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RAN A4G SKYHAWK


CJP

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I know this pic at Albatross is an Ex-USN A-4B done up as an A-4G but the colours are correct. Also note the small red 'lip' on the leading edge behind the slat, a continuation of the upper red slat 'pinch point' warning as there is a lip on the slat that covers this area when the slat is closed manually by a maintainer or by airflow.

35403277340_62aeae1d3e_o.jpgA-4B stbd main RAN by Neil, on Flickr

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1 hour ago, FAAMAN said:

I know this pic at Albatross is an Ex-USN A-4B done up as an A-4G but the colours are correct. Also note the small red 'lip' on the leading edge behind the slat, a continuation of the upper red slat 'pinch point' warning as there is a lip on the slat that covers this area when the slat is closed manually by a maintainer or by airflow.

35403277340_62aeae1d3e_o.jpgA-4B stbd main RAN by Neil, on Flickr

Thanks FAAMAN the very thin red lip is noted & the white underneath of the slat too - I noticed in the following photo the outer ends are painted red too on some A4G's

- CAP-Configuration-Buddy-Store.jpg

I also noticed when looking at photos of RAN A4's on the internet that they often do not have the cannons fitted as in this photo where it is carrying a Buddy pod- do you know what tasking required the removal of the cannon?

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You maybe should ask NAVY870 as I didn't have a lot to do with the cannon. I do know the magazines took up considerable room in the forward hell hole making access to the aileron power pack and CSD a bit problematic. Most of the A-4Gs flew without the cannon at some stage (I'll have to go through me pics) and maybe not fitted to save weight/fuel, a tanker configured A-4 would probably need all the help it could get.

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8 minutes ago, FAAMAN said:

You maybe should ask NAVY870 as I didn't have a lot to do with the cannon. I do know the magazines took up considerable room in the forward hell hole making access to the aileron power pack and CSD a bit problematic. Most of the A-4Gs flew without the cannon at some stage (I'll have to go through me pics) and maybe not fitted to save weight/fuel, a tanker configured A-4 would probably need all the help it could get.

OK thanks FAAMAN that's logical and makes a lot of sense - appreciate the info you have given me - NAVY870 usually looks in here from time to time & has given a lot of input too

Cheers

CJP

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As far as the cannon fitting goes, it generally depended on airframe availability, which ones had them currently fitted or removed for maintenance. The RNZAF often had the cannon removed form the T birds, but they could be re fitted.  Its a bit like the drop tanks, they could be removed as required but the setting up of trim was a pain so they generally just left them on once fitted/trimmed.

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32 minutes ago, Fredag said:

As far as the cannon fitting goes, it generally depended on airframe availability, which ones had them currently fitted or removed for maintenance. The RNZAF often had the cannon removed form the T birds, but they could be re fitted.  Its a bit like the drop tanks, they could be removed as required but the setting up of trim was a pain so they generally just left them on once fitted/trimmed.

Thanks Fredag interesting information to make it all make more sense.

CJP

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All - after  my stalled attempt at painting the red/white checks on the rudder  I decided to move on and try to do the colour scheme with red/white checks on the fin with standard gull grey/white camouflage - before I committed too far I thought I would try masking & painting the red/white fin checks to see if I could get a good result with that - if ok I would then spray the gull grey otherwise look at the last two tone grey scheme.

I sprayed Tamiya XF1 flat white & brush painted Vallejo Model Color 70.957 flat red which brushed on nicely.

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It was not easy to keep the checks aligned particularly where they wrap around the fin leading edge but I'm reasonable happy with it and only a bit of touching up still needed.

You might remember I lost the right hand air brake panel about a month ago and had to fabricate a replacement one as in the above photo - my wife just walked in, shoved her hand in front of my face with the airbrake panel on it and said is this the bit you lost!! -  she really has a talent for finding things I lose but this one takes the cake as far as I'm concerned.

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CJP

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  • CJP changed the title to RAN A4G SKYHAWK
  • 1 month later...

Hi - after about a 5 week lull in modelling I have started to get my mojo on track again I got to the point where I could start sticking gear doors on to my A4G - I sprayed Tamiya XF1 for the undersides & Mr Hobby Light Gull Grey gloss for the upper surface over Tamiya white primer  - all  of the markings so far have been painted on - I have bought some Maketar Aussie roundel masks to try for the first time and will give them a go when I have finished touching up I
have AOA A4 Airframe decals sheet for the stencils on the airframe - I managed to accidentally get some superglue remover on the left hand slat and that removed the paint very quickly so that will need sanding and respraying too as well as around the wing tip navigation lights - I also have to work out the position of the black wing walkways & paint them in too.

 

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The access door for the forward engine bay (Port) was scratch built from what photos I could find as were the intake blanks

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The slats are just pushed into place at the moment & will be fixed once all painting and decaling is finished - likewise the wing fuel tanks & outer pylons - the only thing I am undecided on is what will go on the centreline  pylon - maybe an Eduard MER or a Buddy Refuelling Pod

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More to come.

CJP

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That is coming along very nicely indeed 😎😎

Looks exactly how 876 looked when I got to VC724 just before she went away to Qantas Sydney for a PAR service and respray into wrap around camo. The very last Skyhawk in grey and white was the T Bird 881.

For info the "gun bay door" was called forward engine bay door Port in the maint,manual, obviously there was also a starboard one that included the small starter access door, collectively they were the forward hell hole doors to us maintainers. The doors allowed access to the aileron power pack, Primary hydraulic system reservoir, CSD etc.

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58 minutes ago, FAAMAN said:

That is coming along very nicely indeed 😎😎

Looks exactly how 876 looked when I got to VC724 just before she went away to Qantas Sydney for a PAR service and respray into wrap around camo. The very last Skyhawk in grey and white was the T Bird 881.

For info the "gun bay door" was called forward engine bay door Port in the maint,manual, obviously there was also a starboard one that included the small starter access door, collectively they were the forward hell hole doors to us maintainers. The doors allowed access to the aileron power pack, Primary hydraulic system reservoir, CSD etc.

Thanks FAAMAN - I felt that "gun bay door" was not the right terminology when I submitted the post but my brain would not come up with anything better at the time! - its great to get this sort of information from you ex FAA maintainers.

PS - I just looked at the first page of my build & NAVY870 had also named that area - 😬 - I've now corrected text to "forward engine bay door Port"

CJP

 

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4 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Looks good, nice job with the tail check marks, they look beyond fiddly!

Thanks phildagreek - the checks were certainly a challenge & frustrating at times to get it right or close enough!

CJP

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  • 4 weeks later...

So I bought some Maketar paint masks for the A4G roundels and was having a bad day learning how to remove them from the backing paper and apply accurately to my model - after about the third mask I was getting the feel for carefully easing them off the backing paper and on to the model with Tamiya tape - the first two masks ended up looking pretty shabby but anyway onwards and upwards - I ended up spraying the roundel blue I mixed up and decided to leave it for the day after a couple of false starts -

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I sat the A4G on the top shelf of my modelling desk until the next modelling session so you can imagine my horror when I somehow bumped it and watched it tip backwards and disappear down the back of the desk to the floor with crunching sounds!

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The main and nose gear are badly bent and slats destroyed themselves - slat runners disappeared into the carpet never to be seen again - apart from one landing gear door the rest seem to have escaped damage - the windscreen also separated but did not break - back to the shelf of doom? - will have to do a survey when I'm more relaxed and assess what to do - a pity because she was almost there

CJP

Edited by CJP
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Thanks for that offer Steve - I had a look over the model today and the damage is not as bad as I thought - I have already straightened the white metal landing gear with a bit of judicious bending and straightened the gear door and refitted the windscreen so I don't think it will take too long to get it back to where I was.

thanks again - I'll be in touch if I need any parts

 

Chris

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  • 1 month later...

After a  month of remedial work I managed to get my A4G Skyhawk back on her wheels again so here she is as of today -  the iPhone photos are a bit ordinary and prone to distortion I've noticed.

I fitted  a Scale Aircraft Conversions Buddy Pod & detailed it as best I could but close up photos are pretty hard to come by - thanks to BM modellers for the links they provided for the Buddy Pod.

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The drogue basket was a bit featureless so I made radial cuts with a fine razor saw and drilled out the middle to try and improve the look of it.

I used Maketar masks for the roundels but have to admit they were challenging for me as a first time user - I  had great difficulty getting the whole roundel MASK to lift from the backing sheet & had to insert a scalpel blade under to get the kangaroos to come off with the rest of the roundel - I eventually got a reasonable result but ended up using some old Roo Decal kangaroos on the underwing roundels which look ok. I intend to print some aircraft codes and serial numbers onto clear decal sheet - hopefully she will  end up as no 876

The stencils came from AOA A-4 Airframe stencils sheet 32-012.

I still need to repair the slats and fit the vortex generators  to them and the wings - then attention can turn to the canopy and whatever else I 've missed ( like I just noticed I neglected to fit sway braces to the Buddy Pod which will be a pain to fix)

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IMG-8585.jpg IMG-8584.jpg

CJP

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All - I've added a few more details to push the A4G to completion

the broken slats & runners were repaired and refitted - brass wire was soldered to the curved runners so I could mount them to the back of the slats.

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A standby compass and elapsed time clock for the opening canopy were scratch built & fitted with some suitable Airscale instrument dials - also fitted some rear view mirrors from an Airscale etch sheet. An exhaust pipe blank was cobbled up from a

circle of plastic and some brass wire.

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I printed some codes and serials on an inkjet printer in black - I found you really need to give the sheet a good clear coating to stop the ink bleeding when you put it in water - I airbrushed clear lacquer over the sheet and when the ink still bled I brush coated it with Microsoft Liquid decal film - finally got the decals on but lost a few in the process so good idea to have spares. Finally she got the identity A4G 155063 876.

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The decals have just gone on today so will need to be sealed once dry - I decided to leave fitting the Eduard etched vortex generators until last so that is a fiddly task still to be done when the mood strikes.

CJP

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Damn fine effort so far.

One minor quibble if I may.

The tail pipe bung was made out of hardish rubber and din't have a handle, they were a straight push in pull out.

Unless one of your oppo's was standing up front under the intakes, then a stout wallop to the tail pipe bung would cause a rush of air back through

the engine and force the intake blank to pop out. Depending on your marksmanship you could scone you oppo quite neatly.

Not that I ever indulged in such skylarkings.

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3 hours ago, NAVY870 said:

Damn fine effort so far.

One minor quibble if I may.

The tail pipe bung was made out of hardish rubber and din't have a handle, they were a straight push in pull out.

Unless one of your oppo's was standing up front under the intakes, then a stout wallop to the tail pipe bung would cause a rush of air back through

the engine and force the intake blank to pop out. Depending on your marksmanship you could scone you oppo quite neatly.

Not that I ever indulged in such skylarkings.

 

51 minutes ago, FAAMAN said:

I agree with Navy870, damn fine effort so far, and yes as he said the tail pipe blank had no handle.

Thanks guys - your comments have been helpful all the way with this build - that'll be an easy fix

CJP

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Just spotted the lower anti-coll light is the wrong colour for a tanker fit. It should have a green lens not red.

When changing roles to a tanker, not only was a control panel for the buddy store fitted in place of the radar display, but the lower anti-coll light was changed to a green lens for better night time recognition.

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38 minutes ago, FAAMAN said:

Just spotted the lower anti-coll light is the wrong colour for a tanker fit. It should have a green lens not red.

When changing roles to a tanker, not only was a control panel for the buddy store fitted in place of the radar display, but the lower anti-coll light was changed to a green lens for better night time recognition.

Ok did not know that - will have to mull it over and see whether it can be changed without damaging surrounding bits & pieces - I push moulded the anti collision lenses and painted them Tamiya clear red inside so it would have to come off to change it - would probably need a new one moulded & painted green.

🤔CJP

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