Hobby Master HA4701 US Navy North American RA-5C Vigilante RVAH-6, USS Kitty Hawk

[ACpilot]

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series
HA4701
North American RA-5C Vigilante
156624, RVAH-6, USS Kitty Hawk, 1971

April 2015 Release as announced on Hawkone's website.

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA4701 North American RA-5C Vigilante 156624, RVAH-6, USS Kitty Hawk,1971

Dan

[ACpilot]

Over at the DAF, PhantomBigStu has found a 1/72 Scale SA-2 kit that would display nicely with this release given this release's unique history.

http://modelingmadness.com/scott/viet/russian/sa2.htm

Dan





Some more information on this release (Appears on the Cover of the Osprey book).

On 1 March 1971, Lt Cdr Barry Gastrock and Lt Emy Conrad, crewing an RA-5C Vigilante of RVAH-6, took a remarkable photograph by accident while performing a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam from USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63).

Their planned route crossed over itself so as to allow the crew to get comprehensive photographic coverage of the Song Ca River. This area was well inside the SAM envelopes arond the city of Vinh.

Heading South, the Vigilante appeared back over the river juncture at Hung Nghia less than four minutes after crossing the same village in a westerly direction, AAA had been sparadic on the jet's first pass over the area, and there had been no missile warnings when Lt Conrad
saw a flash in his viewfinder, heard a "whumpf" and was thrown against his seat-straps. The coast was not far away, and the crew soon went "feet wet" and subsequently carried out a routine landing back aboard the Kitty Hawk.

A short while later in the ship's intelligence centre, a photo-interpreter cranked the six inch-wide film from one massive spool to another across the light-table and stopped in surprise. Perfectly framed by the Vigilante's vertical camera was an SA-2 surface-air-missile (SAM) still under boost.
The crew was called in to see the near miss. Since there was no terrain visible in the frame, they assumed the SAM passed beside the RA-5C as Lt Cdr Gastrock banked hard to head for home. Knowing the focal length of the camera and the size of an SA-2, the photogrammeters computed
that the missile had passed just 104 ft away from the Vigilante's belly. No one knows why it did not detonate (Cover artwork by Mark Postlethwaite).

[ACpilot]

From a Hobby Expo in China first look at the tooling.

Dan

[ACpilot]

Pre Production photos are up on Hawkone's website.

http://www.hobbymastercollector.com/HA4701.html

Dan

[ACpilot]

William at Hobby Master was kind enough to send me a copy.

One seriously large and heavy piece if diecast. Very pleased with the Final Product.

Full review to come.

Dan

[ACpilot]

The Official Final Product Photos are up on Hawkone's website.

http://www.hobbymastercollector.com/HA4701.html

Dan

[ACpilot]

Just noticed that this first RA-5C release is now sold out at the Flying Mule, KH Norton, Aviation Retail Direct, Flying Tigers, and Racers Den.

Still available at Pete's Collectibles, so if you're sitting on the fence - now may be the time to order.

http://www.flyingmule.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HM-HA4701

http://www.norton.co.uk/diecast-models-c20/aircraft-military-c536/hobby-master-1-72-ha4701-ra-5c-vigilante-156624-rvah-6-uss-kitty-hawk-1971-p10318

http://www.aviationretaildirect.com/pre-orders/ha4701-hobby-master-military-1-72-north-american-ra-5c-vigilante-156624-rvah-6-uss-kitty-hawk-1971-is-due-march-2015/

http://www.flying-tigers.co.uk/product/ha4701-north-american-ra-5c-vigilante-156624-rvah-6-uss-kitty-hawk1971/

http://www.racersdeninc.com/Hobby-Master-1-72-North-American-RA-5C-Vigilante-1-p/ha4701.htm

Limited stock only at Pete's Collectibles.

http://www.petescollectibles.com/display.asp?cat=/HobbyMaster&ItemNo=HA4701#item

Dan