I
finally found the best scale: 1/32! Having lots of display cases full of 1/72 US
Aircraft I fell in love with the big scale jets... After building Tamiya’s
awesome F-14A I used a summer break between military service and beginning
studies at the University
of
Zurich
to build some of the new (and old) big scale jets to improve my skills.
This is
my recently completed Trumpeter A-7E.
I used no aftermarket sets, just Decals from Super Scale, no 32234, Last Mission
Desert Storm VA-72. I’m quoting here military.com about VA-72 taking part in
Op Desert storm: “The
squadron participated in Operation Desert Shield, the build up of American and
Allied forces to counter a threatened invasion of Saudi Arabia by Iraq and as
part of an economic blockade of Iraq to force its withdrawal from Kuwait.
January
17, 1991: The squadron’s A-7E Corsair IIs participated in the first combat
strike against Iraqi targets in
Baghdad
during Operation Desert Storm.
January
29, 1991: Squadron aircraft flew their first combat mission in the Kuwait
Theater, striking Iraqi troops, tanks and artillery positions.
February
27, 1991: Squadron aircraft participated in the last naval air combat strike of
the war, hitting retreating Iraqi troops east of An Najaf, Iraq.
During
the 43 days of war the squadron flew 362 sorties without the loss of a pilot or
aircraft.
June
8, 1991
:
The last two squadron aircraft participated in the Desert Storm Victory Parade
Fly Over in
Washington
,
D.C.
”
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images below to see larger images
This
Trumpeter kis is really a big bang: lots of parts, super quality and details.
I
only tried to improve the avionic and main gear bays using wire in different
colors. The folded wings were the only area where I had real trouble; they broke
3 times, in the end, I had tho add two pieces of thick flower’s wire to
strengthen the mechanism. But I do like this feature, seeing an airplane like
standing on a carrier’s flight deck is absolutely impressive.
I
also put some time in the intake area, where I had to use lots of putty and
improving my sanding skills. I took two pairs of Tamiya’s Mk 20 Rockeyes (or
CBUs?) from the F-15E “Bunker Buster” kit and the AIM-9Ms from Academy’s
F-16CJ/CG kit, the rest of the weapons are out of box. I tried to improve the
iron bombs by adding a similar surface like the one I put on the GBU-24s which
my Tamiya F-14A Tomcat carries. I know the bombs surfaces are a very rough,
I’m always seeking new ways to do this fire-resistant coat. Remove before
flight tags are from Tamiya, weathering was applied as on the Tomcat.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Super
Scale decals went on really nice, they are great work! I’m looking forward to
building another A-7 in the future, perhaps the USAF Version A-7D when it
finally arrives in my German suppliers stock.
Hope
you like it!
Daniel
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images below to see larger images
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