1/48 Hasegawa A-7E Corsair II

Gallery Article by David Mielke on July 23 2015

 

      

This is my rendition of Hasegawa's A-7E kit. I bought both the U.S. Air Force and this U.S. Navy version a while back as both the kits feature a nicely detailed cockpit, scribed panels and rivet detail, open or closed canopy, folded or straight wings, separate control surfaces as well as photo-etched parts to represent the fuselage skin reinforcement and refueling probe housing. However, the big difference with these two is the inclusion of the optional open avionics bays on either side of the fuselage... no aftermarket necessary to get some extra detailing under your belt.

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The kit goes together nicely and I didn't really have any issues with the build including removing the seam in the intake... and that's a big and very visible mouth to repair... If you got a mouth that big best put some teeth on it so that's what I did with my A-7!

I did some subtle weathering using a salt method (messed up by inadvertently using semi-gloss paint) as well as brush applied variation of paint tones, (the pictures don't quite show the effect). I also replaced the kit decals (of the VA-93 CAG bird) with ones a bit more colourful as I had found a reference photo of this aircraft with a blue nose, tail etcetera. I painted the tail stripes and the nose colour as this is usually best...and there you have it.

If you haven't built one of these A-7s they are definitely worth a go, especially if you can get the kit on sale or second hand. IMHO one of Hasegawa's best kits, if you factor the amount of detail available out of the box.

Aircraft build #167 to add to the shelf, displayed proudly beside an F-4B and a couple of "Scouts" (O-1 and O-2).

Keep the builds progressing,

David Mielke

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Photos and text © by David Mielke