Anyone built the Monogram 1/48 Douglas A-1H Skyraider?

Mike,

The Monogram Skyraider was the best 1/48 scale kit of the aircraft. Now the Tamia kit is the best 1/48th scale A-1 HSkyraider kit. The Monogram kit has raised panel lines, but the rest of the kit is pretty decent. I do not remember any problems with the "fit".

If you will notice the kit has the wing fold lines marked in the wing halves. The kit also includes the ribs for the "folded' wing. However Monogram never mentions any of this in the instructions. They have released the kit about five different times and never mention folding the wings as a kit modification.

It does build into a decent model of the SPAD. The early designation of the aircraft was the AD-6. You have a choice of several paint schemes, as the A-1 served in Korea in non-specular sea blue and in Viet Nam with the Navy/Marines with light gull gray topsides and white undersides. The Air Force flew them in Nam in the SEA camo as did the South Viet Nam Air Force.
There are a number of aftermarket decal sheets available.

Enjoy the kit, it builds into a nice model. rangerj

Thanks rangerj.

I am building it into the Air Force version with the green/sand camo.

Thanks for the heads-up on the folded wing postion. I was wondering why Monogram had me glue in those wing rib caps that can't even be seen.

Mike

Hello:

What scale had that very old Revell kit with movable control surfaces and other bits? I know it is not the best of Skyriders but I saw one that a friend built and I would like to have one of those for nostalgic purposes. All I remember the boxart said "A-1 Sandy"

I'm working on a Tamiya version of the Douglas A-1H Skyraider. Have not built the Monogram version.

Would be great to post some pics... during construction... and when your done.

Jim

I built the Monogram AD-6 a number of years ago. I thought it was a very good kit...
It went together easily and required no putty at all. Detail was adequate for any but
the most dedicated rivet counter. As for the raised panel lines, I've been thinking about
that lately. Stick a feeler guage into a butt jointed panel on an aircraft and the gap is
around 4 or 5 thousandths of an inch. That would make the finest engraved panel
line on a 1/48th kit about the size of a furrow in a farm field. There's gotta be a better way.
Ray

Hi Mike,
I just completed a Tamiya 1/48 Douglas A-1J Skyraider. It is the USAF version, 56th SpecOps, 602nd FS #029, Thailand 1969. The underbelly is light grey with the Camo pattern (dark green, OD, and tan) on the topside. This was a very nice build. All parts fit very well. I used all Tamiya acrylic paints and the decals that came with the plane. Tamiya gives you a large array of weapons with plenty left over for the ole parts box! This kit was a joy to build. Unlike the 1/48 AH-64A Apache I am currently building. Very detailed with more tiny parts than I really care to deal with. Happy modeling.
Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by Ray Marotta Stick a feeler guage into a butt jointed panel on an aircraft and the gap is around 4 or 5 thousandths of an inch. That would make the finest engraved panel line on a 1/48th kit about the size of a furrow in a farm field. There's gotta be a better way. Ray

That's why some modelers sand off the lines all together and instead of re-scribing, they draw the lines in with a technical pencil. I remember a Revell F-18A in a FSM article years ago done that way.

Ed,

Thanks for the review of that Tamiya A-1J kit.
That sounds like one for me to build on down the road with more detail than this kit. The cockpit of this Monogram is pretty bland and I don't feel like going and trying to detail it out as I will just do that in the future on a better kit.

Jim,

Here are some photos of the build so far. I went and sanded off the raised panel lines and rescribed them. You can see the Squadron white putty I put on the wing root yesterday and then wiped it off with the fingernail polish remover trick on a Q-tip to get a smoother line with less sanding needed.
I'm not looking forward to building the 8 bombs with the extended fuses as the fit isn't that great.




Mike

Monogram also had their 1/72 Spad kit that was pretty good for it's day. It's still out there at meets and auctions.

The Revell kit (the real Revell before the Monogram merger) mentioned was 1/35th scale. The gear retracted, the control surfaces moved, the divebrakes opened, the canopy slid open, and the wings folded. I love that kit. The old Revel 1/48 F-102 is another classic, but I digress.

They released it the first time in gull grey/white, then non-specular sea blue for Korea, and lastly in the Sandy USAF SEATO (South East Asia Theater of Operations aka Viet Nam) Camo. I do not remember any other releases, but if there were others I would like to know so I can complete my collection of this kit. I think there was a release in Japan and a few other places but I have never seen one of these kits.

Man would I love to see a 1/32nd, or better yet a 1/24th scale, A-1.

If you need the Federal Standard Paint colors for the USAF SEA colors give a hollar and I'll dig them up. Some of the "USAF" A-1's had some interesting paint schemes, like all dark green, and my favorate the Dark Ghost Gray top and Light Gray bottom. Markings were small and faint. I have always wondered who really operated those birds!!! rangerj

I built the Monogam A-1 back in the 80's and I had a fairly large gap at the wing roots. I put a spacer in the fuselage but I think this decreased my wing dihedral. It looks okay but not right. I remember some gaps under the fuselage at the wing joints also. It was the best kit avaiable at the time. I have the Tamiya kits and need to build the AF version. Wish they would come out with the slabsided "E" for a good "Sandy" combination. While we are at it why not a HH-3 "Golly Green"! I think the old Revell kit with all the working parts was closer to 1/40th scale, don't remember the pilot and cockpit being big enough for a 1/35th figure.

I just remembered I used the movable aileron from the Revell kit to make dropped flaps on my Monogram A-1. I still have some parts for the Revell kit in my junk box.

Have built a total of six Monogram Skyraiders and I love that kit. These guys have pretty much covered all the bases on the ins and outs of the Monogram and Tamiya, obviously Tamiya is the way to go. (Although the Monogram kit is my sentimental favorite and always will be.)

As to scale panel lines... I'm glad I have more important things to worry about!

Mel,
I think you are correct it was 1/40th scale, or something close to that. At the time that kit was manufactured, Revell was producing "BOX" scale. They designed the models to fit in their standard sized boxes . The AD-6 was one of the few models produced at the time (the first release) that did not have the decal placement spots "etched" into the plastic. Those were the days, NOT! rangerj

I am still working on the panel lines on this kit.
I recribed them all and after gluing the wing halves together now the top and bottom panels are not even so I had a lot of work to do. I also noticed that the pitot tube (?) sticking out of the tail is not inline with the tail gusset and is warped somewhat I believe. Oh well, I'm not going to make a huge retrofit with this kit as I will just build a Tamiya sometime in the future and have a real nice kit with that one.

Mike

Hey Mike, sorry I didn't check out the pics earlier, she looks like she's coming along beautifully!!! Are you going to weather it heavily, or are you going to go for a more "cleaner' version?

QUOTE: Originally posted by kik36 Hey Mike, sorry I didn't check out the pics earlier, she looks like she's coming along beautifully!!! Are you going to weather it heavily, or are you going to go for a more "cleaner' version?

I don't know Heath.
I have never weathered a model before so I have some research to do.
I think I would prefer it weathered as I am building an Air Force "Sandy" in the camo paint scheme and they sure saw a lot of wear in that Vietnam setting.

Mike