Search the Community

Hi all, Finally, time has enabled me to get my Skyraider across the line 😊. As you will have seen in the WIP (below) she is one of the former Armee de l’Air (French Air force) machines that were acquired by the Groupment Aerient Presidentiel de Gabon (GAP). Eight aircraft were on GAP strength over time, with four machines, colour-trimmed red, blue, green and yellow, being the longest serving. They flew as part of a broader and varied GAP fleet that included, at the time, other types like the Banderainte, L-100/C-130, Harvard, Fouga Magister and others. These were the last active and armed Skyraiders world-wide, being retired in the 1980s. For those who are interested, TR-KFP “green” is now F-AZDP in France, TR-KMO “blue” is G-RADR in the UK, TR-LQE “yellow” is in France and TR-KMP “red” now resides in The National Museum of Naval Aviation in the US, having been impounded by customs. A sad end for the old girl . Of the others only one was lost – TR-KFR on 14th July 1978 in Lome. They were flown by contracted French pilots, the most well-known of these being Jacques Borne. Jacques was the flight commander and was an ex-Armee de l’Air mechanic (on H-34/HSS-1) and pilot, having amassed more than 6,400 hours on a number of types, including the Fouga Magister, T-6/Harvard, Mirage IIIB/C/E and IVA, and T-33. He maintained a nickname through his career of “Sarcife”. You can see more about him here, albeit in French: http://www.pilotedechasse.org/2017/06/en-vol-avec-sarcife.html and search "sarcife". Google Translate is a great thing! 😊 The subject of this build is Jacques’ machine, TR-KMP “red”. She was an AD-4N. She is built from a Hasegawa A-1H Skyraider kit, supported by some parts from a Sword AD-4W. The latter is a spare ship for this and other builds in the future. For this build I used the side doors, leaving one “ajar” so that it has a little more detail interest, plus the main wing pylons. For the build I have been supported superbly by Jacques’ son, Fred. He provided me with many images of these aircraft, some of which are also available online, and answered questions along the way. Here she is in a shot taken during her Gabonese career: What did I do/use? Well, here goes: a. Inserted the starboard side door section from the AD-5W, cutting the port side door aperture (slightly too low ☹) and used the AD-5W door b. Built the internals for the rear cabin in a generic sense. Used Kristal Klear for the side windows. c. Added different antennae top and bottom of the fuselage. d. Removed the “pitot” and light from the fin tip. e. Used a F-84G wing tank (thanks @Wez) for the belly tank and made the AD-4 shackles from Plastrict rod. f. Built T10 rocket rails and cables with Plastruct rod and wire. Used the AD-5W main wing pylons. g. Used an Aires cockpit set h. Added static wicks with wire i. Re-scribed per AD-4N j. Painted the red trim rather than using decals k. Here and there, as appropriate, I dry brushed with aluminium, black and red. I also left the Flory wash more intense in places to mimic the dirty(ish) conditions of the aircraft. Unusually for Skyraiders she did not have much oil or exhaust staining, as you can see from the above photo. l. Added the foot steps behind the wings, using brass rod. m. Drilled out the cannons and exhausts - Thanks for the prompt Stuart @Courageous 1. Kits – Hasegawa A-1H Skyraider (00780) and Sword AD-4W Skyraider (SW 72126) 2. Decals – Zotz Skyraiders over Africa set (72026) for the national insignia, lion motif and stencilling, Modeldecal French numbering set (No.63) for the “MP” ID letters, Xtradecal black lining and red lining for the walkways, etc. 3. Extra parts – Aside from the side doors – I used a modified F-84 underwing tank to represent the large belly tank used by the French, various antennas and dorsal intake from the spares box, Plastruct rod for the rocket rails, belly aerial poles, belly tanks saw braces, electrical copper wire for the rocket rail charging cables and static wicks, and a few other little bits and pieces. I used an, Aires A-1 resin cockpit. 4. Paints – Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium (27002), Colourcoats Matt Black, Insignia Red, Interior Green, plus various other paints for small details. Humbrol Glosscote and Satincote. 5. Weathering – Flory Dark Dirt and Light (mixes), Tamiya Weathering Powders, Prismacolor Silver pencil (PC949) 6. Colin @Colin @ Freightdog Models kindly donated a couple of Aero tanks but I needed the larger belly tank. I'll keep these, with his agreement, for a later AD-4B build. Thank also to Mike @72modeler for some valuable data. The WIP is here: I hope you like her. Having got this build done I am now working on Jacques’ Fouga Magister and will then add a Harvard/AT-6D to the Gabonese fleet in my display cabinet. 😊. I hope you like her. Martin