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F4D Skyray


Jb65rams

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My first build will be Tamiya's 1/48 F4D Skyray is the classic light gull grey over white. I will be finishing her in the colours of VFAW-3 as shown on the boxart.

 

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Sprue shot.

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The eagle eyed of you might have spotted that there are a few pieces missing, the ejection seat. Not sure if they were missing when I purchased it (eBay) or they were loose and I lost them when I took the sprues out of the plastic bags. In real life the original Douglas ejection seat was replaced by a Martin Baker Mk 5 seat, so that is what I will be doing as I happen to have a Pavla MB Mk5 resin seat in the spares box. 

 

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Made a start with the cockpit.

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As the kit seat is missing I am using an aftermarket resin replacement. Tried dry fitting the seat - it didn't fit, either the seat or the tub would require major surgery to get it to fit. I opted to take the razor saw to the seat. Photo shows seat after surgery.

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Seat in tub. Not fixed in place yet as I need to check that the canopy fits.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Progress has been slow but steady.

 

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Had to omit the part that fixes to the rear of the canopy to get it to fit over the am seat.

I have finished masking and given it a coat of Halfords grey primer.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not the best photo, but she is out of the paint booth and looking good in Light Gull Grey over White. I normally use Vallejo Model Air but used Xtracrylic this time, not sure what I was doing wrong but seem to spend more time cleaning & unclogging the airbrush. Just needs a gloss coat then I am ready to decal.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 04/04/2020 at 22:34, PeterB said:

Hi JB,

 

I have one of these too - any idea how much weight you put in?

 

Pete

Sorry didn't weigh it Used some offcuts 1.5mm thick lead sheet, approx 8mmx12mm, one in each side of the nose.

 

On 05/04/2020 at 03:07, Harry Callahan said:

Im just in processing to build the same model, so i have to follow your thread, looks good so far

Its a nice kit, goes together really well. Just need to watch out for the decals, they are a bit thick, and I struggled to get them to settle down. they also fractured quite easily.

 

Spent the last couple of weeks slowly decaling, took a while as they are a bit thick and would settle down, even using lots of setting solution. I was doing 1 or 2 decals per night,

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Once the decaling was finished, I gave it a coat of Satin Varnish and added the gear doors, weapons and folder wings,

 

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I really enjoyed this kit. I do like the early post war US naval aviation subjects - gull grey over white with colourful unit markings. Once I have finished my second entry I will take some better photos for the gallery.

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Those are some good-looking 1950s Douglas products and they look even better posed together.  What brand/shades of white and gray paint did you use for them? 

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