1/72 - Douglas AD-4W/AEW.1 Skyraider by Sword Models- released - new Avalon decals

[Sabrejet]

That looks very, very nice. Hats off to Sword - they and others like them do us proud while many other manufacturers seek the mundane!

[hsr]

Hannets now shows it as in stock 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72126

[Dave Fleming]

Got one on order, certainly intend to use parts from my abortive Aeroclub/Hasegawa conversion with it.

[hsr]

Mine should arrive Friday.

[sroubos]

Does anybody know why Sword only does the more exotic variants? The Hasegawa Skyraider is hard to find and a new Sword kit would be a very welcome successor. The same applies to their Cougars, the one-seater has never materialized and again, the old Hasegawa kit, while definitely not bad, is getting on quite a bit now.

Edited August 15, 2019 by sroubos

[Fulcrum@]

i know, and you have the answer in your question...the kits exist !

more modellers have already them...

but you have a good idea !

Edited August 15, 2019 by Fulcrum@

[sroubos]

It should be relatively easy to do the other more mainstream variants and they would sell just as well or probably better than these exotic variants. As stated the Skyraider isn't even generally available and the Cougar is really ancient. I bet loads of people would buy them.

[Timbo88]

Now that's a lovely creation. Sword certainly do some high quality and interesting kits, I am certainly tempted.

 

I created a Royal Navy AEW Skyraider some years ago, using the elderly Airfix kit as a basis. Everything scratch built including the canopy. Not a match for the new kit, but was certainly fun!

[madcop]

7 hours ago, sroubos said:

It should be relatively easy to do the other more mainstream variants and they would sell just as well or probably better than these exotic variants. As stated the Skyraider isn't even generally available and the Cougar is really ancient. I bet loads of people would buy them.

You can find the Hasegawa Skyraider by searching a little. Why should SWORD produce mainsteam variants as they are already in the stashes!  Maybe you also want  Sword to produce Fw 190A8 - P-51D - Bf 109G-6................. 

 

Sword produce good quality kits that no other company produce ! That's why I support that brand. If you don't like this variant , just do not buy it and google for a mainstream Skyraider. (at 50p)

 

Madcop 😜

[Fulcrum@]

For example, if they can do a new 1/72  F-5E/F, no ?

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Fulcrum@

[madcop]

4 minutes ago, Fulcrum@ said:

For example, if they can do a new 1/72  F-5E/F, no ?

 

Yes, F-5E and F starting from the old Italeri kit and a new F-5A from the very good old Esci kit.!

 

Would buy for sure, especially if it's provided with resin seats and canopy  opening mechanism. A nightmare to scratch in 1/72.

 

Madcop 😃

[hsr]

Mine arrived today. I was going to post pictures of the sprues, but they already do a good job of that on their web site, so I'll just post the schemes and a sample page of the instructions.

 

[Thomas V.]

On 8/15/2019 at 12:36 PM, sroubos said:

Does anybody know why Sword only does the more exotic variants? The Hasegawa Skyraider is hard to find and a new Sword kit would be a very welcome successor. The same applies to their Cougars, the one-seater has never materialized and again, the old Hasegawa kit, while definitely not bad, is getting on quite a bit now.

Hasegawa A-1H " U.S.Navy "( BP6 ) is this year back in their non limited catalogue, so for at least next three years it will be widely available, as for Sword, as much as I like them they are still short run manufacturer, and their kits don't exactly fall together.

I still think they are the best Czech short run manufacturer, but in the last few years their kits are not what they used to be..

Ever since they ended their collaboration with Eduard, cockpit detail is non existent, and overall quality differs from one release to another.

 

Anyway, bought four AD-4W's and looking forward to more obscure versions.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Thomas V.

[Procopius]

On 8/15/2019 at 5:36 AM, sroubos said:

Does anybody know why Sword only does the more exotic variants? 

[sroubos]

Wow, you guys seem to think I'm dissing Sword here. They are actually one of my favorite brands, I have loads of their kits. Is it so bad to wish for them to release kits I'd like to see? All I'm saying is I think it might be a good idea for them to do it since the majority of the work is already done so it might make good business sense for them. I'd buy more of their kits and I think other would as well.

 

Sorry to have come across so negatively.

[Dave Fleming]

On 8/17/2019 at 12:07 AM, hsr said:

Mine arrived today. I was going to post pictures of the sprues, but they already do a good job of that on their web site, so I'll just post the schemes and a sample page of the instructions.

 

 

Mine arrived yesterday too.

 

couple of minor points, the RN aircraft is from Eagle not Albion (The A is A Flight of 849 Sqdn) and at the time of Suez it didn’t appear to have the angle of attack lines painted on the fin.

 

Also, the Suez markings don’t wrap round the leading edge, the slat is left in blue and the stripes were only yellow on the undersides, as you could see the serials

 

Roundel blue colour is a thorny issue as some Skyraiders show a lighter blue

 

 

You can see the kit subject on the first vid here at about 7,55

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023888

Edited August 18, 2019 by Dave Fleming

[Tailspin Turtle]

I just took a quick look at the kit and I am very impressed so far. If the fit is as good as the appearance of parts, then it is state of the art. One noteworthy feature for example: the trailing edge of the aileron is molded on the upper wing half, insuring a sharp edge. More later... Until then, see http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2018/06/ad-4w-skyraider.html

[Tailspin Turtle]

A work in progress; comments, corrections, and additions welcome: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2019/08/sword-172-douglas-ad-4w-skyraider.html

 

[71chally]

9 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said:

A work in progress; comments, corrections, and additions welcome: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2019/08/sword-172-douglas-ad-4w-skyraider.html

"...and the stripes (not provided as decals) are yellow only on the underside of the wings so the aircraft's serial is readable, implying that they were otherwise white although most models depict all of them as yellow..."

 

I've never heard or seen of Suez stripes being yellow & (black) only on the undersides and white otherwise.  Suez stripes were yellow all over for the allied aircraft recognition.

 

The way the stripes went over the underwing serial varies, sometimes the stripes ended in a box to show the serial, sometimes the stripes went all the way to the serial, and then there is this example of the stripes obliterating the serial.

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=142978726%40N08&view_all=1&text=skyraider

 

I would go with the boxart

Edited August 23, 2019 by 71chally

[Tailspin Turtle]

3 hours ago, 71chally said:

"...and the stripes (not provided as decals) are yellow only on the underside of the wings so the aircraft's serial is readable, implying that they were otherwise white although most models depict all of them as yellow..."

 

I've never heard or seen of Suez stripes being yellow & (black) only on the undersides and white otherwise.  Suez stripes were yellow all over for the allied aircraft recognition.

 

The way the stripes went over the underwing serial varies, sometimes the stripes ended in a box to show the serial, sometimes the stripes went all the way to the serial, and then there is this example of the stripes obliterating the serial.

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=142978726%40N08&view_all=1&text=skyraider

 

I would go with the boxart

Excellent pictures, thanks. Also note that the big HF antenna is not present on the vertical fin and the wire antenna is located differently. I’ll update the post.

[71chally]

Good tip for modelling the fin top mounted HF aerial on your blog Tommy, I always wondered what it was as it looks like a pipe within a pipe on the aircraft.

 

There is another variation on the stripes, at least one Skyraider AEW had the stripes applied to the non folding portions on the wing.

 

One thing that looks like it changed in the service life of the AEW.1, just ahead of the dorsal fin is a small radome, clearly seen on the kit, this seems to have given way to a small blade aerial post Suez.

 

Some nice colour references in this link, including some 'dome art'!,

http://skyraider.org/skyassn/memberpics/cowell/cowell.htm

[Tailspin Turtle]

71chally: Thanks very much for the excellent input. I've updated my post accordingly.

[Robert]

Regarding the Suez stripes l know on other aircraft they were yellow and black, but because the Skyraider was GSB did it just have yellow stripes ?

 

Regards

Robert

[71chally]

6 hours ago, Robert said:

Regarding the Suez stripes l know on other aircraft they were yellow and black, but because the Skyraider was GSB did it just have yellow stripes ?

 

Regards

Robert

I think some at least may have, the one in the main Flickr image above doesn't seem to have black on the underside stripes, harder to tell on the fuselage but they seem darker- perhaps an optical illusion.

I seem to recall seeing a B&W image of one and not seeing any tonal variation between the dark blue and what would have been black stripes.

 

 

Edit, ah @Tailspin Turtle I think this is where the confusion of the yellow only being applied underside and the rest in white came from, reading Daves post again I think he meant that only the yellow, ie not black, stripes was applied underside.

Edited August 24, 2019 by 71chally

[Tailspin Turtle]

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

I think some at least may have, the one in the main Flickr image above doesn't seem to have black on the underside stripes, harder to tell on the fuselage but they seem darker- perhaps an optical illusion.

I seem to recall seeing a B&W image of one and not seeing any tonal variation between the dark blue and what would have been black stripes.

 

 

Edit, ah @Tailspin Turtle I think this is where the confusion of the yellow only being applied underside and the rest in white came from, reading Daves post again I think he meant that only the yellow, ie not black, stripes was applied underside.

Somewhere in the links you posted there was a secondhand mention of a firsthand statement that since the AEW.1’s were dark blue, the black striping was omitted. As for my misinterpretation of "only the yellow", all I can say is "D'Oh!, of course". It is interesting to note how many different interpretations of "black and yellow stripes" there were among the Musketeers...

Edited August 24, 2019 by Tailspin Turtle