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A-4f Skyhawk, Eduard, 1/144


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After a log hiatus (at least for me, a few months of not building seems long for me) and a bunch of unfinished projects, but not really in the mood to tackle the last steps on these, I took a new kit from the stash, in the hope to finish it and see some result finally...

 

I've chosen the nimble A-4 Skyhawk in the even more nimble scale of 1/144...

 

The skyhawk was a 50's design for a small carrier based attack aircraft. Aircraft carriers then were a lot smaller, and this aircraft didn't need folding wings to save space, which also saved a lot of weight in the end. In later versions a steerable frontwheel was added so that the landing sequence could be shortened. In all, the aircraft was small and crude, but very effective (it took an equal load of bombs with it as a B-17 bomber). It's nicknames were: scooter, bantam bomber, Tinker toy bomber and Kiddiecar... It also had the "honour" to be the first and last aircraft to drop bombs in Vietnam, playing a role in the Falkland war as a bomber, it took also part in the Israeli wars, where it bore the brunt of the fight while trying to evade the Egyptian AA-umbrella (it wasn't really a fair fight, and it was redirected to the second line duty, to be written of no later then 2015!!!). It also served with the Topgun academy as an adversary Mig-17 and with the blue angels...

 

today it still serves with Draken international for training role and electronic warfare...

 

On to the box.... euh bag in which it comes:

1224092-12741-63-1080.jpg

 

and what's in it (I've added a little PE-set too...)

806646-11032-12-pristine.jpg

 

806647-11032-27-pristine.jpg

 

and a very "large" decalsheet:

806648-11032-24-pristine.jpg

 

so the construction.

I've seen some pictures with the slots extende, so I wanted to try that to:

So a few cuts with a scalpel results in:

806649-11032-25-pristine.jpg

 

and with the halves assembled:

806650-11032-18-pristine.jpg

 

next was to cut some recesses for the chaff/flare launchers

806654-11032-35-pristine.jpg

 

and the cockpit (not really fond of these prepainted things, but in this scale, it has it's charm:

806655-11032-81-pristine.jpg

 

and the assembled with the aid off the fuselage halves for the position:

806656-11032-23-pristine.jpg

 

next up some detail in the main landing bay:

809862-11032-34-pristine.jpg

 

and some work on the bangseat: start with removing some material

809868-11032-76-pristine.jpg

 

and add some replacements:

809865-11032-43-pristine.jpg

 

809874-11032-34-pristine.jpg

 

and that's one of the reasons why I don't like prepainted parts:

809866-11032-75-pristine.jpg

 

but some paint later it was installed:

809875-11032-44-pristine.jpg

maybe not the smartest move to install this one allready, but... hey you know this for the next build...

 

then the canopy

809869-11032-69-pristine.jpg

 

became canopies:

809873-11032-61-pristine.jpg

just some careful cutting

 

and a "lot" of filler between the wingroot and cockpit section

809867-11032-49-pristine.jpg

 

809871-11032-39-pristine.jpg

 

next up was the landing gear:

added some hydraulics 

811297-11032-16-pristine.jpg

 

811298-11032-82-pristine.jpg

 

and some paint:

813236-11032-62-pristine.jpg

 

followed by a wash

813237-11032-30-pristine.jpg

 

next up is waiting for the paint to arrive...

 

Edited by Silenoz
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Last step before paint: the inflight refueling probe. The original kitpart is solid plastic of 0.5mm... very solid and presumably gone under 60 seconds... thought of replacing it with brass, a little stiffer than copper.

824471-11032-94-pristine.jpg

 

Eduard was so nice to provide a template, unfortunately a little to big, and as it seems projected under a different angle than looking from directly above or below.... So the Middle piece was remover, a 0.4mm drilled to accept the brass part (plastic is 0.6mm, I need to have some body...)

 

824473-11032-30-pristine.jpg

 

The brass was thinner at both sides and bent according to the (wrong) template:

824472-11032-67-pristine.jpg

 

And all was glued in place ...

824474-11032-40-pristine.jpg

 

Nice... Then you check the references... The tip doesn't get past the nose and should be further away from the aircraft.... So a second time around:

824475-11032-69-pristine.jpg

 

Not perfect, but acceptable...

 

Now waiting for some descent temperature... 31°C in the shadow... And believe it, a lot more outside of it.... Luckily we have a moderate climate here...

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Well, somebody pointer me to the fact that the IFR still wasn't good, too long, bends too small

 

825154-11032-43-pristine.jpg

 

I reworked it. The brass broke with these angles but some hearing made it soft like butter. Maybe a few hours outside have the same result...

That original stiffness is gone completely now

 

On another forum somebody asked for the size:

825153-11032-24-pristine.jpg

 

Almost 85mm ...

 

The canopy... I've done a dryfit before, and all could be closed up... Not anymore... So I had to break it out, and you guessed it,  a lot broke off along with the seat. (IFR, ejection handle, side of the seat, you name it... And while fitting the front canopy, the mechanism for the front windscreen wiper was also launched and gone...

 

Ah, you know what's said about that, now you know what to do all afternoon...

 

825155-11032-28-pristine.jpg

 

825156-11032-57-1440.jpg

Bit soft on the detail it seems...

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