HASAGAWA 1:72 KA-3B SKYRAIDER

Reviewer: Gavin Dore  (rec.models.scale)

The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior was one of the largest and heaviest aircraft designed for operation from aircraft carriers.  It was intended primarily as an attack bomber with tremendous strike capability to meet a late 40's US Navy requirement.   The Douglas design was that of a high-wing monoplane, with retractable tricycle landing gear and two podded turbojets beneath the wings.  The KA-3B version is that of the Skywarrior Tanker variant that was used onboard aircraft carriers during the Vietnam conflict.

Note:  I have already built the Hasegawa A-3B Skywarrior kit and have sent Mark a copy of the review for this kit to post on his "SMAKR" (Sclae Model Aircraft Kit Reviews) website.  Since this KA-3B kit is made from exactly the same mold, differing only in provision of accessories and decals, I will be brief about the construction process that is common between the A-3B and KA-3B kits.  Please refer to my A-3B review for more specific info.

The KA-3B is the second in the three-kit series of the US Navy's Douglas A-3 Skywarrior, this one being the tanker version.  It's in the same sized box as the A-3B with typical light grey plastic parts and engraved panel line detail.  As with the A-3B parts are crisp and free of flash, fuselage halves are split vertically with no separate tail or nose area and the wings are split into one upper, two lower sections to glue together.

Construction is relatively straight forward and is typical of Hasegawa manufacturing, you shouldn't have too much trouble with fits etc.  It mirrors the construction process of the A-3B and there is really minimal detail in the cockpit (although this can hardly be seen anyway once the roof is put on).  It simply has decals for the flat instrument panels, control wheel, black boxes and a screen painted in orange for the two navigators.

During construction the main frustration was trying to align the fuselage halves together because of the need to be aware of the other sections where the cockpit, bomb bay and wings are attached to.  As commented in my A-3B review things would be a little easier if Hasegawa detached the nose and tail units and perhaps have two separate fuselage bodies during this construction phase.  A bit of sanding and filling will help out here and having had experience with the A-3B I really had little problems this time round with the tanker version.

Dry fitting other parts, in particular the wings, will show that everything should fit together relatively easy.  The addition of the housing in the back of the weapons bay for the in-flight refuelling drogue was the main difference in this kit (other than decals of course).  I attached the engines onto the wings before the wings went onto the fuselage as I did with the A-3B and experience shows that this is the best way to go - the instructions say the other way around.   The engines are pretty simple, vertical halves attach to the wing strut and traps the blade representation within. I also used the opportunity to paint these areas before I attached the wings onto the body as I am sure it would create problems if you waited until the whole structure was mounted.  Doing it this way (and only painting the engines and wing area around same) ensured that I would not have to test out these skills later.  

Moving onto the landing gear presented no real problems, perhaps it was a little too easy and on severe scrutinisation of the assembly one could argue that it's not completely accurate.  I also noticed later when reviewing the completed model that the rear bumper tail wheel on the aircraft is not supplied in the kit, although the way the rear end bumper is shaped it appears that it was thought of but later forgotten!

Once you completed the model you then go onto painting and decalling it.  As pointed out above, its best to tackle the engine areas before you get to this stage.  The colour scheme is pretty standard - grey and white but one thing to point out is that the instructions incorrectly tell you to slide the port striping decal for the VAH-8 version over the refuelling probe when I believe that it should actually pass under it.   A plethora of decals - to Hasegawa's usual standard - are included in the kit and are easy to position but thin overall.  Two versions can be chosen from, a VAH-8 USS Constellation example or a VAH-4 USS Kittyhawk example which has black bands around its rear fuselage.  I chose the former .

The only thing missing from this kit is the provision to allow folding wings and fin and one can only hope that an aftermarket detail company takes this on board and releases some resin hinges and plugs.  Other than that this is again a very good kit - a large one at that - of a US Navy example that until recently seemed to have been forgotten about by model companies.  This tanker version of the Whale looks very good next to my attack version and I am now considering purchasing the EKA-3B electronic warfare variant.  I'd certainly recommend this for model buffs who like the US Navy aircraft of the Vietnam era and this should be easily accomplished by all but the extreme novice.  The only downside apart from the little notations above, again it's heavy Hasagawa price tag. 

Related Reviews:  Hasegawa 1/72 A-3B Skywarrior 

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