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Gday All Thought I better get started too. My build will be the venerable Hasegawa 1/48 kit done as a R.A.N aircraft, although at this stage not decided on final scheme

So first off, the required box shot

skyhawkbox_zps8897586a.jpg

Now, unfortunately I did take shots of the cockpit, but when checking them to post they were unusably blurry so we now jump ahead to where I have glued the fuselage halves together

skyhawkfuselage_zps80f3d795.jpg

not sure if I just got a badcopy but the fit was nothing to right home about, requiring much filling with super glue and rescribing

To Be Continued!

Edited by pacificmustang
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moving along, the stiffeners need to be removed from the intake sides for a RAN/Kiwi machine

skyhawkintakebefore_zps64ef8d0e.jpg

so they were simply sanded off with progressively finer grades of sanding sticks and sponges

intakeafter_zpsd4262c98.jpg

I must say, after a late start I am becoming a convert to using these sticks and sponges. I find the Flory skinny sticks and sponges invaluable, especially with armour builds

The intakes were not a bad fit at all, after a bit of fettling, and dont worry Calum and Silver Fox, I have a couple of Trumpeter 32 kits to be done as A-4K's

Bruce

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I must say, after a late start I am becoming a convert to using these sticks and sponges. I find the Flory skinny sticks and sponges invaluable, especially with armour builds

The intakes were not a bad fit at all, after a bit of fettling, and dont worry Calum and Silver Fox, I have a couple of Trumpeter 32 kits to be done as A-4K's

Bruce

Phew, I was getting worried Bruce :D

I agree about the sticks and sponges I find them excellent for sanding

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on to the slats, and an error in the kit. The slat wells have a pronounced step whereas the real a/c does not have this, the slat wells simply flowing into the wing upper surface with no step evident.

Other builders have used various means to remedy this, such as cutting the slat well out and reattaching it flush with the upper wing, or using filler to blend it in. I suppose I could have left it, but would not be able to put up with Calum's bleating :winkgrin: so thought I would skin the well with plastic card instead to bring the well up flush with the wing surface

skyhawkslats_zps4da78fab.jpg

not sure how happy I am with this, may try a different technique on the next one.

You may wonder why I have attached the slats this early in the piece. Well on every other A4 I have done I have knocked the slat actuators off, hopefully, attaching the slats now will lessen the odds of this happening

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  • 4 weeks later...

and decaled

skyhawk1decalled_zps7c0f395e.jpg

I had fun sitting the roundels over the vortex generators and the rudder checks over the ribs NOT!

Must have taken about ten coats of microsol and a bit of touch up in the end. OOPS, just spotted the wonky rescue arrow

Edited by pacificmustang
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whilst waiting for all the decal solutions to dry, thought I might crack on with a second kit, so heres the cockpit done with a bit of help from Mr Eduard

skyhawkcockpit_zps76d98e4e.jpg

Most pics I have of skyhawks show them at rest with the tailplanes in the nose down position. Seeing as I had some steel beach stabiliser pivot plates in my possession I cut the kit ones off, which was probably a mistake as the resultant holes were far larger than the resin plates necessitating me filling them with bits of plastic card

skyhawktailplane_zps1464303d.jpg

I also wanted to show the access hatch between the flaps opened, so cut this out of the kit bottom wing. Some dodgy scratchbuilding later, and I had some bulkheads and stringers in place. A piece of plastic tube to represent the aft section of the engine, and it should be good enough for what you will be able to see through the hatch

skyhawkrearfuselage1_zps029909aa.jpg

skyhawkjetpipe_zps7bd50fcb.jpg

This one will be done in the air superiority scheme

Thanks for watching

Bruce

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on to the slats, and an error in the kit. The slat wells have a pronounced step whereas the real a/c does not have this, the slat wells simply flowing into the wing upper surface with no step evident.

Other builders have used various means to remedy this, such as cutting the slat well out and reattaching it flush with the upper wing, or using filler to blend it in. I suppose I could have left it, but would not be able to put up with Calum's bleating :winkgrin: so thought I would skin the well with plastic card instead to bring the well up flush with the wing surface

skyhawkslats_zps4da78fab.jpg

not sure how happy I am with this, may try a different technique on the next one.

You may wonder why I have attached the slats this early in the piece. Well on every other A4 I have done I have knocked the slat actuators off, hopefully, attaching the slats now will lessen the odds of this happening

Thats one think hing that Classic Airframes got right on the TA-4, no slat well just a smooth transition.

Lovely looking G.

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oh.Buggar :banghead: I missed that walkaround on your site Calum. To be honest, the added detail is just to give the effect of internal structure rather than a superdetailed interior. I can live with my spurious detail, the wrong colour is a different matter though. I now have the fuselage together so repainting is going to be difficult. Will have to see how much I can hit if I point the airbrush up there. Might just have to live with a ZC interior, but I will do the inside of the door silver. Wish I had found your walkaround earlier

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Well if I ever see that particular model of yours in real life I'll not shine a torch up there. :D

I'd like to open the aft hell door on my next build. We always left them open

Edited by Calum
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  • 2 weeks later...

getting there. I could even get this one finished :thumbsup:

meanwhile, on the other one DAMN YOU GIBSON!!!!!!!!

skyhawkwing_zpsf8d47a69.jpg

If you're not breaking slat rails you're not building A-4's :)

888 looks good. As an aside does anyone know why the second batch of G's got numbered 87X instead of the 89X that might have been expected?

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If you're not breaking slat rails you're not building A-4's :)

888 looks good. As an aside does anyone know why the second batch of G's got numbered 87X instead of the 89X that might have been expected?

The 87X batch of side numbers was still being used by the last surviving Sea Venom FAW-53's when the first batch of A-4's arrived. The 88X numbers

had been used previously by Gannets (Which were nearly all retired by 1967)

The second batch of (ex USN) A-4's arrived in 1971 by which time only a few target towing Venoms were still around and the 87X could be applied with little issue.

The last Sea Venom (WZ-943) carried out the last RAN flight in 1973.

The 89X numbers had been allocated to firstly the Westland Scouts then later on the Bell 206 Kiowa ( pocket rockets)

Edited by NAVY870
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