alex Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) A bit late, but with a small kit, even I should manage to finish on time. I chose the Fujimi A-4, it's a small kit, and I always liked the scooter. Small, but powerful ( a bit like me! ). I will use decals from Super Scale International, which has a nice A-4E from the VA-152, based on the Shangri-La. The starting picture: the first colour, some grey for the cockpit. Anyone knows what colour the bangseat was? I've seen both grey and black... And a close up. After some airbrushed grey, I brushed the black and some white and yellow buttons. it will do, as the cockpit opening is tiny... btw: that's a picture of the original: http://geta-o.jp/USMIL/A/A-4/A-4E/A-4E-1/A-4e%28aj500%29150001-sd5.jpg Alex Edited November 10, 2015 by alex 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Good to see another Scooter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Yup, can't argue with that. Look forward to the completed build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 That's a good, very precise start, and the plane is rather gorgeous! Just one thing: the picture you mention shows an A-4 with the hump on the back, but the sprue shot doesn't seem to show the hump... Or have I missed it? I will be following this build for sure! JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 Just one thing: the picture you mention shows an A-4 with the hump on the back, but the sprue shot doesn't seem to show the hump... Or have I missed it? I will be following this build for sure! JR Have a close look, the hump are the two most upper right hand parts on the sprue shot (the hump is splitted vertically). Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 13, 2015 Author Share Posted November 13, 2015 On the inside of the nose gear well, there was a nasty ejector pin mark. Instead of filling and sanding, I chose to cut out this area, and to give a bit more depth. The ordnance is from the Hasegawa weapon kits, two AGM-45 Shrikes and two Mk-82, along with the centerline fuel tank. The seat, still without belts. The nose gear bay, it looks a bit better with the added void for the wheel. And the cockpit glued in place. Progress is quick so far, I hope to glue the halves together today, as the PVA for some steel balls should be dry by this afternoon. Alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 Flaps cut out. As they had some recesses on the inside, cutting was no problem. Some lead and steel balls to avoid a tailsitter Intake pas painted with revell aqua, three layers of strongly diluted paint, and enough time to dry. And the intake in place. I had to cut the border of the fuselage a bit thinner, otherwise the intake would have been too large to fit. The kit progresses rather quickly, I'm a bit surprised myself. Alex 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 The gear bay has beed detailled a bit. Just some plastic bits as structural parts, and some copper wire. The front pars isn't that bad, but the rear part was rather naked. Oh, and please note the landing light, which will be done with clear sprue. The Exhaust is a little bit too narrow, so I widened it and filled up the gap. Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 The first part have been airbrushed with white. Amongst them, the intakes. I glued them together before glueing them to the fuselage. And attached to the fuselage. Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 The hump needed a bit of force to be attached to the fuselage Still a bit of filler needed White parts got a bit of a oil colour washing, after several cotes of clear Gear parts. Red is revell acrylic, brush painted. Gear is finished and glued into place. The firing handle is stretched sprue, it looked better that the kit part. And with the canopy glued onto the fuselage, she's ready for the black preshading! Alex 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Really coming to life now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 6, 2015 Author Share Posted December 6, 2015 (edited) As mentionned before, the preshading was airbrushed yesterday. And masked, for the white paint Something went a bit wrong with the Mk 82. I chose Revell Olive, which was way too green and not brown enough. Then, two wrong can make one right. I airbrushed some leather brown, heavily diluted, over the green, to give them a more brownish apperance. Since it was very light, I could control the effect rather well. That's how it looked in the end. Just to find out I still had some Model Master 1711 in a drawer. Guess what would be the right colour! Alex Edited December 6, 2015 by alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 And the white colour has just been airbrushed! Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 Tonight, I airbrushed the red parts. A word of warning - the colour doesn't cover too well, so many layers needed to be sprayed. The black was maybe too dark for a preshading, and a even surface is a must. I had still some white spots in the flaps where I used some filler, it took a heck of lot of colour until they didn't bleed through. It still does a bit, but at an acceptable level. and a second lesson learned - if you spray red over white, make sure that you mask enough. I didn't, and there are still some reddish shades on the underside. It will not show in the end, at least I hope, because it's located between the pylons. But still, it annoyed me a bit to make such a foolish error. BTW, airbrakes will be closed, I just decided. Alex 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abat Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Very methodical and skilled approach. I'm enjoying watching this come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Today, I did some masking... And then I airbrushed some Modelmaster Light Gull grey. And the underside. Some small touch-ups needed, but hopefully I can brush the gloss varnish next week! Alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 The Skyhawk got the Tamiya Gloss cote for the decals... The arrestor hook was changed a bit. As the fujimi part was a bit irregular (top), I fixed it with some round evergreen rod (bottom). The stripes are decals from the Superscale sheet, they were a bit tricky on the small round part, and I had to paint a few points were the decal broke. And the first decals are on, they work nicely with microsol. And now: AAAAAARGH! The "AJ"-decal which should be placed on the fin is missing on the decal sheet! They forgot it! Unbelievable! Looks like I have to do it myself with some masking tape and a sharp knife. Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 Missing from the decal sheet? That sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 The decals must have been stolen by some agents belonging to some unspecified, but highly nefarious foreign power!!! A war will be impossible to avoid! In the meantime I am sure you'll make a plan! Have fun! JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Uff, problem solved. I've found a good picture of a decal sheet in 1:32, so after some printing, drawing and scaling, I did some masks myself. Result wasn't that bad. Needed some touch-ups, but I'm happy... Alex 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Decals on on three sides out of four! The vortex generators are a pit of a pain in the gluteus maximus. They needed a lot of softener, and in between I had to cut carefully between the generators (otherwise it looked a bit like "shrink wrapped") Some touch up needed, but not as bad as feared. Intake was done with a decal (the boudary layer plate), and painted on the outside with revell aqua. Good luck the panel line helped a lot, it was easy to paint a straight line. Alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Some good modelling skills on show here Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Hope you all had a nice Christmas! And thanks for the extended deadline, it looks now like I can make it! Yesterday, I did the washing and weathering, after I was happy with the decals. I don't like chipping on Navy birds, as the corrosive environment doesn't allow too much metal being exposed. So I just did the panel lines, and some staining where the walkways were on later Skyhawks. I've seen as many Skyhawks without as with walkways, so I didn't use them. Elevators still just plugged in. Ordnance ready for the fight.. And the smaller parts are ready to be glued in place. Flaps, slats and central pylon will be glued this afternoon, and this evening all is ready for the final layer of semigloss lacquer. The exhaust tube is from a swiss army safety awareness pencil, btw. Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 That's looking great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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