Hasegawa 1/72 Vought A-7A Corsair II

HASEGAWA 1:72 VOUGHT A-7A CORSAIR II

Reviewer: Mark B (SMAKR Webmaster) (smakr1@optusnet.com.au)
Kit Built + Review Submitted: December 2003/18 January 2004

Kit Details:

Hasegawa #00238 -- B8; A-7A Corsair II, US Navy Carrier Based Attacker; 1:72 scale kit

Aircraft History:

After the successful development of the F-8 Crusader the US Navy was keen to develop the next generation carrier-borne attack aircraft to replace its ageing A-4 Skyhawk fleet, and encouraged Vought to put forward a proposal. A set of requirements were put forward that included a much higher weight capacity and weapon load, accurate weapons delivery, far better performance (although supersonic was not a requirement) including a longer endurance and a whole new design. Vought was handed the contract almost based on its drawing board from which emerged the A-7 Corsair that met all but one of the 11 US Navy requirements, although Vought would argue otherwise, and that was that the aircraft was not a wholly new design. Its outward appearance resembled that of the F-8 Crusader but in reality shared very few components and features between the two although it retained two of the Crusader's cannon.

By the time it entered service in 1967 the US was heavily embroiled in the Vietnam conflict and the A-7A was the first production variant which emerged and was sent to Vietnam, and 199 were built. The A-7 Corsair has been involved in every conflict or attack the US Navy has participated in up to and including Desert Storm when it was retired from service after 30 years. The A-7 was destined for export to a number of NATO countries but political pressure within many of those countries saw decisions made to purchase the lightweight Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter instead, and only Greece and Portugal became export customers. Later, Thailand also picked up some former US Navy aircraft.

If there was one major criticism of the A-7 it would be that it was initially quite underpowered and has probably never been given the power needed to achieve its full potential. In fact the A-7A was quite severely underpowered to the point where catapult steam sucked into the engine on take-off hampered take-off performance and lead to the US Navy imposing a weight limit on the aircraft so the nose sat up a bit higher. The fact that this was a consideration along with its quite close resemblance to the F-8 Crusader soon gave the pilots reason to call it SLUF (Slow Ugly Fat Fella*), but soon the unflattering nickname became an endearment as the aircraft's potential was soon realised, including its unrivalled ability to deliver a payload with devastating accuracy.

* Fella being one of the two versions, and the appropriate word of the two to print here!

The A-7 has the distinction of being the first US combat aircraft flown by female aviators and one of only a handful of aircraft that served in all arms of the US forces, including USAF operations as an escort for SAR Helicopters on "Sandy" missions during Vietnam. It was a smart-bomb carrying warplane before smart bombs were developed, with avionics allowing pilots to 'pickle' a bomb onto a building, bridge etc and had the most advanced avionics systems in the world at the time. In 1990, Vought went about to develop a much improved second generation A-7 Corsair that was extensively redesigned and upgraded to allow the aircraft to keep performing in the last decade of the millennium. Whilst flight testing revealed that the aircraft was capable of a lot more, newer warplanes and designs (particularly stealth) were achieving new standards of performance and weapon carrying abilities, and this marked the end of the Corsair II.

Preamble:

Those observant amongst you would have noticed that I built this kit along with the F-8 Crusader at exactly the same time, with the reviews also being posted together on the site.

I decided to build this kit along with the Hasegawa Vought F-8E Crusader at the same time for a couple of reasons, one was for the US Navy fighting area and the obvious relations these two aircraft had with each other, and the other was to cheat a little and get two kits out the way at once by virtue of being very similar builds, identical paint schemes and all that sort of thing.

I often try and work on more than one kit at a time because I love the option to go onto another project if I bore of one, hit a particularly challenging spot I am not in the mood to overcome at that moment or where I get to a point on one project that I can't go further (eg: waiting for some glue to dry etc) but still want to keep modelling! It's useful to have a couple or even a few projects on the workbench and I find it suits my way of modelling really well (plus it reduces the unbuilt pile a little quicker!).

One of the ideas of doing these two kits together, the A-7 Corsair and F-8 Crusader, with so many similarities (kit manufacturer, subject, paint schemes, construction sequence, etc) was so I could effectively work on a couple of projects at once in an efficient way of finalising projects. Interestingly, at the end of this little experiment I would have to say that this did not achieve a more efficient building practice, it took far longer than envisaged and I won't be doing it this way again! I was at the same point of both kits all the time so didn't have different things to do all the time, and found if I got a bit far ahead in one I put it aside for the other to catch up (eg: I could not paint the constructed Corsair until the Crusader was at the same point) so unfortunately the idea doesn't work! I'll tackle different subjects from now on!

The Kit:

This kit seemingly has been around as long as the aircraft itself, and I think dates back to the mid 70's? My kit is circa 1986 and I know what to expect, given I have built this kit about three or four times now - albeit, for other family members and modelling friends! There are about 76 medium grey injection molded parts which come on three sprues. The detail is nothing really to write home about and the panel lines are raised. There is a little bit of flash encumbering some of the parts, and the plastic is fairly thick, not as crisp as current day Hasegawa kits. The main points of annoyance with a few other modellers is the detail, most notably a very sparse cockpit, an intake trunk which runs less than a centremetre and shallow, unrealistic gun troughs. Also included is a small clear sprue containing the two-part medium thick canopy.

Two older boxings of the kit, the Hasegawa-Minicraft version [left], and the other Hasegawa version [right]
Note: Hasegawa and Minicraft also released a boxing with art identical to the one on the right also

Instructions:

Typical Hasegawa fold out sheet with brief history and specification on the front, sprue diagram, aircraft in action series little photos and a weapons configuration for underwing stores, symbols for translating parts of modelling (do not cement, open hole etc), eight (could it be any other number?) easy to follow assembly steps with painting individual component information taken from the Gunze/Mr Color ranges and of course the obligatory four-view diagrams for markings and decal placement.

Construction:

Construction starts in a very sparse cockpit where the kit supplies nothing more than a poor excuse for a seat (bent plastic with a box for headrest), instrument panel (with decal) and a pilot figure. I'm not the most accomplished scratchbuilder, so the floor (made from plasticard), side panels (from thin strips of card) and control column (made from stretched sprue) were very basic and a few bits and pieces were added to the sidewalls to try and make it look a little more busy. The seat fits into a small cut out in the back of the cockpit so needs to be carefully placed exactly (and the same for seated pilot) so it does not look like it is off centre. Obviously, if you want an accurate cockpit then you will like dispense with the kit materials and try an aftermarket set. I gave the cockpit a Humbrol 128 wash before moving on to the next step.

The intake trunk is so shallow as to be virtually non-existent, and the more skilled might want to cut out the trunk rear wall and use plasticard to move it further back. Noting my comments above about the cockpit which has no floor, it's worthwhile remembering that a floor which would act as the trunk roof be placed in the correct position. I really could not be bothered with this extra work, so simply painted the rear wall black and hoped that would at least give it some depth.

Before closing the fuselage halves together you can trap the arrestor hook between them so it can be moveable. The tailplanes have single long locating pins which are not cemented to the fuselage but are glued to a stopper on the inside of the fuselage half, thereby making these also moveable. I decided not to do this and would affix the tailplanes in place later. The fuselage halves need a bit of a going over with a sharp hobby knife and some sand paper to rid the small bits of flash and other components likely to get in the way of a flush fit. The fuselage halves can then be affixed together and they fit flush rather well with only a rubber band and a couple of small strategically placed strips of masking tape to clamp. The tail fin is included with one fuselage half but the spine is on both halves so this is an area needing taping. As I often find with these types of Hasegawa kits, it is easy for the intake and rear exhaust area to be slightly misaligned so check these areas and ensure they match up perfectly. The join lines are quite ugly so out with the hobby knife and sand paper to clean these!

At last construction moves rather quickly as the main components are affixed, so much time had been spent on the areas above, I forgot how enjoyable modelling can be at times! The main wings are effectively one-piece upper wing moldings with the underwing cut out area where the pylons are go. There is a bit of flash to remove and the mating surface of the wing assembly needs a really good going over with the sandpaper. Whilst it fits snugly and the wings are set almost at the right angle without the modeller doing any checking, there are big gaps to fill at the roots. The tail planes also need sanding at their mating surfaces but affix without the need of a major gap filling exercise.

The main wheel bays contain some cross-beam detail but the nose bay contains nothing, in fact it is also virtually non-existent it is so shallow that a squirt of Revell liquid hobby glue would overfill the bay, if you understand what I mean! The nose wheel undercarriage is effectively one piece molding and includes little hydraulic detail, although a tow bar is added to the front. Likewise the main wheel sections are also fairly simplistic moldings although both look reasonably good in shape when compared to reference photos, just without the extra detail. For wheels-up modellers, for once you don't have to snip off the hinges for the main gear doors and can simply put them into place, however, they are all fairly thickly encrusted with flash, so deciphering the part from the flash is a bit tricky. The doors fit but there is a massive gap left between the doors that must be filled.

The kit supplies a reasonable amount of stores, with cluster bombs on two underwing pylons and presumably a 300 gallon tank on the third. AIM-9B Sidewinders are provided for fuselage mounted pylons, which I left off until after the painting and decalling stage, as I thought this might get in the way of decalling - if you don't like squeezing your finger in a tight spot this is a recommended consideration. The cluster bombs are of two different sizes, and I suspect are to represent Mk.81 and Mk.82 Snakeyes, but I think the kit isn't sure if the 300 gallon tank is that or a bomb. The instructions tell you to paint it olive drab or blue suggesting it is a bomb, but tells you to cut off the top fin as you would for the tank, yet still refers to the part with four fins for the remainder of the instructions! In the marking and painting sketches it says the tanks should be painted white so I think the kit really is trying to tell you it is a tank. I snipped off both the top and bottom fins as my references suggest this is the case for the 300 gallon tank, but obviously you should check your own. These all go together quite well onto their pylons, but a run over with sanding paper at the mating points and surfaces is highly recommended to remove seam lines.

I left the canopy and nose section off til late so I could paint around the section and along with the refuelling receptacle everything fits quite well. The stores were added on last after painting the aircraft which I did in an upper Humbrol 129 Light Grey and lower 130 Satin White.

Colour Schemes:

You have the choice of two US Navy aircraft in upper Light Grey and undersides White scheme. The first is from VA-56 Champions with black NF accompanied by a yellow boomerang on the tail, featuring blue and yellow striping on the rudder and a few flashes around the nose etc (as featured on the boxart). The second option is from VA-153 Blue Tail Flies and requires the tail fin to be painted blue for the NM code which includes a colourful unit symbol.

Decals:

The decal sheet is large and typical Hasegawa quality, looking reasonably thick and glossy but otherwise in very good colour register. There is a reasonable amount of stencilling provided but it's certainly not comprehensive, with a lot of the smaller stuff (like the red cockpit triangles) blurry or unreadable and most of the sheet is taken up by the yellow and blue strips for the VA-56 version. They apply quite well and I did not use setting solution on this occasion as it was not needed.

Accuracy:

The kit represents the Corsair rather well although it is not anywhere near perfect. By my reckoning the model measures 194 mm Length and 166 mm Span or thereabouts which compares a little short but acceptable to actual scale dimensions of respectively, 195.3 mm and 163.9 mm which I think highlights the model overall. It is acceptable but not spot on, and this would mainly be in the detail department with things such as the undercarriage, refuelling receptacle and arrestor hook being simplified and/or a bit crude. Things like the pitot probes eitherside of the cockpit are missing. With Testors and Italeri kits (and I am pretty sure they are different) on the market, these might end up being more accurate than Hasegawa's.

Overall Recommendation:

A bit disappointing I must say when it comes to Hasegawa's kits, and although it was relatively hassle-free to put together there were a few minor fit problems to contend with. The kit is obviously from the early Hasegawa days, and it shows it, with lack of detail its main criticism. Given that a few other kits on the market are probably no worse than this one, but are much cheaper, I would be recommending you put your money elsewhere. The quality between this kit and their F-8 Crusader (itself not state of the art by any means either) which I was building at the same time were different classes. Final verdict would be that it's okay, and would suit most modelling skills but don't expect too much.

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