Last year I built a 1/48 R4D-5 that was featured in a movie called “The Thing from another world”. I had so much fun building the aircraft to match the movie that I am doing another movie aircraft. I am using the Hobby Boss 1/48 scale A-6A Intruder and will be making it the aircraft used in the 1991 movie “Flight of the Intruder”. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it is about a Navy pilot Lt Jake Grafton (Brad Johnson) and his bombardier LCDR Virgil Cole (Willem Dafoe) who flies an unauthorized mission to bomb the “SAM City” during the Viet Nam war in 1972. The aircraft will be built to replicate the aircraft as depicted on that particular mission from the movie. I will be using Eduard’s “Big Edition” photo etch set as well as Eduard resin racks and Flying Leathernecks resin bombs to add details. I will be making custom decals for the aircraft for the specific names and numbers on the aircraft.
The scheme of the aircraft is that of the A-6 squadron VA-196. Since the movie is a fictitious event the actual ship used in the filming of the movie is the USS Independence (CV-62) and they kept it the same ship for the movie so I will use that for scheme. For those familiar with VA-196 will note that in 1972 the squadron actually operated aboard the USS Enterprise. The actual Navy squadron used was VA-165 and had four aircraft painted as VA-196 for 1989 filming of the movie.
Beginning with “scene 1”, I started by detailing and assembling the cockpit. The ejection seats were assembled and detailed with the Eduard photo etch. This set includes all the seat belts, levers, and placards for the seats. Once the seats were finished I then moved onto the cockpit tub. The photo etch includes side panel details, pedals and all the controls for the side panels and center console. On the instrument panel shroud I cut out the molded vent and added the photo etch version. Details were then added to the deck behind the ejection seats. Aside from the photo etch details I added some wire to replicate the cables for some of the avionics on the deck.
The kit instrument panel was sanded down to remove the molded details and then the photo etch sections were installed. The instrument panel was then installed into the shroud. The deck, ejection seats, and instrument panel were installed on the tub completing the cockpit assembly. I am now working on the nose landing gear bay, landing gear, intakes, and the tail hook section so the fuselage can be assembled.

You can see many more photos and details in my build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-a-6a-intruder-flight-of-the-intruder/

10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Yep, saw the movie back then and sometime this century again, good action movie.
That’s a lot of plastic and extras. Looking forward to see how it goes. That cockpit is a busy office

Excellent choice, David @davids_models
The cockpit looks amazing with all those details. Great work.

I make custom decals all the time. I even have lots of decals for ships that I make and sell.
https://davidsscalemodels.com/shop/
I do custom work as well see example photos

10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Indeed, you make amazing decals, my friend @davids_models!

SCENE TWO:
For the second week of the A6-A I started assembling the other assemblies so I can put the fuselage together. Also the Flying Leathernecks 1000lbs bombs and the Eduard Triple Ejection Racks arrived so I can replicate the specific scene’s ordinance load. The nose gear bay was detailed with the photo etch details. I also added some scratch built details for lines, cables, and other features. I also added some photo etch to the inside of the fuselage area. Moving onto the main gear struts there are many photo etch details that added bolt heads, wiring and lines, tie down points and strut details. The main wheels also have photo etch details for the brakes.
After the cockpit was mounted I then added details to the tail hook area using the photo etch details. One of the other things about this kit is the speed brakes. The kit comes with the vented panels. The movie aircraft has the solid panels. Typically most A-6 kits give you both the panels but this kit does not so I filled in the holes with putty and mounted them in the closed position. The fuselage halves were then assembled together. The fit was good on the tail and the main part of the upper fuselage. However, the lower area under the wings will need some putty to even out the seam. I also will need to work on the area in front of the cockpit. This is a noted issue with this specific kit. There is a forward bulkhead that mounts in the fuselage. Comparing this to the nose cone everything lines up. Once the bulkhead is mounted to the fuselage there is a 0.1” gap just forward of the cockpit. It appears this is more of a design flaw as the rest of the fuselage to the front bulkhead lines up very well but the gap is still there. The area is very small as there is a cut-out for mounting the refueling probe. I dry fit the nose and it lines up very well with the exception of the gap and the curved areas. It looks like I can reshape the curved areas to match the nose cone and then I take care of the gap. I am now working on taking care of the fuselage issues then moving onto the main wings.

You can see many more photos and details from the start in my build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-a-6a-intruder-flight-of-the-intruder/

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Ditto with our friend's @gblair comments, my friend @davids_models!

SCENE THREE:

The third week of the Intruder was spent getting more details of the fuselage placed. The intakes fit very well. I need to clean up the upper and lower seams which I will take care of when I correct the nose issue. I painted up the landing gear and used a Molowtow chrome paint pen on the struts. One of the details I wanted to improve was the tail vent. I drilled it open and then used some fine files to smooth out and shape the vent correctly.

I worked on the exhaust by adding some photo etch details and assembled the lower fuselage sections. Moving onto the wings I cut off the very thick molded kit wind splints and replaced them with the photo etch version. I then completed the tail hook bay details and added photo etch details to the main landing gear bays.

I started looking at the horrible fit of the nose section. It looks like the fuselage molding is the cause of the problem. The instrument panel fits the width of the fuselage and the sides and bottom of the fuselage line up very well to the nose cone. The small section between cockpit and nose is very thick and incorrectly sized. The starboard side is twice as thick as the port side but is the correct length. The port side is not long enough. The front edge curves do not line up with the nose and the windscreen size as well. To correct this is going to require a couple of layers of putty and a lot of reshaping so the nose and windscreen will mate correctly and the refueling probe will sit on top correctly.

You can see many more photos and details from the start in my build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-a-6a-intruder-flight-of-the-intruder/

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.