1/72 Italeri A-7D

Gallery Article by Douglas Conrady on Nov 20 2009

 

A-7D Oklahoma-ANG

First, imagine this......  You're out on the family farmstead, working on some equipment, getting ready to work the ground after a good harvest.  The sun is shining, a slight breeze is kicking dust up around the grounds.  Out of the corner of your eye, movement; at the most, 200 feet UP.  You look, just in time to catch the design of a helmet inside the canopy of an A-7D.  Just as your brain catches up with your eyes, the air starts ripping apart as the sound cone arrives.  Just a split second after this, the pilot knifes over, and instantly, is 90 degrees and miles from where he was.  This pilot is also probably laughing about what he just stirred up. 

Sound exciting?  That was me 20 years ago, growing up on a farm in Northwest Oklahoma.  This heart stopping excitement happened several times a summer.  Sometimes you caught them before they caught you, sometimes not.  The family farmstead was, apparently, used as a waypoint for the Oklahoma National Guard when they flew the A-7 and a few times with their current ride the F-16. 

As a side note, and on another modeling subject, I plan on making a B-1 from Wichita, KS.  Why you might ask...... Because my town was also "bombed" into the stone age a few times.  Apparently, the town looks like an enemy encampment?, cold war missile control station?, maybe the street lights make a giant X?  Who knows.......  Life is always exciting up here.

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Now, onto the model..... 

This is the Italeri model of the A-7D.  I thought it was very close to the real deal.  Since this was a quick build in-between major projects, I just built it OOB.  I don't seem to recall any fit issues anywhere.  The plane just kinda fell together.  I did not like the fact there wasn't any intake trunking.  I could've made some or even purchased an aftermarket piece, but I was not in the mood to go to that much trouble.  The only thing I had issues with, was the refueling port.  Where the instructions wanted me to put it, and where it actually went made the fit bad.  I had to add plastic and resand the contours.  For something different and for the first time, I hung fuel tanks and practice bombs.  It almost hurt for me to do that.  I have an aversion (almost an allergy) to things that don't go BOOM.  The practice bombs are from a resin set of WW2 RAF bombs.  The package (don't remember the manufacturer) came with bombs ranging from 500lb down to the 25lb.  You can't imagine the joy I was feeling when I found out that I didn't have to make the bombs myself.  I was even considering purchasing a few of the Hasegawa armament sets, and cutting the dummy bombs out of the launcher that comes in the set.  This load out was copied from a picture I found that was taken when the unit was sent to England for training.  For further realism, I made sure the plane I was modeling had actually been to England.  It had, phew... 

This model is/was also on display in the Tulsa Airport along with other planes that were flown or built here in the great state of Oklahoma. 

Well, that's about it.   A quick build to keep me in practice, nothing note worthy........ No major issues or problems.

Thanks for looking and don't throw rotten tomatoes!

Douglas Conrady

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Photos and text © by Douglas Conrady