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1/48 Trumpeter A3D-2 Skywarrior WIP Thread


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I haven’t seen many in progress builds of this kit, so this thread will serve to highlight construction of Trumpeter’s 1/48 Whale.  This will be the A3D-2 in the markings of VAH-11.  Ive been collecting aftermarket and reference materials for quite

some time leading up to this build.  Feel free to follow along and offer any tidbits of information or feedback along the way.  So, let’s get started!

 

Aftermarket being used:

Furball Decals sheet 48022
Furball Canopy and wheel masks

Eduard Cockpit PE

Eduard undercarriage PE

Eduard Bomb Bay PE
Hypersonic Models Engines
Steel Beach nose replacement 

Steel Beach seats

Steel Beach tailhook

Steel Beach EA-3B conversion (for the dove tail)

About every reference book available!

 

Special thanks to Darren Roberts who dug deep into his stash to find one more buddy refueling pod, which this aircraft used prior to being converted to the KA-3B tanker variant later.

 

Intended aircraft, s/n 142664

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Aftermarket and references (not all shown)

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I began by cutting the right half of the instrument panel off, as this simply does not exist on the A3D-2, the Eduard PE set was then installed.

SWZfVL2K48NwtXh.jpg

 

The floor was chipped in the high traffic areas using the hairspray method. This is MMP dark gull grey over AK aluminum.  The seats are from Steel Beach and improve the kit offerings.  The rest of the cockpit was completed with the PE set.  The pilot seat has a separate headrest that I will add later, as it is likely to be lost during installation. A few avionics and electronics items were dry brushed.  Here, the Ginter Part 1 book is invaluable, as it shows the cockpit layout in great detail.  All the various boxes, switches and dials are described in detail.  Additionally, the naval museum has a great 360 degree cockpit view of an EA-3B along with a Facebook page called “cockpit360”, which has an NTA-3B. 
 

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jN9FLqlDfPXnVxg.jpg

 

RHJDtiBlKzNC2EO.jpg

 

bPGB2r3Zl8uOopE.jpg

Edited by lockheed2004
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Next, I turned my attention to the wheel wells.  Trumpeter has you mount both these to a bulkhead and install them as one unit.  I chose to install them individually, and cut the relevant section of the bulkhead out.  I will add plastic card strips for fuselage bracing in lieu of what Trumpeter envisioned.

 

The Eduard PE undercarriage set was used.  The angled piece which has the landing gear strut will install later, but I went ahead and assembled and painted it now. I added the decals from Trumpeter, just to break up the white.  This is MMP white, with Aquagloss prior to a light wash.  If you haven’t tried Aquagloss... give it a go, you won’t look back.  There are a few miscellaneous PE items left to add, which will come later on, when the risk of knocking them off is far lower.
 

Right wheel bay

POgAVzKj7BWrI6S.jpg

 

rxQXojv3dGAwMJV.jpg

 

Left wheel well

 

TX6HOp7qPMBaQSi.jpg

 

Part of gear struts

MigxWQBbAkGm12X.jpg

 

Next up will be the bomb bay, for which I have opted for the Eduard PE set.  Stay tuned!

Edited by lockheed2004
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I love this! The Trumpeter kit is the only one made of the A3D except for the 1/72 scale Hasegawa offering some years ago. I’ve always felt this was a much under represented subject in the modeling world.

 

I hope that one day, someone will offer a 1/48 injection molded kit of the USAF evil blue twin of the A3D, the B-66...

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Following closely.  I've got the Trumpy EKA-3B in the stash, along with the Hypersonic corrected nacelles and canopy sets (this stuff is amazing).   At some point, I'll have to start building this beast.   

 

Great job on the cockpit! 

Edited by 11bee
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The Hypersonic engine set looks to be well worth every penny.  I didn’t worry too much about the canopy, as I only recently settled on the final scheme.  Plus, getting anything from Japan may be tricky at the moment.  I’ve had this one waiting for a while.  Due to several IMPS events being cancelled, I finally have enough of a window to get it done.

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10 hours ago, JeffreyK said:

Looking good!  Victory Models is going to carry my line in the US. Once the shipment arrives there you could order a canopy form them if you were so inclined 😉...

Cheers,

J

 

Hey Jeffrey- you still working on a wheel bay correction set for this kit?

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11 hours ago, JeffreyK said:

Looking good!  Victory Models is going to carry my line in the US. Once the shipment arrives there you could order a canopy form them if you were so inclined 😉...

Cheers,

J

 


I will keep a look out for the canopy correction.  The good news about the canopy is, that can wait until the bitter end!

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9 hours ago, 11bee said:

Hey Jeffrey- you still working on a wheel bay correction set for this kit?

 

Not actively right now, but yes, it is an open project and I will continue on it soon. I hope that I manage to get something substantial done before the end of this year.

Cheers!

J

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This update focuses on construction of the bomb bay.  Photos of the actual bay are difficult to come by.  The Ginter book has only one, and it doesn't show much.  Trumpeter would have you paint the entire thing white, which is partly correct.  There is a walk around on Primeportal which has several views of the bomb bay.  The bay is mostly white, however the center structural component is a color close to interior green.  Based on Bill Spidle's photos from Primeportal, I forged ahead with these as my reference.

 

A-3

Construction of the bay was straightforward. I painted all the main components on the sprues, as doing it as an entire assembly would have been next to impossible.  The forward bulkhead has some PE attached in the photos below.  I left off the bulk of the PE until after the bay was assembled, to prevent knocking pieces off repeatedly.  This was primed with Mr Surfacer, followed by a black preshade, MMP white, Aquagloss to seal everything, a light wash and then a final flat coat.  The rivets held the wash well.  Trumpeter is always hit or miss when it comes to this, in my experience.

 

A-3

 

 

A-3

 

A-3

 

 

Edited by lockheed2004
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I then assembled the bay.  There are some miscellaneous hoses which go in the top of the bay.  These will likely never be seen, but they are there.  I painted the center structural component interior green and applied a light wash.  This was then installed.  There are 4 cutouts which help to support this piece, however only 3 of these exist with the plastic Trumpeter provides.  I took a scrap piece of white sheet plastic and created the 4th support, to allow the component to sit level.  There are 10, PE cross members still to install.  However, after multiple days on this component, I was ready to move on to something else for a bit.

 

Here is the bay prior to installation of the center piece, the vertical support closest to the crew access in this photo is the one that lacks anything to support the center PE component, the other 3 are clearly visible.

 

A-3

 

A-3

 

 

As my aircraft is configured as a tanker, I will either scratch build the hose reel, or swipe one from my KA-3B, and build it with the bay doors closed.  Here is the bay fully assembled (minus the cross pieces).

 

A-3

 

 

A-3

 

A-3

 

Also, the two oval cutouts in the middle of the bay have nothing behind them.  So an IPMS judge would certainly be able to shine their light into the cavern behind it.  To avoid this, I cut some scrap plastic, painted it flat black, and installed it where the two ovals are.

 

A-3

 

That's all for the moment.  I've done some test fitting of the bay into the fuselage.  Next up will be the forward landing gear bay.  I will make a decision on whether or not to install the crew access tunnel, or blank the front of the bomb bay off.  Preliminary test fitting indicates that installing the tunnel may lead to some fit issues.  Given not much will be seen when it's installed, and I plan to have the boarding ladder in the closed position, I may just blank off the front of the bay and call it a day.  Stay tuned, thanks to those who are following along!

Edited by lockheed2004
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  • 1 month later...

Time for an update!  This turned into a bit of a grind, just due to the sheer size of the kit and some fit issues encountered along the way.  More about that in the pictures and details that follow.

 

First up was to complete the forward landing gear bay.  The aft wheels are provided in such a manner that they can be installed at the end of the build.  No such luck with the front gear.  Other than cutting the gear strut in half and gluing it back together later, there is no possible way to avoid installing it now and working around it.  I dressed up the gear bay with the Eduard PE set.  There were 6 small pieces, each about 2mm tall that go across the aft end of the bay, and require a 90 degree bend.  After fiddling with the first one for 30 minutes, I decided my time was better spent elsewhere.  These pieces install under the wiring harness, so they won't really be seen anyway.

 

 

edit... anyone know why the forum doesn't like text and pics in the same post?

 

 

 

 

Edited by lockheed2004
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Next, I installed the Steel Beach tailhook,  This piece was painted and dropped in easily with minimal cutting.  I then mated the two halves together.  At this point, I decided to omit the crew tunnel and blanked off the opening from within the bomb bay.  With the tunnel installed, there was a prominent gap in the fuselage halves. Without the tunnel, there was still a gap, but it was a least easier to manage.

 

The Steel Beach "speed nose" was installed, as the kit comes with the earlier nose, and my aircraft does not use this one.  This piece fit well, and only needed minor cleanup to get a smooth joint.  

 

Along the top of the fuselage there is a major seam that required some filling and sanding.  Lining this seam up as best as possible results in a seam on the forward portion of the bottom side of the fuselage.  I decided to live with this and cut the air deflector in front of the bomb bay down the middle, installed it and then filled in the approximately 3mm gap with putty.  I installed the door for the crew access stairs and sanded this flush.  I then installed the tail fin.  This is not Trumpeter's finest work.  The tail fin is quite tall, and the only locators to attach is are three small nubs at the very base.  Let's hope super glue holds for the duration of the build!

 

Finally, I installed the dove tail.  I was going to use the Steel Beach piece, but have 2 other Whales in the stash, so I will save it.  The kit pieces did not fit well at all.  I installed the left side first, and got it to line up.  Then installed the right half.  There was a major step in the fuselage that required a liberal application of puttying and sanding.

 

All panel lines were then rescribed with Dymo tape and the Tamiya scriber.

 

Next up will be attaching the wings and getting this beast under a coat of primer to check for any remaining flaws.

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  • 2 months later...

 

2 hours ago, 11bee said:

Any update on this project?


Sidetracked with a request for an Indycar in time for Christmas, a helo for a classmate that flies them and then a quick sanity build before I get back to it.

 

I acquired the Reskit wheels from the Ukraine to replace the vinyl kit tires and snagged the Hypersonic replacement canopy.  Should have some pictures soon, mostly filling and sanding, which was causing some burnout.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit of an update on the old Whale finally.  The majority of the time was spent filling and sanding to eliminate all of the fit issues the kit has to offer.  I went ahead and attached the main wing sections to the fuselage.  These lined up fairly well, and minimal sanding was required.  I will be building it with the wings folded, so I will worry about the outer sections later.  The kit was primed, checked, sanded, repeat multiple times as things popped up.  So here's where it stands as of now.  

 

1dTSJHKh.jpg

 

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The tail is flush, the light from the photo exacerbates the seam along the hinge line.  All of the puttying and rescribing along the dove tail joint is blended in, finally.

Lq4PK3oh.jpg

 

After installing the wing, I did rescribe the panel line at the fuselage joint to get an even depth after some light sanding.

SiVwpAhh.jpg

 

The Steel Beach nose is faired in.  Yes, there should be a panel line around the entire nose cone.  However, when I began scribing this joint the resin chipped somewhat.  So I abandoned this concept, filled in the portion I had done, and will favor tidy seam work over accuracy.

aNN4YJmh.jpg

 

Prior to installing the deflector, I missed filling in a seam underneath.  This proved to be difficult to fix once the deflector is installed.  Favoring artistic license over accuracy, I simply puttied over the oval cutout in the center of the deflector and sanded it flush.

oAEaHwYh.jpg

 

Finally, the wings were prepped for the Hypersonic engines.  This process was quite straightforward.  Simply remove the raised material from the kit, and follow the Hypersonic instructions to tell you where to drill the hole.

3bejmfXh.jpg

 

These goodies were sourced and will now be part of the build.  The Reskit wheels are lightyears ahead of the kit's vinyl tires.

UkHl5EFh.jpg

 

Preshading will be next, followed by paint application.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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