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A-7E Corsair II - Hasegawa 1/48 (Twin build - Completed)


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CrackerJazz,

 Now that's an impressive pair of pilots. I really like your technique for removing the wire coating. Clean, neat, and the wire does scroll. Will be using your burning method for sure. both pilots look really good seating in their perspective aircraft. 

 

 I've also found the same ease of application using white and black primer. Saves times and looks just as good. 

 

Joel

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Did the other canopy.   I was debating whether I should detail the sides of the frame or just leave it as it is.   The itch wouldn't go away -- I just had to cut up some styrene bits.

 

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I had to make new mirrors because the rods should connect at an angle.  And the middle mirror needed two rods which I made sure to set farther apart than the ones I made for the first canopy.

 

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I managed to get a smudge of glue on the inside.   My world collapsed  :(

 

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I tried to remove it to no avail.  It's gel glue.   Wish I had a time machine.

Edited by crackerjazz
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Thanks, Joel.   I really doubt I could pull it off, though.   The canopy looks big in the photos but it's really kind of tight in there.  And I'm not sure how I'll be able to sand inside the canopy with the walls being curved.   Really wish the spot were outside --- that would make it a lot easier to sand.  Oh, wait, I better not wish for more : (

 

Adding the harness and a couple details for now then I'll deal with the glue spot, after which I can close up the cockpit.   

 

Making the parachute rip cord handle -- is that how you call it? 

 

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Edited by crackerjazz
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40 minutes ago, crackerjazz said:

 I really doubt I could pull it off, though.   The canopy looks big in the photos but it's really kind of tight in there.  And I'm not sure how I'll be able to sand inside the canopy with the walls being curved. 

 

Folded 2000 W&D (wet) held with 'blunt' tweezers to remove the worst, then lint free cloth to polish, ensuring cloth piece is folded/held so you don't scratch the canopy!  Depending on severity, the cloth piece with toothpaste may return the shine.  Needless to say have a go on a spare/waste canopy, or similar material, first.

 

Quote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A pair of pairs eh. Oh my they do look excellent.

 

So what about the F-14s Joe?

Regards

John

Edited by John Wolstenholme
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Take some double sided foam tape, 1/2 in pieces,  and apply sand paper to one side.  Make several of these with 2000-4000-6000-8000 grit wet/dry sand paper.  using a hole punch used for punching holes in paper, punch out some sanding discs.  Apply the discs to the end of plastic or metal rods of similar diameter.  If the discs do not stick well, apply some CA glue.  Now you can sand in small spaces and the foam with conform to the curve of the canopy.  You can build up two layers of foam if one layer does not conform as well. 

 

Wet sand the glue spot working your way through the sand paper grits.  wipe clean with cotton swabs any residue with clean water and/or rubbing alcohol and let dry.

 

Dip the entire canopy in future/pledge and let dry for 24 hours.  After future is dry, take some flat clear and apply with a fine brush to the parts of canopy that should not be shiny.

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Hi John, route62us, thanks for the detailed instructions!  I'll give them a try.  I'm just worried about that hazy perimeter I get on canopies whenever I sand down an area.  Sanding/buffing takes care of it but  I get a new hazy edge and it becomes a moving target that just gets bigger and bigger  : (  Hopefully I won't be left with a haze along the edges of the inner frame where it's difficult to sand/buff.  My second option is to buy a replacement canopy but I'm not too keen on starting over and repeating the mirror work : (  And my third option is to just use the canopy on the 2nd A7 that's in a steep bank where it will be out of view.

 

Hi Joel, thanks, glad you like the handles! : )   Oh, John, regarding the F-14's -- I was planning to attach the vertical fins next.  I wanted to check on how JohnS did his but he must have been using Photobucket because the pics are gone.   I just remember the fins are canted 5 degrees.   Will work on those next.  I'm aiming this year to give equal time to all my current builds but so far I haven't been successful  : (    If the models were my kids they'd  be complaining about lack of attention and playing favorites : (

Edited by crackerjazz
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As long as you sand up to 8000 or even 10000 grit, any haze that is left will be cleared up by the dip in future.  The future fills in all those micro scratches and makes your canopy crystal clear.  I have done this on several occasions with canopy issues.  It worked flawlessly each time.  With a future dip I am also able to use super glue with no hazing from the fumes.

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Thanks, route62us, that's good to hear!   I'll try to get some of those ultra-fine grade sandpaper this week.  Hi, Aigore, Thadeus, thanks!

 

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In the meantime I started working on the Mk-82s.

 

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The arming vanes are just represented by thin rods.    Was thinking about modding them.   Actually I tried to but they were too small for my eyes and there were too many that I felt overwhelmed.  They're supposed to look like below:

 

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The rear of the Snakeyes is kind of disappointing in that it doesn't have that "look".   Was thinking about getting some aftermarket ones but my wanna-buy list is backed up. : (   I'll probably build these as-is and plan for a better Corsair someday with all the aftermarkets when I'm rich which probably means never  : )

 

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I wanted to paint the rings on.    I don't know if there is a standard  but I've seen the yellow rings painted at the very end like above...

 

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Or sometimes with a tiny gap from the end like in this picture, or even in some references having a larger gap.   Also I've seen some with two rings instead of one.  

 

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Experimented on making a mask for the rings. 

 

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Attached a pin to a piece of styrene and scored the ends with several passes.

 

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Looks promising.   I want to paint the ends of the bombs freehand with yellow, attach the mask then paint the whole thing olive drab.   But I'll try to make a mask with a smaller gap from the end.

 

Update:

Made a two-stage mask:

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First I'll paint the whole bomb olive drab, then this mask will be for painting the end yellow.

 

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And made another mask for painting the very edge olive drab.

 

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So hopefully I'll be able to paint a ring that's closer to the edge now.

Edited by crackerjazz
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The stripes on the nose of the bomb denote the following:

 

One stripe - High Explosive

Two Stripes - High Explosive and thermally protected

Three Stripes - High Explosive, Thermally Protected, explosive fill is PBXN-109 (Not used on the A-7)

 

The pics you posted are of early Vietnam era Mk 82's so they will have only one stripe since thermally protected bombs did not come out until the early 70's. There were variations between manufactures but below are the official spec's taken from the manual and all the bombs I loaded fell within these spec's.

 

For the stripes:

 

The first stripe is 2.5 to 3.5 inches wide, the second stripe will be 2.5 to 3.5 inches wide with a spacing of 2.5 to 3.5 inches from the first stripe. Bomb body color is FS 34088 and the yellow stripes is FS 33538.

 

Notes:

1) US A-7's never carried bombs that had three yellow stripes (BLU-1xx Series) on the nose, those bombs entered service after the A-7 was retired. 

2) The width and spacing for bombs with three stripes is different then bombs with two stripes, if anyone needs that info let me know and I'll post it.

3) USAF bombs would only have one stripe during the A-7 era, they do not use thermally protected bombs. Their BLU-1xx Series has two stripes but they came out after the A-7 was retired.

 

Ref Pics:

 

MK 82 Mod 2 Thermally Protected 500 lb General Purpose Bomb with M904E4 Fuze

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F0%2F0a%2FMark82Bomb.JPEG%2F1200px-Mark82Bomb.JPEG&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FUnguided_bomb&docid=k7lW3wp01KUatM&tbnid=g1DN4nqon3eqbM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwj5srSv64zZAhXvzVkKHRi6CdUQMwiDASg8MDw..i&w=1200&h=784&bih=719&biw=1270&q=Mk 82 mod 2&ved=0ahUKEwj5srSv64zZAhXvzVkKHRi6CdUQMwiDASg8MDw&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

Notice that the fuze is tan colored, if you are using a thermally protected bomb (two stripes) then the fuze will be tan. For USN/USMC non thermally protected bombs the fuze can either be tan or silver (usually silver). The tan color is thermal protection for the fuze and all thermally protected bombs required thermally protected fuzes. The USAF did not use thermally protected fuzes so their fuzes would be silver.

 

Thermally protected Fuze (M904E4)

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Non Thermally Protected Fuze (M904E3) (without booster)

vintage-military-m904e3-bomb-noze_1_fa74

 

I must apologize, I've been loosely following your build but don't know what squadrons you are doing. What squadron's and time frame are you doing and I can give you specific ordnance info.

v/r

GW

VA-82 Ord 84-87

Edited by GW8345
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  • crackerjazz changed the title to A-7E Corsair II - Hasegawa 1/48 (Twin build - Completed)

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