1/48 Revell A-6E Intruder

Gallery Article by Sodasorb on Mar 26 2015

 

      

This is the classic 1/48th scale Revell A-6E built primarily out of the box with the exception of the addition of Impact Decals' 48-001 USMC Intruders Part 1 VMA (AW)-224 BENGALS sheet. These are great decals and I highly recommend them for modelers looking for interesting Marine subjects. This early mod A-6E was built for my brother who deployed with the squadron for Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. 

 

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The kit went together relatively smoothly but fought me on the intakes. I used some Evergreen strip, Mr. Surfacer 500 and superglue to close the gaps. The rear cooling scoop is oddly shaped and I tried my best to reshape it to match reference photos. The original fuselage airbrakes on A-6s were sealed to the sides of the aircraft and the particular aircraft I was modeling had the early style brakes with blocked perforated holes. I filled the holes with Squadron Green putty and used a very thin micro marker to color them black. The instructions have you installing the main landing gear on the wrong sides: the MLG brake lines on the A-6 face forward not to the rear. The fix is very easy, just swap right for left and visa versa.

I used Model Masters enamels for the Tactical Paint Scheme of Dark Ghost Gray and Light Ghost Gray over a straight black pre-shading. I used Tamiya Acrylic Smoke primarily around the exhaust and gray touch ups capturing the mottled look of Naval Aircraft. After a couple of coats of Pledge Floor Care (AKA Future) those great decals by Impact easily conformed to the surface of the A-6. After sealing the decaled model with more PFC, I used an oil based wash to dirty up the airplane and removed the excess with mineral spirits. I finished with a flat coat. 

Sodasorb

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Photos and text © by Sodasorb