Monogram’s A-6
remains the only game in town in 1/48 scale. I’ve had the kit for a while and
when Verlinden released their super detail set, I decided to give it a go.
In addition to the
cockpit tub, ejection seats, rear decking and a large photoetched fret, the
Verlinden set includes parts that allow the modeler to replace the crew ladder
area and door area.
High points:
Nice seats and detailed rear decking, boarding ladder (intake area) overhead
console.
Low points: Poor
fit of tub (if attached to the rear deck as instructed), oversized photo
etched parts, unbuildable ladder (for me at least).
Click on
images below to see larger images
I started by
scribing the panel lines and removing the inner wing fence and relocating it
closer to the fuselage. To get the cockpit to fit, I added a shim of plastic
between the rear wall and the rear deck. This lengthened the whole assembly and
enabled it to fit properly. If you’re using this set, please dry fit, check
and dry fit again. The instrument panel and shroud are from the kit. I added
some extra detail to these.
After the cockpit
was installed, some lead fishing weights were super glued into the nose before
closing it up. Assembly was fairly straight forward after this, some shimming
was required at the wing roots to minimize use of filler. The exhaust required
some work though, to get a seamless cylindrical look. I also reshaped the aft
inlet located on top of the rear fuselage and drilled open the two prominent
holes on the bottom of the forward fuselage.
I painted the model
with Model Master enamels and shot lighter and darker “shades” of the base
grays to capture the mottled, dirty look of these aircraft. The walkways were
masked and painted Dark Gull Gray and weathered with the lightened base colour
and dirtied with pastels. Decals were from Super Scale and portray VA-55’s
Silver Foxes. I was fortunate to find a couple of photos of this aircraft, so I
tried to replicate it as best I could. Hope you like it.
Fernan de Gannes
Click on
images below to see larger images
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