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A-7D to A-7E conversion


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G'day people,

 

The 1/72 Fujimi A-7E kit is a little scarce at current time and I prefer not to to use the Italeri/HB kits.

 

Is a conversion of the A-7D to A-7E feasible? I know that the USAF socket type AAR fairing would be left off in favour of the USN style probe and drogue bolted to the right side of the forward fuselage. The nose gear unit would be different due to the catapult launch bar (I am thinking an in-flight model so this could be a non-issue?) and I  also think that the USN A-7Es had external wave guides on the rear fuselage, were there any other external differences that I am missing?

 

I am thinking of doing a Gulf War A-7E so I would also assume that means a NACES seat (in lieu of the earlier ESCAPAC seat),

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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SJU-8 is the ejection seat you need.  Also I know the landing gear lights are not on the nose gear as with the A-7D. The E has just one attached to one of the main gear doors.  Also don’t forget the red, yellow and green light indicator found on the nose gear doors.  

Edited by achterkirch
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As @achterkirch noted, correct seat for a Desert Storm-era A-7E is the Stencel, the Corsair II never had NACES fitted.  With all the detail differences, you might consider picking up an Italeri A-7E kit (or similar from AMT/Esci or Ace/Tsukuda) for the detail parts. Then you should pretty well have a complete D left over to build or sell/trade.

 

If you're having difficulty finding the Fujimi A-7E, have you considered looking for the Testors boxing? This has the Fujimi plastic, probably with better decals and instructions.  They actually reboxed both the D and E kits, though I seem to see the E far more often.

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Hi Pappy,

 

As already been said, ejection seat were different between the two vaiants. Also rear wheels are different. Not sure about the wheels in the front landing gear, they look the same to me.

 

Also, the base of the tail at the rear end is different.

 

That's from my memory.

 

Hope this help.

 

Tato

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10 hours ago, Pappy121 said:

... I did not realise that the Testors kit is a re-pop of the Fujimi kit, that is very helpful, thanks very much!

 

 scalemates is your friend, they show "family trees" for all kits on their site.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/testors-340-vought-a-7e-corsair-ii--128779

 

scroll down to "Product Timeline"

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