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Manuel Magrinho
66 articles

A-7D Corsair II; Matchbox 1973 kit

June 24, 2022 · in Aviation · 21 · 1.1K

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. Profile Photo
    Lis said on June 24, 2022

    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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