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Mark's big little scooter


MarkSH

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Hi all,

 

I'm in with the Hasegawa 1/32 A-4F which is going to be done as the subject of the box art 'Lady Jessie'. Being a Skyhawk newbie its going to be pretty much out of the box with a few home grown improvements and one concession to After market do-dads in the shape of the Quickboost seat.

 

50987682858_f88c02e13d_b.jpg

 

Even at 1/32 the kit is not huge, which has fortunately saved me from the " Where the hell are you going to put that!?" inquisition.

 

50988391506_72544993ae_b.jpg

 

The kit has very fine raised panel lines, I may re-scribe some of the major ones, but as I've never been that bothered by them I'll be happy with a mixture. Certainly the control surfaces need defining a little better and I'm also considering adding some skin deformation in a few places. we'll see. 

Looking forward to cracking on with this, and BTW, I have the Airfix 1/72 winging its way to me as well.

Cheers,

Mark.

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Great to see our first big scale scooter in the GB Mark, though as you say even in 1/32 scale they are not too big.

Lady Jessie has proved to quite a popular subject for modellers and it is easy to see why with much more colour than the usual gull grey and white.

Personally I am happy to live raised panel lines, I am part way through a Monogram 1/48 A-4 which has them, they can make defining the panel lines quite easy to do.

 

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Afternoon all,

 

Looking forward to this one, this is my first venture into 1/32 and as @stevej60 alluded to the Hasegawa take on the A-4 in this scale represents really good value compared to the 'Trumpy' versions, however, that being said, I rarely do a kit absolutely verbatim to the intended and 1/32 presents a really nice opportunity to add detail and in this case the Hase' kit is an ideal blank canvas and a worthy test for the 1/32 Revell Hunter that has been languishing unloved for many moons.

 

Anyway an early doors update:

 

Having had the opportunity to look more closely at the kit now, whilst it is generally quite nice it is rather lacking in a few places and being Hasegawa the issues centre around the munitions, the big surprise is that some are actually supplied with the kit!  The six Mk 82 500lb'ers are a little bland so I decided to splurge out on some additional aftermarket stuff for this build, I mean why not? its my first build of the year.  I duly ordered some Eduard Brassin Mk 82's, the Flightpath Access ladder, and some RBF tags.

51008759472_f0253766d3_b.jpg

 

A comparison of the Mk82's.......well no comparison really!:

51008658206_ba4a9fcaba_b.jpg

 

I really like the look of the weapon load depicted in the box art but of course Hasegawa don't supply the two Shrike missiles shown, they have supplied two Bullpups but like the Mk 82's they are a bit devoid of detail.  I have seen that many A-4s carried AIM-9 Sidewinders for self defence, I don't know whether 'Lady Jessie' ever did but I'm going to do it anyway. Again looking to after market stuff I have ordered some more Eduard Brassin this time the AIM-9B set, a certain modelling concern in Lowestoft are doing rather well so far out of this build.  One problem following this route did present is that I don't have the correct launch rails in the kit, now I know that the LAU-7 is available in 1/32 but I couldn't lay my hands on any so I decided to scratch one, make a mould and cast it in resin, I'll put my hand up to starting this a couple of days ago...but I got excited, and couldn't help myself and.....anyway;

 

LAU-7 basic form:

51007951648_dbf9702150_b.jpg

 

Detail added:

51007951693_1bb4a4513f_b.jpg

 

The first casting attempt was no good as I needed to cut some extra air escape channels into the mould.

 

The second attempt; nearly but not quite, a couple of pin holes and a large chunk missing, I maybe able to fill the gap, I'll give it ago. I think the problem is the way I poured the resin into the mould using both pouring holes and created an air bubble...you stupid boy. 

Most of the detail is actually quite good though:

51007992353_80905fed2b_b.jpg

 

...meanwhile:

The cockpit needed some initial surgery to accommodate the Quickboost seat; the kit's seat base is moulded as part of the tub floor so this was removed and a new floor installed.

51007951653_729889e022_b.jpg

 

51007951668_cf279dcb03_b.jpg

 

cockpit assembly and painting next.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.
 

 


 

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A nice bundle of extra's Mark,good luck with the build I'll watch with interest,I had a boxing of this kit in my grubby mits a few years ago at the 

Northern show at a give away price of a fiver but the decals were missing and at the time AM decals and parts were something I knew nothing

about so passed on it,excuse me as it's time I went and kick myself just one more time!

 

 

 

 

 

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Off to a great start Mark, and don't worry about having started a tiny bit early as you certainly won't get berated for it by me, you never know extra points might be awarded for enthusiasm! Definitely get extra points for casting your own resin, those LAU-7's are going to look great. The aftermarket Mk.82's are a world away from the original kit ones.

1 hour ago, stevej60 said:

,excuse me as it's time I went and kick myself just one more time!

If I had seen you turn one down at that price I would have kicked you too Steve!

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Afternoon all,

 

I had a go at casting more LAU-7s with better results. All of the examples require some kind of remedial work to make them usable, in particular the fin stabiliser lugs at the front were too small to accept resin without getting trapped air in them so I will cut them off and glue new ones in place, otherwise some gaps and pinholes to fill, but overall the details are there and I will definitely get two usable examples which will allow me to retain the master.

51012186986_3674cb6033_b.jpg

 

The Quickboost seat was assembled and of course the first of the tiny parts to be selected for removal from the resin plug, pinged off never to be seen again....'ere we go! Not daunted a plastic and wire alternative was made and I have to say it looks better than the original anyway so I did the same for the other side too.

51012327227_b7d028561c_b.jpg

 

 

51008039013_22e7d4c2e8_b.jpg


The seat, tub and IP were primed and painted and given a wash to show some signs of usage plus some drops of canopy glue were dropped into the IP dials.

51012346757_b2d422b0af_b.jpg

 

51012281772_326d247ff5_b.jpg

 

 

51011472923_343ed35188_b.jpg

 

 

51012281742_f19c3faf5e_b.jpg

Apart from the seat the kit cockpit looks pretty good.

 

The reference I have seen quite often shows a fabric pocket on the RH sidewall of the A-4 cockpit, again I'm not sure if this is pertinent to 'Lady Jessie' but it adds more interest, I used Apoxie Sculpt to create the pocket.  Oddly the prominent diamond pattern padding in the kit is incomplete on the RH side, so I used a file to add in the missing parts then it was liberally painted with Tamiya extra thin cement to blend it all in.

51012281722_6dd6c7590c_b.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

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15 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I have to echo what Paul said above, that is some excellent work Mark.

The cockpit is fantastic, really nicely painted as is the instrument panel, you have definitely set the bar very high for us all.

That fabric pocket is a superb addition.

:worthy:

 

Cheers Craig and @Dansk,  gotta love larger scales!.... sausage fingers dream! I may never go back to 1/72 or 48 that is when I buy a much bigger gaff!!

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  • 1 month later...

Evening all,

 

Just a quick update, not much to report, I have been in the midst of some household redecorating and spring garden maintenance of late but the majority of that is complete so I should be able to crack on with my 32nd scale Scooter.

 

The cockpit tub has been completed with some extra insulation/padding added and installed:

51107169009_a8039f91d2_b.jpg

 

...and the major fuselage components assembled and cleaned up, so far no filler used on the top surfaces except just a smidge around the front of the avionics hump and little on the lower rear fuselage, all very simple with very few components and good fit:

51108201845_bccfb78645_b.jpg

The engine intakes have no detailing not even a suggestion of the front face of the compressor so you can see I have got some FOD guards loosely fitted in the intakes:

51107428381_9bf7d5581e_b.jpg

...these are my first efforts with my new toy...a 3D printer and I'm quite pleased with the results. The handle/bar is only .62mm ø and I wasn't convinced it would print, but there it is, awesome! the bar is very delicate but the trick was to clean it up as much as possible before curing the prints as they become quite brittle after.  FYI the FOD guards were modelled in Rhino 3d, processed with the Lychee slicer and printed on an Anycubic Photon Mono.  So far, very impressed.

 

I have also constructed the previously purchased Flightpath crew ladder...if I'd known I wouldn't have bothered and printed my own, could have done the LAU-7s too, and the AIM9s and the Mk 82s as well!....oh well, never mind, the printer was a bit of a spur of the moment purchase:

51107428396_38e9772da8_b.jpg

 

I have also added some additional detail to the nose gear:

51107322198_9dd539b5d7_b.jpg

The locating lugs have been modified to allow me to fit the assembly much later on in the build unlike the instructions which would have you fit it in the cockpit tub assembly prior to installing in the fuselage...a recipe for disaster.

 

Anyway some progress.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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Great to see your big scooter back underway Mark, and looking very good too.

19 minutes ago, MarkSH said:

FYI the FOD guards were modelled in Rhino 3d, processed with the Lychee slicer and printed on an Anycubic Photon Mono

And just what does that mean in English?

The FOD guards do look very good, and conveniently cover the lack of any detailing inside the intakes.

The cockpit tub looks really good, some very nice painting to pick out the details.

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2 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Great to see your big scooter back underway Mark, and looking very good too.

And just what does that mean in English?

The FOD guards do look very good, and conveniently cover the lack of any detailing inside the intakes.

The cockpit tub looks really good, some very nice painting to pick out the details.

Sorry.... 'Rhino 3D' is the 3d modeller in which I created the models, 'Lychee' is a slicing software that as the name suggests slices up the 3d model for printing of each layer and the the 'Anycubic Photon Mono' is just the name of the printer

 

Cheers,

Mark.

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  • 1 month later...

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