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The
quality of Hasegawa’s A-7D is well known, so I will just speak about some of
the improvements that I made in building this kit. First of all, the
cockpit area was enhanced with scratch built details added to the side walls.
Foil seatbelts and photo-etched buckles completed the ejection seat. The
kit-supplied overhead ejection handle was also replaced.
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On
to the avionics bays. Hasegawa molded the oxygen tank in a cylindrical
shape which is incorrect. I drilled this out and inserted a spherical one
fashioned from the tip of a MIG-15 drop tank. This area was detailed with
scrap plastic and various bits of wire. The bay on the right side was also
improved to match reference photos in Verlinden’s Lock On. The
Sidewinder rails were replicated with Plastruct channel stock.
Hasegawa’s instructions showed three sway braces for each wing pylon but
reference photos of the A-7D revealed that there are only two. This area
was improved accordingly.
As
per usual, to improve scale appearance, I thinned the trailing edges of the
flying surfaces and the exhaust area. Two areas that were problematic were
the prominent step in the intake and the fit of the wing to the fuselage.
The former was dealt with via liberal application of super glue and accelerator.
A coarse rattail file was used to effect the first clean up, followed by finer
‘modeling files’ and wet sandpaper wrapped around a tube. The wing was
a little more tricky, in that preliminary fitting showed that the starboard wing
seemed lower than the port. I solved this by scoring underneath the port
wing where it meets the fuselage, bending it to the correct angle and fixing it
in place with super glue and accelerator.
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The
model was painted with Model Master Gunship Grey and Dark Green. I subtly
faded the upper surfaces and after an application of Future, added an acrylic
wash to the recessed panel lines. Kit decals were used, representing an
aircraft from 4450th Tactical Group USAF. The center portion of
the wind screen was tinted with Tamiya Clear Blue. Finally the landing
gear, canopy and other small bits and pieces, were added.
That’s
all for now folks.
Fernan
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