[Hopesdaddy]

Almost perfect looking build, the ìnflight display really sets it off.

[Kampartiger]

Great work on the Iron Toad. The details that you have put into the model is remarkable. 👍

[Ralph]

Fab. I am awaiting the release of the Printscale decals for VAQ33 to do an electronic aggressor. Hope it's as good as this!

Edited May 13, 2023 by Ralph

[Vultures1]

Very nice work, Pappy! The in-flight presentation is particularly good - well done

[Mike]

Love that base.  Very effective indeed

[Serkan Sen]

Simply perfect! Congratulations.

Serkan

[Pantherhawk27263]

Fantastic job!!!

[dnl42]

That looks quite excellent, both the model and the presentation. 

 

I looked at the WIP, but I didn't see mention of the base. Is that your own work or purchased? If you own, how? If purchases, from whom?

[Pappy]

G'day people,

 

Thank you all very much for the kind words,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

[Dr. Quack]

Lovely build @Pappy. And the blurred base gives a very convincing impression of speed - is it from Coastal Kits?? Excellent result.

Q

[_alfisti_]

Great work, the modell as well as the presentation looking stunning.👍

[RWestcott]

Brilliant!  

[Pappy]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:09 AM, Dr. Quack said:

Lovely build @Pappy. And the blurred base gives a very convincing impression of speed - is it from Coastal Kits?? Excellent result.

Q

 

 

Dunno, I bought a few of these from a fellow club member at a swap and sell. It was an off-cut from a larger piece apparently

 

On 5/18/2023 at 9:46 PM, _alfisti_ said:

Great work, the modell as well as the presentation looking stunning.👍

 

On 5/19/2023 at 2:49 AM, RWestcott said:

Brilliant!  

 

Thanks very much gents

 

cheers,

 

Pappy