About the aircraft:
The Vought A-7E Corsair II is a single-engined carrier based attack aircraft. 
The first versions entered service during the Vietnam war and the last A-7E was 
retired from operational service upon returning from Desert Storm in 1991. 
Though it lacked the precision-guided weapons that are commonplace nowadays, the 
A-7 was known for its bombing accuracy, which in part was due to the aircraft's 
excellent handling, navigation system, and well-designed cockpit, which was one 
of the first to feature a HUD (head Up Display). This particular aircraft 
carries the markings of Light Attack squadron VA-82 "Marauders", during their 
1978 carrier deployment aboard USS Nimitz.

About the weapons:
The aircraft carries a Sidewinder air-to-air missile on each side of the 
fuselage. This was a standard fit giving the aircraft a last-ditch defense 
against enemy interceptors. On the underwing hardpoints it carries either six 
Mk. 20 Rockeye cluster bombs or two Mk. 84 2000 pound general purpose bombs. In 
addition it carries two external fuel tanks.   

About the build:
This was a very difficult aircraft to build, though this might not be obvious at 
a first glance. Though there has been a proliferation of different LEGO wing-
plates in recent years, none gave quite the right sweep angle for the A-7, so I 
used Pythagoraen triangles (with sides 3, 4, and 5) to build the wings at the 
correct angle to the fuselage and to allign the weapons pylons under the wing 
with the fuselage. I wanted to have a retractable landing gear, which gave me 
plenty of trouble. When extended the wheels are pretty far offset from the 
rather narrow fuselage, and they fold into that same narrow fuselage. It took me 
several attempts to get right, but now it works like a charm. I even managed to 
squeeze in the A-7's typical large ventral airbrake. Obviously the cockpit 
canopy can be opened. For the canopy itself I used transparent plastic. The 
aircraft was built it in late 2004.