One of the workhorse light attack aircraft of both the USN and USAF of the late 60s and 1970s was the A-7 Corsair. The final production version was the A-7E for the Navy. It combined all of the improvements made by the A-7D into a naval version. This included an improved engine and avionics systems. While the USAF pawned off the A-7 to the ANG as soon as the A-10 was available in quantity in the late 1970s, the Navy kept the Corsair in fleet use until the very end. It was immediately after Desert Storm in 1991 that the A-7 was finally retired from the Navy.

It has been an ever-increasing tendency for manufacturers to rebox the kits of other companies. This has been going on since the late 1960s, but has increased in temp over the decades. Revell of Germany (Revell AG) is probably one of the more prolific reboxers. One never really knows what one will find when opening a box as the most often reboxed kits are Matchbox, Italeri and Hasegawa.

This particular one is the very nice Hasegawa 1/48 A-7E. There is literally no difference between this kit and that previewed earlier. However, this particular one has a small sprue that offers a second ejection seat. This allows both an early and a later model A-7E to be built.

What does set this kit apart are the decals that come with it. They are very well printed and though matte, should give no trouble. There are markings for a colorful gull grey and white CAG bird from VA-192 'Golden Dragons' and a Desert Storm VA-46 bird in the low-viz grey scheme. There are stencils and a full set of instrument panel decals.

The instructions are typical of Revell AG in that there are only pictures and diagrams for the instructions. Paints are given as Revell  colors and some require mixing. Again, I do wish that FS numbers were given in kits of modern planes as not everyone has access to Revell paints.

If you want an A-7 in 1/48, there really is no other viable option if you want the best. Monogram did an A-7A that is an updated Aurora kit and ESCI did a D and E that are best left alone as they really are horrid kits. There are lots of aftermarket bits for this kit so those of you who are into that sort of thing can have a field day.

Review kit courtesy of my kit collection.

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