For your viewing
pleasure, here are some photos of my 1/72 scale Hasegawa EKA-3B Skywarrior.
Nicknamed "The Whale", the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was originally
designed as a strategic bomber for the U.S Navy, and was the heaviest
aircraft ever to be flown from an aircraft carrier. A-3s were in service from
the mid-1950s to 1991. In its later service life it was converted to an ECM
platform and an air refueling tanker, and was re-designated the EKA-3B.
About the kit:
Assembly of this kit was a straight OOB build and relatively easy. The parts fit
was quite good. External detail was also quite good, but cockpit detail was a
bit lacking. However, with a closed up cockpit, it doesn't matter. The parts fit
was good enough to allow me to build, paint, and decal the engines separately.
The finished engines were then installed after model painting was finished. Note
that saving the refueling probe installation to the very last might be a wise
thing to do. I didn't, and it broke off 5 minutes after I installed it.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Painting the model was a
bit challenging because of all the masking involved. All painting was done
with enamel paints. White areas were airbrushed with MM Flat White. Black
surfaces were airbrushed with MM Gloss Black while the main body of the
model was airbrushed with MM Flat Gull Gray. Bare metal surfaces of the
engines were primed with gloss black, and then airbrushed with Alclad II
Pale Burnt Metal.
The kit provided
decals for two aircraft. I chose to go with decals for the VAQ-130
"Zappers", U.S. Navy, June 1972. The decals were excellent; they
snuggled down nicely with a touch of Micro Sol. Note that the engine decals are
incorrect for this model. I messed up one of the engine decals so I substituted
the engine decals with engine decals from an S-3 Viking. I finished the model
with a coat of MM Semi Gloss Lacquer Finish.
I am pleased with
the finished model, an enjoyable project.
Burt Gustafson
Click on
images below to see larger images
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