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


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Thanks Steve!  

 

The last batch of Eduard Snakeyes I ordered have arrived.     I've had trouble cutting these properly and gluing them together straight.  So I thought maybe if I put one on the drill I could just take a razor saw to it while it spins, the cut might come out more square --- and it worked  a treat!

 

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First I cut the aft part off the block

 

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This portion is what I have trouble cutting square.

 

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I spin it and cut.   No sawing motion required -- just liight pressure from the razor saw.

 

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I do the same to the front part.

 

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And they end up nice and sqare with little to no cleanup required.  And they align perfectly straight -- no more eyeballing : )

 

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Just be careful  with the suspension lugs if you want them intact.   Align them to the spaces  of the chuck if you don''t want them broken. I broke a couple but I don't really need them.

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

I stripped my last paintjob and did multiple attempts to do the gray over white freehand -- again with terrible results.   I tried three or four times I believe, consistently messing up.   I tried the silly putty method and failed -- diameter was too irregular for a consistent spray pattern.    Finally tried two sizes of soldering wire which I rolled along the side of some tamiya tape.   I think the smaller size gave too hard an edge -- or it might have been due to making too many passes with the airbrush.   The bigger diameter solder wire gave a softer edge but I still wasn't really satisfied with the result.    I also had some trouble too under the wing as there wasn't much room for the airbrush cup to pass through.  I'll try another diameter next time -- something in between the two sizes, but for now I'll settle for what I've achieved.    My hat's off to modellers who do a great  job with these gray over white paint schemes, I really admire their skill.   I've accepted the fact that I've yet a lot to learn -- I'll settle on this and move on with the build.

 

I really didn't want to do any pre-shading.  I'll try weathering over a clean paintjob and see what I can come up with.

 

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This guy got the smaller diameter wire treatment

 

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The one behind it got the bigger diameter

 

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Edited by crackerjazz
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Looking at pictures the border between the white and the grey isn't consistent, there are great variations from almost hard borders to irregular soft borders ...so don't be too hard on yourself.

Me myself I prefer irregular, softer borders and I use rolled tack-it sausages 🙂

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Hi John, thanks!   I keep thinking you're one lucky fellow to have flown these planes : )

 

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I notice the Cartograph wasp is a bit too small.    The wings are supposed to almost touch the tailcode and the arrow should almost touch the fuselage.  Oh well.  I got an AMT set but they were the same size.  Not sure if the Hasegawa decals are the same.

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9 minutes ago, crackerjazz said:

Hi John, thanks!   I keep thinking you're one lucky fellow to have flown these planes : )

 

 

Joe, back in 1990, when i completed my flighing training at Kalamata AFB, i was to choose between A-7H, F-4E, Mirage F-1, F-5A and F-104. Well i did not think a lot ...😃😃

This ''little ungly fellow'' won my heart for the next 15 years and i consider myself, as you say, lucky for my dicision...One of the best aircrafts ever made!!!

 

John

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That's for sure, John!   They don't call it SLUF the Magic Wagon for nothing.   The bomb load is incredible.   I don't find it ugly at all, though.   The design appeals to me for some reason.

 

Here's the comparison of the size of the bee or wasp.   I think the tailcode decal is too small to begin with.  I actually began sticking the tailcode first and made sure it touched the rudder's upper edge.    So when it was the bee's turn to go on, which I wanted to ensure the sting sat close to the hull, that's when I realized it wasn't the right size.   I tried applying decal setting solution to the tailcode but it was stuck on permanently.

 

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I'm really unhappy with how it turned out.   I should have moved the tailcode downwards a little.  This Stingers A-7 in Lou Drendel's Squadron book cover below  has the "NE" sitting a bit lower in smaller lettering but still looks good overall.   I can probably still do this using the AMT decal.  The Cartograf decals are of better quality, though.    

 

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Edited by crackerjazz
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I've had this happen, but in the other way, that the decals were too big.  I don't think you did anything wrong or could have done anything differently but it is very frustrating when a build has gone this well.

 

Great job BTW on this great build!  I really enjoy A-7's high or low viz.

Edited by Jonathan S
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Hi, Jonathan, yes it's so frustrating getting towards the end of the build and discovering something like this.   I trusted the decal makers got it all down pat : )   Hey, habu2, that got me scambling, haha.   Did a quick compare of sizes.   The original sheet with shiny decals is from the AMT 1/48 Stingers kit, which I don't have as I bought the sheets used.  The Ferrari version -- the Cartograf replacement set with matte decals is an enhanced copy and is the same size.  Neither of them have the scale indicated.   But, yeah, they sit somewhere between 1/72 and 1/48, at least for the tail section artwork.   Too big for 1/72 but too small for 1/48.   I don't think Cartograf produces the decals anymore, but it would be nice if they did and could make the necessary corrections.

 

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Edited by crackerjazz
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Clearly the aftermarket decal simply copied the very wrong decals from the kit.  Even copied the incorrect yellow boarder around the "Stinger" wording.

 

If you can, you might consider scanning the decal and scaling it larger for tail code and the squadron marking.   Use a computer to scale it as width just needs a bit more while height needs a lot more.  Then print your own decal.  Printing the white part of the wings is the only part that wont work here.  But for the wings you could stencil a set of wings.

 

Edit: I also now see white in the eyes and mouth. :-(

 

Edited by Jonathan S
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I just might give that a try, Jonathan, thanks.   Or maybe I'll attempt to draw something in Illustrator.  First I'll have to learn it, though, heheh.   I've been putting that off for the longest time so maybe the time is ripe.   I did try saving a sketch once from Solidworks into .ai  but it opened up in Illustrator as just one solid sketch and I couldn't break up the elements.  But more on that later.   For now, too, baby bee will have to stay put while I go a-hunting for some decal remover -- if there's even such a product.

 

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The air intake decal front ends don't quite line up with the panel lines.   I guess that's because they were meant for the AMT kit.  By the way, I used to be afraid of using Future or Gauzy for the glosscoat because the wife loves cleaning shelving glass doors with windex and I couldn't stand the thought of the glosscoats melting like in a wax museum horror movie scene.  But I said to heck with it.   These acrylic gloss coats are a joy to brush on and decal over.  So much easier than airbrushing Gunze gloss which I haven't really tamed and still comes out pebbly sometimes.   I'll just need to make sure the models are stowed away safely when she breaks out the windex.

 

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Edited by crackerjazz
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Scratch that horizontal stab walkway update.  I've stripped the paint and doing it over as it's too wide.   In the meantime I added another layer of weathering.  The flat coat seems to turn it down so I'm doing it a little heavier.

 

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

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