Trumpeter 1/32 scale AD-4, A-1H and A-1J (U)
Once again to save space and time we’ll do a threefer since, like the Tamiya kits, despite the varied box art and decals the plastic within is pretty much same-same. The exception is the AD-4 comes without external armor molded on the fuselage and belly while the Vietnam era versions have it in place. This would be all well and good except the kit in the box is an AD-4B, not a dash 4, and Bakers universally had external armor installed at the factory and certainly retained it through any combat utilization to which they were put, so Trumpeter could have just left well enough alone.
One might easily backdate it to an earlier -4 by removing the internal cowl flap system, ditching the AERO-14 outer wing pylons for MK-55’s and/or MK-9’s, deleting the outer wing guns and seeing to a few other details, but OOB it’s pretty much a no-go accuracy wise. Alternately we could reasonably imagine it to be a later period straight -4 with all the aforementioned equipment retrofit, but by that time the external armor would have been bolted on as well, so again, Trumpeter could have just left well enough alone.
I’m going to get a lot of hate mail on this one because I’ve got to say right off the bat I’m not particularly fond of these kits. Not much, anyway. When they were first announced, I actually dared hope for something along the lines of Trumpeter’s excellent F-8J or A-6A in which case skyrockets would have fired; well, I may have smiled a bit anyway, but I would have bought and built several. This was, unhappily, not to be; their Skyraiders come to us via the farm club and are more like a mid-losing season weekday afternoon triple header with a bench warmer batting order and rookie bullpen into the bargain.
Okay, enough rant; let’s see what’s in the box.
Actually it’s a mixture of good and bad; a lot of how you view it will be measured by what you mean to do with the kit.
If you mean to build it as is, or even slightly modified with a few…well…make that alot of aftermarket necessities, it’s best to look elsewhere if the plan is to end up with anything like an accurate representation of the prototype. If, on the other hand, you mean to use it as a parts repository for some other sort of project there can definitely be some merit in the purchase. Believe it or not, I actually have three of them in the stash plus some fuselage parts I bought off eBay, each for a particular planned application.
It’s that verkochte fuselage which stinks up the whole locker room; it is entirely beyond hope. The cockpit/canopy/intake geometry is all wrong, and depending on which dimension you are talking about is anywhere from 11-18% oversize. (I have measured the real thing). Thus the whole schmagiggle is too deep and too wide over its whole length and it can never be fixed, only ignored.
The cowling is not shaped right; it lacks the proper curvature of the real item and the propeller is a total abortion. I’m reasonably suspicious The People’s engineers copied the prop from an AN-2 since there were probably plenty right to hand pulling beloved socialist tractors or whatever. In this I’m trying to be kind because it’s the closest lookalike I can find and the alternative is they just pulled the monstrosity out of their patooties which wouldn’t be ethical after all. Even if they were working from a Colt’s prop, they didn’t get it right. The waaaaaaayyyyyy over scale cannon look like something Elmer Fudd would use to hunt wascally wabbits and many of the supplied “weapons” aren’t much better.
The gear legs are too long or something; in any case, when finished the model just never looks right from any angle. It’s too gawky and misshapen, the sit and aspect are all wrong; it’s more Skyraider-esque than genuine. It’s not a project even a fan would want to contemplate over long, sort of like Ethel Merman performing Madame Butterfly in a string bikini.
On the other hand, it builds very nicely; (yes, of course I’ve built one) fit is good and it is hard to fault the surface detail overmuch. The wings and tail surfaces are fine if the gun covers not fitting well doesn’t bother you and it does at least come with a fair representation of earlier MK-51 stub wing pylons. The engine as well isn’t half bad; it takes a little work but can spiff up pretty well with some effort.
If you happen to be one of the fortunate few who own one of Paul Fisher’s gorgeous AD-5 conversions then the Trumpeter kits are an absolute sine qua non. Paul designed his conversion around them and when that old boy designs something it damn well fits, and no mistake. He replaces both the fuselage and the cowling which takes care of the kit’s major down issues; add in one of Roy Southerland’s (Barracuda Studios) new props and maybe some Master Crafter guns and you’ll definitely have a winner on your hands. I plan on doing exactly this in the not too distant future.
Likewise, if you’re contemplating a diorama featuring a crashed or burned out Skyraider, go with this kit. The somewhat lower price point makes it significantly less intimidating to cut up and alter than its far more expensive, and worthwhile, competition form Zoukei-Mura.
Fortunately, the ZM alternative is out there, so if you really want an accurate single seat 1/32 Skyraider on your shelf I’d recommend saving your pennies for the product from Japan.
