Trumpeter 1/48th scale RA-5C Vigilante with
Victory Productions Decal Sheet VPD 48007
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Builder's Note
Before I start my review on building this kit I would like to point
out that along the way I note some regrets that were realized only after
I had completed construction. As the old expression goes, “Hindsight
is 20/20.”
The Kit
 Upon
its release Internet Modeler did a first look review on this kit in the
March 2005 issue. At that time several inaccuracies were noted. The most
obvious were the incorrect shape of the inner wall of the jet intakes,
for the late version RA-5C and the angle of the top of the vertical stabilizer.
Both of these corrections are easy fixes and can be done rather quickly.
Once those two tasks were accomplished I then chose to build the kit as
it came from the box regardless of any other minor accuracy problems.
The very comprehensive instruction sheet that comes with Victory Productions
Vigilante decal sheet VPD48007 was also a great help in determining construction
direction.
Construction
 As
noted above I pretty much built the kit straight from the box. I started
with the cockpit assembly. It is very detailed and nicely done. The only
nitpick I had is that no harnesses are provided with the ejection seats,
which meant it was up to me to provide this little detail. However, in
the end I closed the canopies on my finished model and as such most of
this detail is lost from view anyway, especially the back seat position
(as it turned out this would be one of the regrets that I noted above).
Once the cockpit was completed the assembly is turned over and the nose
gear well is completed. I should note here that the instructions emphasize
that the nose gear strut be installed at this point, which is definitely
a must because there is no way you are going to put it in once the fuselage
is assembled. I would add to this procedure that the well should also
be painted at this time. Moving on, I built the two J-79 engines. At this
point came another regret. You cannot see any part of the engines except
the last quarter inch of nozzles once they are installed. However, the
two engines that are supplied with this kit are nicely done and would
make good starting points for super detailed J-79s if one were inclined.
As such I recommend saving these engines for something better, and just
replace them with late model J-79 nozzles from an after market source.
 Next
came the assembly of the fuselage. The cockpit/nose gear assembly is inserted,
as are the engines. Once those are securely in place the next thing that
really needs to be done is the addition of some sheet plastic to several
places within the fuselage. First off there are no inner walls provided
for the jet intake trunks. These are big intakes and it is easy to see
into them. The inner walls really need to be extended back into the interior
of the fuselage cavity about three to four inches on both sides. You might
also want to add some sheet stock to the bottom of the intakes in order
to ramp them up and over the main gear wheel well humps. The second place
sheet stock is needed is to reinforce the joint at the upper rear deck
of the fuselage. The fuselage halves are molded fairly thin for such a
big model. It becomes very obvious that the flat deck area of the rear
part of the upper fuselage, at the base of the vertical stabilizer, really
needs to be beefed up. Using some heavier sheet stock I added several
tabs to the inside of the fuselage halves. These reinforcing tabs extended
about a half an inch out from either side of the joint and collectively
ran forward, from the back lip, about four inches. I had already test-fitted
the tail cone section and realized that it too would need to have some
tabs added where it joined the upper part of the fuselage assembly. With
this in mind I made sure to extend the tab that I used for the fuselage
halves about 1/8 of an inch beyond the rear lip. Several more tabs that
were further out from the centerline were added to that part of the fuselage
assembly for the tail cone to attach to. Later I would realize that I
should probably have tabbed the top fuselage joint all the way forward
to the cockpit assembly. The bottom of the fuselage seam has the same
problem but considering the fact that the camera bay fairing runs the
length of the bottom seam from the nose gear well to the tail hook assembly
it becomes a non-issue.
 The
assembly of the wings, as well as the horizontal and vertical stabilizers,
is pretty straightforward. However, that said here is another regret.
This kit is obviously designed to be built with everything opened, folded,
or hanging out. If you chose to build it in the ready for flight configuration,
the way I did, you run into some fit problems. For example I chose to
have both the leading edge and main flaps in the retracted position which
is not per the instructions. This fact becomes very clear as I tried to
attach and correctly align the twelve individual pieces that make up these
completed flap assemblies. Although not a major problem it was still a
bit of a task that required the removal of the locating tabs. To a lesser
extent this is also true for the wings and vertical stabilizer (which
are really meant to be in the folded position) as well as the radar assembly,
the tail hook assembly, the in-flight refueling assembly, and the two
canopies which are all meant to be open. As for the rest of the assembly,
it is very straightforward. There are some fit problems at both the wing/fuselage
and the engine intake/fuselage joints that require some filling, but nothing
an intermediate model builder couldn’t handle. The only area that
I was not satisfied with was the fit of the canopies in the closed position.
It definitely leaves something to be desired. As for painting I used a
combination of Tamiya pure white lacquer for the white areas and Testors
gloss gull gray. The white went down first of course. After I had applied
the markings I then over sprayed the model with a semi-gloss clear.
 The
Victory Productions decal sheet I used has markings for no less than nine
different aircraft. Four of these sets are for the late model Vigilante,
which of course is what the Trumpeter kit represents. I wanted to do a
Vietnam war bird so I picked the scheme for an RVAH-11 bird off of the
USS Constellation circa 1971-72. Interestingly 156614 is unique in that
it was the only aircraft in the squadron to have a shark mouth. Admittedly,
Vigilantes per se are not as colorful as their contemporaries such as
Phantoms, Skyhawks and Intruders, but this one is a little more so than
most. The decals went down very nicely and are of very high quality.
Conclusion
 A
big empty spot in 1/48th scale Vietnam era aircraft is now filled, and
for that I am very grateful. The kit over all is nicely done and goes
together okay. However considering the price, the fit could have been
a lot better in some places. Also details such the inaccurate shapes of
the intakes and vertical stabilizer as well as the lack of ejection seat
harnesses should have been addressed. Finally, the kit should have been
better designed so that it could be built either in the sleek ready-for-flight
configuration or in the hanger deck or maintenance depot configuration.
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