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Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series
HA4705
US Navy North American RA-5C Vigilante AJ602/#156624
LCDR Joe Gerber and
LT Jomo Thomas,
RVAH-6 "Fleurs", USS Nimitz, 1978
August 2016 Release
Production Limited 750 Units
The Aircraft
North American RA-5C #156624 was accepted by the USN in January 1970 and assigned to Reconnaissance Attack Squadron 6 (RVAH-6) “Fleurs” for the 1970-71 Westpac combat cruise on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). The aircraft later served with RVAH-5 “Savage Sons”, RVAH-9 “Hoot Owls”, RVAH-12 “Speartips” before returning to RVAH-6 as AJ602. RA-5C #156624 made its final flight in mid-1978 and is now displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
Below: Actual aircraft during the 1978 cruise aboard the USS Nimitz
The Model
This is the fourth RA-5C Vigilante release by Hobby Master (the similar HA4703 released at the same time is technically the third). This is also the first time Hobby Master has provided an open cockpit canopy option for this tooling.
Hobby Master's very first RA-5C release (HA4701) portrays the same aircraft as it was delivered new to the USN in 1970. This model is of the same aircraft at the very end of it's career during its deployment aboard the USS Nimitz in 1978 and is now preserved in the same markings at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola.
All the parts of the model fit together very well and the paint quality was excellent. The paint is a semi gloss light gull grey which is correct as the USN replaced the flat version of the colour with a more glossy less maintenance intensive version beginning in 1972.
Originally the release artwork showed the RVAH-6 arrows on the forward fuselage and on the tail as black. In reality they are a very dark blue and this was correctly applied to the model.
Once again Hobby Master's Vigilante tooling stands head and shoulders above anything available in the plastic kit world. Unlike the best kit available (Trumpeter) - Hobby Master's RA-5C has a correct forward fuselage hump shape, correct exhaust nozzles, and the proper shape to the vertical fin.
All in all just another great Vigilante release by Hobby Master and one I can happily recommend for those collectors with a USN theme.
Dan
Below: Shown using a modified Witty Stand.
HA4705
US Navy North American RA-5C Vigilante AJ602/#156624
LCDR Joe Gerber and
LT Jomo Thomas,
RVAH-6 "Fleurs", USS Nimitz, 1978
August 2016 Release
Production Limited 750 Units
The Aircraft
North American RA-5C #156624 was accepted by the USN in January 1970 and assigned to Reconnaissance Attack Squadron 6 (RVAH-6) “Fleurs” for the 1970-71 Westpac combat cruise on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). The aircraft later served with RVAH-5 “Savage Sons”, RVAH-9 “Hoot Owls”, RVAH-12 “Speartips” before returning to RVAH-6 as AJ602. RA-5C #156624 made its final flight in mid-1978 and is now displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
Below: Actual aircraft during the 1978 cruise aboard the USS Nimitz
The Model
This is the fourth RA-5C Vigilante release by Hobby Master (the similar HA4703 released at the same time is technically the third). This is also the first time Hobby Master has provided an open cockpit canopy option for this tooling.
Hobby Master's very first RA-5C release (HA4701) portrays the same aircraft as it was delivered new to the USN in 1970. This model is of the same aircraft at the very end of it's career during its deployment aboard the USS Nimitz in 1978 and is now preserved in the same markings at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola.
All the parts of the model fit together very well and the paint quality was excellent. The paint is a semi gloss light gull grey which is correct as the USN replaced the flat version of the colour with a more glossy less maintenance intensive version beginning in 1972.
Originally the release artwork showed the RVAH-6 arrows on the forward fuselage and on the tail as black. In reality they are a very dark blue and this was correctly applied to the model.
Once again Hobby Master's Vigilante tooling stands head and shoulders above anything available in the plastic kit world. Unlike the best kit available (Trumpeter) - Hobby Master's RA-5C has a correct forward fuselage hump shape, correct exhaust nozzles, and the proper shape to the vertical fin.
All in all just another great Vigilante release by Hobby Master and one I can happily recommend for those collectors with a USN theme.
Dan
Below: Shown using a modified Witty Stand.