basket

very much , I wouldn't say that , but I take your kind compliment !

Thanks Dave

Here I am ... I fInally found it ! Excellent !

and ... but I understand . The A-4 has something special , and this kit also has ! The M model has been available in Europe for a few months at a decent price ( thanks Hase for reissuing it ! ) . Other Hase / Eduard packaging are outrageously expensive on the bay or elsewhere .

Thanks Finn !!!! And you know what ? I've got ALL THOSE 3 PICS on my hard disk , collected on flickr ... but ... in the file : " typical messages to VC " ... , I've seen them several times without noticing bombs were hung on MBR !!!! ... mysteries of brain filters ... Thanks pal for opening my eyes !!!!

Where ? Am I nuts ... drunk .. or both ?

Yes , but ... as written before , some part are absolutely stunning , some sorcerer's job undoubtedly : the undercarriage bays of course !!! . On the other hand , depth of engraving is not perfect on other parts of the kit . And some parts are horrible in terms of adjustment : drop tanks , or just average : intakes ( external and internal parts ) and stuffs under the tail . BTW , since you might crack for another scooter , you might try this , in order to combine this new project with entropy ... your favorite obsession !!!

Hi there ! Taking a seat . Your battle damages are very realistic and your humour is perfect to me . I think I'll stay nearby till the end .

Thanks for taking time to read the WIP . ( even partially ! ) .... It was necessary because some areas of the model are not engraved as sharply as others : tail fin , fuselage ( mostly the center and rear part of it ) , extrados and pylons . This way I hoped to obtain an homogeneous engraving . I checked this point on my other kits and the problem is still present . I know that this is not absolutely necessary of course , but it ensures a neat finish at the end , for me at least !

Hello Giorgio ! Nice to have you here , thanks for your kind comments , and ... BTW , an A-4 in 1/48 is smaller than a Ju-87 in 1/48 ... Yes Yoda ... my master you are ... again for running the A-4 STGB and for your patience !!!

Thanks !!! And stay tuned ... #2 and #3 are allready on my bench . Thanks very much . Marcello , I visited your thread a few hours ago , as written on your topic , your Mike is very nice . Thanks Pete , much appreciated ! #3 will incorporate some aftermaket to increase my productivity ... slightly ...

Thanks very much but in fact , I learned everything , from scratch to painting and weathering . It's been a steep learning curve split between 3 kits , and the A-4 is the first I managed to complete . Thanks , forums and WIP threads are the best way to learn ( if you expect real life clubs ) and I try to share tips as much as possible . Thanks very much

A rarely seen scheme for this early spooky . A true beauty .

Hi Giorgio ! Just catching up ( in fact ... discovering ) with your poney . The blue-nosed P-51 are the most esthetical WW2 aircrats in my opinion . Your rather annoying problems with the wind screen reminds me that clear parts are always ( often ... ) a source of stress and sometimes of PITA . Anyway , you managed to solve the problem very efficientely . A superb job as ever .

My pleasure sir !

Hi Marcello . Just discovered your Mike scooter. Superb model to come back in the modelling business , just like I did .

Exactly !!! for your researches ! I didn't find the first pic . As you say , it's difficult to find pics of the rear . It seems that it's symetrical with probably no ogival part at the rear end ...

Hi Dave . Thx for your reply. I did already and didn't find .

Hi all . Having just finished an A-4F , I'm starting a new project : an A4D-2 in 1/48 scale . I want to build an early aircraft in 1961 equipped with MBR , the ancestor of the MER . Those pylons designated as MBR for Multiple Bomb Rack were designed by Douglas and equipped early Skyhawks and F-8 . It seems quite possible to scratch build those pylons starting from more recent MER ( and in fact I've started already ) . The problem is that there is really a few pictures of thoses stuffs and I've not been able to find any showing the back of it so far. If someone could help , it would be very much appreciated ! Cheers !

Hello !!!! 35 years ... you're my master !!! Your model is impressively neat and this ANG scheme is one among my favourites . It was worth waiting that long !!

Hello trusty follower , for your kind comments . In fact , it ( sorry can't write she for an aircraft ) is finished ! It's quite an event for me considerring that the last time I finished one model it was in the previous century ... not kidding ! 3 pics as a conclusion : I just posted a bunch of extra pictures in the RFI section . Here : https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235107520-douglas-a-4f-skyhawk-va-55-uss-hancock-nam-1972-hasegawa-148/ Thanks so much everybody for being so patient with this slow build ! Cheers !

Hello fellow modellers It's not exagerating to say that it's a pure joy to publish this topic, since it's my first finished model since last century !!! ( in fact my previously finished kit was a 1/48 Heller Rafale A completed in 1998 or so ... before this kit was even released ) . The famous 2001 Hasegawa kit is splendid in some areas , and bizarre , really inaccurate or approximate in others . To me , it's the exact link between vintage and modern kits . Anyway I fell in love with this kit , not to mention the aircraft itself and I plan to build at least ten more ... No aftermarket parts were used or hurt during the building , I tried to upgrade the model the old way , the modifications are as follows : - Model entirely rescribed - Cockpit / Canopy upgaded with PC , metal sheet , copper wire , tamiya tape etc .... - Seat almost totally rebuilt with head knocker , reshaped head rest , harness etc ... - Landing gear and doors modified and wired , front wheel visually detached from gear . - Scratch built landing lights well in left leading edge . - Slat wells reshaped to be flush with the extrados. - Canons drilled. - Armament pylons rescribed , modified with scratchbuilt sway bars and connections - Fuel tank rescribed and " welded " , drain added . - Shrike missiles and Mk82 bombs detailled with scratched parts . - RBF and pins . The WIP is located in the Skyhawk STGB here : https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235091381-a-4f-va-55-uss-hancock-nam-1972-hasegawa-148/ And now , here are the pics : Hope you like it . for passing by § Cheers !

Good evening all ! We're now going to build the things that still lack to this A-4 , namely the most important for a fighter aircraft ... its weapons , and pylons to hang them under the wings. As written above, our Skyhawk is rigged for its iconic Nam mission : Iron Hand , the hunt for SAMs. Among the possible Iron Hand loadout configs, I chose one that caught my eye because I have a photo of it (I like to start from a reference picture), but also because it is super dynamic: short tail tank (seen above in this topic ) in the central station , mk82 500 lb bombs in the internal ones and Shrike in the external . Pylons first : they are quite good in shape and definition , and Hasegawa provides the adaptator to hang missiles (F17 parts , not on the notice but on the sprues , and that's good to me phew! ), but, because there is a but .... their sway bars shape is totally wrong and their angle is too open...they hardly touch 500lb bombs (admittedly not included in the kit). So I scratched them in fine PC and shaped them with a file, their buffers are made with a punch and die. The chimneys ( i don't know if it's the acurate word in english ) are fitted with wedges which will simulate the hooks and which keep the load a few tenths of a mm from the pylons. Metal rods are inserted to ensure solid bonding and easy centering. The machines based on the Hancock in 1972 are distinguished as often within a Carrier Air Group by a color code by VF/VA and the pylons are to match, just not to mix them betweens units ... for the VA-55, it was obviously dark green with a white individual number: Same painting process : black undercoat, but white zenithal painting to have natural shadows under the pylons, being careful not to " raise " the white too much to keep a difference with the Shrike which have to pop up , while avoiding having pylons looking too Grey . I don't know if I'm clear here.. Then green paint where necessary, gun metal buffers, gloss varnish, decals from the kit for the safety triangle of the central chimney (the others do not have any on my reference picture ) and white numbers graciously provided in express by my friend Fabrice Simon - Thanks mate ! then revarnish , wash etc ... The Hasegawa guns are very beautifuly moulded : there even have the holes in the flash hiders, you just have to drill their mouths with a micro drill - and the Hasegawa plastic ( that I love ) allows this drilling without risk of twisting or breaking the colt guns , that's perfect !!! The mk 82 bombs and their decals come from an Eduard (Academy) Rockin' Rhino box. It was necessary to adapt them a little and add some detail: drilling of the body for the fixings, scratch of the wings of armament in "PE of the poor" : metallic tube of toothpaste (yes I have some left) cut and twisted "a la mano ", and ESPECIALLY, the safety wire which is made of a fuse wire (again !) . For the painting : black primer, white zenithal highlights, OD over the entire bomb, darkened OD darkened with a bit of black on the rear part and the empennage. Arming fins and fuse are aluminum . On the other hand , the wire is painted in super light gray, I read somewhere that it was ideal to represent a metallic wire in quater inch scale and it is true. Gloss varnish, decals, micro weathering of yellow rings (a horror to put on, next time = paint!!!) and bomb bodies in lighter and darker OD, glossy varnish. Juice. Matt varnish on the body of the bombs and satin on the empennage. phew ... finished! Some pictures : And now: the Shrikes! They come from a Hasegawa armament set, which when it was released was the must of the must ... but that was a long time ago ... in short, the empennage had to be thinned thoroughly, fortunately I had an electric sander to help me. The nozzles are dug and the engraving reworked in places, just to make the molding clearer, which is only partially successful because the washes had the greatest difficulty in holding in certain angles. Hasegawa offers decals on either side of the nose that look like unreadable stencils, but these "stencils" are actually dark bronze-colored green fiber shields that protect short-range side antennas that let the missile know when to explode. . In short, Hasegawa decals : you forget, and you paint those stuffs with gun metal paint with a few drops of brown, the result is exactly what I expected ! For the rest: black primer, then zenithal white insisting on the tip of the missiles which are not under the wing. Shiny varnish, decals and juice but this time payne gray + black. The real thing : The model already reworked , with the electric sander sitting next to it : Two a...holes ! In flight !!! Note the difference in brightness between the white of the muzzles and the white of the tails, it is not a matter of lighting but of painting : And finally , all stores are ready !!! Thans again and again for reading , and see you soon for the last step !

Hi all . It seems that links to my photographs didn't work . Here they are !

Hi A-4 fan ... fans ? I'm not sure there's a lot of people nearby ... except our fellow GB runner ! It's time to think about protecting our pilot . The canopy of the A-4 is systematically padded, in a variable way depending on times and retrofits, the seal is sometimes very visible (light gray). Check it out by yourself. https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2022/02/20//22022012025517732317801805.jpg For my particular A-4 it is dark gray without embossing, in 3 parts with holes behind the seat , a clear seal, like the one on the picture bottom right. There are two mirrors and a box hung on the arch of the canopy (and not the windshield) with an emergency compass and a watch. For the case: Hasegawa part + decals and glazing made with uv resin. For mirrors: PC + copper wire + molotov chrome. For the padding: Tamiya masking strip cut according to 3 patterns hacked with a sheet of Eduard PE picked up on the Net ... PLUS and various adjustments. Mig flexible masking tape seal. Frankly a PITA to set up, mask , paint and protect... but it's better than nothing, because no offense to anybody, you actually can see the inside of this canopy very well, if it is open and it will be opened . Nevertheless , I will have to find another system for the following ones. https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2022/02/20//22022012025517732317801804.jpg Stay tuned , next time we'll talk about the claws of the bird !