The Revell A-6E Intruder (1/72)

[SebastianP]

I was at the hobby shop yesterday looking for an A-6E in 1/72, and couldn't find any of the recommended kits - neither the Fujimi nor Italeri versions were available. I did see a Revell Intruder though, in the old gray box and with a © date of 1989. The box art depicts an "E" with TRAM, but the photos of the completed model show the cockpit, main gear and engines, so I can't even tell if it has the turret, let alone the wing fold. The box does seem a little bigger than the "Flight of the Intruder" version, though.

Since it appears to be my only option, is the kit worth getting, just to have an Intruder on the shelf?

(I may also be able to find a Hasegawa, but IIRC that kit dates from the seventies, and has raised panel lines - and it's twice as expensive)

SP

[A6BSTARM]

I have the Revell version is sitting in my stash. It looks alright just on the outside and it has the TRAM turret. That is about all that I can say for it. It is a re-cast/issue of the old MPC/Hagesewa kit from the 70's. I have the MPC kit and some pictures of it here. This kit has turned in to a real adventure, spartan cockpit, just a "L" shaped piece with some bumps to represent seats and a little half sphere piece with space to put a decal of the actual cockpit in. The canopy is split down the center and you have two opposing sides that will need to be glued together. You are stuck with having just iron bombs and 3 drop tanks that aren't shaped right as the load out. The pylons themselves are molded with the drop tanks and with the Multiple Ejector Racks. So to not have anything on the aircraft would take time to remove actual pylon molds from the MER's and tanks with out to much scaring is kind of hard. There are less raised lines in this one there there are in the MPC kit, but not by much. I also have a ton of flash, ejector pin markings and just extra plastic on a lot of the smaller pieces. Like the tires have about a 1mm extension from where the axel should actually end of just extra plastic that needs to be filed off. The decals are for a late 1970's early 80's CAG bird of VA-65 Tigers.