Argentine A4's Yellow Ident Marking

[atdb27 5]

Hi Folks,

Looking at the new DFD set from Airfix and the Airfile Book,

I'm a little confused as to where the Yellow Ident goes?

Kit shows Upper Wing!

Book shows Lower Wing!

Once that's sorted? Next Q is for how long was this worn?

If for the Falklands war then not very long!

Googling doesn't seem to support either way.

Hoping some knowledgable person here might know the answer to this little connundrum?

Thanks for any help.

Adrian

[f4h1phantom 49]

Hi Adrian,

the yellow markings were ordered painted on April 28th and then ordereded removed on May 24th.

The A-4Bs had almost vertical slim bands on the tail sides and wider bands on the wings that ended next to the wingtips, both on upper and lower surfaces. They were overpainted with dark brown on upper surfaces and with a pale blue on the lower ones (almost an exact match for the lower colour).

The painting instructions for the Airfix Dogfight Double kit shows the wing bands too far out on the wings. They should start slightly outboard of the middle leading edge wing fence and end further inboard from the wingtips.

Remains of C-204:

http://modelingmadness.com/review/mod/us/calc204d.jpg

There were no know variations to the way the yellow bands were painted on A-4Bs. Please note there are a lot of incorrect drawings and profiles on books, magazines, the internet, etc., so don't trust them.

The camouflage pattern on the kit is also incorrect, showing the one the second batch of 25 A-4Bs were painted in when delivered from the U.S. By the time the war started the pattern and colours had been standardized with colour areas that were not so "wavy" and the colours reversed when compared to those in the initial pattern. Please note the pattern on the left side is mirrored on the right side.

Hopefully the standalone kit will have these features correctly represented.

Check this recent build on the ATF. It may prove useful:

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/about33697.html

All the best,

Jorge.

Edited July 2, 2012 by f4h1phantom

[atdb27 5]

Hi Jorge.

Great. Thanks very much for your helpful reply and link to the ATF.

All the best

Adrian