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Reviewer: Kenneth Parsons (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  19 July 2007

Kit Details:

This Revell kit of the A-1E/AD-5 Skyraider 1/72 (04398) is a repackaging of a very old Monogram tooling that dates from the 1960s and which has been reissued a number of times over the years.

Aircraft History:

The Skyraider needs very little introduction. Designed by Douglas as a successor to the wartime Dauntless dive-bomber, it entered service straight after World War II. It remained in production up to 1957, with no less than 3,180 being produced in seven basic versions. It served in a multitude of roles, including day attack, all-weather attack, radar surveillance and electronic counter-measures. It stayed in front line service with the US Navy for twenty years, way into the jet era. It proved its worth in the Korean War and was still around in Vietnam, where its combination of relatively slow speed, massive weight carrying capacity and long loiter times were exactly what was needed in the COIN role. The last operational Skyraiders, ex USN night attack AD-4s from the Korean War, were passed to the French Armee de l’Air for use against insurgents in Algeria, and then carried on in front line service in ex-French colonies in Africa right up to the 1970s.  It’s a bruiser of a plane, with low-mounted straight taper wings and a deep fuselage. Most had a stonking 2,700hp Wright piston engine up front, powering one of the biggest 4-bladed propellers ever. Subtle it isn’t, but that is what makes it a great plane to model. 

For the modeller, the plethora of versions and sub versions means that care needs to be taken to consult references to ensure accuracy. The basic shape changed little, with the single seat attack version able to be adapted to accommodate radar operators in its capacious fuselage with little external change. The Royal Navy and the USN used AEW versions with a built up rear fuselage along with a huge radome. The A-1E version differs quite markedly from all other marks, with an increase in fuselage length, a wider central fuselage with a wide and long cockpit canopy and a 50% increase in vertical tail surface area. 

The vast majority of Skyraiders were finished in sea blue or gull gray for the USN, SE Asia greens and tan or COIN gray for the USAF or the South Vietnamese air force. However, add in a French machine in overall silver, a Swedish target tug in yellow and some interesting US schemes in second line and training units, then an interesting collection of A-1s can be built up. 

SKYRAIDER KITS

Despite its historical interest, the Skyraider has not been particularly well served with accurate kits in 1/72nd. All injection kits except Revell are basically of single seat versions. These can easily be converted to some multiseat versions such as the AD-4. 

The best Skyraider kit is from Hasegawa. Although expensive it is probably worth it – it provides a very satisfying build experience and an accurate representation. The Airfix/Heller offering is basically quite accurate for such an old kit and can produce a good result with work. The Hobbycraft kit is also reasonable. The Fujimi version does not look right, with an overlong fuselage and some crude detailing. Resin kits from Magna provide the option of an AEW.1 version as used by the Royal Navy or a Swedish target tug version derived from it. RVHP make a series of very expensive resin conversions to produce a variety of Skyraider versions, but they need an expensive donor Hasegawa kit as well. A couple of these conversions will produce an A-1E, but at a cost of about £30 ($58) for the conversion set and £13 ($25) for the Hasegawa kit, this approach does not come cheap. 

The Kit:

The instructions follow the usual Revell A4 format, with construction shown in 15 diagrams. There are 4 views of the 3 colour schemes provided with comprehensive reference to Revell paint numbers. The instructions include guidance on how to make the alternative USAF or USN versions. The kit comes in light grey plastic with very little flash, on 4 sprues, with about 30 parts in total. The only stores provided are 3 drop tanks – there is nothing to go on the other 12 underwing pylons. It dates from the era when raised lines show the demarcation of an (old) colour scheme and kits came with a stunted pilot figure whose hands always seemed to be in odd places. The underside of the tailplanes have a 1967 Monogram copyright moulded on the exterior and also sink marks. Both are easily dealt with. Problems with the moulding on the two examples I bought mean that the port wing, if left uncorrected, had a pronounced droop.

Construction:

This is entirely straightforward out of the box. The relatively few parts fit together surprisingly well for a kit of this era and very little filler is required.  

Decals:

The current boxing provides decals for three colour schemes: USAF in Vietnam SE Asia scheme, USN VA-65 in gloss sea blue or gull gray and white for VA-122. They are nicely printed in Italy for Revell. Unfortunately the blue of the national insignia is much lighter than it should be; these need to be replaced from the spares box.

Accuracy:

The kit has major problems with accuracy. The wings lack the marked dihedral of the real thing. The two bottom wings are moulded as one part together with the centre section of fuselage; they need to be cut apart and re-aligned to get a satisfactory dihedral, The nose is too slim with an incorrectly tapered cowl – hard to correct without complete replacement. Although purists may suggest that the fuselage is not quite deep enough and is too short, comparison with the plans included with the Warpaint volume on the Skyraider suggests it is sufficiently accurate for me. The raised panel lines are crude, whilst the underwing stores racks are thick slabs moulded with the wings with no attempt at detail. The undercarriage is also crude and the wheel well bays are incorrectly shaped. There is no internal cockpit detail to speak of, with the pilots’ seats, moulded with a bulkhead, looking like the tip-down seats you find in bus shelters. There is a prominent and large expanse of canopy to show up the paucity of detail within, although many aircraft had the rear Perspex panels tinted blue, which when modelled effectively hides this lack of internal fittings. The underwing tanks supplied do not correspond with any photos I have seen – they are cylindrical with a sudden taper at the rear rather than gently tapering. On the plus side, the large canopy is well produced.

What to do?:

The finished model out of the box looks wrong, particularly when placed alongside more accurate single seaters on the display shelf. However, for many people, myself included, correcting all the faults starts looking more like hard work than part of a fun hobby. In reality, you can only get a fully accurate A-1E by major kitbashing, combining the key fuselage and tailplane parts unique to this version with other major assemblies from the far more accurate kit from Hasegawa. There are sites on the web that provide detailed instructions on how to do this. The result is in reality a Hasegawa model incorporating these limited Revell elements. I have real respect for those with the patience and skills to do it. One good example can be found at: http://hsfeatures.com/ad5lb_1.htm

You can compromise. Adding dihedral to the wings in certainly worth doing and is relatively straightforward – cut the lower wings from the centre section, reshape the joints, re-attach and apply filler as necessary. If you can acquire a replacement engine cowl; that would improve things. Sort out the underwing pylons by cutting off and replacing them with slimmer versions and, depending on the specific aircraft modelled, add some appropriate underwing stores. You may want to sort out the crudely moulded antiglare plates by the engine cowl with thinner version, maybe replace the arrestor hook and certainly model an aircraft with the blue tinted canopy over the back office to hide the horror within. Scratchbuilding a front cockpit interior to taste is also worth considering. The undercarriage is best replaced – and certainly for a naval version sand the landing lights off the front undercarriage door.

Overall Recommendation:

Do not be fooled by the modern Revell box – this is a very old model that was good for its time but is way off the standard of modern Revell offerings. Nevertheless, it represents a unique version of this iconic plane. Any collection of Skyraiders has to have an A-1E in it, so buy this kit and be prepared for some work. But if you just want a Skyraider model, then the Hasegawa version provides a more enjoyable build and a more accurate end result.   

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