1/48 Combat Models vac-form A3B Skywarrior

Gallery Article by Darius Aibara

 

Douglas A3B Skywarrior
This is the 1:48 Combat Models vac-form kit of the A3B.  The kit provides vac-formed fuselage, wings, tailplane and canopy components and an A2 sized dyeline drawing with 3-view profiles and perspective sketches of the cockpit.  Nothing is provided for the cockpit, undercarriage and other components.  To aid with the construction I used Squadron Signal's A3 Skywarrior in Action book and a timely article on the A3 in Scale Aircraft Modelling.

 

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I scratch built the cockpit and crew access/egress door using photographs in the above references and the sketches provided by Combat Models.  For added interest I dropped the flaps and slats on the wings using plastic card stock and filler and added the underfuselage speed brake.  The undercarriage units were scratch built using wheels and other bits from the spares box combined with plastic rod and strip.

The engine intakes are white metal units donated by two Aeroclub 1:48 EE Lightning kits (you would need an endoscope to see these items in these kits).  The exhaust tubes are from an old pen refill that had the right diameter. The tailguns are modified spares from an Academy Blackhawk helicopter kit.

The model represents an aircraft of VAH 11 "Heavy Eleven" aboard USS Franklin D Roosevelt in 1959 - all the decals were from the spares box.

Darius Aibara

      

Photos and text © by Darius Aibara