Italeri 0A-4M Outlaws 1/72

[fmichelsen]

Hello

This is my very first GB, so i'm a bit excited about it.  The kit is a Italeri 1/72nd 0A-4M Outlaws. It will be build straigt OOB, maybe with some few scratch details, the cockpit looks a bit simple  The kit is from 1988, an have raised panellines. I have thought about rescriping them, but that something I never tried before, and I dont dare it in this build (maybe on at later model). At first glance, the kit does show its age, the are plenty of flash and ejector marks, but on the other hand, I've seen much worse. Let's begin

The picture of the set itself:

And the set unboxed. I guess the decals look alright, a bit curved perhaps 🧐

 

I'll begin with the cockpit tonight, and there will be new photos soon

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by fmichelsen

[modelling minion]

And welcome to your first GB!

Of course you do realise that now you have entered the dark world of the GB's that you will never leave, all of us popped in here to have a look at a GB got talked into taking part and have never left!

 

A popular choice of subject, we have a few OA-4M's in a couple of different scales on the go and another one is always welcome. An out of the box build is fine, its your model you build it the way that you want, and theres nothing wrong with raised panel lines, I am building a Monogram 1/48 one which has raised lines.

 

I am looking forward to seeing how you get on with this kit.

 

And remember, you're one of us now!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome aboard though I feel I should warn you. These can be a bit addictive, I joined my first one in January of 2018 and haven't left yet. Even run a few now which isn't as scary as it sounds. 

[fmichelsen]

Haha - thank you, I guessed I easily could get drawn in to several GB. I think it could motivate me to build more, and different models than I normal do (BF 109...).

 

I managed to get some work done tonight! First picture shows the seats, and the sinkholes. Both on the sides and the neckrest. And the chairs had hallow backrests, which I just couldn't live with. So I filled it with some putty, and cut some plasticcards block it.

 

Next pictures shows the finished cockpit. The seats where fixed and I added a piece of copperwire to make the yellow/black halfcircle (Dont know what its called🤔) on top of each seat. I painted everything in a dark'ish grey colour, then painted the seat and instrument panel in black. I drybrushed and washed it, and the highlighted some details. And most of this will properly be invisble once it is done, and closed up  Anyways - pictures!

 

[modelling minion]

Off to a very nice start.

Good job on the seats, they look a lot better than straight from the kit. The instrument panels look very good too, nice work.

[fmichelsen]

I've managed to get in quite a few good hours today. But there is a few things that I think I should mention. When I assemble the body of the kit, there was quite a big gab behind the rear seat. I tried putting the canopy on top, to see if it would be hidden. But no, not even close. But at this time I had glued to body pieces together (they fitted very nicely btw), so mending the problem was not easy. I found a picture of the cockpit on google, and tried my best to make it look like that. I cut some plasticcard, and fitted it behind the seat on some "teachers gum". From here I could squeeze it into place, and glue it. I then made some more details with stretch sprue and copper wire to make it look more realistic. But I forgot to take a picture before I glued on the masked canopy🤦‍♂️. I will take a close-up picture when I remove the masking tape. The rest of the assembly of the kit came very easy together, only with at bit of flash to removed and some holes to widen under the wing to attach the pylons. So now it is ready for the sprayboot, maybe I will get it primed tonight already  Here are some pictures of the plane and the stuff that needs to go on it. 

The "fix" of the hole.

 

The plane itself. I'm a bit curious to see how the gab between the canopy and the fuselage looks when it is primed.

 

And here are the rest of the parts. I don't know a lot about missiles, so can somebody tell me what are the 2 missiles called? The kit says they have to painted white, and it looks like there is a yellow band on them as well. Does it sounds correct?

 

[fmichelsen]

12 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Off to a very nice start.

Good job on the seats, they look a lot better than straight from the kit. The instrument panels look very good too, nice work.

Thank you. Yes I'm using my easter holiday very well right now I guess  So far it have been much fun building this little aircraft  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Look like AGM -45 shrikes to me. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-45_Shrike

 

They were used for Iron Hand S.E.A.D. (Suppression Enemy Air Defence) missions, what the Air force refers to as Wild Weasel missions.  

[fmichelsen]

39 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Look like AGM -45 shrikes to me. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-45_Shrike

 

They were used for Iron Hand S.E.A.D. (Suppression Enemy Air Defence) missions, what the Air force refers to as Wild Weasel missions.  

Excellent, thanks a lot  It sure look's like them  

[modelling minion]

43 minutes ago, fmichelsen said:

So far it have been much fun building this little aircraft

And it shows too as your build has leapt forward, and it looks very good too.

You will be getting some paint on very soon by the looks of things.

 

[basket]

Nice start  !

[fmichelsen]

So i made some progress the other night. Got some paint on the kit. But oh my, i did have the exact colours, so i found what came close (in my opinion at least). The top is painted with AK Dark ghost grey, that one I think is correct. For the lighter gray on wing tips, top and lower fuselage I used a homemixed grey, so for sure not correct ;), and for the buttom I used Insignia white. I must confess I'm not sure if it correct. But that's how it will be on this one, and for the next build I'll make sure to have the correct colours at home  Anyways here are some photos with the paint. I did some pre-shading, but it's quite hard to see

[Hook]

1 minute ago, fmichelsen said:

and for the buttom I used Insignia white. I must confess I'm not sure if it correct. 

On the real thing that area was FS36495 Light Gray - like the title says, a very light shade. 

 

Cheer,

 

Andre 

[fmichelsen]

25 minutes ago, Hook said:

On the real thing that area was FS36495 Light Gray - like the title says, a very light shade. 

 

Cheer,

 

Andre 

Ahh okay, well i'm goong to give it some weathering, so maybe it will not look to white when finished 🤪

[modelling minion]

A very nice smooth looking coat of paint.

Your home mixed grey looks very close to the real thing to my eyes, and I believe that with some suitable weathering you can get the white to look like a very pale grey.

[Hook]

34 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Your home mixed grey looks very close to the real thing to my eyes, and I believe that with some suitable weathering you can get the white to look like a very pale grey.

 

Agreed, the FS 36495 is rtather light anyway and was prone to fading as well. There should be some contrast with the white gear wells, but not that much. 

 

While on the subject, the OA-4M has a vent on the upper port intake, see my post in this thread.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

 

[fmichelsen]

4 hours ago, modelling minion said:

A very nice smooth looking coat of paint.

Your home mixed grey looks very close to the real thing to my eyes, and I believe that with some suitable weathering you can get the white to look like a very pale grey.

Yes, I do love the AK real colours, never had any issues with them. Haha - good, I'll see what I can do about the rather white underside. But it is actually a bit grey, since the primer I use was quite dark

[fmichelsen]

3 hours ago, Hook said:

 

Agreed, the FS 36495 is rtather light anyway and was prone to fading as well. There should be some contrast with the white gear wells, but not that much. 

 

While on the subject, the OA-4M has a vent on the upper port intake, see my post in this thread.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

 

Oh, yes I see. Damn.. I dont think I can cut that vent now without making a total mess 🤔

[Dansk]

2 hours ago, fmichelsen said:

Oh, yes I see. Damn.. I dont think I can cut that vent now without making a total mess 🤔

Don’t worry too much about little detail inaccuracies if it will ruin your build.

Have fun and enjoy what you’re making. 

It’s looking really great i like the preshading. Looking forward to see where you take it next.

[modelling minion]

3 minutes ago, Dansk said:

Don’t worry too much about little detail inaccuracies if it will ruin your build.

Have fun and enjoy what you’re making.

I couldn't agree more, it is far more important to me that you enjoy building your Skyhawk than it be 100% accurate, I am certain there are things I have missed on my build.

[fmichelsen]

20 hours ago, Dansk said:

Don’t worry too much about little detail inaccuracies if it will ruin your build.

Have fun and enjoy what you’re making. 

It’s looking really great i like the preshading. Looking forward to see where you take it next.

 

20 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I couldn't agree more, it is far more important to me that you enjoy building your Skyhawk than it be 100% accurate, I am certain there are things I have missed on my build.

I guess that is my goal with this build, having fun and learning, and I am enjoying this little bird  The most of the decals went on last night, and that was not without a struggle. They seemed to be very thick, and I tried ALL my decal softeners (DACO, Micro Sol and Tamiya's Mark fit). And there was some sort of white/milk-like solution beneath them when i took them of the sheet. I could squeeze it away with a cotton swap, but never tried that before. I think it look allright know, but I have encountered better decals Photos will arrive soon ✌️ 

[Shalako]

Ah yes, Italeri's little gem!!! I had one in the stash, many, many years ago but, I gave it away as a gift!!

 

Good luck with finishing it mate!

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, fmichelsen said:

I guess that is my goal with this build, having fun and learning, and I am enjoying this little bird 

Then you've already mastered the hobby. 👍🏻

[RJ-WobblyHands]

Your build is looking great

[fmichelsen]

Good evening all! Late (too late actually) last night, while watching champions league, I finished this wonderful little little kit.

It has been such a joy building it. I guess building it, and posting about it in this GB gave me a lot of motivation, because this is by far one of my fastest build yet. I'm pleased with how it turned out. There is, as always for me, some things I think I could improve on next time, but in general I think it turned out good  The decals were quite hard to work with, and I think they still look a bit to thick when looking at it, at the seems at the air intake is too visible, but anyways, here are some pictures of the finished model 😉

 

I hope you like it. What do I do now when i'm done building in this thread. I can see there is a gallery for finished models, but how does it work ?

 

By the way, I have already bought a brand new A-4. This time from Hobby 2000, an A-4C. Can I just start another tread for that one, or may I only have one tread per GB?