Nostalgia build -- 1/72 Hasegawa A-4 Skyhawk

[billn53]

Now I'm thoroughly ticked off 

 

Here's what happened when I sprayed a coat of Alclad Aqua-Gloss:

 

 

 

 

 

No choice now but to strip off all the MM paint and start over. 

 

 

[stevehnz]

That sucks big time Bill, is it a matter of needing more time for the MM paints to cure or something rather nastier about them? We don't get them here AFAIK, & I've not had that sort of hassle with Vallejo.

Steve.

[billn53]

48 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

That sucks big time Bill, is it a matter of needing more time for the MM paints to cure or something rather nastier about them? We don't get them here AFAIK, & I've not had that sort of hassle with Vallejo.

Steve.

It had been five days since painting when I did the wash, so plenty of time to cure.

When I repaint, I’ll be trying a new enamel paint (yes I’m a glutton for punishment) I just got in the post. If all goes well, I’ll be using them on my next big project. 

Bill

[Jackson Duvalier]

Oh Bill, I'm so sorry to see that.   😟  

 

I've learned to resist the urge to attempt immediate remedial action when a horrifying paint mishap occurs.  Sometimes I get lucky and the problem eventually self-resolves as if by miracle.  Other times not so much, as it appears with your poor crusty Skyhawk.  But one can't tell the difference in the moment.  Trying to un-f*%& things before the paint sets always makes the situation worse.

 

Best to leave bad enough alone for a while.  

[billn53]

I stripped off the old paint using 91-percent IPA and an old toothbrush (except for the area around the cockpit, where I used a Q-tip to avoid damaging the canopy).

 

 

 

I'm getting pretty good at stripping paint (which is like saying one is getting good at drown-proofing -- an important skill to have, but something you hope never to need).

 

B-58A Hustler (June 1, 2019):

 

 

Fairey Barracuda (September 3, 2019):

 

 

For the re-paint I'm using a new enamel line from True North Precision Paints ( https://www.truenorthpaints.com/ )

 

 

 

Today I sprayed the white undersides, control surfaces, and underwing tanks. I thinned it 60:40 (paint to thinner) and sprayed at about 18 psi. It covered well and presented no issues. Being an enamel, I want to give it a few days to completely cure before masking for the light gull gray upper surfaces. To help things along, I'm using an old bread-proofer oven to elevate the temperature while the paint cures.

 

 

 

Lastly, I found another photo of a VA-203 Skyhawk:

 

 

 

It sure looks like this pilot is flying in a convertible... I wonder what the story is there?

[tomthounaojam]

darn that look pretty bad on the skin, hope it is all shorted out now

[billn53]

I'm happy to say that I've got the paint job sorted out, otherwise my Skyhawk would have looked more like this:

 

 

 

after tossing it in the bin!

 

Instead, the True North enamels did the job for me. Here's how she looks now:

 

 

 

 

 

Much, much better!

 

The only downside to all this is that my canopy has been taking a beating with repeated masking, painting, de-masking, re-masking, etc and is showing it around the edges:

 

 

 

Also, I realized last night that I forgot to add the yellow ejection handle over the pilot's helmet. Oh well, too late now.

 

 

 

But, at least I'm back in business 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 minutes ago, billn53 said:

The only downside to all this is that my canopy has been taking a beating with repeated masking, painting, de-masking, re-masking, etc and is showing it around the edges:

Still it looks better than the first canopy. As for the ejection handle theres not much you can do about that short of surgery so i think i would just leave it. 
 

Dennis

[Andwil]

Beautiful finish on that paintwork.

 

AW

[Jackson Duvalier]

Good save, Bill.  All that stripping-and-repainting practice has paid off!

[billn53]

A little more progress today.

 

I gave my Scooter a Flory wash to highlight the major panel lines (control surfaces, etc)

 

 

 

Then did some detail painting, adding blue stripes and fin tip on the tail, and the red warning marking around the jet intake:

 

   

 

I had hoped to add a detailed resin refueling probe, but the postal services are in no hurry to deliver it to me, so I considered instead using the kit piece. Not a viable option: too many molding flaws to clean up on what is a very fragile item (see my evidence, below!)  Plan B is to replace the kit probe with a section of 1mm aluminum tubing. I'll add the kit's "business end" to at least give some resemblance to the actual refueling probe.

 

 

 

I'm hoping to be done this weekend. Monday is our local group meeting (it would be good to show it off there), and a few days later I'll be having a bit of surgery, which put a crimp in my building for a couple weeks.

 

-Bill

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Bill shes looking real good with the wash. Hope everything goes well and you can show her off at the club. My best wishes for a quick and trouble free surgery and recovery.
 

Dennis 

[billn53]

After a few final touches, I was on to decaling and next thing I know, I'm done!

 

Instead of the poor kit piece, I sacrificed a resin refueling probe to give me the business end for my Scooter's probe:

 

  

 

I also used resin AM to replace my Scooter's guns, which were lost much earlier in this build:

 

 

 

Decals on:

 

 

 

 

 

Up on her magnetic stand:

 

 

 

 

 

And Shrike missile launch added:

 

 

 

More pics are in the RFI, posted here:

 

 

 

Start-to-finish in just over two weeks. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

NICE ...  Well worth the trouble to get such a nice result. 

[mdauben]

16 hours ago, billn53 said:

And Shrike missile launch added:

That's a very cool posed photo of the model in action.  Very dynamic!  

[billn53]

Just a quick follow-up. I realized looking at my photos that I had forgotten to do the red anti-collision beacon on the dorsal hump.

 

Here's how I did it. I first removed the molded-in light, leaving only its base:

 

 

 

I painted the top of the base with Molotow liquid chrome, then used thick UV clear gel to build up the beacon's "glass" section:

 

 

 

I then painted Vallejo transparent red on the resulting clear section and gave it a gloss coat (as the Vallejo paint dries to a flat finish). Here's the final result: