The
A-6E Intruder always captured my attention since I was a beginner modeler, so I
decided to choose this kit from my friend’s closet and build it for him,
Verlinden’s Super Detail Set was provided and I took them home and researched
about this bird on reference book and Internet:
http://www1.vc-net.ne.jp/~nimitz/
I
already knew the kit featured raised panel lines since I have acquired EA-6A
Wild Weasel from same manufacturer, and then decided to remove and engrave them
entirely. Yeah It’s a hard and time consuming work but the happiness comes
when u appreciate the finished model. Process was entirely done before glue
parts, except top side of fuselage area which was completed when two halves were
joined to avoid non aligning effect.
I
used some Designer metal rules; it includes various figures needed to
perform some curved lines on kit’s surface. I recessed some matches
using 0.4 mm. drill. A lot of patience was required to do it.
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Following
instructions from a modeling page I repaired wingtip’s style to old style
which did not include formation Light. So I re-escribed the new triangle
position Light on every wingtip, I paint based with flat white from MM and added
Tamiya clear colors to get a right impression (ARC tips are so useful…). Pitot
tube at fin was replaced with No. 18 hypodermic needle with a sewing one
inside.
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The
inside wing fences position is wrong, because it’s right for A-6A type and
others and we need a right A-6E type…they had to be removed and re located
7mm. closer to the fuselage. I made them newly from plastic sheet shaped
previous to the removing from the original kit. Kit’s AFT air inlet on top of
rear fuselage doesn’t look good, then re profiled and drilled using pics of
real thing as reference. Air exhaust on portside rear fuselage looks better
adding plastic tube as a pipe inside an angled hole and after sanding at
fuselage surface level.
Chaff/Flare
dispensers were removed with a very sharp knife and replaced with resin copies
of parts from 1/48 Hasegawa’s F-14 Tomcat to get more realistic detail. Beacon
Light and TACAN antenna were not applied to nose gear door, our type’s plane
had them on bottom fuselage near the door, I noted the Intruder required some
exhaust holes on the same area so I drilled using several diameter tools; I also
added some wiring on landing gears according to some pics.
Verlinden’s
detail set fitting was a nightmare, it seems reduced caused by excessive resin
contraction, Cockpit tube is narrower than the kit inside area and Ejection
seats doesn’t fit on it. Some wiring and other details were added to the area
behind the cockpit and painted according to pics; windshield was painted using
Tamiya Clear Green mixed with Clear and a drop of Smoke.
Lateral
ladders required an additional effort, they promised a beautiful result, try to
use pics as reference for correct opening angle, they were painted using MM
Gloss Red and dry brushed with Chrome Silver.
The
kit’s exhaust nozzles are injected to fuselage fairings, when glued they look
irregular, after removing I take a plastic retractable pen with similar diameter
and cut two pieces and glued with Gel Cyano, the interior of the pen included
detail similar to real exhaust dented profile surface. Intake fitting is not
exact; assembly left a large gap, now ARC tips serves good again, applied a mix
of liquid cement and MM Red Putty, let dry and take cotton swab wet in liquid
cement to remove putty excess, let it dry again and applied a coat of paper glue
mixed with water to the seamed with putty area to fill some little
imperfections…airbrushed the entire intake with Gloss White and painted the
fan silver with a fine brush.
The
kit looks better now, chose the two tones CAG scheme, used the kit’s high
visibility decals, I had not legend “500NK” in decals to be applied on the
starboard side wing, then I proceeded take the little “500” decal belonging
below the windshield and “NK” from the fin squadron badge from kit’s sheet
and resized with a photocopy machine, took it as reference and painted them
after masking with 3M tape on starboard side wing, airbrushed with MM Flat
Black. Uffff!!! What a hard work!!!. Entire antiglare panels on top and both
sides of fuselage were also masked
and painted using MM Dark Gull Gray retouched with mixed white and base color to
get a little thread effect, always using airbrush. Wings and Stabilators Leading
Edge suffered the same process being painted in MM Radome Tan.
A
deep weathering job was needed to represent a hard worked Intruder, using oils
and pastels, it’s well explained in ARC tools & tips.
Weapon
ordnance included eight Rockeye (only eight to allow landing gear opening)
cluster bombs and twelve Mk82 dumb bombs (kit includes Mk81 Snake eyes but I am
not sure about real using of this bomb type, I prefer Mk82). The friend I built
the kit for provided me Hasegawa’s Weapons Set; it looks more realistic and
includes yellow lettering for Mk82 candies. Another the model base is not part
of the project, only used to take the pics…well Intruder is done!!!!
Greetings
from Peru
Eduardo
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