EA-6B Prowler ‘VAQ-135 Black Ravens 2010’

[Paul A H]

EA-6B Prowler ‘VAQ-135 Black Ravens 2010’

1:72 Hasegawa

Developed from the Grumman A-6 Intruder naval strike aircraft, the EA-6B Prowler has undertaken electronic warfare, Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) and intelligence gathering roles for the US Navy and US Marine Corps since the early 1970s. Originally developed to provide an umbrella of protection for A-6 Intruders and other strike aircraft operating over Vietnam, the EA-6B Prowler continues to serve in similar roles to this day.

The Prowler has proven its effectiveness over a long service career in theatres including the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been upgraded a number of times over the years, and since the early 80s has been capable of carrying AGM-45 Shrike or AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, as well as AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System pods.

Hasegawa’s EA-6B has been around for quite some time now, and although it can no longer be described as a cutting edge kit, it’s still a good all-rounder which will fulfil the basic requirements of most modellers. The kit is comprised of eighty-three parts spread across four sprues of grey plastic and one clear sprue, all packed into a glossy, top-opening box. Hasegawa’s moulds always seem to stand the test of time fairly well, and this is no exception as there is virtually no flash present anywhere on the sprues. Surface detail is comprised of consistently fine, engraved panel lines, which should hold a weathering wash fairly well.

In common with other Hasegawa kits of a certain vintage, this kit is a little light on cockpit detail. The cockpit itself is comprised of a large one-piece tub, a control column, instrument panels and four ejection seats. Decals are provided for the instrument panels only as the side consoles have some delicate, raised detail moulded in place. Overall it will probably pass muster if you fit the canopies in the closed position, but if you want to model them in the open position, then you may want to look into some aftermarket ejection seats at the very least.

Moving on to the rest of the airframe, the engine intakes are made up of two parts but are not full length. The crew ladders which fold into the side of the fuselage just behind the intakes are both provided, and leaving these open will allow you to add some visual interest to your model. The nose gear bay features some nice but fairly basic structural detail, but the main gear bays are quite plain in comparison. The undercarriage legs themselves are very nice, being crisply moulded and richly detailed. The landing gear wheels are also very nicely detailed.

The tinted canopies that used to be provided in earlier editions of this kit are gone, replaced by untinted clear plastic. I think this is a bit of a shame, as although it is perfectly possible to tint plastic with translucent paint or similar products, it would have been nice not to have to in this case. Ordnance is catered for by way of five AN/ALQ Tactical Jamming System pods and three drop tanks. No AGM-88 HARM missiles are provided, which is a bit of a shame. The drop tanks feature raised panel lines too, although this is no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

One final thing to watch out for is that there will be a little bit of scratchbuilding required in order to build the aircraft depicted on the box photograph. Presumably this is because the kit, being some years old, represents the EA-6B prior to some of the more recent upgrades. Rather than provide the parts required, Hasegawa suggest you use plastic card instead, which is a bit cheeky, but at least they provide clear instructions on which blade aerials need to be removed or replaced.

Decal options are provided for two aircraft:

163399 of VAQ-135 ‘Black Ravens’, US Navy 2010 and

162936 of VAQ-138 ‘Yellow Jackets’, US Navy 2009.

The decals are very nicely printed (by Cartograf) and are nice and glossy, so they should settle down well.

Conclusion

Despite its age, this is still a nice kit. Whilst it may lack some of the refinements of modern kits here and there, it gets most of the basics right and it will build up into a very nice model. Overall it’s a good kit and can be recommended.

Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

[Antoine]

Thanks, Paul.

This review was very useful to me.

[robw_uk]

i built an old boxing of this last year - goes together very well and easily. I spent some time with scratchbuilding various things which was fun but probably only the cockpit really needs updating - the rest I did was for fun...

[Diamondbacks VF-102]

howdy, anyone who can tell if this is an icap II early or late bird?