Latest WIP

[John Bowden]

While I'm waiting on my Super Secret commission project to finished, Hyair got me all worked up with his GPM A-7D build so I contacted Roman and got permission to rework his A-7 Corsair II.

I'm working with it in 1/48 and plan on adding wheel wells, rolled landing gear, layered wheels, super detailing, more formers, and maybe even a cockpit........... I also want to mod it to the USAF A-7D version and do some recolors of it as well as some more Navy A-7E schemes..............

Here are a couple of Beta test builds pictures with some of the changes and a Navy schemes from the 70's............ I like the gray and white schemes...... not so drab, lots of purdy colors.......

Oh......... and when my commission is finished I will have to put this on hold............. I mean you can't leave a well known famous plane like that just hanging in the breeze. I mean there ain't one out there in this scale as far as I know.........:cool:

[N96HBK]

Nice job John!!!!

[Brent]

Great job so far John. I just purchased this kit last week to do a repaint for myself.

Brent

[John Bowden]

Thanks guys................

Wow.......... sorry Brent............ what scheme were you going to do? I'm doing this one first and them VA-86 and VA-153 for sure.

[CMDRTED]

great sluf john. As far as i recall there is a 1/50 by pmodel that is in usn colors. they have wheel wells but no cockpit. the gpm cockpit fits in there nice though!

[Raja Ahsani]

Funny John, i've been working on its brother too for some time now

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=264659&stc=1&d=1447256310

[John Bowden]

Fuselage went together pretty well............

[RyanShort]

Fuselage went together pretty well............
I haven't seen a Roman model yet that didn't!

[John Bowden]

I agree Ryan, but I did do some changes to it and was afraid I messed things up............:confused:

Now the fun begins........... checking references and adding details.........

[YankeeBoy]

Looks great, John. I'm a fan of the grey/white scheme back when squadron markings were large and colorful. Am looking forward to your "upgrade" of Roman's excellent model. I wonder how many squadrons used the Corsair II in the Vietnam era?

[Don Boose]

Good project, John.

Don

[John Bowden]

We got tail feathers.............

Thanks YB and Don.................. YB I'll check but I do know that 98 Navy birds didn't make it back to the ship during the war.

Also several squadrons made 3 or more tours with the Corsair II and that 27 different squadrons used the SLUF, but I'm not sure how many did a tour with it. I'll do some checking.

Weird Note......... during it's entire tour in Nam the Corsair II did not account for an enemy air to air kill.......... but it did shoot down another Corsair :eek:........

[elliott]

OK John, don't leave us hanging. What's the story behind the Corsair-to-Corsair shootdown?

[John Bowden]

Sorry Elliott............ my reference only stated that it happened, not how or why. But I'll go back through them and see if there any more to it......... I do remember it was VA-56 Squadron that was involved.

[MacSongLi]

Very nice work John. She's looking great.

Gary

[RyanShort1]

Sorry Elliott............ my reference only stated that it happened, not how or why. But I'll go back through them and see if there any more to it......... I do remember it was VA-56 Squadron that was involved.
https://books.google.com/books?id=1ogxKnOSgYcC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=corsair+II+shoot+down&source=bl&ots=RukIHUU-6C&sig=CqkWmWwZHxYXMgGukfZZ5ObL_AM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMIw9618qKMyQIVDCYmCh23pg7j#v=on epage&q=corsair%20II%20shoot%20down&f=false

[John Bowden]

Thanks Ryan!

I'm glad it was a pilot-less bird............ I might just have to add this one to the repaint list

[John Bowden]

Got a wing on tonight............ and the detailing continues......... a small sample Outboard pylons..............

[MacSongLi]

Nice John, I love the weapons pods.

Gary

[elliott]

Looking good John. Keep on going.

[combidc10]

look very cool

[John Bowden]

Thanks Guys! I'm gonna keep on chugging along........

[John Bowden]

well at least I can fly it around the room now........ as I espected with Roman's model....... everything fit well together, even the with the mods I made. Now details, details, details........

[MacSongLi]

Great work John, very nice build and fit. Look forward to the details.

Gary

[John Bowden]

Thanks Gary..........

Now I'm waiting on some references to come in because ALL of the ones I have now do not have correct 3 view drawings in them.

I find it harder and harder to find good quality accurate drawings....... I don't understand why people would put our incorrect drawings. Thank goodness for all the good quality pictures that can be found on the net and in books, but alas I do find sections of aircraft that do not have good pictures and it is always the section I need!

[John Bowden]

While waiting on my references, I started designing some stores and started adding the detailed weapon pylons.

Still got to build and add the outer pylon, but here's a shot showing the inner pylon and with a 300 gal drop tank, and the middle pylon (empty).

Still got to detail the drop tank........... anyone interested, I would like some feedback on whether to put the drop tank seam down (like what I've built) or set it up where the seam is facing towards the plane (maybe to hide it better). Opinions, ideas, critiques..........

[Loui]

Found this, hope it help to decide the tank seam
http://www.armahobby.com/media/products/c0166b231a5ad2fd925416bcdc272511/images/thumbnail/large_big_asq72014-web.jpg?lm=1391767704

[John Bowden]

Thanks Loui........ I had found that, but all the pictures I've seem don't show the tank with seam in those locations.......... but I will keep looking.

[John Bowden]

Got all the pylons on

[John Bowden]

I decided the first recolor will be the plane pictured..........

This plane took part in Operation Pocket Money the mining of Haiphong Harbor in 1972......... got to design the Mk-36 mines and change the marking on my current model. So release recolor number 1 will be this A-7E.;)

[John Bowden]

OK.......... got the Mk36 Mines done up and beta built a couple and put on the model.........decide tol change the colors to two tone grey instead of the color of the one built in the picture............

[John Bowden]

Trying to get any info on the AN/AAR-45 FLIR pods that were used on the E and D (LANA pod) models............ anything would be appreciated.

I've surfed the net and found pic of the pod on planes, plastic(!!??) model builds showing the parts, but nothing about dimensions or scale drawings.

I know there has to be something somewhere because the major plastic(!!??) model companies have the pod in their kits.......... AND theyhad to have something to go by.

[YankeeBoy]

There is a good close-up here - CV-41 USS Midway / CVW-5 (http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-CV-41-Midway.html) in the A-7 squadron section. I could not find any tech details/dimensions either...

[John Bowden]

Thanks YB......... I have never has this much trouble finding info on a subject......... just my luck I guess.

Thanks for the link, it was new to me and had some neat shots of not only the A-7 but other (future works!!??) as well...........:rolleyes:

[YankeeBoy]

It is strange that so little info is out there on what is a 40-year old piece of technology. I wonder if a Jane's Weapons Systems from that era would have more info?

Looking forward to any (and all) of your designs, especially the XF-90 (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, LOL)

[YankeeBoy]

There is hope, John! I have a 1/32 scale pod coming from the plastic modeling community (left over from a Trumpeter 1/32 A-7E kit) and will get measurements and photos. It'll be week or so...can't hurry the USPS.

[John Bowden]

Thanks YB......... neither rain, sleet or snow............. but nothing about how fast.....lol

[John Bowden]

Got a pod hacked out in Blender and built......... pics will post as soon as the camera battery recharges.......:confused:

Here is the pepakura unfold............ I''l combine some parts when I scale it correctly.........this one makes up a pod 6.75 inches long

[John Bowden]

Battery charged................ side and front.......still got to put markings and such..........

What do you think?

[Don Boose]

Looks good to me.

Don

[John Bowden]

Thanks Don......

[-Jim G]

Very cool thread! Great build John!

[John Bowden]

My PC crashed so there will be a little delay in posting any updates........at least I had backup, but it seems that they are not without problems....

[John Bowden]

Gotta redo page 1............. could have been worse:rolleyes:

[Wyvern]

Looking good, John!

Wyvern

[John Bowden]

You know.......... it's really, really bad when you have to rely on Japanese Publications to get the correct information you need to do a model accurately.

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Japanese Publications, because they have bailed me out more times than not......... it's just that I don't read Japanese, and they don't put in English subtitles!

At least they have nice pictures that don't need to be translated in American......:rolleyes:

Famous Airplanes Of The World 1982 No. 131
Famous Airplanes Of The World 1989 No. 18

Thank you Bunrin-Do Co. LTD.

Now if other aircraft publications would just learn from these guys we would all have a better time redesigning and recoloring!!!!


Oh......... and these publications have had the most accurate line drawings of aircraft that I've seen, except Willy Peeters published by Daco Publications. The only problem with them is they have a very limited catalog............

[YankeeBoy]

Here's the FLIR pod based on the Trumpeter 1/32 model of the A-7E:

265929

[John Bowden]

Thanks Man!!!

[John Bowden]

IF there are folks still interested........... I'm in the middle of the s l o w work.........tweaking internal formers, adding panel lines and weathering, detailing missile rails, etc....... so it not too picture worthy stuff..........

I did design some stuff to hang on the pylons and rails.......... napalm pods, depth charges, snakeyes, sidewinders........Oh and I re-scaled the FLIR pod (BIG Thanks to YB!!!!).

SO........... as soon as I get something worthy of a picture I promise to post...........echo echo echo...............

[YankeeBoy]

Eagerly looking forward to this!

[John Bowden]

Thanks YB...........