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1/72 A-5 Vigilante


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It depends do you want an A-5 bomber or the RA-5C recce platform?

Trumpeter has a scaled down version of the 48th kit for a couple of years now and it's around $30 USD more or less. There also was an Airfix version but its been OOP for a while now and Revell did one a while back but it may have been an old box scale kit versus a true 72nd (Kangham I believe also released a copy/clone of this one a couple of years ago as I saw it at a Hobbylobby)

Now if you want a bomber you'd have to modify the kits as they are all IIRC the Vietnam era recon variant. I think that Fine Scale Modeler had an article a few years back on a conversion.

Strange thing is I don't think I have seen a single article or mention of the 72nd kit built up in the couple of years it's been out.

Matt

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The old Monogram and Revell A-5A was someting like 1/87 scale I believe, no were close to 1/72.

I have both the Monogram and Revell A-5A's and they no were up to today's standard but are good enough to make a desk top display model out of.

HTH

Reddog :rolleyes:

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The old Monogram and Revell A-5A was someting like 1/87 scale I believe, no were close to 1/72.

I have both the Monogram and Revell A-5A's and they no were up to today's standard but are good enough to make a desk top display model out of.

HTH

Reddog :worship:

Wasn't that old A-5 part of the "box scale"?

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Not sure. Both are from the early to mid 60's and as far as I know are the only A-5A plastic models available. Both don't have any details but can be made up in a nice desk top display model. I did one up as the A-5A that is on poles at Pax since it sits right outside my window at work.

Reddog :salute:

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I have the Trumpy one. It is light years above anything else out there. I also have an old magazine that shows it in simple Navy markings and an experimental SEA camo scheme.

The Camo scheme were pretty interesting... I believe only 4 Sqns wore camos

RVAH-6 in 1966 with BuNo: 149313 NL 702 And: BuNo: 150830 which were green & dark green, nose Number,Navy and BuNo: were in dark Grey

RVAH-11 received 1 camo bird from RVAH13 BuNo: 150837 a 3-tone camo

RVAH-12 with BuNo: 149289

RVAH-13 Buno: 150837 (to RVAH-11 after CVA-59 fire)

Buno: 151727

I have several diferent Vigi kits Hasgeawa, Airfix, Trumpeter (1/48 & 1/72), Kangnam,(one of which is being converted to A-5A) And, a Monogram 1/72 A-5A, UPC 1/100 A3J-1/A-5A

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The one thing I remember about the Airfix and Hasegawa kits is they both did the say squadron markings but did different serials.

It means you can build two different jets from the same squadron at the same point in time OOB.

Im not sure if even the tomcat has been treated like that.

As for kits, they are all pretty unremarkable, the break down of them means its quite easy to build and any problems are easy to fix with filler.

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The old Monogram and Revell A-5A was someting like 1/87 scale I believe, no were close to 1/72.

I have both the Monogram and Revell A-5A's and they no were up to today's standard but are good enough to make a desk top display model out of.

Boy, that brings back memories. I built that kit when I was a kid. I am still waiting for an A-5A kit to come out in 1/72 scale. The A-5A was in the Navy at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.

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Coool!

Know of any decent pictures of the cammo Viggies? :thumbsup:

Books that I have are the main source of info on them:

Osprey Combat Aircraft #51

RA-5C Vigilante Units In Combat by R.B.Powell (pgs. 29,30,53)

Aerofax Mingraph 9

North Amercan Rockwell

A3J/A-5 Vigilante

by Michael Grove & Jay Miller (pg. 17)

Ginter's Book NF-64

North American A-5A RA-5C Vigilante

all are good references to have for the Vigilante.

I have seen a few pics online just do a google search: "RA-5C Vigilante" it should turn up a few

hth,

Eddie

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  • 1 month later...

Are there any pictures of 150830 while onboard the Constellation? Did it carry the camo for the entire cruise? I want to make a model of this one because it was shot down on Oct 22, 1966, and the pilot Thomas Kolstad was from Minnesota, one of my preffered subjects for my models.

The Camo scheme were pretty interesting... I believe only 4 Sqns wore camos

RVAH-6 in 1966 with BuNo: 149313 NL 702 And: BuNo: 150830 which were green & dark green, nose Number,Navy and BuNo: were in dark Grey

RVAH-11 received 1 camo bird from RVAH13 BuNo: 150837 a 3-tone camo

RVAH-12 with BuNo: 149289

RVAH-13 Buno: 150837 (to RVAH-11 after CVA-59 fire)

Buno: 151727

I have several diferent Vigi kits Hasgeawa, Airfix, Trumpeter (1/48 & 1/72), Kangnam,(one of which is being converted to A-5A) And, a Monogram 1/72 A-5A, UPC 1/100 A3J-1/A-5A

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Don't forget about the excellent Hasegawa RA-5C as well. IMHO it's better than the Airfix kit. Yes, the Trumpeter kit is nifty-spiffy new, but (again) IMHO it's no better than the 35 year old Hasegawa kit. In fact, the Hasegawa and Airfix kits both have the shapes correct, where Trumpeter doesn't. Theirs has the same squashed fwd fuselage/cockpit area as their 1/48 fiasco did. Were I to want to do one, I'd go with Hasegawa and put on the Trumpeter detail bits.

J

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The Hasegawa Viggie looks funny too - the nose looks too fat and bulged in profile. The lower profile of the fuselage has a curve to it that the real thing doesn't have and the windshield is also curved in profile whereas the real one is straight. All this makes the Airfix kit better shaped in my eyes, but detail is chunky. Both kits have the clear bits moulded with almost no clearance to the "solid" canopies, so buildwise they will be a challenge too. The Trumpeter kit isn't perfect, but I think it's the least of all evils.

Jens

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  • 9 years later...

Hi,

     I recently picked up a 1/72 A-5 Vigilante conversion kit on EBAY. I can't assess the quality yet, as it hasn't come in. N. A. A5A (A3J-1) VIGILANTE Scale 1:72, brand AESCALA; MODIFICATION Kit. Seller's ID is 54hpe54. As of today he has no other Vigilante Kits. If I run across any other, I'll E-MAIL you.The January 1993 issue of Fine Scale Modeler has an article on converting the 1/72 Hasegawa RA5-C Vigilante to a 1/72 A5A Vigilante. I could copy the article and E-MAIL it to you.I also have 2 Trumpeter 1/48 Vigilante kits and the Cutting Edge 1/48 A-5 (A3J-1) conversion kit. I'll be selling those soon on EBAY. Let me know if you’re interested.

Nick

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