1/72 Esci Ling Temco Vought A-7D &

 A-7E Corsair II

by Eric Bade

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The A-7 series of aircraft might not be the sexiest aircraft around, still they were there, performing what they were designed for from the skies of Vietnam in the ‘60s to their latest operations over Irag in the early ‘90s.

Furtherfore, in common with the Harrier series of aircraft, I like their aggressive stance that make them look like wild beasts sitting on their rear legs, ready to attack.

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The model 

All three models are built from the Esci kit (very similar to the current Italeri kit). Of note here is the fact that I strongly believe that the Esci models were loosely copied from the Fujimi offerings. Panel lines, some details tend to prove just that. The big change between the two models is that Esci incorporated the massive air intake into the main fuselage parts. This might be an advantage over the Fujimi kit as this eases construction, but this also is the cause of the major shortcoming of Esci Corsair II models as the air intake is just 5 mm (0.2 in) deep and with such a big mouth it shows. The obvious solution (and it is Italeri solution too) was to conceal the air intake with a cover. 

Building 

The kit builds well, but few points needed correction though. The first part is the cockpit. There are some bulkheads but there are few details. Still the major problem with the cockpit area is that – in common with Fujimi and Italeri Corsair lls – the rear cockpit bulkhead is flush with the ejection seat (see my old hi-viz VA-37 A-7E to see what I mean). This area has to be completely rebuilt, cutting the bulkhead off, recreating it further aft, scratchbuilding the structure that comes next to the bang seat (photo of #316 being rebuilt shows what I mean quite well). Seats were built using the Airfix F-15A ESCAPAC seats as a start although better aftermarket resin parts are available. Remember there are differences between  US NAVY and  USAF A-7 ESCAPAC seats (upper D ring on USN a/c, foldable canopy breakers on a USAF machine). Consoles and instrument panels are photo-etched parts.

The rest of the model builds easily. I just decided to detail some bays and I simply scratchbuilt them. I used both the Details and Scale and Verlinden books on the A-7 as guides.

Some details were added on landing gears. I also wanted a US NAVY aircraft with folded wings, which is quite easy to do with the quite simple A-7 wingfold mechanism. As I was building late A-7s in both USAF and US NAVY services a number of fairings and blisters had to be added.

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Painting and decalling 

I built these models some time ago. #300 was my first Esci A-7. I really loved the bull on the fin back then. It was a High Viz light gull grey/white aircraft and it was brushed with Humbrol paints.

US NAVY #314 and the Pennsylvania ANG A-7s were amongst the last models that I brush painted. #314 might be the very model that made me decide to invest in an airbrush and compressor. At the time I generally was quite satisfied with my brush technique but I always had a special problem with US NAVY lo-viz models. I could not reproduce the subtle or heavier touches up which are so predominant on TPS camos.

Old #314 therefore was one of my first attempts to use the airbrush and was re-finished as #316 after the previous paint job was scratched.

The Pennsylvania ANG aircraft also is brush painted but due to the darker colours and simple disrupted camo I did not feel it was necessary to repaint it.  

Decals mostly are Superscale. Relatively few decals were available for the A-7 until Superscale released sheets months ago and the recent works of Icarus, Albatros and the current Airdoc and CAP Pro productions. 

All models were weathered with thinned black paint in the panel lines.  

With the recent release of the above mentioned decal sheets and the release of resin cockpits by Aires in 1/72nd scale I believe one other Corsair (Fujimi this time) will find it’s way to my workbench. 

Eric

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Photos and text © by Eric Bade