Reviewed by Floyd Werner
 

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FirstLook

Get ready!  The release of Trumpeter's 1/32 scale A-7E Corsair II is bound to bring on a flood of new decals.  And bring em on I say! 

CED32075 from Cutting Edge Modelworks is their second release for the Trumpeter kit and it covers a single machine, the VA-72 "Blue Hawks" A-7E Corsair II (Bureau Number 160552) CAG bird from their Desert Storm cruise aboard the USS John F. Kennedy in 1991. 

Whilst any squadron's CAG bird wears more distinctive markings than her squadron sisters, the two-tone brown camouflage scheme worn by Bureau Number 160552 was very distinctive to say the least.  From what I have read on the internet and in the references that I have, I understand that the machine came aboard the USS John F. Kennedy in the same overall grey scheme as the other VA-72 A-7s but was repainted towards the end of the cruise.  Whether the repainting was to celebrate the end of the squadron's Desert Storm offensive operations, the on-coming retirement of the A-7, or even the Squadron's disbandment I don't know, but the efforts of VA-72's Corrosion Control Team is certainly memorable and this machine readily comes to the fore whenever the subject of Desert Storm nose art comes up. 

The sheet's accompanying information page advises that the browns used to paint the aircraft were specially mixed but were approximate to FS31575, the lighter of the two browns, with FS30140 the darker.   

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Speaking of accompanying information, the placement guide is a real beauty.  It provides complete full colour drawings of both sides of the fuselage as well as plan views of the upper and lower surfaces of the wings, horizontal stabilisers and fuselage.  These illustrations (by Tom Tullis?) are well done indeed and compare favourably to photographs of the one-to-one-scale version. 

The supplied markings are complete and again, compare favourably to the many and readily available photographs of this historic aircraft. 

The decals themselves look to have been printed by Superscale.  No problems here, they are sharply printed, thin and in perfect register (not hard when they are all in black!). 

The placement guide, the small information page, and the decal sheet come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag. 

Make no mistake; this sheet will result in a stunning model that will stand out amongst everything else on a competition table.  It is well researched, produced and packaged product from Cutting Edge Modelworks. 

Recommended.

Footnote 

Images of this machine abound but by far the best I have seen are at the Defense Information website at:

http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/dvic_view/still_search.cfm?StartRow=1&maxrows=50&caption=A-7%7CCorsair

The images show both sides of the aircraft as well as an airborne shot of the upper surfaces.  You can also download hi-res versions of the pics which will assist you no end with weathering your 1/32 scale version.

Also, if you are lucky enough to have it, the Osprey Publication's book "Desert Warpaint" by Peter R. March contains colour images of the machine with a nice big one of the nose on the front cover.

Thanks to Cutting Edge Modelworks for the review samples..

Review Copyright © 2006 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 02 March, 2006
Last updated 01 March, 2006

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