Calum Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 (edited) Now the F-14 is done , I'm onto the next project, a Hasegawa A-4K. I'll be doing a SEA A-4K from around the mid 1980's to replace the kit below which I trashed stripping it prior to wanting to repaint it This will be an in flight build so not much aftermarket, just the excellent Gekko Graphics decal and a seated pilot from Aerobonus. Anyone who has built this kit knows the fit isn't particularly great. This coupled with the, IMHO, far to fine panel lines means you can have a bit of fight on your hands. First step is to deal with the poor fitting intakes, basically the intake is not as wide as the kit so you end up with a step on the inside where the engine face piece mates with the middle part of the intake. The easy solution here is to cut the engine face in half. Then glue each half to the respective fuselage half. now you'll have no step and unless you've got a boroscope you can't see the centre of the engine piece once everything is together. I fitted the tubular piece, which simulates the CSD/CFG roughly in the centre of one of the cut pieces. As you can see, no sign of the split and we haven't put on the rest of the intake, which makes the gap even smaller Edited July 4, 2017 by Calum 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Shame about the original Calum time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Will be watching.............coincidentally I am finishing up one myself...............in the wonderful SEA scheme as yours rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 What a shame you crashed that beauty Great idea with the intake!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAVY870 Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Had a little flash back at the mention of the CSD. Memories of standing on a wobbly chock on an artic Nowra morning checking the fluid level. Sometimes the aircraft would wake you up by dropping the outer intake door upon your bonce. Good times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matteo44 Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 My favourite aircraft in my favourite scheme, what's not to like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidy Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 I plan to build of of this as well, someday. Pulling up a chair to follow along if you don't mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gekko_1 Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Awesome, looking forward to this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacificmustang Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 great fix for the intake Calum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 1 hour ago, pacificmustang said: great fix for the intake Calum Cheers mate, Can't claim it as mine though. I think I saw it mentioned on ARDC a few years ago.. Surprisingly I managed to remember . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 (edited) The Aerobonus pilot/seat was disappointing, his visor was up, not down as it should be when flying and the arms were to short I shan't be using my other one, the Kit seat and a figure from the spares box will be just as good for my next build like this.. I ended using a head and arms from the spares box.. I didn't bother getting to carried away with the painting as he's going to be under the canopy which isn't large to begin with. Edited July 4, 2017 by Calum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 19, 2017 Author Share Posted June 19, 2017 (edited) Been working on the mounting point for the aircraft as it's going to be done "in flight. I'm using acrylic rod which I had a mate mill a 1/4 inch square on . I'll be mounting it into the rear of one of the main leg fairings. I used square box on the inside of the wing And scrap to make a box on the main gear fairing Everything together and it's time for filling. getting the main gear doors to fit was a challenge and fairings for the main legs didn't really match the doors so magi sculpt was used to fill and contour that area. Getting the slats to fit was also a challenge as these don't really fit that well onto the recess in the wing.. Just proving what a stupid idea that step in the upper wing is. I also moved the anti col light fairing to the correct (for an A-4K) side. The crappy insert in the back of the aircraft also doesn't fit at all well meaning you're in for some putty work to fill the steps Wing to fuselage joint also has quite a large gap. Again water based fillers are the best tool for here . I used magi sculpt to fill the worst of it and finished off with Vallejo filler. Edited July 4, 2017 by Calum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 1/48 isn't really my scale but I am very tempted to buy the Eduard Scooter boxing 'just for the stash'..... Your build is looking good and a great idea ref the intakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 25, 2017 Author Share Posted June 25, 2017 (edited) Paints on. Went for home made masks for the camo scheme for 2 reasons, firstly I'm lazy , secondly the SEA RNZAF A-4's has a reasonably hard edge to the camo scheme in a lot of the images I've looked at, although I'll acknowledge they were most likely free hand painted. Paints were Mr Color Lacquers except for the black which is Tamiya NATO Black and the red which is also Tamiya . To save masking the intakes I painted these separately and once I'd finished the camo I glued the intakes on. Fit is good. The base isn't the final one, it's just a scrap bit of timber. the rod has been bent but heating it with a hot air gun and bending it on a slight angle. I haven't finalised the exact angle as yet but it'll be something like this Next step is a wash, then a gloss coat. Edited July 4, 2017 by Calum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 Looks great !! cannot wait to see in done up fully rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidy Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 Beautiful! Stunning work on the camo, Calum. Looks perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 All done See here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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