A Mickey D's A-4 Restoration

[LorenSharp]

Sorry for being late to the party, but Affairs of State, took precedents over.... the Affairs of State😜. Todays entry for your edification and amusement, I'm going to try, (operative word try) to take this old Monogram A-4E, strip down and restore to an A-4C configuration. I built this originally wayy back better than 20 years ago,. Rattle can and hairy stick thick coatings all over. If I remember rightly I got more paint and glue on me than the model. THis was the original Box art

And as always any comments , suggestions, or ideas are always welcome. Lets begin shall we?

[LorenSharp]

First off I'll give the parts a nice hot bath in some Sodium Hydroxide( household drain cleaner, Lye)

I let this set for 24 hrs then all covered up in rubber gloves, goggles and other hazmat paraphernalia carefully scrubbed the parts   with a stiff brush to remove the layers upon layers  of spray paint and other build up from the preceding years.

That done I rinsed and let air dry.

[LorenSharp]

Somewhere I had lost the cockpit in all this so I  got Aires McD A-4 Cockpit set. Now this is supposed to be for the Hasagawa kit, but from what I've seen it should work for the Monogram kit as well. 

The cockpit kit does have some of the P/E thats been damaged in the cleanup but there will probably be other small parts I'll have to make from scratch or print out. we'll see.

I'm going to go with something colourful this round after doing Dark Navy Sea Blue on several builds.  Using Aeromasters Early scooters A-4B 142420 from VA-12 stations on the U.S.S Essex in the early 60's. and since this is a step back, I only will use 3 attachment point instead of the 5 that came on the A-4E.

[modelling minion]

Well this is an interesting project, and don't worry about not being in on things from the start as there's plenty of time left.

Converting an E back to a C should be interesting, are you going to modify the nose length?

3 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

I  got Aires McD A-4 Cockpit set.

Lets hope that it fits the Monogram fuselage because it certainly doesn't fit the Hasegawa one!

Very much looking forward to seeing what you can do with this, especially as I have just about finished building one for the ANZAC GB.

Welcome to the GB.

 

Craig.

[LorenSharp]

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Well this is an interesting project, and don't worry about not being in on things from the start as there's plenty of time left.

Converting an E back to a C should be interesting, are you going to modify the nose length?

Lets hope that it fits the Monogram fuselage because it certainly doesn't fit the Hasegawa one!

Very much looking forward to seeing what you can do with this, especially as I have just about finished building one for the ANZAC GB.

Welcome to the GB.

 

Craig.

Thanks Craig. I'm at least going to try, The nose needs to be shortened and the shape changed a little, and the intakes also have to be moved back a bit. I was concerned that the cockpit tub wouldn't fit ( I've had that happen before<right part  wrong manufacturer.) But when it came in the fit was almost spot on. Actually a better fit than some  the original parts. Go figure. Not that I'm complaining mind you. I always seem to want to do something different. rather than the same old same old.

Besides if I do this as a c Scooter, then I have the excuse to get a good E model.

[Fabrice Simon]

I confirm that the Aires set is absolutely not suitable for the Hasegawa kit and for any kit made in this galaxy in the last 100,000 years. But with a will equal to a berseker's and the help of precision tools like C4 or other chainsaws, you can get something out of it...Good luck !

[modelling minion]

Interesting that the Aries cockpit seems to fit the Monogram kit, I suppose it had to fit something!

Doing something different is a good thing, helps to keep the modelling mojo going.

1 hour ago, LorenSharp said:

 

Besides if I do this as a c Scooter, then I have the excuse to get a good E model.

I like your thinking.👍

[LorenSharp]

As mentioned, going from an E to a C will require some reconstructive surgury. This gives a representation of the differences, the aircraft in black is the A-4E and the red is an A-4C Slight differences in the nose and the intakes.

The easiest way would be to remove the nose, and make a new one from Milliput  and sand to shape. This way I still have room for adding weight to the nose.

The intakes are easy. I do have to remove side strake and remove about 4mm from the back side. The intake still match up perfectly. I will have to add a piece of plastic  to fill the hole in the  interior part of the intake.

 

[LorenSharp]

While I'm at it I'm separating the rudder and ailerons

Now to the office...

[basket]

10 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

Sorry for being late to the party, but Affairs of State, took precedents over.... the Affairs of State😜. Todays entry for your edification and amusement, I'm going to try, (operative word try) to take this old Monogram A-4E, strip down and restore to an A-4C configuration. I built this originally wayy back better than 20 years ago,. Rattle can and hairy stick thick coatings all over. If I remember rightly I got more paint and glue on me than the model. THis was the original Box art

And as always any comments , suggestions, or ideas are always welcome. Lets begin shall we?

 

A legendary kit for a legendary aircraft .

Welcome in the GB and thank's for this plastic surgery project .

[basket]

3 hours ago, Fabrice Simon said:

I confirm that the Aires set is absolutely not suitable for the Hasegawa kit and for any kit made in this galaxy in the last 100,000 years. But with a will equal to a berseker's and the help of precision tools like C4 or other chainsaws, you can get something out of it...Good luck !

 

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Interesting that the Aries cockpit seems to fit the Monogram kit, I suppose it had to fit something!

Doing something different is a good thing, helps to keep the modelling mojo going.

I like your thinking.👍

 

[modelling minion]

Well you have certainly made up for lost time by getting stuck in to the conversion!

Fair play to you for tackling this, and it looks like you have everything planned out very well.

[LorenSharp]

3 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Well you have certainly made up for lost time by getting stuck in to the conversion!

Fair play to you for tackling this, and it looks like you have everything planned out very well.

About as well as I can, I know there will be modifications to the process as they arise. I've never attempted to back date a subject before so this will be a learning process for sure. But I figure I can do it, cuz I ain't never not done it.

[LorenSharp]

Progress report of the days activities, in between getting outdoor stuff done before rain set in. Filled the  openings where the original intakes were with plastic card.

Then added the intakes, I'll have to use a little bit of filler but not much, but the intakes are in their proper position.

Worked on the cockpit. the biggest modification was having to sand down the top side of the nose wheel bay to fit the tub.

Getting the interior painted up, I'll leave the smaller bits and the bang seat for last. I'll have foam padding inside while painting. This way I won't break off things.

No colour call outs on the resin instructions so I went by my references and an interior gray and olive drab for the canvas along with weathered black for the canopy hinge area. Once dried dry brushed aluminum and used a tooth pick to paint some red buttons and dials to break up the look.

[LorenSharp]

The cockpit tub fits amazingly well, I was expecting all kinds of headaches here. only a small gap at best a 1/2 mm at the canopy hinge and around the instrument panel cover. That may have been my fault as I probably cut too much of the original part away.

A little bit of thin rod for the back and a touch of Milliput for the front should fix that up.

[LorenSharp]

From there added the nose weights. My standard childrens putty with bb's mixed in held in place with a dolop of CA glue.

Following this with Milliput for the new nose and the fillet on the tail since this doesn't have the electronics package on the spine.

I'll let these dry overnight ,then begin the messiest part of the whole operation. .... Sanding the nose to shape.  So have a good evening guys

and any comments, suggestions, or ideas let me know. Until later , Stay safe, stay healthy.

[modelling minion]

That is really nice work.

You have done a great job on painting the cockpit and bringing out it's details, and have achieved a very good fit into the Monogram fuselage, maybe Aries got Monogram and Hasegawa mixed up when they were designing their cockpit.

The intakes are a very good fit too and the Miliput on the nose and the til fillet look like they should do the job very well when sanded to shape.

[LorenSharp]

7 hours ago, modelling minion said:

That is really nice work.

You have done a great job on painting the cockpit and bringing out it's details, and have achieved a very good fit into the Monogram fuselage, maybe Aries got Monogram and Hasegawa mixed up when they were designing their cockpit.

The intakes are a very good fit too and the Miliput on the nose and the til fillet look like they should do the job very well when sanded to shape.

Thanks Craig, The cockpit set was a tad too small and I'm thinking scale wise 8cm too narrow. Of course too small is easier to fix sometimes than too big. which is what usually happens when I get a detail that's not designed for the model I'm working on. But the length was fairly well spot on.

 

[LorenSharp]

And speaking of things Milliput wise, I let the putty set up over night and then begab the messy part.... sanding away what I don't need.  As usual, I mixed way more putty than I needed. One of these centuries I'll get that part figured out.

The tail fillet didn't need much but I will touch it up .

The nose is shortened now the old piece above shows the original length.

From there  I  masked off the seams and applied glazing compound. This won't take long to dry I sand those down then I'll give the Scooter a shot of primer to see what other issues are sticking out like a sore thumb. With luck I'll have another update later on today.

[modelling minion]

Whilst you may have started a bit later than most of us you have certainly caught up, or even over taken some of us!

You have made short work of the conversion and have almost finished cleaning up the main assembly.

I am really impressed both with your work and with the speed at which you have done it.

[LorenSharp]

12 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Whilst you may have started a bit later than most of us you have certainly caught up, or even over taken some of us!

You have made short work of the conversion and have almost finished cleaning up the main assembly.

I am really impressed both with your work and with the speed at which you have done it.

Thanks Craig, Probably a benefit of being retired. I have the good fortune, if one could call it that, of being able to spend a nice chunk of the day fiddling around with bits of plastic and paint. If I'm not building  or researching then its seeing what everyone here is coming up with and learning from that. And this also has the benefit of keeping me off the streets and out of trouble. 

[LorenSharp]

And speaking of work progressing, the first coat of filler dried faster than I anticipated. So sanding all those down I gave the little guy an even light coat of primer to find things that need further attention.

Not a lot of fixing, but since this is a thicker addition, it will probably take longer to set and dry than the other. So while this is drying, I'll see if I can make new parts for the leading edge slot braces, a new tail hook, catapult hook and whatever else was damaged or lost while striping the old paint off. I'm going to see if I can print these parts out. but as small as they are I may not be able to and have to come up with a different solution. So stay tuned for more exciting adventures

[modelling minion]

Well the primer has done what it is supposed to do by showing areas that require a bit more attention, but there's not that much.

[LorenSharp]

I think I have all the smoothings done, Since I want to position the wing and tail surfaces, I removed them early on and now I'll the connections back on made from this strip.

finally finished printing new pieces out. I updated the exhaust can with an inner and outer exhaust tube and fashioned a new flame holder. As small as the tube is it's hard to see anything so I didn't add a whole lot of detail to the holder.

and I managed to print out the smallest parts successfully to date. I tried making a new set of small intakes for the sides of the fuselage. I made extras as I figured I would ruin a few just getting them off the braces or not print correctly due to size.

Then added the wing and tail surfaces. one more light coat of primer then I'll pre-shade and lay down the white. Which will work out. I found an online hobby shop that still carried Model Master acrylics in quantity and ordered several bottles of Gull Gray and Aircraft Gray. Those are supposed to arrive tomorrow and that will be just in time MOre updates are coming, but until then Stay Safe and Stay Healthy

[modelling minion]

Very nice work printing those parts out they look very nice indeed, the exhaust in particular looks like a very big improvement over the original kit part.