Mstor Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 53 minutes ago, Mstor said: Does someone make decals for this aircraft? I never considered doing an A-7 before, but the pic with 4 Shrikes and the shark mouth markings is just too cool looking to pass up. I should have added "1/48 scale". Thanks anyway picknpluck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rex Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 The Testors kit had markings for an A-7E, anyway. Fowler had an A-7B https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1000621-fowler-aviation-fd48-01-vought-a-7b-corsair-ii SuperScale had an A-7A https://www.scalemates.com/kits/275241-superscale-international-ms481233-usn-a-7a-corsair-iis I have no idea of how easy these are to find, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 35 minutes ago, Rex said: The Testors kit had markings for an A-7E, anyway. Fowler had an A-7B https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1000621-fowler-aviation-fd48-01-vought-a-7b-corsair-ii SuperScale had an A-7A https://www.scalemates.com/kits/275241-superscale-international-ms481233-usn-a-7a-corsair-iis I have no idea of how easy these are to find, though. Found both on eBay. Got the Fowler set. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HCS-5 AO1 Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 To add to this topic, While working as a Grape on the Saratoga's flight deck during our work ups and MED Cruise in 1980 I remember the VA-37 AOs loading their A-7Es with an AGM-45 on station 2 and an AGM-78 Standard ARM on station 7 (center stations on the wings. Both inboard stations were usually hung with drop tanks or a drop tand and buddy store. Stations 1&8 were usually hung with a TER and three MK82 Snakeyes. Mind you that this was before I became an Aviation Ordnanceman myself and it's been almost forty years ago when I saw this kind of load out. Stations five and six usually had an AIM-9L or M for self defense as well as a loaded M61A1. Couple minor points that are over looked, the first is that all Mk80 series bomb bodies (Mk 82,83,84) are thermally protected with a rough textured thermal barrier, much like zimmerit but with a stippled pattern. The larger the scale the more obvious the lack becomes. It's called alligator or gator skin and it adds a few minutes to a weapons cook off time in the event of a fire and there's a delay getting a cooling hose on the weapons. The skin can chip and when we inspected those things a certain percentage, less than 20% if I remember, con be missing before the shape is rejected. Personally I've sent no less than a dozen back to the bomb farm on ship or magazines ashore to be refurbished. As to colors and markings, Mk 80 series bodies are painted with two (2) yellow rings near the nose to denote a thermally protected weapon. Training rounds have two blue bands for the same reason. To clear something up about Blue Bombs, the color blue does not mean a weapon is 'inert'. 99% of blue weapons have some form of explosive or pyrotechnic component installed to mark it's impact site. These things have a second name, Blue Death, as they are the most likely items to be involved in an Explosive Mishap Report. Only if the item is marked INERT by a competent authority are they considered Inert. If given the time and desire I can try to find the proper publications to use as a guide as to colors and their meanings. The second thing about paint, missiles in the Navy were gloss signal white until the mid to late 90s as were their color bands. As to bombs, BDU-45 shapes, the blue Mk82s, are blue up to the tail fin assembly. beginning in the mid 80s the tail fins, both low and high drag, were OD green. The explosive filled shapes were also OD green. The tones varied because of many factors and I never saw a bomb body match it's fins. After the mid 80s the fins and bodies began to be painted in shades of grey. I know this is a little long but as a modeler and an AO it drives me up the wall when I see the 'wrong' weapons hung on an aircraft. I hope this helps you and others out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Collin Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 AGM-78 Standard ARM on a A-7, never seen that? Shrike and HARM i thought were the only ARM’s cleared on the A-7 series. Thought the -78 was exclusive to Vietnam era modified A-6’s then removed from inventory in favor of -88 HARM. Cheers Collin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HCS-5 AO1 Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 I hate to admit that I was wrong in my first post but going over my collection of load manuals it's not the Standard ARM but the Walleye that's sometimes paired with the Shrike. Now, I know I trained and loaded the AGM-78 on an A-7 airframe while in my early days of training for my rate I think it was a training round that was in the hangar and was just used for proficiency training. Unlike the Air Force an Ordnanceman, like all in any Navy Rating, has to know how to work on any weapon in the inventory. Test questions for advancement are known to include systems that were phased out years before. My first exam actually had questions on the AIM-4 Falcon and that had been gone for years by that time. Anyway, all the other information is still valid unless you want to paint a ARM a weathered gold color and show a bunch of Reservists trying to learn how to load the thing. Sorry for any confusion that I caused, I'll be in that corner over there curled into a ball. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GW8345 Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 (edited) AO1, I think you are a little confused on some details; 1) The A-7 was never cleared for the AGM-78 and the loading procedures were never in the -75 loading manual. You would not have loaded the weapon for proficiency sake if the aircraft was not authorized to carry and employ the weapon and there as no loading procedures for the weapon in the -75. 2) If a bomb is painted blue, it is inert, even if it has a spotting charge installed it is considered inert since it does not contain high explosives. Spotting charges are Class 1.4 Pyrotechnics and thus do not have the explosive/fragmentation hazards as high explosives so weapons with them installed are painted blue and do not need to be marked “inert”. Ordnance that was marked “Inert” are training ordnance for class room instructions and are certified by EOD to verify that no pyrotechnic/explosives are in the item. 3) Mk 80 Series Bombs were not painted grey until the early to mid 2000’s. The old MAU-93 and Mk 82 Mod 1 conical fins and Mk 15 Snakeye fins are green, the new BSU-33 conical fins and BSU-86 Snakeye fins are grey. The BLU-11x Series Bomb Bodies are grey and will have three yellow rings on the nose (and for the BLU-126/B a yellow ring on the tail), Mk 80 Series are green with two yellow rings. 99% of all inert 500 lb bombs are BDU-45/B’s and they are painted blue, Inert Mk 82 Mod 1 inventory is very limited and are generally not issued to the fleet. There is a very limited inventory of Mk 82 Mod 2’s and they are reserved for the test commands in order to do weapons separation testing, they are not issued to fleet commands. If you find a green bomb with blue rings on the nose, you are either standing in a museum or are looking at a static display bird loaded for an airshow. For additional information please consult NAVAIR 01-1A-75 and MIL-STD-709 Series (MIL-STD-709D Change 1 is the latest). 4) Missiles started to be painted grey in the early 80’s, by the late 80’s all missiles were grey with the exception of a few components that were used on refurbished missiles and old missiles that were used for Missile Shoots (we were still using AIM-G and H’s for missile shoots and some old AGM-45A’s, every blue moon we would get a AIM-54A that was white for missile shoots). 5) For the A-7, the buddy store was only authorized on station 1 (left outboard station). It is illegal to hang a TER with 3xMk 82 on station 1 or 8 and load a WALLEYE next to it due to store to store collision hazard. The most you could do is a slant loaded TER with bombs loaded on the centerline and outboard TER station. 6) I have never heard of Air Force weapons being on the rating exam and believe me, I’ve taken my share of them during my career. When I took the AO3 exam (1985) all the AO2’s and AO1’s in the shop would quiz me, they never said anything about Air Force weapons being on the exam and my LPO (AO1) worked on A-1 Skyraiders back in Vietnam and had been in for 20+ years at the time. I've never seen Air Force weapons in any of the AO 3/2/1 manuals I've studied, nor in any of the old AO rate training manuals I've seen dating back to the 50's. V/R GW Retired AOC(AW) with tours in; A-7E F-14A/B/D F-18A-F Instructor Duty Station Weapons. I am currently supporting NAVAIR in the aviation ordnance/maintenance field. IYAOYAS Edited August 8, 2018 by GW8345 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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