Well look at me, I've managed to knock something together. As gardening weather is here, well sort of, what I mean is, as there's a lot of work to do in the garden, bench time is limited to a few minutes here and there. But in those few minutes, I've managed a little 1:72 Hobbyboss Corsair A-7.
The Vought A-7, affectionately known as Sluf, Short little ugly feller. Although 'feller' could be changed for another, less kind word.
The A-7 was roughly speaking a replacement for the A-4 Skyhawk
The US Navy's specification for the 'new' aircraft was fairly standard, but there was a couple of extras thrown in. Unusually, reliability and maintainability were specified in the contract with penalty clauses if the new aircraft didn't live up to expectations. I wonder if this explains why so many models have the ability to have their electronic bays open ? Also, maximum speed was not specified. So the new aircraft could be sub-sonic, saving weight, and of course, a lot of money. The final unusual requirement was that the new aircraft should be a development of an existing aircraft, thus saving both time and money. OK, so a lot of us will know that the Corsair looks very much like the Crusader, only a lot smaller. Which would tell us that the Corsair was based on the Crusader, thus saving money. Only thing is, it wasn't. There appears to be no significant commonality of parts or equipment - not quite playing by the rules of the proposal. The first pre-production A-7s flew on 27th September 1965. Just 18 months from the signing of the contract, and 25 days ahead of schedule. The A-7 finally retired in 2014 by the Hellenic air force. Not a bad run.
The Hobbyboss A7-A Corsair 2 builds into a nice example of this aircraft. The cockpit if sparse, but in this scale, I can live with that. External detail is really good and can be highlighted easily. The only real problems during the build are upper wing roots, not a problem unique to Hobbyboss and unfortunately, there's a canopy seam to deal with, again, not something unique to Hobbyboss. Do I recommend the kit, yes I do.
Any questions or comments, fire away.
The Vought A-7, affectionately known as Sluf, Short little ugly feller. Although 'feller' could be changed for another, less kind word.
The A-7 was roughly speaking a replacement for the A-4 Skyhawk
The US Navy's specification for the 'new' aircraft was fairly standard, but there was a couple of extras thrown in. Unusually, reliability and maintainability were specified in the contract with penalty clauses if the new aircraft didn't live up to expectations. I wonder if this explains why so many models have the ability to have their electronic bays open ? Also, maximum speed was not specified. So the new aircraft could be sub-sonic, saving weight, and of course, a lot of money. The final unusual requirement was that the new aircraft should be a development of an existing aircraft, thus saving both time and money. OK, so a lot of us will know that the Corsair looks very much like the Crusader, only a lot smaller. Which would tell us that the Corsair was based on the Crusader, thus saving money. Only thing is, it wasn't. There appears to be no significant commonality of parts or equipment - not quite playing by the rules of the proposal. The first pre-production A-7s flew on 27th September 1965. Just 18 months from the signing of the contract, and 25 days ahead of schedule. The A-7 finally retired in 2014 by the Hellenic air force. Not a bad run.
The Hobbyboss A7-A Corsair 2 builds into a nice example of this aircraft. The cockpit if sparse, but in this scale, I can live with that. External detail is really good and can be highlighted easily. The only real problems during the build are upper wing roots, not a problem unique to Hobbyboss and unfortunately, there's a canopy seam to deal with, again, not something unique to Hobbyboss. Do I recommend the kit, yes I do.
Any questions or comments, fire away.
