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A-6B Intruder Cockpit and external differences


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Looking at building an A-6B from VA-52 Knightriders in 1/32 scale. My question is what are the cockpit and external differences of the B model from the A model? I know some, but not all B model intruders had antenna "blisters" on the radome, and others had different antennas located on the airframe, but can't seem to find much on the web

Thank you,

Jason

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Don't know what cockpit differences there were, if any, but here is a listing of which ones had bumps:

A-6B Mods

Mod 0 - couple of antennas on nose

Mod 1 - multiple antennas on nose and tail

PAT/ARM - no external antennas

BuNo Mod Status

149944 - Mod 1 to AMARC Aug 29,1995

149949 - Mod 0 converted to A-6E status unk

149955 - Mod 1 to AMARC Nov 21, 1996

149957 - Mod 0 sunk for use as artificial reef

151558 - Mod 0 sunk for use as artificial reef

151559 - Mod 0 Destroyed/Stricken 30 Jul 72

151560 - Mod 0 crashed after launch 20 Aug 1968 2 Ok VA-196

151561 - Mod 0 combat loss 28 Aug 1968 2 KIA VA-85

151562 - Mod 0 sunk for use as artificial reef

151563 - Mod 0 Destroyed/Stricken 15 Oct 71

151564 - Mod 0 (A-6E) to AMARC Jul 6, 1995

151565 - Mod 0 sunk for use as artificial reef

151591 - Mod 1 (A-6E) to AMARC Jul 9, 1996

151820 - Mod 1 (A-6B) sunk for use as artificial reef

152616 - Mod 1 lost in Mediterranean VA-35 ???

152617 - Mod 1 (A-6E) to AMARC Jun 2, 1994

155628 - PAT/ARM (A-6E) ???

155629 - PAT/ARM (A-6E) at Quonset Air Museum, Kingston, RI.

155630 - PAT/ARM (A-6E) to AMARC Oct 30, 1995

Go to:

http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/A-6.html

As they have some pics of the above BuNo A-6Bs as well as their history.

Jari

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VA-52 had the PAT/ARM version so not much to do differently. As Finn noted, externally pretty much a standard A. Cockpit changes were also minimal.

But the Mod 0 also had antennas on the intakes, wingtips, and stabs in addition to the nose. I'm not up to speed on the Mod 1.

Tony Thornborough really knows the most for the B nuances (I'm not sure if he's on ARC, he is on LSP though if you ask over there.)

Edited by Steve Belanger
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I'm not up to speed on the Mod 1.

Photos of the antenna blisters on the nose of the Mod 1 are easy to come by, but photos of the modified tail are just about nonexistent. There's a drawing of the modified tail in one of the Squadron-Signal books, and that's the best I could find when looking to build one.

Regards,

Murph

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Just FYI, Obscureco does a resin nose, IP, and B/N Pedestal for the Mod 1 here, and WolfPak did a decal sheet for the VA-34 Mod 1 (72-031). It looks like the decals are OOS at Wolfpak, but Fantasy Printshop has them in stock here.

HTH

-Dave

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Here are a couple of A-6Bs pics showing the tail area:

Thanks for the pictures.

Just FYI, Obscureco does a resin nose, IP, and B/N Pedestal for the Mod 1...

It doesn't include the modified tail though.

Regards,

Murph

Edited by Murph
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