Trumpeter – 01641 – A-6E Intruder

Description:

Unassembled plastic model kit in 1/72 scale of a U.S. Grumman A-6 Intruder carrier borne attack aircraft.

The Grumman A-6 Intruder, an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft, was developed and produced by the American company Grumman Aerospace, serving in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. Operational from 1963 to 1997.

A-6E variant was the definitive attack iteration of the Intruder, featuring substantially enhanced navigation and attack capabilities, was introduced in 1970 and saw its inaugural deployment on December 9, 1971. Departing from the earlier setup, the A-6A/B/C’s individual search and track radars were supplanted by a consolidated Norden AN/APQ-148 multi-mode radar. Furthermore, onboard computers underwent an overhaul, transitioning to a more sophisticated IC-based system known for its enhanced reliability compared to the A-6A’s DIANE discrete transistor-based technology.

Augmenting the Intruder’s navigational prowess, a new AN/ASN-92 inertial navigation system was integrated, complemented by the addition of the Carrier Aircraft Inertial Navigation System (CAINS) for heightened accuracy in navigation tasks.

A-6E were again further upgraded in late 70s and as service life time extended, again the 80s and 90s.

Second release of the A-6 Intruder family by Trumpeter, newly tooled molds in 2023 with the initial release of Trumpeter – 01640 – Grumman A-6A Intruder. One of the main criticism of the first kit, was it was more appropriate for an A-6E variant, as this kit is, so this new release is far better than early one, despite being mostly the same parts. The other criticism of the series was the weapons payload. Problems with shapes and sizes of some of the weapons were reported, and sprue is the same here, so those concerns still apply. It include Mk.20 bombs, Mk.81 and Mk.82 bombs, M117 bombs and GBU-8, plus center line or side fuel tanks.

This new variant adds two markings, one USMC (1975) and one U.S. Navy dated 1977.