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Reviewed by Dave Williams

In 1992, Monogram released their EA-6B Prowler kit which shared some parts with previous releases by Revell of the A-6E Intruder and EA-6A. Although better detailed than the older Airfix Prowler, the Monogram kit's accuracy suffered by using too many parts from the Revell offerings. 

The most obvious error was the use of the wings from the A-6E kit. Although appearing similar, the Prowler wing had a different wingfold fairing and differences in the wing root leading edge extension. Also, the kit wing ECM pods were actually ALQ-76 pods from the EA-6A kit and did not accurately represent the ALQ-99 pods carried by the Prowler. Finally, the kit fuselage and wings still had raised areas, which represented armor plating as seen on the Intruder, but the Prowler did not carry armor.

Announced long ago (the 1994 Detail & Scale refers to a correction kit from Cutting Edge for future release), the set is now a reality. 

The set contains parts corrections and details in three basic areas: wing correction, new ECM pods and pylons, and various external scoops and antennas. Much of the wing work involves sanding off details and adding the correct resin parts, although the modeler will also have to rescribe the inboard edge of the leading edge slat and reshape the area where the slat joins the leading edge of the wingroot. 

The kit wings get a new wingfold bulge and root stiffener on top, and various fairing plates on the underside of the root. New forward maingear doors are included which have a portion of the underwing fairing on the exterior. Click the image to the left to enlarge

Three correct ALQ-99 pods are included in the set. You get one low band pod and two high band pods, along with separate RAT propellers.

New wing pylons are also included in the set, as are two adapters that are used when the ECM pods are attached to the wing pylons. The outboard pylons have the fairing on the outside edge, which contains part of the Prowler's wingfold mechanism. Also, the outboard pylons have the AN/ALQ-100 DECM "spears" for early EA-6B aircraft.

Seven of the sprues are for various scoops and antennas for the airframe. One sprue contains the ADF antenna for the spine and a new ALQ-126 "beer can" for the rear of the tail "football". Two sprues (same sprue twice) contain various scoops to replace the solid ones molded on the kit fuselage. Four sprues (same sprue four times) contain eight different styles of antenna. One rear fuselage antenna variation is shown in the instructions. Because of the various Prowler versions and modifications over the years (Standard, EXCAP, ICAP, ICAP-II [various blocks]), external antennas varied greatly and the modeler is invited to refer to references for building specific aircraft. References will also come in handy for positioning some of the aft fuselage scoops, which also varied between versions.

In addition to the above parts, a correct front instrument panel hood and new fuselage spine is included. The kit instrument hood is from the EA-6A kit and has a gunsight, but the Prowler hood is just a simple cover. The spine corrects the kit spine, which is too rounded along the top edge. Finally, the instructions discuss removing the armor plating under the engines and under the wings, but you'll also have to remove the plate under the tail in front of the fuel dump.

To help you build the kit accurately, the following references are recommended:

• Detail & Scale Vol. 46 EA-6B Prowler by Bert Kinzey - Modeler oriented detail reference with many photos showing the important differences between the Intuder and Prowler.

• Areofax Minigraph 7 Grumman EA-6A Intruder and EA-6B Prowler - Numerous detail photos and extensive text proving technical details of the aircraft and systems.

• World Air Power Journal Volume 30 - Contains a 15-page article with full color pictures of numerous aircraft and text discussing the various versions of the Prowler. Good reference for recent (1997) colors and markings.

• Combat Aircraft Volume 2, No. 6, December 1999 - Contains a short 6-page article on Prowlers. Most current and contains version info.

Overall, this is a well-done and much needed conversion. Unfortunately, the base Monogram EA-6B kit is currently out of production and can be somewhat hard to find. Hopefully, Monogram (or now Revell) will reissue the kit for those who don't already have one squirreled away.

Dave Williams IPMS/USA 19050

Review and Images Copyright © 2000 by Dave Williams
Page Created 26 July, 2000
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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