Hobby Boss 1/48 A-4M Skyhawk - bomb truck.

[amos brierley]

Hello everyone.                       The cat crept in and graffitied my scooter.    😺

 

It’s been a quiet and frustrating last couple of weeks. Having come of the shift pattern I’ve become used to and loved very much, I’ve had to try to adapt to the new changes of just being on straight days. Not only that, I’ve also had to get my head around to the fourth coming changes with work and life in general. For this modeller this is a case of a little too many changes all at once. ( Not a cry for help, just being sanguine. ) Having been knocked a little off kilter it’s time to grab the tiller and steer my course through those choppy waters. 
Firstly I’ve now washed those Salmesbury F-35 Lightning highlights out of my hair, and my new conditioner is Warton Eurofighter flight line. 😀 I start the new/next chapter in my life this week. I love the smell of Avtur in the morning!  
Having found some time this weekend to really amend my model, this side of life is now pepping me up….. a little….. A realisation that my first model show is rapidly closing in, is both joyous and a little frigtning ( northern pronunciation ) . I’m really looking forward to MK  8th May,  it would be nice if I wasn’t driving so I could make use of the bar. 🤪  Their new venue was very nice last time. The only slight negative is not having many new models to put onto the comp tables ( as I’m going as foot fall ) and I really could do with getting this model over the finishing line.  …….. And club night next month. 
 

The last couple of weeks have seen me giving all sorts of things a pin wash wether it’s the last of the airframe or the wheels and U/C, it’s been stuff need doing, just not enough to create a new post.

 

Decaling. A little more grey, and although it’s black, it’s a little bit of colour. It’s now starting to look like the final vision I had. The Two Bobs decals have needed to be helped to conform to the kit. Some of these decals have tried to bite and stick on contact, with a little bit of water beforehand and as soon at the decal was placed a drenching eschewed. As soon as the decal was in place some Micr Sol was applied. The only decal that has been difficult is the ‘danger intake’ , a straight decal trying to conform to a curved surface. It’s placement has taken around 60 mins to be coaxed to looking good, a good 6-7 sessions with Micro Sol, each time a little less wrinkles.

One thing that I had to have a think about was the stencils. The Two Bob’s decals only deal with each of the squadron’s stuff, but, the H.B decals come with stencils. The same stencils they provide are the same for the high vis and low vis decal options. A quick look at some photos and I’ve concluded that the low vis scheme of this Scooter would have had some stencils in black. These H.B stencils have gone on flawlessly. 

The next task once the decals are dry will be to re-instate the panel lines, always a nervy time, providing the decals haven’t already conformed perfectly to the model, then it will be time to embellish them. This will come in the form of drawing along the panel lines with an enscribing tool - very gentility. Hopefully not catching the decal and dragging any off. The decals have got to be just as weathered as the rest of the paint work.

 

I have a question for those reading this post, is this the longest page of posts ever? Shouldn’t this post be on at least page two ? 🤨

 

Thanks for looking.   😉

 

[heloman1]

Hi Amos, I like Scooters and this one looks like an interesting project. Yes, you made intake blanking plates, good man! I'm with you on taking a WIP to the club meeting, it promotes discussion. Why be afraid of showing your work!

 

Colin

[amos brierley]

Hello heloman1,    I’ve not had any form of local social meetings with any of the Warrington club members in some years for obvious reasons, model shows excluded. So, today I reached out to our club secretary for a catch-up chat, the reason being the non plus feelings from the last club meeting and the new times in my life. One of the things that I mentioned in our conversation was that club members should really make more effort to promote works in progress. There is one problem with this notion, that being, I had a look at the date that I’d started this post. And whilst a year on BritModellers form is not uncommon, it is though not passable for every club night meeting, they’re a hard bunch to keep interested. But the W.I.P is a good way to get people to talk and talking is a good way to create a flow of ideas and as we know on BritModeller things we may not know about, even things such as a better paint….
 

Our club secretary has been receiving invitations to model shows, but the discussions were very very muted, too muted in fact, one train of thought is that everyone is worn down or burned out with the modelling big picture. But what I and the club secretary wanted as at least a conversation…….

 

One thing our club doesn’t have is a formal section to the evening, the boss doesn’t think people want that form of structure. From my point of view, with nobody having the floor or everyone’s ear then how can club members all be on a similar page? When I’ve managed to do this the guys have broke out into much spontaneity , but our club secretary sees this as being out of control.  From my point of view it has made more people think about things  and interact together……. and everybody agrees they were interesting times.

 

As a club, the present problems of modelling are surely going to affect us ultimately when it comes to S.M.W.2022 , the cost of living crisis seems to be driving the lack of effort to attend model shows and the the cost of staying at a hotel for the the S.M.W weekend is presently twice the cost of last year. At £180 for the weekend and all that goes with it could well be too much for many. 
 

I suspect that modellers are still grappling with the new world order and how to tread their own path - buy, build, show and tell, and for some that means a little bit of recognition of achievement. I made a little bit of a negative comment some posts ago, not wanting to dig any more of a hole , what I should of surmised is recognition. And I think for some modellers S.M.W2021 just didn’t inspire, and with some new models on the club stand and not achieving a little recognition , well it’s carried over to this year.

 

Thanks for the supportive comment about the intakes. 

 

Until till next time.      🙂

 

 

[amos brierley]

Hello everyone.                        Nearing completion.

 

Looking like a simple task , but nearly a month has passed, in that time many things have happened, but nothing worth penning a post. Paint touch-ups and panel line enhancements being time consuming, then on to a coat of Alclad - light sheen to seal everything in. Why Light Sheen? Well, I find matt and flats to be just unrealistic, and can kill the model and effects. My list of stuff to do is quite considerable.

 

With some bits and pieces added ( in the picture ) and the varnish cured it’s time to start adding some more weathering, whilst adding to the overall model what’s on the underside ultimately won’t really be seen when finished. 

Having started the weathering process with airbrushing a dark grey along the panel lines and random spots it’s now time to add too…… the use of oils are ideal. I’ve started by dry brushing using my favourite chizzle edge brush in the less is more philosophy. I’ll add some details now an see how I feel , as oils take time to dry if I don’t like what I see then worse case scenario they could be removed via some white spirits. But more importantly I’m happy so far so and may add too… Sadly with no specific/general photos of the A-4’s underside to help out, I’m left to my instincts as to what’s leaching out. In most cases it’s lub grease’s of mechanical moving parts and engine oils. Sun bleach on the upper surfaces and oils on the underside’s .

 

Thanks for looking.     😉

 

 

 

[exdraken]

A Very nice Skyhawk is developing here!!

 

[amos brierley]

Hello everyone.                                  The last ride of my Scooter.

 

This post will more than likely be my last before it’s completed. 
 

For the last couple of weeks have been taken up with getting my head around going back to playing around with live A/C. And also I’ve had a weeks holiday just to really distract my modelling zen. 
On my route starting holiday week in York, I started by calling in at South Yorkshire Air Museum for the IPMS AGM , I enjoyed both, got to express questions about the future of SMW2022 and got to get some photos to top up my collection. And then on the way home I called in at Elvington Air Museum, again capturing some good details.

 

Any hoo, the list of things to be done has been vast and I don’t want to bore anyone. A problem with the model has popped up since my last post, just the starboard side of the fuselage has become very sticky 😬 my first attempt was to micro mesh the area, but, that did nothing. Having handled the model for three weeks or so the stickyness has started to look very furry, so today I took the plunge and with some interpretation went for the full removal of the Alclad Matt varnish. Using just the cotton bud tip soaked in white spirits I’ve managed to remove a section of varnish and nothing else. Strangely the white spirits turned the varnish into a gloop which eventually came off. 
One of the nagging problems with this kit has been missing parts not supplied by H.B , so, just visible a lever supplied by Eduard and the bigger yellow piece is the new throttle lever, as I said earlier the cockpit had a cut out for it , it’s even drawn in the instructions. I’ve decided I like the kit ejection set better than the resin one, one final addition to it has been the oxy hose (in blue). 

 

One new product I’ve given a go is this Molotow Liquid Chrome pen, with such large chrome portions of the undercarriage, this pen has really helped out here, I’ve never really made past models shiny enough. Even though the model looks to be done, there’s still enough late editions to be added. Things like the HUD and windscreen wiper and rear view mirror. I’ve still got stuff to do, matt varnish being time consuming, and a step in the unknown, I’ve got to hope the stickyness goes. Another missing feature is the red anti col lights, a quick search of my stash of stuff shows that I don’t have any 1/48 scale lenses which is a challenge to over come.

 

Until next time.     😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amos brierley]

Hello everyone.                          Job done.  😄

 

With just a few things needed to finish this rascal I’ve now got there.  One final piece of the missing kit parts are the anti-col lights, the replacement set I had is for 1/72, so I ordered a 1/48 set from Hannants. I was expecting the new set to be somewhat bigger, no such luck. I was trying to tidy up my garage the other day and found an old clear sprue which just so happens to have a very good set of lenses, so good they knocked the CMK stuff out of the ball park. (The 1/72 and 1/48 offers appear to identical in size.)

 

 

One last piece that just niggled me was the canopy would stick and hold but not by much. Having got my anti-col lenses on, the loose canopy came off. So, new for me with super glue not working it was out with some araldite . Canopy now is never moving again.

Conclusion : having bought this kit for just £22 with the premis that it looked like it would be very easy, and that line came around to bite me sometime later with my model club having decided to do it as a group build. And out of 14 willing soles just two guys have completed (now 3) , the rest mostly struggled with a good many binning this kit.

As always AMS took over and I couldn’t help myself and opted to add some extras and that’s been one of the biggest problems these have eaten lots of time, added layers of complexity and in some cases not added to the build. That said I’ve built the kit I’ve wanted for 40 years, which is the important bit. The best of the goodies is the Eduard etched set for the Hasegawa kit, simply fantastic, everything else was  specifically for the look I was after. After that, the kit if really rubbish, so much so it’s ranking as one of the worst kits I’ve had the displeasure to finish. I’ve seen two of these kits built and displayed at model shows, both were out of the box, and that’s where this model is, built it out of the box and all is well. This kit is now becoming harder to find (thankfully)and equally as hard as the Hasegawa kit, having now built both kit companies both kits are equally dissatisfying to build and finish. 
 

A big thank you for everyone who’s supported me all this journey. 😉