HB A-6E 1/48 - Flight of the Intruder

Thomas Bischoff
I'm in - nice show 👍

Sergej I
Looking good 👍!

Rich K.
Awesome work! Learning a lot from your posts and looking forward to the final result!

CaptGPF Autor
Thank you everyone!

@Thomas! Looking forward so seeing your Douglas build!
@Sergej- your F-35 is looking good! I heard that was a bad kit, but didn't realize it till your post!
@Lorraine - Your builds are always amazing! Using a laser cutter to create your latest Spitfire is brilliant!
@Rich - looking forward to seeing another dual build with you and your wife!

Dietmar Bogatzki
Fantastic start Capt. 👍

CaptGPF Autor
Thank you Dietmar! I plan to have the maintenance hatches open on this puppy, but not as impressive as your cut-out Millenium Falcon!

CaptGPF Autor
Sloooooooow progress, the main painting is done, now onto the munitions!

Paul Moore
Will be watching eagerly!

Rui S
Looking Great 👍

Villiers de Vos
Very nice progress.

Sergej I
In photo 24, are you following a reference with the yellow de-icing surface? I thought they were only yellow on slats...

CaptGPF Autor
Thank you Paul for the notes on the A-6!

@Rui - watching you Mariupol build with interest!

@Villers - love your cars, and watching your Maharaja edition with great interest!

Hi Sergei - I referenced it from the paint schemes in the instructions and checked the photos on the internet - and most of them have the yellow de-icing on the leading edge of the wing roots. After taking a closer look, seems like I missed the tail! 😀. Will work on that as I start the weathering. 😀

Adam Gudynowski
Great

Desert Marlin
Looking very awesome!!!

David Taylor
Looking good.

Neil
Agreed! 👍

Paul Moore
CaptGPF,
The build is looking great. As a former A-6 pilot, the only time you'd have both sets of flaparons up and speed brakes out would be on landing roll out. Just so you know. And at times I adjust my builds just because I want to show some various capabilities that interest me. So I get it. But I thought you might be interested in that just in case you had something else in mind.
Paul

CaptGPF Autor
@Adam - I love your Aston Martin - can't wait to see the final result!
@Desert Marlin - I loved t-your SUFA, Can't wait to see the Ra'am!
@Dave - would love to see your Falkland builds before I start working on my small armor kits
@Neil - don't know how you pulled off that Revell Tomcat, but you did it!
@Paul - I had originally planned to make this n in-flight Intruder, but the Hasegawa pilots wouldn't fit at all, so I opted to have everything flared out and open as if it was undergoing maintenance. Would these be realistic?

Desert Marlin
Thanks! The Ra'am is my Summer build!!!

Paul Moore
CaptGPF,
You bring up a good question. During maintenance, there's no telling what configuration you could find! Then of course there would definitely be various panels open. In this case, probably a lot. And of course there wouldn't be any ordnance on the aircraft during heavy maintenance. It's funny for me, sometimes if I'm doing a historical aircraft on a particular mission, it's really important for me to have all the details (down to the BUNO - Bureau Number), and other times I sort of want to show the capabilities of the aircraft. For example, I'm currently doing another aircraft I flew (S-3B Viking). I'm doing it with a buddy refueling store on the left wing (we almost always flew with that) and a Harpoon on the starboard wing. I personally NEVER saw a Harpoon on a "Hoover", but it was an important capability the Hoover had. If it was going to carry a Harpoon in a conflict, it most likely would carry two Harpoons. So is my configuration "realistic"? Probably not. But I'm doing it for a reason. And of course It's my model! At the very least, it's nice to be able to tell a detractor, " yea, it's not "realistic", but I wanted to show off the capability of the aircraft and I think it looks cool". Just my opinion. And the build looks great.

Desert Marlin
@Paul Moore, I roomed with a couple of Hoover crew on the USS Independence in 1990 (Desert Shield) on their way to the IO. I provided some training as a "contractor". I really like the "War Hoover" and the guys were great to be around! As a Crew Chief on KC-135's, I gotta say your descriptions are spot on! There is always that pull to show more detail but then that means the capabilities are shunted. Tough choices for sure!

CaptGPF Autor
@ Paul - I guess I'll have to take some liberties with this one - by loading up some ordinance during maintenance - probably not the safest thing to do since the USS Forestall fire…. But seeing any aircraft without a full complement of armaments just rubs me the wrong way!

My goal is to make this an emergency repair / troubleshooting before it has to take off to fight the Japanese fleet in 1941 (Final Countdown movie). Sadly, the USS Nimitz is due to be retired this year, so I guess I should finish this build before that sad day…. 😭

Paul Moore
And of course it's a sin not to put ordnance, LOTS OF ORDNANCE, on a Intruder! And the good news is, there's probably not a lot of folks that would know, or care, that the flaparons are up and the ramifications of it. So continue on the build of a really nice looking and war weary Intruder!

Guy Rump
Looking great, following. 👍

Edouard Carr
Amazing work!

CaptGPF Autor
@Guy - love your WW2 builds!
@Edouard - following your huge D-Day dio with interest!

I'm trying to figure out the weathering part right now - since this jet has likely seen a lot of action over the years, so having to learn more about the handling of oils. 😀

Paul Moore
I recommend Phil Flory from England. I learn so much from him! His S-3 video build is a great tutorial. It's about $45/year but it's well worth it. Covers all aspects of the hobby.

CaptGPF Autor
I'm looking forward to that upcoming 1/48 S-3! I don't know why the Navy decided to retire that platform - sure the Sh-60 could do most of the work, but it doesn't have the range or loiter time the Viking has.

Paul Moore
I think most of it was the break up of the former Soviet Union. When the Soviets went bankrupt, they got rid of their noisy nuclear submarines. They kept their Alphas and Akulas (good nuclear subs). The S-3 had several important attributes, but acoustic prosecution was not one of them. It was a great aircraft in reconnaissance of surface vessels with its ISAR radar and with Harpoons, it really did live up to its name of "Sea Control Squadron".