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JR's 1/72 Airfix A-4B


jean

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Hi all,

 

for some unknown reason I am entering this A-4 GB. Still haven't figured why...

Anyway, here is the guilty party: the 1/72 Airfix A-4B. I am sure very many BMers will enter this very kit.

Despite its shortcomings it is a lovely kit to build, and it actually does look like an A-4B. I have another A-4B in the WIP and good sense would have me finish that one before starting another one... That won't happen.

Here are a few photos:

 

A-4B GB Photo 1

 

A-4B GB Photo 2

 

I did not even remember that I had these few goodies. So will use them, why not!

A-4B GB Photo 3

 

The the decals, I have to sheets from Xtradecal.

The A-4B in WIP will sport the VC-5 Checkertails scheme.

 

The second A-4B in this GB will either be in the colors of VA-83, VA-86 or VA-106. Still totally undecided!

 

A-4B GB Photo 4

 

A-4BGB Photo 5

 

There you are.

Have fun, all of you!

 

JR

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Welcome to the GB Jean, always good to have you onboard.

1 hour ago, jean said:

for some unknown reason I am entering this A-4 GB. Still haven't figured why...

I didn't know we had to have a good reason for entering a GB! Could explain where I have been going wrong!

You have a very nice selection of decals to choose from there, enough to keep even you busy for long time.

I hope you enjoy the GB.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi everyone,

 

yesterday evening I decided that it may be time to start my A-4. 

So I started with the wings, to get that out of the way. Painless exercise as the engineering of this kit is outstanding.

The very soft plastic though, means that one has to be careful with a scalpel blade or a sanding stick... 

 

A-4B GB Photo 6

 

When I received this kit from Hannant's, years ago, one of the slats' guides was broken, but in the box.

Now, it is still broken, but the guide has grown little legs and hit the road... More work!

The Eduard etch is adhesive. First time I use this gadget, so I tried it on the rear of the cockpit, just to see. Bottom line, I am not convinced it will withstand the effects of time. And especially the African heat, etc. It is already coming slightly loose at the corners. So it will be CA gluing everywhere, like normal PE.

 

Today I fiddled with the ejection seats for both this A-4 and the one I have in the WIP section. I have the Pavla seats, and like all AM seats, they have to be copiously shortened at the base... It took some time, but I have now two seats to paint. 

 

Anyway, this kit is a pleasure, and I am looking forward to have two to finish... on top of my Etendard IV M, of course.

 

Cheers and have fun!

JR

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi everyone,

 

work has moved on slowly, as usual, and some photos will nonetheless appear tonight.

But after a lot of indecision, I have finally told myself that this A-4 will be finished in the colors of VA-106. That should look rather smashing. If I don't stuff it up, of course.

What this means is that I will have to buy a few more A-4Bs to exhaust all the paint schemes I want to add to my collection... We are so good at making up excuses in order to purchase more kits...

Cheers.

 

JR

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Hi everyone,

 

Life knows when I want to do some modeling, and something always happens that stops me doing any... Ideas anyone?

 

The cockpit is almost finished: I am left with some tiny touch ups and some CA glue clean-up o the top of the seat...

Plus I did notice that I glued the harness tension handle up side down... Doh... That will stay as is, due to its invisibility under a closed canopy...

 

Busy on the fuselage intakes, etc. So closing the fuselage should happen by the end of this Easter weekend...

Anyway, a quick view of the cockpit to date.

 

A-4B GB Photo 7

 

Cheers and have fun with your kits!

 

JR

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42 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Excellent work on your cockpit Jean, it looks really good.

I look forward to the fuselage being closed up.

And if you find a way of not letting life get in the way of modelling then please feel free to share it with the rest of us!

Sure its called being super wealthy, that way you can spend all your time building and collecting. If you can accomplish that you wont need one of those pesky time consuming jobs. 

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Hi everyone,

 

slow progress to report., but it's progress.

Fuselage was ready to close for eternity.All the goodies are inside, bar the lead in the nose, which I will try not to forget.

 

A-4B GB Photo 8

 

Then last night, when I should have called it a day, I stupidly decided to drill the used oil vent hole on the starboard half fuselage... Big mistake!

I was so tired that I ended with too big a hole in the wrong location!!! Can't believe I did that.

So I glued a length of stretched sprue in the hole and after some sand papering, nothing will show and I can attempt a second hole.

 

A-4B GB Photo 9

 

Never a dull moment.

Cheers and keep having fun.

 

JR

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Great to see you making progress JR - just a shame you got knocked back a step too. Like Craig says - it's something we've all done and at least it's fixable. It's not a problem when there's a solution - only becomes a problem when there's absolutely nothing you can do which thankfully seems to be rare in our hobby :thumbsup:

Kris 

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On 4/6/2021 at 2:03 PM, jean said:

  .../...

Never a dull moment.

 

 JR

 

Clearly ...  as some people say : :poop:happens ... especially when you're tired , worried , stressed etc ... 

 

I personaly spilled half a bottle of tamiya green cement around a model ... a few years ago ... fortunately it didn't touch ANY part of my kit ... but destroyed my cutting mat ... lesson for life ...  when I'm not in ... I stay out !  :giggle: ... of my cave ... or at least far away from my bench .

 

Following this shocking incident ( for me !!! ) , Fabrice ( the guy who outrageously builds astonishing models of planes and AFV and who just started an A-4M in this GB  ) told me  that he did the same thing on a finished model when he was 20 or so .... and stopped modelling for years after that .... ( as a friend of mine , I believe him , but I can't stop thinking that girls had also something to see with that fact ... :giggle: ) .

 

Anyway , I'm glad you've found a solution to your mistake and hope you'll show us your new hole !

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Hi everyone, et bonsoir a toi Remy, 

 

I managed to glue the fuselage, the wings and the horizontal stabilizers, so not a bad day all in all.

It is starting to look like an A-4.

 

A-4B GB Photo 12

 

I still had a couple of nasty surprises though. Where would be the fun if everything went smoothly?

First, the ejection seat.

 

A-4B GB Photo 11

 

During dry fitting I was overjoyed to see that the canopy closed shut quite nicely. OK, I had to trim quite a lot of the base of the AM seat.

So I glued everything and tried the canopy... No idea where it came from, but the seat had raised by 1/2 mm. So forget about a closed canopy, which is a bummer... Oh well.

 

Second, the used oil vent I had to re-drill on the port side of the fuselage. I wish to put @basket mind at rest: my new orifice has turned fine, but it was a close call.

 

A-4B GB Photo 10

 

I had decided to fit a piece of tubing inside, as this is quite visible on photos. Somehow the  glue in tube I was using to fix the support escaped on the inside of the fuselage and I noticed it was melting the plastic around the tubing from the inside out!!! Nothing I could do, but thankfully it stopped short of making a hole and the piece of tube allowed the hole to remain nice and circular... Pheeew.

 

Once more, nothing that cannot be fixed. I shall be more careful when I play with holes in the future.

 

So now a lot of tidying up to do, and then hopefully some painting. A great little kit!

 

Thanks for watching and have fun.

 

JR

 

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On 07/04/2021 at 19:11, basket said:

 

Clearly ...  as some people say : :poop:happens ... especially when you're tired , worried , stressed etc ... 

 

I personaly spilled half a bottle of tamiya green cement around a model ... a few years ago ... fortunately it didn't touch ANY part of my kit ... but destroyed my cutting mat ... lesson for life ...  when I'm not in ... I stay out !  :giggle: ... of my cave ... or at least far away from my bench .

 

Following this shocking incident ( for me !!! ) , Fabrice ( the guy who outrageously builds astonishing models of planes and AFV and who just started an A-4M in this GB  ) told me  that he did the same thing on a finished model when he was 20 or so .... and stopped modelling for years after that .... ( as a friend of mine , I believe him , but I can't stop thinking that girls had also something to see with that fact ... :giggle: ) .

 

Anyway , I'm glad you've found a solution to your mistake and hope you'll show us your new hole !

 As a matter of fact,  i was 14 ; the victim was an Italeieri's spooky and i indeed consecutively turned my attention on girls for decades who where much less disappointing...

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15 hours ago, Fabrice Simon said:

  i indeed consecutively turned my attention on girls for decades who where much less disappointing...

...but O so much more stressful...

Because it was clearly their fault, have Tamiya paid all the demands of alimony coming your way over the last few decades?

I sincerely do hope so...

JR

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2 hours ago, jean said:

...but O so much more stressful...

Because it was clearly their fault, have Tamiya paid all the demands of alimony coming your way over the last few decades?

I sincerely do hope so...

JR

All the kits i could have bought...

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

this A-4B is moving pretty much in parallel with my two current other builds, which shows a total lack of self discipline.... Too late to change, I'm afraid.

 

All the main airframe elements are on. I next need to re-scribe all the lines I have erased through the sanding of the seams. This very soft Airfix plastic can be a pain.

Then canopy and primer.

A-4B GB Photo 13

 

 

So all is going (almost) according to plan (read again from the words "lack of self discipline").

 

Have fun!

JR

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