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Monogram A-6E TRAM 1/48


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Thanks to all for the kind words. I do put a lot of time and effort into these kits to make them stand out a bit more and I'm glad you guys appreciate my effort.

tc2324, thanks as well but as I've said before, these models look this way because it literally takes me years to finish a project and I'm sure we're all capable of doing similar work if you took as long as I do.

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Throwing these pics in as a farewell to modeling for this year. I will be moving soon and the hobby room is all cleaned out except for the work table and a couple models on top. The other pic shows an F-4S I finished back in 2003 after I got back into the hobby. Hoping to be back on the bench sometime in early February after I'm all settled in.

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Thanks for posting this... I never did get to see this F-4 finished. Came out awesome.

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Soooooooooooo this is the A-6 I have heard Cy rant on about for years. I just found this thread and thank goodness I did. Cy was right! it's a head turner. I saw your F-4 At the 04 Nats and is also is a gem. Between you and Cy So-Cal is well represented. I'm saving this thread for refrence, so when I get the BALLS and yes I do mean BALLS I have something to aspire to, althought it willhave to be 32nd so I can see it. Simplying amazing stuff (E)

Jim

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Soooooooooooo this is the A-6 I have heard Cy rant on about for years. I just found this thread and thank goodness I did. Cy was right! it's a head turner. I saw your F-4 At the 04 Nats and is also is a gem. Between you and Cy So-Cal is well represented. I'm saving this thread for refrence, so when I get the BALLS and yes I do mean BALLS I have something to aspire to, althought it willhave to be 32nd so I can see it. Simplying amazing stuff (E)

Jim

Ah yes, Cy, my mentor. I've learned quite a bit from him as he is very skilled in this hobby. It's funny when you mention YEARS as it typically really does take me that long, what can I say, I build slow!

Thanks for the compliments and as the big five-o really isn't that far away for me, I might be building 32nd scale as well, especially at the rate my eyesight has been degrading lately. Also, by the way you wrote your post I can't help but wonder if I know you or not?

Thanks again

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Cy introduced us back in 04 at the table where your F-4 sat. I really dug the way you opened up LE of the stabilators. Funny what you remember years ago in conversation.

So if Cy was your mentor , then he likes to bragg about his student ;-) Everytime we meet up at these Nats he's awlays saying "man you need to see that A-6!" If you ever finish it and bring it to a Nats just let me or Cy know your comming so I can stay away from that catagory and also to make sure I get pic's!

Jim

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Cy introduced us back in 04 at the table where your F-4 sat. I really dug the way you opened up LE of the stabilators. Funny what you remember years ago in conversation.

So if Cy was your mentor , then he likes to bragg about his student ;-) Everytime we meet up at these Nats he's awlays saying "man you need to see that A-6!" If you ever finish it and bring it to a Nats just let me or Cy know your comming so I can stay away from that catagory and also to make sure I get pic's!

Jim

I actually think I remember you but of course I can't say for sure. Yeah Cy is pretty good, I've picked up a few tips from him but I'd say we both have our own unique styles. He is very consistent and always does really well at the Nats. He also has a few things down to a science including scribing which we all know is not easy.

I do plan on taking my A-6 to the Nats and I actually thought some time ago that I would be finished to enter the 2011 competition. It then turned into the 2012 Nats and now It's looking more like 2014. Married life really sucks up most of your time and just trying to get a few hours in here and there can sometimes be almost impossible. I do think that once I get the fuselage glued it will all go a lot faster.

E

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Well I'm finally all settled in to the new place and been putting in a few minutes here and there when I can. I was looking at HAMMER32's build and I noticed he too had issues with the cockpit to fuselage fit. Although I'm using the Monogram kit and the Blackbox tub, I have some major gaps where the consoles meet with the fuselage sides as shown by the pics. Not sure though if HAMMER32's issues are identical to mine or not with respect to the gaps. The gaps on my machine are so large that the tub free-floats and proper location is very difficult. In order to fix this issue I'll wedge plastic strip where appropriate to center the tub correctly. The ejection seats have been glued in temporarily with white glue to aid in the tub centering process. The string that was located fore and aft references the fuselage center line and I'll also use this to center the tub by locating the center of the center console to the string. The gaps on either side of the consoles will eventually be covered up by the side pieces from the Wolfpack cockpit set.

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You sir have an amazing talent and your attention to detail is second to none. You should be a professional model builder. I love the A-6E, really miss this airframe. Words can not express what you have done so far but, I LOVE IT and look forward to more progress.

Steve

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  • 1 month later...

Here are a few pics of some progress I've made. I'll post more in a few days. Top pic shows the left sidewall fitted as well as It's gonna fit with a non-removable gap adjacent to the throttle quadrant. In order to fix this issue correctly I had no choice but to remove the original quadrant and make a new console panel that took up the gap and of course, a new throttle. I could have have just glued a filler piece to the tub side console but I think I like making life hard on myself. The throttle quadrant started off as a simple copy of the original but since I couldn't leave well enough alone, it grew into a model in itself. Although not exactly accurate, it's a bit better than the original...at least I like to think it is. Thanks for looking.

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Thanks gents. As far as the small details are concerned and taking my aging eyes into consideration, reading glasses along with my lighted 4x6 magnifying glass are the order of the day. I typically only use that combo when dealing with the tiny stuff as reading glasses alone suffice for everything else.

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Shadoweng........yes, I do own a real one, well almost. I will say I am lucky in the sense I work for the company that built the A-6 and I have access to old tech pubs. Kind of like someone currently serving in naval aviation can use whatever reference material they have, like IETM's, and using it to enhance their models. The eyes have taken a serious beating sometime after 40 so i literally need the glasses to model. Sucks getting old.

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  • 1 month later...

What a great build! If you look, I have not posted on this forum in years, but this has inspired me to post. I will be starting the Kinetic A-6E kit with all the fixin's I could find. I plan to model it after the TRAm my uncle flew in the early 80's when he was with the Swordsmen. Anyway I am very curious. How do you make the hose fittings on your hydraulic lines. I can in no way come close to your level of detail, but I would like to at least try making those pipes. If you'd care to share, I'm all ears.....

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What a great build! If you look, I have not posted on this forum in years, but this has inspired me to post. I will be starting the Kinetic A-6E kit with all the fixin's I could find. I plan to model it after the TRAm my uncle flew in the early 80's when he was with the Swordsmen. Anyway I am very curious. How do you make the hose fittings on your hydraulic lines. I can in no way come close to your level of detail, but I would like to at least try making those pipes. If you'd care to share, I'm all ears.....

Mboydd, I responded to your post but apparently this forum had some issues yesterday so I’m not sure if you saw my response or not. I’m re-writing it in case you didn’t see it. First off I’m glad my build served as a source of inspiration for you and good luck on your upcoming build. I’ve heard the Kinetic A-6 can be quite challenging and I personally would probably suggest going with the Monogram kit but the Kinetic A-6, even with issues, definitely has some advantages over the Monogram offering.

As far as the hose fittings are concerned, they are made from hex and round styrene of various sizes. I use sizes from .010-.030 for most stuff and sometimes even stretch the styrene over a flame to achieve a unique size. I’ll then drill a hole as close to the center as possible (not easy and I need reading glasses along with a magnifying lens) in the styrene with some of the drills shown in an earlier post(153). I’ll start with the smallest drill I have and then work the hole up in size depending on what size wire the fittings will slip through. Once that is finished, I’ll cut the styrene to appropriate size pieces, slip them through a wire and paint them Alclad Polished Aluminum followed by a light coat of Alclad Transparent Blue or Red. Once that is done I’ll remove them from the wire I used to paint them and install them on the model. If you have any other questions I’d be more than happy to answer them.

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Here is a little something I uploaded yesterday but has since disappeared.It's not much but It's better than nothing. I partially scratch build my own control stick as the aftermarket pieces I had left a bit to be desired. I used the grip from an Aires kit which I modified considerably and built the lower section myself. It doesn't seem like it but it actually took a lot of hours to complete it. I'm including a few pics of the resin pieces I felt weren't up to par and quite a few others showing how it went together.

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