Talon

Thanks for the heads up BAC. Will remember that when the time comes. Got my two today, one white and one red. I plan to strip the white one and build it as a matt black example.

Nice work, nearly got mine to the paint stage too. And you are right, it does not take much to build at all. With reference to the "wings", the mounting slots are different lengths for each wing so you should theoretically not be able to mix up the "handedness" of the port and starboard panels.

The bumps you have already removed are not present on any IAF Spits, so you are safe there. You really need to pick the Spitfire you plan to build and then work from there. The Techmod decals are for 3 different versions. The silver Spitfire (Black 10) started as a rebuilt aircraft from RAF and Egyptian wrecks (IXc) and was also locally modified by the Israelis to become a recon variant. The camo'd Spit (White 26) was an ex-Czech aircraft and a IXe. Be very careful with the Sky's Decals as 90% of them tend to be overscale. The Ventura publication is good, but not without some research errors. The best reference out there on the IAF Spits is the White Crow book. The IAF used a mix of broad chord and short chord rudders and both eliptical and clipped wingtips. There were a few IXcs in use but the majority were IXes. If you know which markings you plan to use, happy to provide info on necessary mods.

Now that our Nats are out of the way, can finally make a start on this one. Will begin with the landing gear which is largely white metal with rubber tyres, but I plan to use the white metal hubs and remove the center of the original styrene wheels for the tyres. @Sernak, Will get some pics of the parts, but as I received this kit second hand, not a lot to show by way of sprues. It is actually the Hasegawa TA-4J with a new sprue for various OA-4M bits (mainly various ECM bumps, new hump for fuselage and new bent refuelling probe), all of the landing gear and guns are white metal and a new decal sheet, which unfortunately is unusable. I have drawn up my own markings to use for the aircraft shown above. I'm leaning towards a pair of inert Mk82 Snakeye bombs for the outboard pylons for a bit of colour.

For the time period your best stores options are drop tanks, dumb bombs (slick or retarded 500lb) or rocket pods (4 shot Zuni or CRV-7) Good luck with the inkjet decals. Those hwo have used OldModels deals report mixed reactions to quality and experience (ink running, translucent decals, having to cut around anything with white as it is printed on white decal sheet, variation in quality of decals).

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see it before it was painted gold and only have the same pics you do. My understanding was that the starboard side had the markings as applied on the port side of the in flight shot of the four TA-4s. Note that the squared fin tip was not added until just before the gold paint scheme was applied, and after the grey and white was stripped. What you see in the paint shop is the aircraft with the fin tip removed - hence the reason it looks like it is squared off (on the Wings Over Cambridge page for the jet, the images are out of order and the bare metal jet should be after all of the grey/white ones). Also, one other point to note for the grey trial scheme is that this aircraft had one further thing that never made it to the gold jet - the port wingtip had a blue/white/red stripe on the end, outboard of the aileron.

Probably won't finish as concentrating on my TA-4K for the next 4 weeks, but will make a start on a partially started kit I was given. I have ended up breaking the kit apart, replacing some too damaged parts from a Hasegawa 1/32 A-4E. Plan to rescribe and create some custom decals to build this: Starting kit Not decided how much to add to it yet as it has some very nice white metal and photoetch in it. Will get some pics of the parts in the next few days.

All mine are Colonial, 3 finished Monogram 1/48 AV-8B conversion, rescribed and detailed Hasegawa 1/48 AV-8B II+ 'VMA-513' commission build - first unit to drop GBU-31 in combat Hasegawa 1/48 AV-8B II+ 'VMA-231'

Actually, it would relatively easy to fix for both. Cut out NZ and Aussie flags so they are separate decals. Make a cut in each from the inside edge of each decal directly down and butt the cut sections with the Union Jack (and in the case of the Aussie flag - the 6th star underneath) to the opposite end of the flags when applying. Then you just have to paint out the 5th star in the Aussie Southern Cross (bloomin' Aussies would have to be awkward ) and put a small white dot on the opposite side of the southern cross to mirror the existing one - bet no one would ever notice in 1/72. Interestingly, the beefed up gear legs also featured something unusual for the A-4 - they had scissor links added. I've got the 1/48 Hasegawa kit to build in this scheme at some stage as well - will be following this build with interest too.

Beefed up main gear legs to handle increase in weight and higher stores loading from increased thrust output.

Probably not really noticeable in 1/72 anyway One of my favourite A-4 schemes, because you effectively get to show every nation that bought them in a single model (and the blue is cool). Are you planning on adding the Mavericks for even more colour? http://a4skyhawk.org/content/160264-last-best

I apologise to Rich if you took my post as a put down of your modelling skills etc. My post was never meant to imply you could not have fun or build it your way or that you were able to correct it if you chose, hence why I put "have fun in quotes". The offer of the decals and parts is still there. Would love to join the GB, but my build is too far advanced and would break the rules about amount of completion at start date.

And one of the few A-4s to have the enlarged main gear doors fitted too.

Rich, Forgot to mention, I also have spares from a number of Hasegawa A-4 kits you are welcome to if they are of any use. Edit: Come to think of it, you're also welcome to my Red Roo tanks if you want them too.

The information I have already posted in this thread is an succinct summary of all of the information all of us "ex RNZAF Jet techs", including Don Simms, have put together to help anyone wanting to model the jet. FWIW, here is the artwork I finished for a set of custom decals for mine and comparison with the MA sheet. Happy to print off another sheet for the cost of postage if you were interested Rich, but it would require masking and painting of the stripes, or else just using the MA ones. I would have done new roundels as well to replace the misshapen Kiwis on the MA sheet, but will be painting the blue and white of the roundels and using a set of Kiwis from a Gekko Graphics sheet. As to finishing the kit "with AMS" in 3-4 months, it's a no brainer. The Hasegawa A-4/TA-4 kits are some of the easiest kits to build, and apart from seats, are pretty detailed out of the box. Given that the CA/AZ model is a copy of the Hasegawa kit with resin seats included, and the changes for this RNZAF jet are minor, this can be done in 2 months easily.