article
A-7E Corsair OLYMPUS 336 SQM
Our Air Force received its first A-7H (60 units) & two-seat TA-7H trainers (5 units) in August 1975. Their fleet increased and their capabilities were upgraded with the addition of 62 A-7E and TA-7C from the US Navy Air Force reserves in 1992. Upon their receipt, the Corsairs were transferred to the 116th Air Wing and more specifically to the 335th Bombardment Squadron (“Tiger”) and the 336th Bombardment Squadron (“Olympus”). The aircraft was used as a canvas for two anniversary aircraft of the aforementioned squadrons. Specifically, in 2005, 335 Squadron painted one of its aircraft in the colors and characteristic stripes of a Tiger and 336 Squadron painted one all black, with artistic depictions of Olympus and a corsair.
A few words about the kit: The Olympus kit is a classic old Hasegawa kit, of average to poor fit, but satisfactory in detail both externally and internally. However, I used some
basic improvements to make it stand out as much as possible. So a completely new cockpit, ejection seat and sunshade from the very nice Aires set was installed. 4147. Some additional details around the perimeter of the cockpit and on the canopy frame from the Verliden set for the A-7. Finally the electronic windows were replaced with these Aires.4349
Construction: The assembly of the kit did not proceed so pleasantly, since as I mentioned it had a poor fit. The problems were focused on both halves of the fuselage and the wings between them. Others for their application to the fuselage. So there was a lot of putty and sanding, as well as fuss in the places where the alignment was lost. The electronic doors of the Aires 4349 also required a lot of work. To fit them correctly in their place, as well as the insertion of the aircraft engine to eliminate any suspicion of swelling, the existing line and to show the model correctly and realistically. The rear wheels were replaced with resin ones similar to those used by Greek corsairs, while some additional details were added to the wheel wells from the verliden set for the Hasegawa A-7.
In some Icarus decal sets there was a significant error in the size of two fonts: 336 OLYMPOS and FLY LOW HIT HARD, resulting in them being significantly out of scale for the model.
So I resorted to the masking solution, printing the font on a sticker which I stuck to the fuselage of the model and sprayed with Humbrol’s 27002.
I should note that at some point Ikaros corrected this problem with an additional card that was included in its set and is still available in some
lots
Painting: The two main colors I used on the Olympus were Gunze’s matte black and Humbrol’s 27002 for the representation in the silver color of the aircraft. I used Icarus decals for the Olympus decoration which are classically of very good quality and application.
For the aging of the model I used painting oils, while the final satin finish was given with a mixture of matte and glossy Winsor Newton varnishes.
The RBF safety tapes added as a detail came from the photo-etched Eduard set.
On October 28, 2016 the model took part in category E” of the 35th competition of the Panhellenic Modellers’ Union of Greece IPMS held in Gazi and was awarded the Silver medal.