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Manuel Magrinho
78 articles

A-7D Corsair II; Matchbox 1973 kit

June 24, 2022 · in Aviation · 21 · 1.5K

This is one of those kits you've built 40 years ago and the destiny puts on your path again.
To make the story short, I built an ancient kit adding a modern resin cokpit and PE, used its decals plus some homeprinted and the result is here 🙂
Hope you like 🙂

Cheers,
M

Reader reactions:
13  Awesome

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


21 responses

  1. This is a very ngood build, Manuel, for such an old kit. I like your camouflage painting, aftermarket cockpit detailing, and careful application of the decals.

    Which of the decals did you print yourself? I make a few of my own, mostly instrument panels and ID numbers, but my inability to print white and my printer's lack of color density is always a concern.

    Please tell us what we are seeing in your second photo. Also, is your dish a hand-thrown piece of pottery - my wife and I have a sizable collect of hand-thrown pottery from Seagrove, North Carolina USA, and the shape and glaze finish of some of our dishes looks much like yours, perhaps only a coincidence.

    • Hi @brummbaer
      Thanks for your kind comments.
      Regarding your questions:

      • Decals: I've printed the green stripe on the tail (on transparent printable decal paper) and the shark mouth and eyes on white printable decal paper. My printer doesn't print white so I have to play with the paper background.
      • second photo: I had to cut the canopy as it was in close position. I also had to cut a bit of the fuselage that moves with the canopy.

      Or is the second photo, the Sight system brackets? They are tiny photoetch pieces over a coin

      • dishes? I'm afraid I don't understand...
        There aren't any dishes on the photos. Can you explain, please?

      Thanks again for your kind words
      M

  2. This is amazing, Manuel @magrus
    It is hard to believe that all this is in 1/72.
    The detailing is excellent and all this from an almost 50 years old kit.
    Two thumbs up.

  3. It is simply amazing, Manuel!
    Had built the exact kit loooong ago: what great memories!

    • Thanks @fiveten!
      I also built this kit about 38 years ago ? and still have it?

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

    • Hey Spiros , I remember being on a beach on Crete in the late 80's and two of these flew over quite slowly both on a curving arc so they were leaning over toward the beach I guess so the pilots could check out the girls sunbathing !, boys will be boys as we say...

  4. Amazing build!

  5. Very nice build of an oldie.

    When I built mine, I thought about jamming a resin cockpit in. Yours turned out to what I hoped it would be.
    I wimped out and added the pilot to cover up the inadequate cockpit.

  6. This is amazing Manuel , did you re-scribe it and does this kit come with the wing folds as an option or did you add that as well?
    I think Christopher is referring to the Euro coin in pic 2.

    • Hi Neil,
      I just did some riveting and rescribe what was lost when sanding. The panel lines are oversized and I should have filled them, but I wanted to build this oldie as it was (just couldn't help with the cockpit ?). The folded wings are a kit option, you just have to work them a little.

  7. You just gave me a trip down memory lane. This kit together with a few others, is what got me into modelling. Indeed about 40 years ago (I was 9) I made this kit together with my dad, who was already a modeller.

    Thanks for the memories and great finish on the kit!

  8. That is a nice looking Corsair Manuel. The old Matchbox kits are not all that bad and give great build-Joy for a small outlay of Money.

  9. Really brought this simple old kit to life with all that detail and TLC. Well done!

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