A-4F VA-55 USS Hancock - Nam 1972 - Hasegawa 1/48

[basket]

Hello to the followers of this topic, if there are any left ...

 

Thank you for your patience !!!! 

 

 It's really time  to move this scooter project forward because I bought 2 others in the meantime ...

 

The gears needed to be improved :  removal of the "balls" molded by Hasegawa to represent the grip hooks which will be replaced by metal wire, and separation (only visual but IMO it looks OK ) of the front wheel and its fork ( red arrows). Finally : installation of the hydraulic circuits and various small stuff on the gear bodies .

 

 

 

Thx for passing by and see you soon for the next update .

[modelling minion]

On 1/17/2022 at 3:54 PM, basket said:

if there are any left

Most definitely, still here and still very much interested in your excellent A-4 project.

I see that you are doing as superbly detailed job of the undercarriage as you have done with the rest of the aircraft.

[basket]

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Most definitely, still here and still very much interested in your excellent A-4 project.

I see that you are doing as superbly detailed job of the undercarriage as you have done with the rest of the aircraft.

very much , next update within days ...

[modelling minion]

8 hours ago, basket said:

very much , next update within days ...

I look forward to it Remy.👍

[basket]

Hi all !

 

Since my last post , gears were painted according to the following sequence:

Prince August Black Primer

Vallejo white

gloss varnish ( Alclad II ALC600 - I love it !!!! )

decals

varnish again

wash  with oils paints Black/Burnt Sienna (90/10)

And the game changer :  cylinders are coloured with Molotov chrome felt.

Ditto for the wheels, with the addition of Vallejo " steel " metal color on the brakes.

Tires are painted with home made dark gray and treads  with a slightly lighter gray .

 

 

 

It's time to go back to the drop tank ,  which was fitted with a drain (hole + micro tube) then underwent the same treatment, with the black basing modulated with white, as for the scooter itself .

 

The burnt sienna wash  is more brown in places ( less black in the mixture  ) , to make the tank look  like the real thing  ( at least trying ).

I am super happy with the rendering of my welds .

 

 

Regarding  the hatches : same treatment as for the gears , plus  wiring for the taxiing light (which was also painted with my beloved Molotov felt ), and the addition of buffers at the lower corners of the main hatches.

The edges are  painted red with Posca marker and sanded with 400 grit to bring out the white at the friction/contact points ( I like Posca too, especially when I think of the 10 A-4s, 5 F-4s and 3s F-14 in USN scheme I have in project !!!! 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for passing by .

See you soon .

[modelling minion]

Very nice work Remy, you put more care and attention into the undercarriage and tanks than a lot of us do to the main airframe.

[basket]

13 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice work Remy, you put more care and attention into the undercarriage and tanks than a lot of us do to the main airframe.

 

Thx !

You're maybe right , but I can't do it another way ... when you're nuts at my level ...  it's almost impossible  to find an efficient treatment .

[basket]

Hello fellow scooter followers!

 

This bird has among its features lots of nice stuff hanging out and sticking out everywhere  .

It makes its charm and makes its replica super lively and attractive, especially since Haseg superbly molded the parts in question , namely : the slats, the refueling probe  and the flaps.

 

As usual : black primer, marbling in white then seagull gray for the upper surface and white for the lower surface. Brown undercoat, then red for the internal faces. Gloss varnish, decals, gloss varnish and oil wash .

 

 

 

 

Let's check the coherence  of the patina between the different protagonists !

 

 

 

Next step :  it's a question of taking care of the hook  and the probe  which are both covered with stripes and here , things become ...  "funny" ... 

 

Hasegawa has provided decals for that, except that .... regarding the hook :  a black strip is missing ( 7 instead of 8 😎 ... fatal error when you know it ... and I know it )  ...

 

And regarding the  probe , the planned decal is a green band to be rolled up on the probe which should be painted with  seagull grey beforehand  : a task likely to lead the modeller to commit the irreparable considerring these f***  decals .... are wayward !!!!

 

Solution is painting !!!

 

 

 

 

 

And know , we have two ways to cope with the stripes :  for the hook : special decals designed for all USN aircrafts in 1/48 :

 

 

For the probe : masking with flexible mig tape then seagull gray spraying.

 

 

Result after paints and washes : the glan is  painted with gun metal , then glossed with  varnish . The hold back and  hook are weathered with steel  vallejo metal color applyied with a sponge .

 

 

We just talked about the things that stick out, but not the hanging ones  : the remove before flight stuffs .

 

Personally, I don't like the PE ones that look fake to me because they're too rigid.

I practiced as follows for those in this A-4:

 

3 sheets of smooth kitchen aluminum ( if like me, you have a model stamped as resistant... but embossed...), these are laminated with Revell contacta clear glue which is super thin and leaves a total flexibility while drying.

 

Black primer, then you cut strips (in my case 0.9 mm wide) which are painted with red PA air  (a bit thinned to leave darker areas) .

 

A hole is drilled with a tip at one end, in which I insert 2-5 A fuse wire, it's super thin but super strong. Then I twist the wire with flat pliers, making sure to leave a loop at the level of the flame which therefore remains free.

 

A drop of Mig's ultra glue is passed over the twist to solidify it. It only remains to bend it at 90° to figure the pin which will fit into the appropriate hole previously identified and drilled on the armament pylon.

 

Last but not least, the flames thus formed,  naturally have a pleat which is "like the real ones", they are both solid but very malleable and retain the position given to them.

 

Next time, I will have to get some rbf decals and add them to the flames to see if they can be worked on in the same way.

 

Here they are before being folded at right angles and cut to size.

 

 

Once again for passing by and see you soon for the next step .

 

[modelling minion]

More excellent work Remy.

The slats and flaps have turned out very nicely and your stripes on the hook and refueling probe are very good too.

I like your idea for the RBF tags, they should look very good on the pylons.

 

🇺🇦

[basket]

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

More excellent work Remy.

The slats and flaps have turned out very nicely and your stripes on the hook and refueling probe are very good too.

I like your idea for the RBF tags, they should look very good on the pylons.

 

🇺🇦

Thanks .

[basket]

Hi A-4 fan ... fans ?

 

I'm not sure there's a lot of people nearby ... except our fellow GB runner !

 

It's time to think about protecting our pilot .

The canopy of the A-4 is systematically padded, in a variable way depending on times and retrofits, the seal is sometimes very visible (light gray). Check it out by yourself.

 

https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2022/02/20//22022012025517732317801805.jpg

 

For my particular A-4  it is dark gray without embossing, in 3 parts with holes behind the seat , a clear seal, like the one on the picture  bottom right.

There are two mirrors and a box hung on the arch of the canopy (and not the windshield) with an emergency compass and a watch.

For the case: Hasegawa part + decals and glazing made with uv resin.

For mirrors: PC + copper wire +  molotov chrome.

For the padding: Tamiya masking strip cut according to 3 patterns hacked with a sheet of  Eduard PE picked up on the Net ... PLUS and various adjustments. Mig flexible masking tape seal.  Frankly a PITA to set up, mask , paint and protect... but it's better than nothing, because no offense to anybody, you actually can see the inside of this canopy very well, if it is open and it will be opened .  Nevertheless , I will have to find another system for the following ones.

 

https://nsm09.casimages.com/img/2022/02/20//22022012025517732317801804.jpg

 

Stay tuned , next time we'll talk about the claws of the bird !

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

25 minutes ago, basket said:

Hi A-4 fan ... fans ?

 

I'm not sure there's a lot of people nearby ... except our fellow GB runner !

Yes I am still here my friend, you don't get rid of me that easily.😉

 

And the work you are doing on the inside of your canopy proves why I am still watching, your attention to detail has been superb right from the start Remy but I don't think I have ever seen such attention paid to the inside of the canopy and I am very interested to see how it turns out.

 

Keep going and I shall keep watching.👍

 

🇺🇦

[basket]

 

Hi all .

It seems that  links to my photographs didn't work .

Here they are !

 

 

 

 

 

[basket]

Good evening all !

 

 We're now going to build the things that still lack to this A-4 , namely the most important for a fighter aircraft ... its weapons  , and pylons to hang them under the wings.

As written above, our Skyhawk is rigged for its iconic Nam mission : Iron Hand , the hunt for SAMs.

Among the possible Iron Hand loadout configs, I chose one that caught my eye because I have a photo of it (I like to start from a reference picture), but also because it is super dynamic: short tail tank (seen above in this topic ) in the central station , mk82 500 lb bombs in the internal ones and Shrike in the external .

 

 

Pylons first : they are quite good in shape and definition , and Hasegawa provides the adaptator to hang missiles (F17 parts , not on the notice but on the sprues , and that's good to me phew! ), but, because there is a but .... their sway bars shape is totally  wrong  and their angle is too open...they hardly touch 500lb bombs  (admittedly not included in the kit).  So I scratched them in fine PC and shaped them with a file, their buffers are made with a punch and die. The chimneys ( i don't know if it's the acurate word in english )  are fitted with wedges which will simulate the hooks and which keep the load a few tenths of a mm from the pylons. Metal rods are inserted to ensure solid bonding and easy centering.

 

 

The machines based on the Hancock in 1972 are distinguished as often within a Carrier Air Group by a color code by VF/VA  and the pylons are to match, just not to mix them betweens units  ... for the VA-55, it was obviously dark green with a white individual number:

 

 

Same painting process : black undercoat, but white zenithal painting  to have natural shadows under the pylons, being careful not to " raise " the white too much to keep a difference with the Shrike which have to pop up , while avoiding having pylons looking too Grey . I don't know if I'm clear here..

Then green paint where necessary, gun metal buffers, gloss varnish, decals from the kit for the safety triangle of the central chimney (the others do not have any on my reference picture ) and white numbers graciously provided in express by my friend Fabrice Simon - Thanks mate ! then revarnish , wash etc ...

 

 

The Hasegawa guns  are very beautifuly moulded : there  even have the holes in the flash hiders, you just have to drill their mouths with a micro drill  - and the Hasegawa plastic ( that I love )  allows this drilling without risk of twisting or breaking the colt guns , that's perfect !!!

 

 

The mk 82 bombs and their decals come from an Eduard (Academy) Rockin' Rhino box. It was necessary to adapt them a little and add some detail: drilling of the body for the fixings, scratch of the wings of armament in "PE of the poor" : metallic tube of toothpaste  (yes I have some left) cut and twisted  "a la mano ", and ESPECIALLY, the safety wire which is made of a fuse wire (again !) .

For the painting : black primer, white zenithal highlights, OD over the entire bomb, darkened OD darkened with a bit of black on the rear part and the empennage. Arming fins and fuse are aluminum . On the other hand , the wire is painted in super light gray, I  read somewhere that it was ideal to represent a metallic wire in quater inch scale and it is true. Gloss varnish, decals, micro weathering of yellow rings (a horror to put on, next time = paint!!!) and bomb bodies in lighter and darker OD, glossy varnish. Juice. Matt varnish on the body of the bombs and satin on the empennage. phew ... finished!

 

Some pictures :

 

 

 

And now: the Shrikes!

They come from a Hasegawa armament set, which when it was released  was the must of the must ... but that was a long time ago  ... in short, the empennage had to be thinned thoroughly, fortunately I had an electric sander to help me.

The nozzles are dug and the engraving reworked in places, just to make the molding clearer, which is only partially successful because the washes had the greatest difficulty in holding in certain angles.

Hasegawa offers decals on either side of the nose that look like unreadable stencils, but these "stencils" are actually dark bronze-colored green fiber shields that protect short-range side antennas that let the missile know when to explode. . In short, Hasegawa decals : you forget, and you paint those stuffs with gun metal paint with a few drops of brown, the result is exactly what I expected !

For the rest: black primer, then zenithal white  insisting  on the tip of the missiles which are not under the wing. Shiny varnish, decals and juice but this time payne gray + black.

 

The real thing :

 

 

The model already reworked , with the electric sander sitting next to it :

 

 

Two a...holes !

 

 

 

In flight !!! 

Note the difference in brightness between the white of the muzzles and the white of the tails, it is not a matter of lighting but of  painting :

 

 

And finally , all stores are ready !!!

 

 

 

Thans again and again for reading , and see you soon for the last step !

[modelling minion]

Your weapons are about the best I have seen Remy, great attention to detail with the arming wires and the painting of them is superb, I really like the variation in tone of the paint on the individual bombs and Shrikes.

Nice details on the pylons too, especially picking out the squadron colour on them and the numbers.

Very nearly finished now and very nice she looks too.

 

🇺🇦

[basket]

Hello trusty follower , for your kind comments .

 

In fact , it ( sorry can't write she for an aircraft ) is finished !

 

It's quite an event for me considerring that the last time I finished one model  it was in the previous century ... not kidding !

 

3 pics as a conclusion :

 

 

 

 

 

I just posted a bunch of extra pictures in the RFI section .

 

Here : https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235107520-douglas-a-4f-skyhawk-va-55-uss-hancock-nam-1972-hasegawa-148/

 

Thanks so much everybody for being so patient with this slow build !

 

Cheers !

 

 

[modelling minion]

Well what an excellent result Remy, she looks fantastic!

Your build has been a masterclass from start to finish with all of your work done to the very highest standard.

Thank you for having taken part in the GB and for having continued your build.

And once again congratulations on a superb looking Skyhawk.

 

🇺🇦

[basket]

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Well what an excellent result Remy, she looks fantastic!

Your build has been a masterclass from start to finish with all of your work done to the very highest standard.

Thank you for having taken part in the GB and for having continued your build.

And once again congratulations on a superb looking Skyhawk.

 

🇺🇦

 

My pleasure sir !

[Ad-4N]

On 1/17/2022 at 8:54 AM, basket said:

Hello to the followers of this topic, if there are any left ...

 

Thank you for your patience !!!! 

 

 It's really time  to move this scooter project forward because I bought 2 others in the meantime ...

 

The gears needed to be improved :  removal of the "balls" molded by Hasegawa to represent the grip hooks which will be replaced by metal wire, and separation (only visual but IMO it looks OK ) of the front wheel and its fork ( red arrows). Finally : installation of the hydraulic circuits and various small stuff on the gear bodies .

 

 

 

Thx for passing by and see you soon for the next update .

 

Can you please explain how you separated the tire from the fork?  Looks excellent.  

[basket]

Hello Ad-4N,

 

 for your kind comments.

 

Step 1 : engraving the fork with a drypoint following the profile of the tyre in order to create a groove as a guide.

Step 2 : drilling all along the groove with a 0.3mm drill using a proxxon at the lowest possible speed.

Step 3 : sanding the edges and finishing the job with a touch of Tamiya thin glue green cap.

 

I hope it will help.