Recently won a few kits on ebay. A Revell F-105D and a Testors A-6 Intruder. Has anyone ever built these kits? If so any advice on them?
Well, modelbuilder… go to FSM’s home site and click on the pic of the F-105… one of the guys on the forum, Darwin OF built it.
Hm can’t give info on the A-6, but I believe I can offer some advice on the F-105D. If I have heard correctly, the Revell F-105D has the same mold as the F-105F/G (the fuselages should be different lengths, though). If they are simliar, here are some things you should watch out for. When I glued the 'pit into the fuselage halves, I found out after closing the halves that there was a small 2mm gap between the top of the seat bulkheads and fuselage top. You could either use stryrene shims and filler or try to position the cockpit correctly before gluing. You’ll find some seams when joining the fuselage halves and wing halves; just clean them up like you would on any other a/c model. The biggest weakness of the kit is the main landing gear; a combination of soft plastic and long “legs” make the gear very weak. The only solutions I can think of are attaching a piece of clear styrene rod to the back in order to hold the weight off the gear, or scratchbuild some new main gear legs out of metal tubing. As far as I remember, those were the only problems I had with the F-105F/G, so if the molds are the same that should cover it.
On the A-6 kit, if it’s in 1/48, it’s the old Fujimi A-6A kit, while not bad, it’s not up to modern standards, the detail isn’t great, but it can be built into a nice model. If it’s in 1/72, it’s one of the newer Fujimi kits, which are excellent models and go together great. -Gary