Ed Ritchey
Centreville, Maryland
This Tamiya 1/48 A-1 Skyraider flew in from Ed, who was inspired by a brief relationship he had with an A-1 pilot mentioned in the book The Rescue of Streetcar 304. He spent extra time adding details and accessories to this project, including a AIRES cockpit and wheel-bay sets, scratchbuilt ordinance sway braces, fuse impellers/extenders and safety wires, and 20mm cannons. Ed accurized the landing gear, drilled out exhaust pipes, and added canopy rails and grab handles. He scratchbuilt the "Yankee" ejection system and harness, repositioned the rudder and elevator, made a whip antenna from stretched sprue, the AN/ANR-6 antenna from monofilament, and "RBF" flags from Bare-Metal Foil. Ed finished the build with Model Master paints and weathered the model with pastels and diluted drafting ink.