Giorgio N Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 My recent track record with GBs is terrible! So while my plan was to enter the Esci 1/72 kit for this GB, I decided I needed a kit that could be built with the minimum effort, something that my previous entries were not. So it was that I pulled from the stash a bag containing the recent Airfix A-4B, something that I was sure would have been easier and faster to build than the AZ Attacker and the Italeri Kfir I tried to build for the FAA and Splendid Cats GBs. The kit was in a bag with no box. Reason for this is that I bougt it on a business trip and to fit everything in my luggage I had discrded the box. As there's plenty of other Airfix Skyhawks being built here, I'll not show the sprues. What I can show is the small etched set I decided to use in this build: Yes, I know, the set is for an A-4E. The instrument panel therefore is totally wrong for an A-4B ! However I've decided that adding some detail to the cockpit would make a difference in the completed model. The set also includes a few other bits that could be useful. The aircraft I've decided to build is one of the VF-153 Skyhawks part of Detachment R on the ASW carrier USS Kearsarge. The Skyhawk was used often to provide air defence on ASW carriers in the '60s, carriers that were too small to host higher performance types then in use (like the Crusader). For this mission the Skyhawks carried Sidewinder missiles under the wing pylons. I've always been attracted to the overall black tail of these Skyhawks since I bought the Squadron Signal books on the USN carrier air units but until now I had never found a proper kit. Of course there's no decal for these aircrafts around, so the decals will have to be made in home. The black titles will be printed on clear decal film using a laser printer while for the white letters and markings I'll think about it later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 Immediate update... truth is that I have started building the kit over the weekend, and in only a few days things have moved very, very fast ! Here's the cockpit with the addition of the Eduard panel, pedals, consolles, seat belts and lower ejection handle Only a few pieces that however IMHO improve a lot the cockpit. The top ejection handles will only be added before gluing the canopy in place to avoid breakages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Nice to see you in for this one Giorgio It's a lovely little kit and without many distractions I'd image it's quite a quick build too! Looking forward to seeing this develop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Nice one Giorgio, it's a cracking little kit, and like you say pretty much drops together. Be nice to see this little bomb truck with the missiles on for a change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 Thanks guys ! Yes, it builds very nicely and have to say that it might well be done before the weekend.... The plan is to build this as much out of the box as possible, but I felt I had to modify some details following this great article from Tailspin Turtle: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.it/2012/07/new-airfix-172-4b4p-modeling-notes.html The whole blog is highely recommended to anyone into USN aircrafts and the pages on the Skyhawk are great and very useful. While I've not decided yet which aircraft I'll build, the potential candidates all seem to have the early fuselage configuration, so I removed some of the features on the airfix parts, in particular the two side intakes and the reinforcements. I then added a few different intakes and holes I also put together the top and bottom parts of the wings. These did not fit perfectly and some small plasticard bits were needed to bring everything at the right level. Some joint will need filling too. The completed cockpit was then inserted in the fuselage If everything works fine, I should be able to have the main airframe completed this evening ! If the build goes smoothly at least I'll be able to focus my attention on the markings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llking Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Welcome to the GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 Welcome to the GB Thanks ! Hopefully I'll be able to complete this one.... Progress is very fast at the moment ! A quick late afternoon session resulted in a a complete fuselage: And some more time at the modelling table saw an almost completed Skyhawk emerging: This is the result of building a modern shake'n bake kit. I should stop building short runs for GBs... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Cheers for that link, some really useful information in there. Looking good though you better slow down, you'll have paint on there by the weekend at this rate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Well, I did indeed slow down a bit and not all paint is on, with only the white having been applied over the last couple of days. As usual, my choice has been tamiya's flat white, a paint that is IMHO the best to reproduce this finish. Here's the model while the undersurfaces dry: And the white parts of the uppersurfaces: It can be seen that the whole tail was painted in white. This will be mostly black on the completed model but the lettering and tailcodes are white so I decided to paint the tail white and later mask the tailcodes. The numbers will be made on an inkjet printer using clear paper on which I'll print the black areas surrounding the numbers. This will then be applied onto the white painted tail. Not sure if the plan will work but trying is the only way to know... What can't be seen is that the windscreen craked while I was removing this from the sprue ! I blame this mainly on the very thick sprue gates used by Airfix ! My technique to remove clear parts involve the very careful use of a saw, nver had any problem before but I had with this one. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do to sort the problem ! I tried to use the fujimi windscreen (fujimi skyhawks come with both open and closed canopies, very useful for the spares box) but there is a huge difference in width between the two, with the airfix canopy more narrow by 1 mm or more, so I had to ditch the plan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) Small update: it took me ages to mask this model before spraying the light gull grey uppersurfaces ! Anyway, the first coat is on: It could be enough, but I noticed a scar in the plastic on the starboard side under the canopy, something that I had not noticed before. Looks like the mould is that way as I'm sure I did not cause this. Very strange ! In any case this will mean having to fill and sand with the consequent respray of the area. The paint I've chosen for the FS36440 grey is lifecolor's acrylic. IMHO this is a good scale representation of this colour and I use this on all my USN types wearing this scheme Edited November 5, 2013 by Giorgio N 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Looking good mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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