HASAGAWA 1:72 A-6E INTRUDER

Reviewer: Myself  (braithy@bigpond.com)

The A-6 Intruder's design was selected to meet a medium attack all-weather capability requirement, and was the first truly all-weather carrier-borne attack aircraft (at one stage the only versatile aircraft of this type in the US Navy).  The A-6A was thoroughly tested in the Vietnam War and the Intruder emerged with a superb reputation.   A very good film (based on a book by Stephen Coonts) titled "Flight of the Intruder" featured this aircraft and some genuine re-enactments of some bombing missions that is worth watching - including authentic variants and aircraft types used in the War (none of this using F-5's as MiGs!).  The A-6E is the definitive version that appeared in 1972 with more power and solid-state electronics. 

Hasagawa have a reputation for clean, crisp and accurate moldings and this one will not disappoint.  Engraved panel lines, very nice quality injected mold parts, no flash and plenty of scribed external detail are part and parcel to the construction of this superb kit.  Instructions call for Gunze range of paints in a fold out strip with diagrams of different weapons and stores loads, sprue layout and half a dozen assembly steps.  This kit also features as part of the "aircraft in action series" allowing you to obtain figures and more weapons for a mock up carrier take-off diorama.

As usual (Hasagawa) cockpit detail is minimal - two pilot figures to be placed on seats attached to a base.  A centreline panel between the pilot and bombadier is included and a main instrument panel with both consoles satisfied by using the instrumentation decals provided in the kit.  Wheel well detail is also minimal with only a little bit of effort made in reprsenting the hydraulics and wiring.

Construction starts with cockpit and fuselage interior.  You need to line the seats/base up carefully inside the fuselage to ensure it sits correctly and a small diagram helps you with this step on the instruction sheet - I gave the cockpit a dark grey wash.  The arrestor hook unit is affixed to the bottom rear of one of the halves prior to joining.  A set of decals are provided to be placed on the arrestor hook replicating the stripes - but I found it easier to carefully hand-paint these on.   A disappointment is that the hook is molded into the little unit and cannot be displayed in the lowered position.  The fuselage halves go together nicely and rubber bands are recommended to hold the halves together while drying, to avoid any gaps.   The nose is then attached and instructions recommend to place 8g of weight here.   I used a small metal marble inside blu-tak and this was quite sufficient in spite of my not knowing how much weight it actually worked out to be!

Next comes the canopy, which is provided in two pieces split vertically straight down the middle.  Naturally this means there's a join line but this is somewhat negated by the fact that a frame runs down the middle too - although a very small section above the windscreen is see-through and the line ruins this (but in this scale very hard to tell).  Of course the anti-glare panelling behind the cockpit and on top of the dashboard were painted black first.  The canopy is huge and the pilot figures seem ridiculously small in the cockpit - it really looks silly.  The wings are two-piece eitherside and these are upper and lower parts.  These attach fairly easily and fit nicely into the allocated mating space against the fuselage, but unfortunately also means that the wings cannot be folded unless you wish to do the cutting yourself.   Speed brakes can be positioned open, however, otherwise in the closed position they snuggly fit into their housing.

The undercarriage is reproduced very nicely in this scale and includes the deck approach lights on the nosewheel strut.  A TRAM (Target Recognition and Attack Multisensor) trurret is included for attaching just in front of the nose-gear, although not all A-6E's are fitted with this.  An inflight-refuelling probe is fixed in the 'up and extended' position in front of the cockpit - this supposedly folds down on the real aircraft but every reference photo I have seen shows the probe up and extended.   A reasonable amount of stores are included in the kit although there won't be any spares if you choose to have a maximum-load Intruder (two under each wing and one fuselage pylons).  Only snakeye cluster bombs and fuel tanks are provided for attachment to the aforementioned pylons.  Being part of the 'aircraft in action series' kits, you can obtain more weapons from the appropriate separately sold accessory kits.

Only two versions are reproduced by this kit - both A-6E versions with TRAM turrets.  One example is from Black Panthers squadron in upper grey and underside white with radome coloured nose and black anti glare panels.  The other is a low vis two-tone grey (FS36320 upper and leading edges, FS36375 wings, spine and undersides) example from the Moon Lighters squadron.  Decals are thin, a bit of excessive carrier film but otherwise slide nicely onto the surface.

A very nice kit that appears to be quite accurate when compared to reference shots and includes the smaller and often ommitted items like the TRAM turret, deck approach lights, navigation lights, aft fuselage vent intake and the small ram intake.  The only shocker was the noticeable canopy versus cockpit figures size comparison!  The figures look like they are sitting in a glasshouse (perhaps leave the figures out as a way around this)!!  A disappointment I also felt was the number of fixed and molded-on parts thus meaning there was no positionable arrestor hook, folded wings, flaps etc.  Aside from this however, I had no fitting problems whatsoever and employed very little use of filler and sandpaper.  It builds easily into a large and lovely replication of the A-6E that I would highly recommend for all skill levels.

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A-6E similar to the two examples produced in the kit, this one belonging to the Pacific Fleet