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1/48th Hasegawa A-7D, 4450th TG "raison d'etre"


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Up next on my bench.

Black Box cockpit.

Verlinden Update set.

Royale Resin wheels.

Phase Hanger Resin weapons pylons and bomb racks.

Phase Hanger Resin 300 gallon drop tanks.

Brengun Models chaff / flare dispensers.

Aero Mask two tone wrap around mask set.

Super Scale decals.

Steve

Edited by A-10 LOADER
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  • A-10 LOADER changed the title to 1/48th Hasegawa A-7D, 4450th TG "raison d'etre"

First order of business will be to clean up all the cockpit parts and get them ready for primer. I'll be adding a pilot to the pit since I want to pose the jet like it's taxiing. I also opened up some holes on the fuselage and added some tubing / piping according to my references.

Steve

 

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Will be following with interest. It would be super useful to see pictures of the build steps, what works, what doesn't work (fit and detail wise), and tricks you may use. Especially curious about how you will be closing the open bays. I have been dreading that, fearing ill-fitting doors 

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16 hours ago, Janissary said:

Will be following with interest. It would be super useful to see pictures of the build steps, what works, what doesn't work (fit and detail wise), and tricks you may use. Especially curious about how you will be closing the open bays. I have been dreading that, fearing ill-fitting doors 

A few people on Facebook have said that the doors fit just fine, we'll see.

Steve

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Made a little progress today with the Black Box cockpit. Lots of sanding and dry-fitting but it fit really well. Still more to do but, it should look good when it's all painted up.

Steve

 

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Thanks guys, much appreciated.

A little more progress on the cockpit today. I had to carve off all the details on the seat so my pilot would sit correctly. It's a tight fit but, he fits. He and the seat will have to go into the cockpit before I add the instrument panel and front coaming. I added the HUD frames and a little scratch-built item ?? to the coaming panel. I'll use some clear acetate for the HUD glass when the time comes.

Steve

 

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With the cockpit area squared away, I started dry-fitting various panels to the airframe to see how things looked. I had heard from others that the area where the wing meets the fuselage was not very good, gladly mine fits really well. I'll see if that changes when the bottom sections are added to the wings. From sanding the top edge of the wing I created a larger gap than I liked so, a .010" shim takes up the space. This area is a panel line on the real jet so I'm not concerned with filling that gap.

I also fitted the belly panel / speed brake sections together and put them in place. I'll align them better when I glue them but, they look good considering they're only dry-fitted. I also wanted to see if she was a "tail sitter" so I put her gear in temporarily and she's not at all. I'm happy with the overall fit of things so far.

Steve

 

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On 11/22/2022 at 11:40 AM, AD-4N said:

Always chuckle when I see that Hasegawa A-7D boxart with the fictional F-19 flying in the background.  

I was assigned to the 428th TFS in the 80s after they converted to F-16As. The 4450 was just down the road towards the phase hangars.  The rumor was they were trainers because they handled like the stealth. A-10 loader. there was also an A-10 parked in the hangar with fire damage from a flare dispenser fire IIRC.  The  80s are a little hazy in spots now.

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Looking good Steve! I remember having fits with this kit back when I used to build in 48th scale. I seem to recall that that damn speed brake and folding wings gave me fits. I always wondered what the heck Hasegawa was thinking by molding the speed brake posable? There's probably been two guys on the entire planet that have built that kit inflight with the speed brake deployed! 🤪 I'll be checking in periodically. Your builds are always awesome! Fred K.

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Work continues on the SLUF. Lots of dry-fitting and cleaning up parts getting ready for primer.

Something to take into consideration if your building this kit. Since it's the USAF / ANG version there are a few items that need to be removed from the fuselage ( those areas are circled in red ). I forgot to take pics before I removed them, if you have the kit you'll see them. A little scraping with the hobby knife and some 320 made them disappear.

I also fitted all the panels that were an option to be either opened or closed. Some careful sanding and they fit really well.

Steve

 

A small oval light ?? removed.

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Another oval light removed.

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This area had a raised detail and, another oval light ??

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Another small oval formation light ?? on the left and, the larger panel has a bunch of panel lines that need to be removed.

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A little more progress on my A-7.

Steve

 

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Added a piece of .010" sheet plastic to the back wall of the nose gear well to eliminate the seam.

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Added some photo-etch to the main wheel wells.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got the cockpit painted up, all those details really pop with some paint on them. The HUD glass is from the kit and I added a MV lens for the projection lens. Some drops of Testors clear parts cement was used to replicate the glass on the gauges.

Steve

 

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On 11/22/2022 at 12:40 PM, AD-4N said:

Always chuckle when I see that Hasegawa A-7D boxart with the fictional F-19 flying in the background.  

It had to be Koike Shigeo's sly nod to the 4450th's actual mission of pilot support for the then covert F-117 program.  Or at least that's what I want to believe.

 

Looking really good, Steve!  I shoehorned a BB cockpit into that kit once upon a time.  I used Superscale decals for the South Dakota ANG instead of the kit markings.  And the kit decals?  Well guess where some of them went later on......

 

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Rick L.

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Nice work on the cockpit. For an ugly aircraft, the SLUFF sure looks pretty cool. And Hasegawa kit looks not bad.

Shame I don't want one in my stash. I don't want one. Do I want one? Sorry I gotta go, there was that thing I had to do, or forgot...

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2 hours ago, Thadeus said:

Nice work on the cockpit. For an ugly aircraft, the SLUFF sure looks pretty cool. And Hasegawa kit looks not bad.

Shame I don't want one in my stash. I don't want one. Do I want one? Sorry I gotta go, there was that thing I had to do, or forgot...

Thanks very much Thadeus.

Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Getting closer to being able to close up the fuselage on the A-7. I'm calling "Maj. Stealth" finished and should look passable when everything is installed in the cockpit. I'm not much of a figure painter, in fact this is my first figure added to a model since I was very young. I tip my hat to those of you that can do it, figure painting is a whole other level.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Steve

 

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