INTERMEDIATE BUILD
Peter Fearon completes Hasegawa’s 1/72 A-1H Skyraider ‘with Special Bomb’.
Douglas’s Skyraider first flew in 1945, and the type eventually gave sterling service to the US Navy (USN) through the Korean and Vietnam wars. Rugged, reliable and with a phenomenal load-carrying capacity – equivalent to that of a B-17 – the ‘Spad’ remained in frontline service until 1972 and became the last USN propeller-driven attack aircraft. The type proved highly adaptable, being modified for a range of duties including night-fighting, transport, electronic countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare. A total of 3,180 were produced in seven major variants.
It is hardly surprising that a high number of Skyraider kits have been produced over the years. Generally regarded as the best of the 1/72 representations, Hasegawa’s A-1H was originally issued in 1996, with the ‘toilet bomb’ boxing following the year after. This latter kit was reissued in 2020, and is the product featured here. Currently, it’s also available from Hobby 2000, with decals and paint masks.
The kit has 78 parts in pale grey styrene. The standard of moulding is pleasing, with sharp detail and engraved panel lines that appear about right for the scale. Hasegawa’s dec…
