North American RA-5C Vigilante

Ron Garcia
I read a lot of reviews about this kit and pretty much all are negative. I can say that my experience wasn't totally horrible, but it took way too much work get this kit to where I wanted it. Here were some issues I ran into:

- The intakes open into nothing. I added some styrene inside the intakes to block it off and painted them black. The intakes are pretty small so it after the kit is completed, it looks fine, but for the price of this kit - and I bought it around the time it first came out - it should have been modeled correctly in the first place!

- The fuselage comes in halves so be prepared for a lot of sanding. In fact, the tiny section between two cockpits was a pain for me to mate. I got it done by sanding down the rear cockpit shroud.

- Speaking of the cockpits, if you aren't going to open them up, you don't need to spend much on the rear one. The two rear cockpit windows are tiny and well forward of the seat so there's not much to see. I painted everything in that cockpit, and I can barely see anything.

- Speaking of the cockpits part two, I never could get the rear canopy to fit properly. It sits a tad too high, even after I sanded the cockpit shroud - even more - a second time. There was also a decent sized gap there that I had to fill with putty.

- The elevators and ailerons are keyed so that they are in the down position. I always "park" my kits with everything in the neutral position because I like the look of an aircraft's clean lines. Modifying the control surfaces was a bit of a pain, and one part still sat slightly lower when I decided to call it good.

- The leading edge slats are also designed to be extended. Putting them in a neutral position revealed that they are oversized. I built them so that the top was level with the wing and then sanded the bottom portion to blend with the underside of the wing. Not fun!

- I heard there are accuracy issues, but I didn't bother with any of those modifications. It looks close enough to a Vigilante to me. Besides, after all the other issues, I just wanted to get this kit done!

So, not a kit that falls together and disappointing overall due to the fit issues. The kit isn't that old, so that makes it all the more frustrating. Overall, I'm glad to move this model from my stash to "completed" as I think it is one of the sleekest looking jets ever built, but I can't recommend the kit. It took way too much work to get nice finished replica. Experienced modelers only!

Jon Somerville
Completed December 31, 2018.