A-7K Corsair II

[Mike]

A-7K Corsair II

1:48 Hobby Boss

In association with

The A-7K was a short-run (30 airframes) built for training US Air National Guard (ANG) pilots, with a second seat for the instructor, and an avionics "spine" running from the tail root forward housing the refuelling probe receptacle, with dual controls and most of the mission capabilities of the in-service models.

The A-7E was reviewed here back in May 2010, and as this kit shares a number of sprues with that kit, and I won't repeat that info here, but please click on the link for further details.

The main differences between the E and the K in terms of the kit are the new fuselage parts, which have a gaggle of different parts nestled around them that are peculiar to the two seat version. This includes the long spine that is installed after the fuselage halves are mated together, and mates with the base of the extended fin-fillet. After painting, a set of refueler guidance markings are applied over the widened front of the spine, which houses the doors to the "fuel cap", or whatever it's called!

The new 2-seat cockpit tub is included on the new sprue, and detail is good here throughout, with raised detail on the side consoles as well as the two instrument panels. There are decals to install over the raised detail if you can't face painting them, or you could get out your detail brushes and do it yourself.

The large blown cockpit canopy has a prominent seam down the centre, which will require removal and sanding back to clear with progressively finer grades of sanding sticks, and once cleaned up will show off the cockpit detail well, so care should be taken with the construction and painting.

The rest of construction proceeds as per the earlier kit, with the side-mounted refuelling probe consigned to the spares box. The same panels are open on the sides of the fuselage, with detailed painting instructions, which will be most helpful in saving time researching and looking for photos. There are slight sink marks on the avionic bay doors, and also the landing gear bay doors here however, due to the ribbing detail on the inside face. They aren't very deep though, so a few coats of primer and gentle sand back should see them gone.

The wings, flaps and pylons are identical to the E model, but I noticed a slight ripple on the leading edge of the wing just outboard of the dog-tooth, which I couldn't see a valid reason for, although the outer panels of the wings are single thickness mouldings, so that could explain it.

Weapons abound, and are identical to the earlier release, but I'll re-count them here to save endless flipping back and forth between the reviews:

2x Fuel Tanks

1 x FLIR pod

12 x Mk.82 Bombs

12 x Mk.20 Cluster Bombs

6 x AGM-65 Mavericks (single or triple mounting)

2 x AIM-9L Sidewinders

2 x GBU-10 Paveway II Bombs

Whilst only two decal choices are included, the schemes are suitably different to please many. From the sheet you can build one of the following:

• 174th TFS, 185th TFG Iowa ANG - Grey & Ocean Blue overall camo
  
• 152nd TFTS 162 TFTG Arizona ANG - Light Green/Forest Green/Brown overall camo
  

The decals are crisp and in register, but my copy had been exposed to some moisture/humidity at some point, and as a result the protective sheet of wax-paper was lightly stuck to the decal sheet. They were easy to remove, but the decals have been left with a slight matt look in places. I'm sure they will settle down just fine in use though.

The third smaller sheet provides you with the rescue stencils, squadron crests and a full set of instrument panel decals for both side consoles and main panel for both front and rear cockpits.

Conclusion

All in all a nice kit of a fairly low production variant from Hobby Boss, which should build nicely from the box, with a few inaccuracies that may drive the purists to break out the scratch building tools or wait for some aftermarket items.

Recommended to modellers of all types.

You can purchase this kit and many others from Luckymodel [here.

Review sample courtesy of

[Shar2]

I like the look of that. You mentioned inaccuracies Mike, is the front end still too wide?

[Mike]

I like the look of that. You mentioned inaccuracies Mike, is the front end still too wide?

I'm not sure if the intake is too wide or just not round enough towards the bottom... that's a discussion for another thread though, as it'll probably end in polarised opinions

[Dads203]

Looks like a really nice kit Mike, On the back of this review I think I'll get one

of these kits, quite fancy doing one in the SEA scheme.

Cheers Buddy !

[Mr. Pocketwatch]

The A-10 kit includes the same sprues for the weapons except the one with the drop tanks! So anyone who makes this kit is going to have a hard time finding the right weapons.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Mr. Pocketwatch

[AnthonyWan]

Would like to see you build this one Mike