wardog

Steve, I completely understand your frustration over spending good money on aftermarket products that fail to make the grade. Unfortunately, this is the norm now and It's up to the modeler to finish what should have been done by the aftermarket companies. In most cases, aftermarket products are a huge improvement over what's offered in the kit and usually worth purchasing. However, I too do not want to waste my already limited bench time re-working something I shouldn't have to. There are those that take a different stance on the quality issues and say we should just be

Thanks Steve, however, I still feel that most modelers could do the same if they chose to spend years on a build. Additionally, I don't consider 48th scale to be that small as what's really impressive is work in 72nd scale or smaller. Also, none of what I do would be possible without the optical aids shown below. Thanks again and I'm looking forward to more progress on your build.

Hello Steve, I'm glad you've decided to resurrect her and as the pictures show, you're off to a great start; I'll be watching with great interest. You can't go wrong with another Grumman product and the A-6 is definitely a worthy subject. Although it comes nowhere near in size comparison to your Tomcat, the 48th A-6 is still a good size model coming in at just under 14in long which is not small by any means. Good luck on this build!

Jon, I find the model to be a bit too pristine for my taste but otherwise It's an excellent build. From construction to paint and decals, a solid 10 overall. The bare metal areas are nicely done and you succeeded in making sure the MLG is not crooked as is often the case with most Hasegawa F-4 builds I've seen. -Elmo

Can't go wrong with an A-6 and with your skillset, tackling the beast should be no problem. If you ever have a need for reference photos, let me know, I have a ton.

Steve, Congratulations, you've done a spectacular job! The finished model looks incredibly realistic and the pics were definitely worth waiting for. I'm surprised how accurate the overall shape is considering how big the model is. You've done the big girl justice..............now what's next???

stalal, Thank you very much; however, you could do the same if you spent over 10 years building a model! -Elmo

Chuck, Thanks for checking in and the feedback. Yes, I have been very patient with this build and It's most likely because model building is about the only thing I have patience for. This build has been going on forever primarily because It's not a priority. In fact, It's not even on the priority list. My day to day activities and priorities center around work, fixing something around the house or managing some aspect related to my kids. For those of us that have young kids, you know how much time is left at the end of the day after homework, sports, etc..............not much!

haneto, Beautiful work you're accomplishing here! The exhaust cans look amazing and the use of the stretched sponge results in a very convincing look. This is the first time I've seen your work so I'll make sure I go back to page 1 and read the entire WIP. -Elmo

Thanks again to all that have left comments and those that have stuck with this build over the past hundred years. I managed to finish the R/S boarding ladder well so I figured I'd post a few pics. Nothing really spectacular here other than for me, one small step forward towards the finish line. The left side is complete as well minus gluing in the hand-holds. I don't plan on doing nothing else in this area other than attaching the boarding ladder and the two guide rail looking things on either side of the boarding ladder that attach to the sides of the well.

Thank you all for looking and the positive feedback. Acuity, thank you as well for looking; unfortunately, the A-6 is the only build I have posted on any of the model building sites so this is pretty much it. As I stated previously, I'm now going to focus a bit on reworking the hand-holds in the boarding ladder well. I started that effort today and so far have completed one hand-hold. I'm including a pic of the real thing and as well as the piece provided in the Verlinden kit for comparison. As is the case with most of the other items on the photoetch fret, It's grossly

DNL42 and DIO, Thanks for letting me know; I forgot to move the pics to the shared album prior to copying the link. I went back and fixed the issue so hopefully the previous and following pics are now displayed. On to the fuel dump vent area. I decided long ago that I was going to scratch build the vent and make the area in general a bit more accurate. That said, I removed most of the detail in the immediate area and just left the aft-most panel. However, when I started to rebuild the area, it gave me a bit more trouble than expected and I wasn't getting the results I w

Once again, It's time for a small update. Now that the kids are back in school I've been able to put in a little bench time; however, I only build a little at a time since I'm not the fastest builder. I went back and added the doubler over the vent on the R/S of the cockpit. I really wish I would have done this prior to opening the hole for the vent....would have been easier than later. I also added the scoop just aft of the doubler. I think It's a bit small but it may have to do. The scribing on the forward/inboard wing leading edge is also complete. Scribing the detai

Steve, The paint is coming along very nicely and giving that last bit of character to finish her up. Good luck as you head towards the finish line. -Elmo

Dave, Looking at my examples printed by Cartograf and Microscale, It's clear the color saturation is greater on the former which of course makes for a more vibrant decal, albeit a bit thicker. My main concern was that once the decal was applied, the thickness would preclude it from looking as though it was painted on. However, based on the feedback received here, it seems there shouldn't be a problem. Also, another nice benefit is that the carrier film is kept to a minimum unlike on the other sheet. To be completely fair though, the color saturation on the Microscale sheet is still excell

Collin, Thanks again for providing some of your in-depth knowledge on the subject; it serves as edification for those of us who care about the configuration of our models being correct. GW8345, Your point is valid indeed. As I'm building a composite wing A-6 with either markings from VA-75 or VA-34 during the early 90's, it's something I'll have to take into account. Thanks Elmo

Collin, Thanks for sharing your experience while attached to VA-115. When doing research to determine if the buddy store/live ordnance combination was ever used, I mainly found pics where the store was used with either multiple wing tanks as you would expect or MER's with or without practice bombs. This of course led me to believe that maybe live ordnance was a no-no; however, I could not come up with a logical explanation as to why that would be the case. I eventually found a pic of a Blue Blasters A-6 carrying a buddy store while dropping MK 20 Rockeye bombs over an island. The pic answ

Hello okthree, Unfortunately the set I purchased does not have the correction set you are looking for. -Elmo

GW8345, That makes perfect sense; thanks for taking the time to clarify. Elmo

Rex, that's a great point! I was under the impression the store innards were made up solely of the mechanisms that allow it to transfer fuel and wasn't a fuel tank in itself. I found some on-line reference information on another buddy store, 31-301 series, and it has an internal capacity of 300 gallons. That said, I assume the D-704 is indeed a tank as well. If so, that invalidates my theory of the preferance to use an actual purpose built tank in lieu of a buddy store on the centreline station when hauling ordnance. Cheers Elmo

Thanks to all for your feedback. The pics confirm my suspicion that there were no restrictions using the combination, I just needed the substantiation. Furthermore, I assume the main reason you don't see a buddy store used very often when ordnance is carried on some or all wing hard points is that the centerline station is better served carrying extra fuel. Cheers Elmo

Thanks for all your input guys. I assume they work great as the sheet really is very well done. BTW, the sheet is #48-080, Desert Storm Intruders (Copyright 2011). I also realize I could test a decal from one of the schemes I know for a fact I will not be using, however, as the sheet is in like-new condition, I don't want to compromise it in any way. Cheers -Elmo

To all you Intruder experts out there, I'm looking for any reference material that shows an A-6E with a buddy store and any combination of serious ordnance. After looking at a ton of pics on the internet, I've only come across two pics with the subject combination; one carrying MK 20 Rockeys and the other a couple of the small blue practice bombs which I believe are 25 pounds ea. For my current build, I'll be adding one GBU and maybe a couple of Rockeys. I'm considering adding a buddy store, however I'm not sure if that load would be a no-no. Thanks -Elmo

I recently purchased an out of production set of Afterburner decals from an ARC member and after careful examination, It's obvious the decals are of very high quality. The detail is nothing short of amazing and perfectly within register. However, I noticed they are a little on the thicker side than what I'm used to seeing these days. When you run your finger across the decals you definitely feel a pronounced edge and in comparison to a set decals I have from AeroMaster, considerably thicker. None the less, the decals are great. I was wondering if I could get some feedback from modelers who hav

I eventually settled on 1/48th aircraft as I feel that is the perfect scale in which the model can be enjoyed visually without either straining to see detail or so big that you have to have ample space at home to accommodate their size. For me, 1/72nd is just too small and somewhat toyish; this scale also fails to project the ooh-ahh factor that you get from any modern combat aircraft. Although I appreciate 32nd scale for the ability to add a lot of extra detail, this scale is just entirely too big for me. -Elmo