RAN Skyhawk - Finished

[Andwil]

Once I finish my Tiger ARH over in the ANZAC group build I will join here with an RAN A-4G.  Box and CtA decals to be used:

 

I’m going to build the one with the nice red and white checked tail as I like a bit of colour on my models.

 

Sprues:

 

 

 

Moulded in the usual shiny, quite hard grey Hasegawa plastic, panel lines are raised, but very fine.  Only a little flash evident.

 

Pavla resin seat:

 

 

I am aware from a few reviews that the Hasegawa Skyhawk is slightly over scale, I’m not overly concerned with the odd mm here or there as long as it looks like a Skyhawk that’s OK.  It’s going to be the only one in my collection so any size issues won’t be apparent.

 

More when I get started.

 

AW

Edited April 20, 2021 by Andwil

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

When I get around to doing an RAN A-4 this is the scheme I'm planning on doing. 

[modelling minion]

A great choice AW, and a nice colourful scheme with the red and white checked tail. I have never used CTA decals so am interested to see how you get on with them.

Looks like you have gone the same route as most of us by adding a resin seat, not a great deal else will be visible in the small cockpit of the Skyhawk.

Should be a good build, looking forward to this one.

[Andwil]

3 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I have never used CTA decals so am interested to see how you get on with them.

I used them on my RAN Wessex last year, they are very, very good; thin but went on without any dramas.  The only negative I can think of is that a number of decals are multi part, I think the squadron badge was in three layers, which means you have to be very careful with placement.

 

AW

[Andwil]

I made a start of sorts today, cleaning up and dry fitting some of the major parts.  I have to say my first impressions of this kit are not promising.  The lower wing halves do not fit the upper halves without a lot of fettling being both too big and far too thick to fit without a huge step.  There were giant ejector pins on the fuselage side walls that interfere with the fit of the cockpit tub and there are two more pins in the nose gear well in very difficult to reach locations.  Now I know why I bought that set of riffler files!  I also think the seat sits too far back in the fuselage making it impossible for the pilot to eject.

 

AW

[modelling minion]

Good to hear that you have made a start on your scooter AW but not good to hear about the fit problems you are encountering. I know that this is quite an old moulding, perhaps the age of the kit explains the ejector pins.

[Anatol Pigwa]

I am currently working on the ACE/Kangam/Revell release of this tooling (engravedpanellines and a diffrent spruce layout, but essentially the same master parts) and I would suggest to save the nice resin seat for a better (Airfix/Fujimi/Hobby 2000) kit.

 

 

 

 

 

[Andwil]

41 minutes ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

I would suggest to save the nice resin seat for a better (Airfix/Fujimi/Hobby 2000) kit.

I may just do that.  The cockpit is very small and if the resin seat even fits it (which I have my suspicions about) not much of it is going to be see .  I might use the pilot to fill the space and hide the basic kit seat.

 

AW

[CliffB]

It's nice to see this one underway AW.  You go first - I'll follow behind 

 

Cheers

[Andwil]

With work on the Tiger helicopter over in the ANZAC GB winding up, I have started on the Skyhawk in earnest.

 

Cockpit made up and primed, along with some of the smaller components:

 

 

I decided to go with the kit seat and use the pilot figure.  Not much is going to be visible through the tiny canopy and the horrible mould line on the seat will be hidden by the pilot and the rear solid section of the canopy.

 

and to amuse myself I thought I’d try something new and scribe the panel lines on the wings.  The raised panel lines are very subtle and using these as a guide and with a steel rule and scriber I set to:

 

 

 

I’m fairly happy with that as a first effort, only a couple of slips to fill.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[modelling minion]

Good job on the re-scribing AW, very neat.

Definitely no point going mad detailing a 1/72 Skyhawk cockpit as nothing will be visible with the lid shut, and not much more with it open!

[basket]

Hello !

I'm taking a seat !

[Andwil]

On 3/31/2021 at 2:08 AM, modelling minion said:

Definitely no point going mad detailing a 1/72 Skyhawk cockpit as nothing will be visible with the lid shut, and not much more with it open!

Absolutely.  A dry fit has shown virtually nothing will be visible, especially with the pilot in place.

11 hours ago, basket said:

Hello !

I'm taking a seat !

Welcome aboard Remy.

 

The cockpit and pilot figure have been painted up and the IP decals applied.  The IP actually doesn’t look too bad.  I’ll show it here because it will never be seen again:

 

 

 

 

 

Macro is so cruel, the pilot looks way better to the naked eye.  I actually made up the ejector seat face curtain handle and attached it to the head box, but it interferes with the pilot’s helmet so had to come off.

 

Intakes and air brakes attached, gaps filled and sanded:

 

 

and wings glued together.  The wing tips required a lot of thinning in order to fit, there is still a bit of a step and a large gap in front of the flaps that will need to be filled.

 

 

According to Scalemates this kit dates from 1969 and is fairly crude by Hasegawa’s more modern standards.  Fit is, shall we say, approximate.  It reminds me, and not in a good way, of their Vigilante that I built a few years ago that required a ton of filler.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[modelling minion]

Nice work AW.

The decals add interest to the cockpit tub and your pilot looks very well painted to me.

Good job on the intakes and airbrakes too, they seem to have fit issues that need sorting on every Skyhawk kit going.

[Andwil]

Cockpit installed, a couple of fishing weights added and Fuselage closed up:

 

The open rear of the nose gear bay blocked off with a scrap of plastic card

 

 

and a bit more plastic card glued over the gap (and I use the word loosely as it was about 2mm wide) in the rear of the fuselage:

 

 

painted black it will less visible through the exhaust nozzle than the gap would have been.

 

The very rear part of the nose gear bay in the lower wing centre section also blocked off with plastic card and a couple of ribs from thin rod added for detail:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[modelling minion]

That is coming along really nicely AW.

The extra work you have done by blanking off gaps and adding little details like the ribs will make a big difference to the finished model.

[Andwil]

Update on the last few days work.  Wings attached:

 

 

a bit of fettling and filling was required, fortunately all on the underside where nobody looks.

 

Also fixed on the centreline pylon and made up some random cables in the gear wells from wire stripped from an old electrical cable.

 

 

 

I made up a HUD for the instrument coaming from a piece of clear packaging 

 

 

Canopy masked and attached, tailplanes on and the IFR probe stuck on.  Red has been brushed on the inside leading edge of the intakes.

 

 

and some black slopped into the tailpipe

 

 

I drilled out the small scoops on the fuselage.  Looking at the photo I can see that I will have to enlarge these into more of a oval shape 

 

 

I am really enjoying this build, the Skyhawk is such a pleasing looking jet and nice and compact.

Next time it will probably be in the paint shop.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Really pleased to see that you are enjoying your build so much AW, and it shows too.

She is coming together very nicely, and should be in the paint shop before too long by the looks of things.

[Andwil]

Primer on:

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

[modelling minion]

That looks like a very nice and smooth coat of primer AW, should make a great base for your painting.

[Andwil]

Finished the white today:

 

 

 

and the tanks:

 

I had a bit of trouble getting a finish I was happy with.  I used Mig Ammo acrylic white and the first coats yesterday had a strange effect almost as if there was no primer and it was being sprayed on to bare, slightly oily plastic.  I tried various combinations of thinning and pressure plus light misted costs or heavier wet coats, same thing every time.  I left it overnight and put a light coat over today which seems to have gone on much better.  Never had this with any other paint, makes me wonder whether the Mig paint is reacting with the Stynylrez primer?

 

AW

[modelling minion]

That doesn't sound good at all with the way the white paint behaved, a colour that I never like painting at the best of times. It does sound like it has had an adverse reaction with the primer. The finish looks good now though, hopefully the grey will behave better.

[Andwil]

50 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

The finish looks good now though, hopefully the grey will behave better.

The grey I am going to use is Gunze, so I do not anticipate any trouble.

 

AW

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hopefully the grey behaves for you. 

[Jabba]

Nice work so far, especially with the re-scribing of the panel lines.