I recently bought an accurate miniatures A-36 Apache kit and am having trouble finding reference material for it. Does anyone out there know where I can find some photos of this bird on the net?
Has anyone built the above mentioned kit? And is there any problems I should look out for? I have already noticed that the fuselage is to narrow for the seperate nose section and it leaves large gaps at the wing roots. Is there a solution to this problem?
I have heard some differing reviews of the kits decals (some say they are really good, others say they are absolute rubbish). If you have built the kit, what did you think of the decals?
I do believe that’s the kit that Pixilater just completed not too long ago. It seemed to come out very well… he’d probably be glad to answer those questions for you. As for ref. photos… I’ll see if I can dig anything up.
I searched for quite a while, and didn’t find much that was specific for an A-36. You can do a search for P-51 & 51a, which are also Allison-engined.
I glued the nose halves to the fuselage halves first. The wing fit without any filler. The only place on the kit I had to fill was the separate scoop on top of the nose.
If you want to open the canopy, I’d suggest getting a vac from Squadron. The injected one is thick, and mine has a hairline crack from opening it.
I didn’t use the kit decals. I used a sheet from Three Guys Replicas. I used the kit decals on the first one I built. The mission markings were tedious to apply & align, but the wingstripes worked well for me.
I used Eduard’s PE detail set on this one.
I’ll edit this post so you can see the kit decals.
Pix - I was hoping you would show up and answer my questions. I actually bought the kit because I saw it in a hobby shop and remembered how nice your one looked when finished.
I agree with Pix, glue the nose section to each side of the fuselage then put together as halfs. It’s a whole lot easier to deal with a seam on the top or bottom than a step on the side. My kit went together well with not much filler needed.
As for reference, I have some photos of the A-36 at the USAFM that I could scan and send if you want. I would have to find them first though. The cockpit is pretty well gutted though. Here is what the museum has on it. http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/attack/a5/a5-12.htm
Pix, if you have the old Squdron/Signal Mustang in Color book, it has some great detail drawings, in color, of Allison-engined Mustangs. Profiles and photos too. It’s cheap and I think still available. If not, lemme know and I’ll shoot you my beat up old copy. I know this is kind of obscure, but the August 1944 National Geographic, which I found somewhere, has a whole article about the First Air Commandoes in Burma. Lots of pix, including Col. Philip Cochran with his famous A-36, plus lots of B-25G’s, which is my next AccMin build.
Tom
You’ll enjoy the build on this kit. The clear instrument panel, the nice detail
in the cockpit. And the choice of weighted or overinflated tires in the kit are nice touches. The nose section is not an issue for this kit. what Pix had stated earlier will solve that and is not really an issue. I did have a problem with the rear wing root to fuselage join there, but it is more me than the engineering of the kit. I myself did not use the kit decals so I will not comment on them. Though I have used their decals on another kit those were ok. Then these were original AM kits bought in the mid 90’s not the late ones which did have some issues.
Have fun and enjoy the kit, If I were to do this again, I would only add PE belts for the seat and not use the decal ones. But if you can check the Pixilater’s A-36, he had the dive brakes open and really looks nice.
USN took the words out of my mouth. These were the first kits issued by AcMin, and at the time there were no 1/48 Allison Mustangs except vacforms (including the classic old conversion kit offered by Bill Koster, which used a vacformed fuselage with the wings and some other things from Monograms P-51B (or was it the other way around), with Koster’s great decal sheet). Some of the first PE parts I ever saw were IPMS’s Mustang parts on the rubbery backing you soaked in acetone to release. It had the most delicate dive brakes for an A-36 you could ever want. I built AcMin’s British Mustang, I forget which mark, and had a few pretty minor problems with that nose joint, but I finally tried the recommendation about joining the nose sections to the fuselage halves before joining the two halves, and by golly it works like a charm. And, it’s also recommended by AcMin, so there’s a lot to be said for following the directions, especially on their kits. And, as much as I rave on and on about AcMin kits on this site, I didn’t find that my SBD-1 fell together as others had led me to believe it would. I had more than a few problems, but the result is beautiful.
