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Seamless Suckers has been around for a few years now. Over the years
Robert Brown, the ‘Head Sucker in Charge’ has brought smiles to the faces of
many Modern Jet Modelers. His intakes have saved the modeler quite a few hours
in one of the most difficult areas of jet modeling, filling and sanding the
seams inside the intakes. The most recent release in this line is product number
SS-24, A-6E intakes for the Revell 1/48 scale Intruder. The set consists of four
pieces in a hard white resin. The two intake’s, and the engine faces for each.
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the real A-6E, the distance from the edge of the intake splitter plate to
the engine |
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face is 7 feet.
Revell’s measures out to a scale 2 feet. These new intakes are the
correct 7 scale feet and give the kit a much more realistic appearance.
Installation
of the new intakes is pretty much straight forward. However, like any
resin aftermarket item, they may need to be modified just a bit to fit
your kit. Follow the directions, take your time, and test fit often. It is
recommended that you remove a little bit of plastic from the kit at a
time, dry fitting as you go.
I have included a scan of the instructions for this review/build
article, so you can follow the steps. However, if you have a specific
question or the instructions are unclear to you, feel free to drop me an
email.
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After removing the casting block from the backs of the intakes, wash the
parts in warm soapy water to remove the mold release agent. Once dry, spray the
interior of the intakes Gloss White and set aside to dry.
Next paint the engine faces
Steel. When dry, insert into the intake and push it in as far as it will go. It
may be necessary to remove a bit of the casting plug from the engine faces to
prevent them from hitting the main wheel wells in the kit.
After removing the necessary plastic from the kit, and you are satisfied
with the intakes fit, glue the kit boarding ladder door in the closed position
on the left fuselage half. When gluing the ladder door, you must first remove
the detail from the inside, as this will interfere with the intake itself. This
will ensure you get the left intake in the proper position.
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Now glue the intakes in
position using either Super Glue or 5 minute epoxy. On my kit, I tacked the
boarding ladder door in with white glue so I could remove it later.
When you install the fuselage bottom and nose wheel well to the kit (kit
parts 11, 60, and 61), you will need to sand the wheel well as shown in order
for it to fit properly. You may also need to thin the intakes more with a Dremel.
You can see how the bottom fits without this modification.
The rest of the kit will be
built according to Revell’s instructions.
On my kit, I chose to add the Black Box cockpit and scratch build the
boarding ladder to show it in the down position. In order to get the BB cockpit
to fit, some surgery will need to be performed on both the cockpit and the
intakes. I had to thin the bottom of the cockpit tub so much, you can almost see
through it. I also had to thin the intakes themselves to get the tub to seat
properly. I can’t stress it enough. Remove a LITTLE at a time and dry fit
often until you get it right. After a few dozens swipes with the Dremel, I was
able to get everything to fit snug.
There was a slight step on the right intake to fuselage join, and a small
gap on the left intake to fuselage join on the bottom. I filled both of these
areas with White Miliput. I use Miliput because of it’s working time, as well
as the fact that it is easy to sand when dry and sands to a glass smooth finish.
You can also see where I used Miliput to fill in the gaps where the boarding
ladder will be. I used a sculpting tool moistened with water to work the Miliput
in.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this article. With any luck, I’ll have this
A-6E done in time for the North Central West Virginia Scale Modelers show in
November. I’ll try to get more photos posted when I finish.
Dave Roof
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