1/48 Hobby Boss A-6E Intruder

[doogsatx]

TRANSFER FROM MHI

Because I'm a glutton for punishment...and because I'm less than thrilled with the F-4...another kit is weaseling its way onto the bench.

Hobby Boss' brand new 1/48 A-6E Intruder.



The Intruder is one of my favorite aircraft, probably top five. I've got a long-standing weak spot for things that take function to the prom and leave form home to sulk by itself, and the Intruder has always been pure function to me. It's a no-nonsense bombtruck. If it were a Game of Thrones character, it'd be Brienne of Tarth.

Anyway, I was 11 in 1991, the year that 1) Desert Storm happened and 2) the movie adaptation of Flight of the Intruder was released. If I didn't love the Intruder enough already, those two things did it. And as much as I dig the Vietnam-era high-vis schemes, I still think the Intruder looks very properly at home in heavily weathered low-viz.



So when Hobby Boss released the A-6E, I leapt. Desert Storm Intruder, here we come!

The kit itself is impressive. And it looks a lot more imposing at first than it really is, since fully four of the sprues are dedicated to ordnance.



I've done very little so far. some test-fitting basically. The instrument panel, combing and windscreen look like they might take some cajoling, but I'm thrilled with the level of detail out of the box.

[doogsatx]

More work last night...still feeling hung up on the Phantom and I'm really liking this kit a lot better at this point.

First thing's first...the GRU-EA7 bangseats showed up yesterday. The kit seats are actually rather good for kit seats, but they still don't really compare.



The only modification required to fit the seats? Sanding some of the side detail. Amazingly the seatbacks slot perfectly onto the kit's molded-on eject rails.



Next...adding detail to the upper deck. I'd say I'm probably only half done. So far this has all been 0.3mm lead wire - I'll be bringing some 0.2mm into the mix as well and carrying wiring down more behind the pilot's seat in particular.





I also spent some time doing some very slight reshaping of the instrument panel. The combing fits down nicely over it now, which means it shouldn't push out as much at the sides, which means it (fingers crossed) won't interfere with the windscreen.

[doogsatx]

Busy night last night!

Finished wiring out the cockpit, and added the PE belts and wire eject ring to the GRU-EA7s.



Then primed (Mr Surfacer 1500) and laid down some Gunze 317 (it's a gray...FS something...seems the common callout for US interiors across kit manufacturers) cut with a bit of C69 Offwhite.





Next comes a LOT of detail work.

[doogsatx]

On to phase 1 of the detail work. Tonight was dedicated mostly to the bangseats, which needed extensive painting. As well as the instrument panels and the various screens on the main IP.



The black was done with Liquitex Acrylic Ink. I LOVE this stuff for painting black metal,and for detail work. It has a very nice look to it, it's ultra-thin, and it STAYS exactly where you put it. No running.

The seatbelts and yank handles are done up in Vallejo. And the seat pad and chute pack are AMMO Green Khaki.



The pilot's MFD was done with Vallejo Bronze Green mixed with some black. The bombardier's screens were filled out with Vallejo Offwhite. The top screen is white in every single picture I've seen. The bottom one shifts...but for the yellow-brown that seems most common, I figure the white background will help.

Next comes drybrushing and detail pickouts...

[doogsatx]

Drybrushing = just about ready to start the real eyeball-bleeding detail work on the switchgear!

[doogsatx]

The latest work on the Intruder and with a proper camera. The eject handles have been striped, and the drybrushing is easier to see.

[doogsatx]

More work last night - bombardier's radar scope, a few inidicator lights hit with Tamiya Clear Red, etc - and photography with a real camera.







I've been working on the Eduard/Academy F-4 at the same time, and I have to say, the quality difference between the cockpits is staggering. The Phantom is...passable. But this one is just fantastic. And the raised detail is pronounced enough that detailing it is pretty easy to manage without that dreaded "bleedover" onto the consoles themselves.

[doogsatx]

Some non-cockpit stuff to show off today!

First up...the nose strut. Comprised of probably 8-10 pieces, including a metal core that extends all the way from the bay mounts to the wheel axles. All of the load bearing is in the metal - the plastic is literally just cladding. Smart design, though the tow/launch bar hinge assembly was a bit fussy.



Next up, the intakes. Beautiful in their simplicity. Two halves, with the seams placed in locations where you can actually get at them with sandpaper. The outer "skin" of the intake is another part that comes down on top, simplifying painting and masking of the white intake trunking. Oh...and the fit is glorious and it looks like these could be installed very near the end of the build.





The cockpit (excluding the seats) should be done soon. Need to work on the coaming a bit before I can really call it done. After that, progress should really pick up.

[doogsatx]

Poor Intruder's been stalled out in a mix of doldrums and waiting for some seamless intakes from XMM (formerly X-Mold).

Well, the intakes came earlier this week, so back to it.

Cutting needs to be done to accommodate the larger intake trunk, but, in what might be a first for any cutting-required resin I've ever used, it's all strictly behind the scenes stuff. This was awesome because it let me just pull out the Dremel and rough cut. And if for some reason these don't work out, I can just swap back in the kit intakes.





Now I have to figure out how to mask them so I can just paint the intake lip...

[doogsatx]

Paint on the intakes!

After masking off the intake trunks (and spraying some white on the outside of the intake to give a bit more opacity), I primed them with Mr. Surfacer 1500



And then Mr. Paint Light Ghost Gray...which will be used both slightly lightened and slightly darkened across the entire aircraft (I know they wore Dk. Ghost Gray up top, but Desert Storm Intruders were so faded that they mostly look one color). Really happy with the Mr. Paint's handling...a bit less happy at the roughness of the intake in a few areas around the lip, but still a huge improvement over the kit suckers.

[doogsatx]

Got the intakes glued in last night. Lots of very small trimming work with the microchisel and sanding sticks to clear away plastic and resin interfering with proper fit. They fit well...but they aren't quite drop-fit.



The next step (for me...going out of order from the instructions) is fitting the inner wings. Then closing the fuselage. I'm a bit concerned about the latter up front, since the windscreen, forward bulkhead and IP hood all try to occupy the same space and create a real headache. This is one area where the kit could really use some improvement. A windscreen that included a bit of the surrounding fuselage (a la the Hasegawa 109 or Tamiya Corsair) would make all this a lot easier.

[Rick]

Great progress Doogs. Office looks fantastic and I really like the intakes. Glad to see you back at this one.

Rick

[deafpanzer]

Those intakes really do look great!

[dupes]

Jul 14, 2014 9:58:25 GMT -5 doogsatx said:

It's a no-nonsense bombtruck. If it were a Game of Thrones character, it'd be Brienne of Tarth.

Haaaahahahhahaa...TOO FUNNY!

Pit looks ridiculously good.

[doogsatx]

Since the big Intruder is in mothballs until cooler weather, I've decided to pull out the comparatively little Hobby Boss Intruder.

First up - cracking the windscreen problem. With the cockpit, IP, coaming and front bulkhead in place, the windscreen just would not sit right. Part of it is the bulkhead pushing the coaming up so that it interferes with the glass - that was fixed with violent use of a sanding stick. But the windscreen still wasn't seating properly.

Upon closer inspection, I figured out the problem!

This little box on the coaming. It was hitting up against the windscreen. So I trimmed it back and, viola! Fit!



From there I used some experience with the 1/32 kit to sort out the wing-to-fuselage fit (the tabs are a bit too thick), got the inner wings installed, and got a start on closing the fuselage. I still need wiggle room up front, since the coaming needs a repaint, and out back, for the rudder. But the main assembly is underway.



Scheme-wise, since I've got a big gray tadpole in the works, I'm going to take a chance on this one. Desert camo!



Stay tuned, more to come!

[wbill76]

At least this one you can keep away from the spiders! The desert scheme should be a fun one to tackle, looking forward to that.

[doogsatx]

The part that freaks me out the most is matching up the camo pattern to the decals since the markings do that annoying reverse-out thing.

[JimD]

Well I hate to see the big one taking a break, but I'm glad you're making space for the little one. Should be just as great. Love the scheme choice too.

May 21, 2015 12:27:45 GMT -5 doogsatx said:

The part that freaks me out the most is matching up the camo pattern to the decals since the markings do that annoying reverse-out thing.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who stresses about that kind of stuff. This is the exact reason I haven't tackled one of the Hornet aggressor schemes.

[wbill76]

May 21, 2015 12:27:45 GMT -5 doogsatx said:

The part that freaks me out the most is matching up the camo pattern to the decals since the markings do that annoying reverse-out thing.

Makes you wish they had been a little more considerate when they came up with the scheme! It could be worse though...you could be trying to do these CH-53 schemes from ODS: www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/301-400/walk385_CH-53/walk385.htm

[doogsatx]

Sometimes you have to shake your head.

If you look at the instructions for the Hobby Boss A-6, the wing fold is almost (not quite, but close enough) a direct scale-down of the 1/32 Trumpeter kit.



On the kit, though, I noticed these weird channels that weren't present on the bigger tadpole. And I also noticed some bits of plastic on the wing sprue that looked like they might fit. So I tried it out.



The result? A very beefy connection between inner and outer wings - far beefier than a little rod of plastic would be.



Sigh...

[John Everett]

Bomb-Truck looking solid! Good catch with the wing joints. Are they an optional sort of part in the event you want to build it with wings folded?

[doogsatx]

I have no idea. It's one of the few things that is markedly different from the 1/32 kit, though. I mean, everything is identical, down to the idiotic wing-fold mechanism. And then there's these channels and spars. They were obviously added to the 1/48 CAD for the kit, I guess they just got lazy/forgetful with the instructions?

As for optional - you basically get to pick up or down and you're stuck with it. Especially with these - they spars have to be installed before you close the outer wing. And there's no going back to the fold "faces" after that.

[Bat242]

Looking at your bird I guess I'm going have to get the Hobby Boss kit, I'm puttering around on the Revell A-6.
Who made the AM GRU-7's? They look really sharp!

[venom1]

Great to see this one up and running again Doogs. Weird that the wing feature is on the 1/48 but not the 1/32. It does appear that this may have been a last minute addition and as you said, they were too lazy/forgetful to add it to the destructions. At least you figured out that little chestnut before you glued the wings together!

Are you using the Fightertown decals for this build? I know they do a green camo version as well which looks very cool!

Cheers,

Sam

[doogsatx]

Yeah, Fightertown, but a different sheet from the one with the green camo.

[Rick]

Stunning work Doogs. Lovin' every detail. Can't wait to see you work your paint magic.

Rick

[Rick]

Looks fantastic Doogs. Detail is phenomenal. Looking forward to your next installment

Rick

[doogsatx]

The windscreen is FINALLY sorted and installed. Good riddance to the most troublesome part of the build so far. Though I'm going to have to add some plastic to part of the nose, lest there be a gap.

[aeroaustin]

Look so good..

[406 Silverado]

Damn. I saw this kit in the Squadron catalog and thought someday I will build it. Now that I am seeing how cool it is I just might get the kit and someday soon start it. I used to refuel USMC A6 birds in the early 80's and fueled only one EA-6 from a carrier.

Looking awesome Doogs