1/48th A-4K Skyhawk – 75 Sqn RNZAF Darwin Aust. 1984 - completed

[trickyrich]

Ok this is my second build for this one and the perfect partner for the Phantom, an RNZAF A-4K Skyhawk.

 

I was lucky enough to go out and see them shortly after they arrived at Ohakea on their first public showing (I also got to see the Strikemasters when they arrived too).

 

Ok to build an A-4K in 1/48th is not the easiest thing to do, first off the Hasegawa A-4K model is long since OOP, impossible to fine (pretty well) and frightening expensive if you can. Luckily Hasegawa was nice enough to include all the bits required in their A-4E/F family of kits (most but not all)….again not the easiest or cheapest to find.

 

My one as you can see is a wee bit worse for wear…….

 

 

………. that box is a wee bit out of shape, but the bits are all ok………

 

 

….. but I can’t say the same for the decals (free to anyone that wants them), but I don’t need them......... 

 

 

....... as I have these!

 

 

I was thinking of doing the late 70’s version, but the top one will go so nicely with the Phantom.

 

 

……and you thought I’d forgotten about AM stuff!!! 

 

Nup…… new cockpit and exhaust…

 

 

…. and new wheels.

 

 

I also have to replace the supplied drop tanks as they are incorrect for A-4K’s, they had the slightly smaller 150gal tanks, I have an old set floating around, but will probably a new set from Red Roo models.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

P/M inbound

[modelling minion]

This should be good.

Some nice goodies to throw at it as usual Rich.

Should make a nice companion to your RAAF F-4E, I just hope you have a Skyhawk left for the GB! 

[trickyrich]

I do!! 

[Greg Law]

Good choice Rich. I've probably been close to the 1971 one during my short stint in the Airforce during 1971.

[basket]

Taking a seat .

I've got the same project !

[trickyrich]

Ok after some delays and slackness we finally have and update or rather a start for this build.

 

Oh and I forgot to take some additional photos of some of the work! 

 

First job was the messy one, fitting or trying to fit the Aires cockpit……..and actually it’s going in quite simply for a change. I’m doing it a bit different than normal by fitting the new side walls to the fuselage first….which actually works well in this case.

 

 

As usual the old nose wheel well tub’s roof is nearly paper thin for it all to fit…which at least it will.

 

One question for the A-4K people, the quilting on the cockpit sides, what colour is it meant to be?? I have seen pictures of it in green, grey and even red? I haven’t found a good clear shot of it.

 

The wings are together, and I’ve started painting some of the interiors, I have to say the detailing on this model is really nicely done.

 

 

The intakes are together with some filler on the joins (has now been cleaned up), plus there’s the new resin exhaust.

 

 

Surprisingly the only part that has given my any fit issues is the hump!  It was a wee bit out of shape and needed to be taped together while the glue dried.

 

The only mod I had to do, which I forgot to take before photos is that I removed a moulded “diamond” shape from the outside of the intakes. I’m not sure what is was on the aircraft but the K’s didn’t have this.

 

I will say this about this model, this is Hasegawa at the top of their game!!    The general fit (forget the hump) is beautiful, and the moulding is so nice. No wonder these models are so hard to get!!

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

19 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

I will say this about this model, this is Hasegawa at the top of their game!!    The general fit (forget the hump) is beautiful, and the moulding is so nice. No wonder these models are so hard to get!!

Yeah when I built mine the only area I had trouble with was right behind the cockpit on top and the wing, fuselage join at the front. Well the intakes but those will always give you issues. 

[CharlieNZ]

The A-4K had the 300 gal tanks found in the kit.

 

It was the RAN A-4Gs that had the 150 gal tanks, and they were used as smoke tanks with diesel in them in RNZAF service. The exception was the golden jubilee Gold T-bird, that used the 150 gal tanks in place of the 300 gal.

 

Cockpit quilting was grey.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by CharlieNZ

[trickyrich]

cool thanks for that   , i knew about tanks for the Golden Bird (did try to build one until paint issues) but thought the smaller tanks were in general use. Saves me from having to buy some new tanks. 

[zebra]

Great choice Rich, I might build an A-4K later on myself. I built one years ago when the Hasegawa A-4K was available, using one of the Gekko sheets - the decals were excellent. Looking forward to following this one.

[Alun Gallie]

Very nice, watching this one with interest

[trickyrich]

Wow it has been ages since I updated this…. Was almost at the bottom of the pile! 

 

 

Been a bit slack so had better update this build……. all this work was done last weekend and earlier as I’m currently in the top end of Oz working at a Uranium mine. It’s quite safe, really, I haven’t got an urge for brains quite yet! 

 

 

ok iIn no particular build order…. I continued on with the cockpit, no nice decals this time just some fairly neat painting, looks quite good, I forgot to remove that resin dust before I took the photo! 

 

 

 

I needed to do further grinding back of the fuselage sides, nose wheel unit and base of the cockpit (now really paper thing to get it to fit correctly, then glued it in place…..

 

 

…… along with the intake and engine face. 

 

The intake fitted perfectly, they are just glued in and not finished yet, the sanding is from where I had to remove that “diamond” shaped panel.  You just couldn’t ask for a better fit, Hasegawa at the top of their game!

 

 

With this done I could then close up the fuselage, the instructions would have you fit the exhaust tail-pipe at this stage. Unfortunately the new resin pipe doesn’t line up with the locating holes on the inside, so I’ve decided to fit it after, just some minor work with the Dremel needed. 

 

You don’t get to see much of the cockpit, but what you can looks pretty good, am happy with how that came out.

 

 

Painted some red bits…..

 

 

… and some white bits.  The brakes were cut off the kit legs and replace with new ones with hubs, plus I cut up the moulded nose wheel ready for the resin replacement, should look much nicer than to old moulded one.

 

 

Started to look like a Skyhawk now, some filler will be required around the hump, plus around the lower fuselage area behind the wing. It’s a wee bit sunken there, I may have to add a brace to level it out.

 

 

 

I am enjoying this build, it’s been a while since I’ve built a Hasegawa model and this one is a beauty.

 

Unfortunately no further updates now until the end of Feb when I get back home………. I wonder what brains taste like raw??  

 

 

[Dansk]

Very nice work Rich. That cockpit looks super

[modelling minion]

Excellent work on your Skyhawk Rich, the resin cockpit is extremely good and you have done a great job on painting it.

The great thing about Skyhawks is that when you have got the cockpit sorted they start to take shape very quickly indeed and the Hasegawa kit is a fairly straight forward build and with a bit of care, such as you have done here, a great result can be had.

[trickyrich]

thanks, it's such a nice easy kit to build, just what I really needed after the MiG-31!!!!!

[alt-92]

20 hours ago, trickyrich said:

currently in the top end of Oz working at a Uranium mine. It’s quite safe, really, I haven’t got an urge for brains quite yet! 

Look on the bright side, you may get a pair of extra arms instead. That'll be handy later (fnaar!)

 

Nice work  There's a Hase A-4 in the deep stash somewhere... hmm.

[modelling minion]

5 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

There's a Hase A-4 in the deep stash somewhere... hmm.

Good job that you are signed up for the STGB that starts in 3 weeks then! 😁

[trickyrich]

3 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Look on the bright side, you may get a pair of extra arms instead. That'll be handy later (fnaar!)

 

I was thinking the same thing 

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Rich

How this one coming along ?

Cheers Pat 

[trickyrich]

On 3/29/2021 at 3:00 AM, JOCKNEY said:

Hi Rich

How this one coming along ?

Cheers Pat 

 interesting you should ask my fine young man my young man Pat because here is an update........... how did you guess I'd be doing an update...as you psychic/psycho? 

 

Well this one had been put to side for a wee bit while I tried to phinish the Phantom……and that all went to..

 

Then I started the A-4N and then the SPV and then and then …… and NO An DEN! 

 

So I’m back to this one, the plan is to get this one and the A-4N ready for painting and I’ll have one big painting day and get them both out of the way.

 

Right the wing had to be fitted and I did run into a few fit issues which would have resulted in a big gap along the side fuselage/wing join. Plus I had lips on both the front and rear joins……. a bit odd, as they had gone together without any issues during assembly.

 

Anyway I eventually got some nice joins, just a wee bit of sanding required and I do need to add a wee bit of filler to tidy some of them up. The rest of the surfaces were added and the hump glued in.

 

 

 

The nose join and the insert at the rear did need some work, the rear fuselage insert appeared to bit a bit on the small side!

 

 

 

I glued the exhaust nozzle on, I haven’t as yet bothered to paint the inside of it and am not too worried as when fitted you’ll barely be able to see anything inside.

 

 

The extra wee bit on the tail have been added.

 

 

Now I just need to clean up all the joins and do some prep work for painting. There’s not an awful lot left to do on her, I should have all the painting completed by the end of the long weekend with luck.

 

 

[modelling minion]

Coming along very nicely Rich.

That rear insert is one of a few pieces on the Hasegawa kit that almost fit, almost but not quite.

Don't blame you not painting the interior of the exhaust, you would nee to wear a miners helmet to be able to see inside, mine is in bare plastic too.

[trickyrich]

Well things didn’t quite go to plan , painting wise and am now way behind schedule! I was happily looking over other people’s builds when I stumbled across the issue with the Hasegawa model…… its slats! Oh  I had heard about an issue with the wing but didn’t know what it was and thought it was really minor. Well now I know what it is and it isn’t that minor and of course it’s really going to bug me unless I fix it. That would have been simple if I had found this earlier not when I’m just about to start painting them both!! What to do and how to do it!  

 

 

Well I fall back to the old saying (well mine    ) …..”when in doubt get the razor saw out!!”    Ok this won’t be pretty……….. 

 

…….. right some carefully work with the razor saw and the offending home is removed, luckily my glue join to the lower wing wasn’t the best and it came apart easily (not so on the A-4N those were stuck for life!)…….

 

 

….. and repeat on the other side. The cuts weren’t straight but on a slight angle towards the rear of the wing, this ensured I would get a clean join to the main wing when I raised the cut-out section.

 

 

To try and keep the spoiler mounts sort of at the same angle I added a 20thou strip to the leading edge of the cut-out section, that extra thickness won't be noticeable.

 

 

Then insert and glue and repeat and wait. While waiting I thinned the trailing edge of the spoiler as well.

 

 

Some filler was required to clean up the cuts and joins but all in all it came out alright, which was nice. As can be seen whit her bigger (?) brother, I had to go a different way with this one as I couldn’t remove the cutout section without damaging the wing.

 

 

Some undercoat and it looks really nice…… not sure if this is the A-4K or N's wing, very hard to tell.

 

 

So the undercoat and obligatory pre-shading squiggles are done and ready to start painting….again.

 

 

Plus all the extra bits for both models.

 

 

With luck I may get to start painting her today…maybe.

 

 

[basket]

Very well done !

[modelling minion]

A very neat job Rich, well done.👍