jean Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Hi everyone, the painting is finished and I have given my A-4 B, three coats of diluted Humbrol Clear Cote. It is now shining like a vintage car (except for the time being at the left wing tip, which is where I am holding the model). I am using the VC-5 paint scheme from an impressive Xtradecal sheet. Funny enough, these decals are not as easy to use as other Xtradecal goodies. They tend to behave like limpet mines wherever they arrive and to move them into position is real fun! The tiny BuAer decal by the jet pipe got stuck, folded on itself, broke, and then some.... I got the better of it, but my language was appalling. There are a lot more of much bigger decals to come... Here is a picture of the progress, as of this evening. More photos soon. Have fun! JR 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Great brushwork on this Jean, hope the rest of the decals go on okay. Did you rescribe this, if so you have done a splendid job. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Hi Chris, thanks for your kind comments. I have only rescribed the spine of the kit, where I erased all the panel lines when cleaning the to seam.... There was no other way to proceed in view of the poor job I did gluing the half fuselages together. After the primer, the paint and the clear varnish, the panel lines are quite decent. Cheers. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 I enjoyed building my version of this kit. I see you're having the same sort of fun. It makes me want to build another! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 1 hour ago, John Masters said: I enjoyed building my version of this kit. I see you're having the same sort of fun. It makes me want to build another! Hi John, this sure is a really enjoyable kit. Plus I love the colorful US Navy planes of the 60s and 70s, so this is plastic heaven. You should get another one in the display case, if only to keep company to the first one! My second A-4B is at painting stage, and sadly I have just seen that my LHS in RSA is stocking this kit again.... I may have to buy a third one. Damn! Have fun! JR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 9 hours ago, jean said: You should get another one in the display case I agree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) Hi everyone, thank you for your kind comments. I had to bite the bullet and have a go at the big checkered placard on the rudder. No right to a mistake! I decaled first a roundel and it behave fine, although the Micro Sol did not seem to have much effect. Xtradecals are beautiful but rather stiff, and making them conform to the panel lines can be a mission. In this case, it was. The checkertails flag on the tail gave me grey hair! I was lucky it landed pretty much where I wanted it, but even to move it a couple of mm proved a lot of fun... After one night I realized that the rudder looked like an A-4A. Not a single rib could be seen. So I tried a stronger decal solution I had never used before. It worked well for the roundel, but only did half the job with the rudder. No alternative but to gently perforate the bubbles and flood the area with setting solution. Because the decal was already very soft, a few cracks appeared, but at long last the decal conformed much better. So now some micro touch ups, hoping that with more gloss and then some matt or semi-gloss varnish,the fiasco will become invisible! Anyway, here are two pictures to illustrate what I went through. The various cracks are quite visible below, but this should be not too difficult to sort out. Need the right paint color. Thanks for watching. Have fun with your kits! JR Edited October 5, 2021 by jean 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Nice Scooter! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 That checker tail decal has settled amazingly well! Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Just caught up on this and I have to say that despite the troubles you've had, it's a spectacular looking plane! I love that checker tail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 14 hours ago, AdrianMF said: That checker tail decal has settled amazingly well! Regards, Adrian 10 hours ago, opus999 said: Just caught up on this and I have to say that despite the troubles you've had, it's a spectacular looking plane! I love that checker tail! 16 hours ago, James G said: Nice Scooter! Hi guys, yes it is a great looking paint scheme, and you are right Adrian: despite all my misgivings due to the stiffness of the Xtradecal transfers, the checkerboard settled down beautifully. The few cracks I will have to deal with are nothing serious, and I can promise you that I was not optimistic at all on the outcome when I realized the decal was not conforming at all. Thanks guys for your comments. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Glad you got the chequer tail decal to conform as it looks great, great work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 Hi everyone, life has reared its usual head and modelling has to go on the back burner for a while. My A-4B is nonetheless progressing, even if rather slowly. So decalling is now almost finished. I cursed the vortex thingies on the wings, as they made a usually pleasant task, far less so. But the problems were beaten into submission! So things are moving, but not really fast. There will be quite a few micro touch-ups, especially on the checkered tail. Here is a picture of the progress: Have fun! JR. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinChipmunkfan Posted October 16, 2021 Share Posted October 16, 2021 This is coming together really well and will be very striking when completed. Looking forward to the finished article. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 Like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted November 3, 2021 Author Share Posted November 3, 2021 Hi everyone, well it has been a long time since the last post and things are, as usual, crawling along, but forward. I have finished the decalling and decided to dirty the airframe before spraying the matt clear varnish. This is the state the model is at, as seen on the photo. Next is a wash, which seems to go better on matt paint than gloss. Surprising. Then all will be needed is to glue all the little dangling things and do last second repairs on the breakages. But that is still in the future... Anyway her is a photo of the progress: Cheers all. JR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted December 25, 2021 Author Share Posted December 25, 2021 Hi everyone, and all the best wishes of a great Christmas to you all. My A-4B is back on the front burner, with a view to finishing it before the end of the year. I did add some weathering with oils. All the landing gears and tires are next, and I will keep the little things and the breakages' repairs for last. Lessons learned! So year end finish is doable. Here are a couple of photos to show the progress on this little kit (I was shocked to see that it is smaller-looking than the Zero I just finished...). Have a great day! JR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 (edited) Hi, well I had over half the dangly bits fitted on the Skyhawk, when a minor disaster struck! I put the model legs up on a tissue and as Sod's Law would have it, the canopy landed straight on a small drop of CA glue... I tried straight away to remove some of it with Tamiya polishing compound, but it did diddly squat. So now I have to try and use polishing cloths, and only when the glue is gone will I use the polishing compound again. The problem is that with all the fragile bits already glued, the chances for additional breakages are quite high, but I just have to be extra careful. Here is a photo of the model to date. The glue mark is at the front of the opening section of the canopy, smack bang on the top... The white stains around the front of the model are left over of Tamiya polishing compound. All this will be cleaned at the end! Have fun! JR. Edited December 29, 2021 by jean 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 Hi everyone, I have slacked somewhat with my Skyhawk, being distracted by other GB builds. Despite the sidetracks, it should be fully finished by the end of this week. The IR probe has been re-glued, the fuel tanks fitted, etc. Only a couple of minute items are left. To be honest, I am not sure whether I feel like scratching the windscreen wiper... We shall see when the time comes. So here is a photo of the progress to date: Cheers. JR 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 This looks really fantastic! Looks smaller than a zero? Must be a small hot-rod indeed. Very nice work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 7 hours ago, opus999 said: This looks really fantastic! Looks smaller than a zero? Must be a small hot-rod indeed. Very nice work! Hi, thanks for the compliment. You are right: a Zero is actually bigger (at least in span) than a A-4! I was shocked to see that after I finished my Zero. And the smallness of the A-4 makes life rather difficult when it comes to handling it with all the thingies dangling underneath, the IR probe, aerials, etc. So if I can add the last couple of small pieces without breaking any other in the process, the end is nigh. Cheers. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted January 27, 2022 Author Share Posted January 27, 2022 (edited) Hi everyone, well, this has taken a ridiculously long time, but my A-4B is at long last finished! There has been a fair amount of breakages during the build, and I have decided to stop using Humbrol Clearcote as a clear varnish. It remains tacky for a very long time and keeps on collecting dust, hair, etc and is very susceptible to any dirt... One f the reasons I decided to finish the A-4 in a rather grubby paint scheme. The good thing, is that these dirty Skyhawks were fairly frequent, so nothing out of the ordinary there. The Airfix A-4B is really a great little kit, and I can't recommend it enough. I have a second one that is almost at the primer stage and that will be finished in VA-106 Gladiators scheme. Here are a few photos: A few more photos will be posted in RFI. Thanks for watching. JR Edited January 27, 2022 by jean 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 That has come up really well Jean, the journey got the result in the end. 👍 Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 That turned out beautifully! Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 (edited) deleted extra copy of last post Edited January 31, 2022 by opus999 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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