Hobby Boss 1/48 A-6A intruder

[robemcdonald]

Having really enjoyed building the 1/48 Tamiya F-14A I thought I’d try my hand at another US navy Cold War jet. Initially I thought of an F-4, but have decided to hang on until the new Tamiya kit.
The A-6 has always been one of my personal favourites, so after a bit of research on scalemates and you tube I decided the hobby boss kit looked like a good option.


So far I’ve got as far as opening the box. One immediate disappointment is the white metal landing gear inner structure of the earlier kits has been replace by plastic. Hopefully the assembly will be strong enough.

I’m going to make a start tonight, but wanted some opinions on.

1. Wings folded or not?
2. If not folded do I show all the flaps and slats open?
3. The kit has a radar, so do I show the radome open? (I think no on this, but could be persuaded)

[robemcdonald]

I did think about doing one with flaps and slats and the other folded, but it feels wrong.

[robemcdonald]

generationx said:

Interested in this, especially what you think about the HobbyBoss quality as I’ve never tried them.

By the way, let’s see wings folded and radome open!

I have actually built a few hobby boss kits before. The quality isn't up there with Tamiya, but better than the likes of Revell and Tamiya. So far this kits looks pretty nice (although I haven't actually started it yet)
What you can't deny is the value for money they represent. From a Japanese company this kit would probably cost twice the price.
I am going to make a start on the cockpit this evening.

I think I'm going to go Radome open and wings folded.

[robemcdonald]

Work is really kicking my butt today, so decided to do half hour at lunchtime to reduce the blood pressure.

Started with one of the seats.




Here’s a pic of the ejection seat sprue from the Tamiya F-14a (same / very similar seats)


The level of detail is very similar. The finish is better on the Tamiya parts with little clean up required.

[robemcdonald]

Another bit of lunchtime building.

Did a quick job on the seats. One problem is a complete lack of decals and painting instructions.

According to the instructions everything is flat black....

I’ve built enough MK5 seats to know that isn’t right.

I raided the decal box for something that looked okay. I think I’ll get away with it.



Not my best work, but I want to build a well used looking aircraft.

[robemcdonald]

Thanks.


One area where the hobby boss kit is very strong is the instrument panel.



Really nice defined detail.

Looks good painted.



Might get the cockpit finished this evening.

[robemcdonald]

I didn’t quite manage to finish the cockpit. I still have the pedals and joysticks to add.

I decided to dry fit the parts so far together. I have to say I’m quite impressed with the detail and think it turned out nicely.





Have to say the painting instructions are virtually non existent. I have been looking at references on line.

[robemcdonald]

I managed to get the cockpit done!

To be honest I went a bit “Jazz” with the rear deck, it’s meant to be just grey....





It’s easy to see why 1:48 is a popular scale. Great detail and not too large.

According to the instructions my next job is the undercarriage... I’ll think about that tomorrow.

[robemcdonald]

dr_gn said:

Looks superb. Who needs resin?

Thanks very much.

So far the only issues with the kit are:

- Stupid locations for the sprue connection points leading to tricky part clean up
- complete lack of painting instructions (although given the reference material on the internet and the fact I just make it up I can probably overlook this)

[robemcdonald]

dr_gn said:

Is there a clear plate to fit above the reflector sight lens?

No. But the instructions did call for clear green. Now I think about it why would I trust the instructions for painting? School boy error.

Not to worry. I’ll just hope no one notices. Anyone else reading this please forget what you have just read.

[robemcdonald]

Here are the instructions.



I did assemble the front gear before work. Loads of parts and great detail.



Should look good after paint and weathering.

[robemcdonald]

Did a quick paint job at lunchtime

[robemcdonald]

Landing gear complete (almost)

Wheels are up next.

[robemcdonald]

Landing gear, front wheel bay and steps done.

[robemcdonald]

The radar is a nice piece when assembled. Once again very few paint details and no decals.

The spares box and interweb should help.

[robemcdonald]

I forgot to include the smaller dish

[robemcdonald]

I painted the radar and added some random decals in the right places.

[robemcdonald]

A semi productive weekend.

First up I assembled the air intakes.



These are meant to be installed in the fuselage halves before putting them together. This would make masking a nightmare. With some careful trial fitting I worked out I can leave these off until final assembly. It’s a tight squeeze but does work.

It’s also at this point the real difference between this and a Tamiya kit comes to light. The way the various parts come together to make up complex shapes is really clever, but the tolerance on the parts just isn’t up to the task. I’m sure the better modellers on here would be able to fettle everything to a perfect fit. However my limited skill set meant a more basic “little bit at a time” approach was employed.
The result is okay, but far from perfect and filler and rescribing were required...





Finally I added the undercarriage to see if additional nose weight will be required.

Apparently not, but I might put a little in to be certain.

[robemcdonald]

Short answer yes it’s in hold.

I got as far as the wing folding mechanism and to be honest it looks terribly fragile and painting the whole thing is going to me a nightmare. So it’s back in the box while I tackle something easier to build my confidence a bit.

I’m currently building a kinetic 1/48 harrier gr3. I will pick up the A-6 when it’s done.

[robemcdonald]

I should also add the arrival of a new Xbox x has severely impacted my model making.