U.S. Navy NC-8A Mobile Power Unit Model

The NC-8A is a land-based vehicle designed to provide external electric power to aircraft for pre-flight or maintenance purposes. It saw extensive service on the U.S. Navy Air Stations and Marine Corps Air Stations from the early 1970s and until the early 2000s.

This 1:72 scale model kit, produced by F4Models (cat. # 7025), contains resin and photo etched parts to build one NC-8A vehicle with an option allowing to open up the rear compartment that houses cable reels and is visible when the vehicle is powering up an aircraft.

For reference purposes, here are some historical photographs that show the NC-8A in action: photo, photo, photo, photo.
Notes:
- The NC-8A unit was not a tractor; it was not designed to tow aircraft or ground support equipment.
- This vehicle is a land-based equipment, it did not serve on aircraft carriers.
- This is not a copy of the Verlinden's kit; the Verlinden's kit had a number of inaccuracies in shape / geometry.
- This kit is for modellers with experience and high level of skill; do not buy this kit if you build your kits "out of the box" and use paint brush to hand-paint them.