O K Intruder fans, I have been able to make a start on my two builds. Just like with my Hasegawa and Revell Apaches, these kits are an interesting study in comparison of “simple” and “complex,” and “old” versus “new” kits. As an example, to complete the cockpit tubs OOB as seen below, the HB kits uses over 4x the number of parts that the Revell kit does (>40 vs. 9).
One of the overhead ejections handles had broken off of one of the Revell seats, so I replaced them both with twisted sewing thread. The kit was also missing the handles between the crews’ knees, so I made those, too. No, they’re not 100% accurate, but I think they’ll look fine under the closed canopy.
One of the things you need to do with the HB kit is glue the tub and the decking behind it together. However, there is a specific angle you need to achieve in order to get the tub to fit into the fuselage properly when it’s time for everything to go together. The problem is, HB doesn’t really tell you what that angle should be, nor do the parts indicate the proper angle when assembled correctly. To avoid alignment issues, I used slow setting glue to join the two parts, then dry-fit them into a fuselage half to set. This should all but guarantee the proper alignment when everything goes together. (I hope.)
The HB kit includes PE for the seatbelts. This was my first time using PE belts, and only my second time using PE. I did what I could to give them a “natural” drape.
A few online reviews and builds warned me that both kits suffer from fit issues around the intakes. While paint and glue on the cockpit tubs dried, I worked on sorting out the intake issues.
The HB intakes have the fuselage “shroud” mate with the splitter plate (if that’s in fact what it is). The problem is, the shroud doesn’t fit the splitter perfectly. I ended up with a couple of small steps between the parts. Nothing major, though. A little filler was needed, as was replacing the delicate panel lines and rivets after sanding. From there, careful dry-fitting, sanding, thinning, trimming, and shaping of the inner fuselage parts and intake tubes got things to seat beautifully. I ended up with no gaps nor steps between the completed assemblies and the fuselage halves.
The Revell intakes were a little more work. The parts that make up the intake trunk and engine fan glue into the shroud. The problem I had was, when I went to dry-fit the assembly to the fuselage half, I ended up with a huge 1-2 mm gap! What I realized was that back of the trunk/fan part was hitting the fuselage plastic that sits behind the intake. To fix that, I first thinned the trunk/fan part as thin as I could…
Then I removed the fuselage plastic from the area behind the intakes…
Like a glove!
You can see that I ended up with a very minor gap on one of the halves. A little Tamiya white, some Mr. Surfacer 1500, a couple of sacrificial (raised) panel lines, and smile.
I’ll probably replace the raised panel detail (highlighted with pencil in the center photo above) using some resin decals, only because they represent the starboard crew boarding ladder. I also lost a couple of raised access hatches, but I think I’ll offer those to the modeling gods as sacrifice.
Anyway, John (keavdog) and others warned me about the tailhook insert (part 18, assembly step 10), so my next steps are to figure out how to get that and the belly insert (part 11) installed and looking halfway decent. But for now, that’s all I got.
As usual, comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Please feel free to drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out. Stay tuned for more!
Happy modeling!
-O