Options for a 1/72 Top Gun Skyhawk?

[alhenderson]

With all the attention on the new Top Gun film of late I've found myself fancying doing a Top Gun Skyhawk in 1/72nd.  The specially boxed Airfix one seemed like a shoe-in but I note that its an A-4B rather than an A-4E/F, plus the star and bar decals are strange stylised ones that look weird.  I looked on scalemates and there were a few A-4E/F kits but all from the 70s/80s from people like ESCI, ERTL and Fujimi.  Having built a Fujim iF-4 I'd be happy to go with the latter (if I could get hold of one), but it does seem to have the avionics hump on it which the TG Skyhawks did not have as far as I can tell.

 

I don't know what the differences are between an A-4B and A-4E - maybe not enough to make a difference?  I'd have to deal with the star and bar thing, but that's a smaller problem.   If I went down the route of another kit Id need to source decals, of course..

 

Any thoughts, oh wise ones?

 

Al.

[AV O]

i guess everything here can help you in the variants section :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-4_Skyhawk

 

as well as  here :

https://www.qwant.com/?q=A-4+Skyhawk+versions&t=images

Edited June 15, 2022 by AV O

[Giorgio N]

The Fujimi A-4E was recently reboxed by Hobby 2000 and can be built with or without hump. Unfortunately does not include decals for Top Gun but in terms of quality of the plastic parts it's the best you can get

 

https://www.super-hobby.it/products/A-4E-Skyhawk-39517116.html

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Giorgio N

[CT7567]

Well there's a bit of a question as to how you define a "Top Gun" Skyhawk - are you set on specifically modelling one of the featured subjects from the original film - "Jester" or "Viper"? Or will any Skyhawk as operated by the Naval Fighter Weapons School in the mid/late 1980s do?  The movie aircraft and the vast majority of others were humpless E/F models, but the NFWS also flew some 'family model' TA-4s (They wore a *plethora* of different color & marking schemes).

 

You'll definitely get a better result from a dedicated A-4E/F kit than trying to convert the Airfix B - the intakes and forward fuselage are entirely different between the variants (plus a multitude of smaller details).

 

You've already named the two best kits available.  Fujimi is generally the consensus winner, ESCI/AMT/Ertl (all the same tooling) being slightly less detailed and having an odd mix of recessed and raised panel lines, but arguably slightly better shape.  The ESCI tooling is now owned by Italeri who released it with their (unfortunately mediocre) F-14A in a recent 2-pack obviously planned for the expected movie hype. Unfortunately the Skyhawk hasn't been re-released alone (yet) and the Tomcat isn't worth the extra cost given how many far better kits are out there and the general availability of the earlier ESCI boxings on the secondhand market.

 

Other than those two, another option is Italeri's own tooling (not nearly as good as ESCI). Stay well away from the Hasegawa/Frog kits of the E/F, as they have a scaling error that makes the fuselage significantly longer than it should be. Revell/Ace/Tsukuda and Kangnam did recessed panel line clones of the Hasegawa, with the same fundamental errors inherited.

 

Other Skyhawks bear some mention mainly for knowing what to avoid: Airfix "old tool" (lackluster replica of the earliest A4D type), Lindberg, Matchbox (wrong variant), 

[Hook]

 

1 hour ago, CT7567 said:

Matchbox (wrong variant), 

The NFWS did fly some humped A-4M's later on. 

 

You'd still want to avoid the lacklustre Matchbox M for anything else than a nostalgia build, though. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

[alhenderson]

Thanks all for the comments.  As I suspected, the easy option of the Airfix Top Gun boxing is to be avoided.  I'm not concerned with it being an actual movie jet, I'd rather do an actual NFWS machine, so not averse to a twin sticker.  I'll happily go with whatever kit/decals combination I can get my hands on..

 

Al.

[Hook]

2 minutes ago, alhenderson said:

I'll happily go with whatever kit/decals combination I can get my hands on.

Fujimi's A-4E/F kit has a movie option ("Viper" bort 56) OOTB. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

[alhenderson]

6 minutes ago, Hook said:

Fujimi's A-4E/F kit has a movie option ("Viper" bort 56) OOTB. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

Fab - so it does!  I'll keep an eye out for that one.

 

Al.

[klubman01]

If you can find it it, look out for the Testors version of Italeri's A-4M kit (Testors kit number 271).  It may get re-released amidst the hype for the new film.  It includes a decal sheet by ScaleMaster with markings for the Jester A-4E from the original film (plus markings for the final A-4M built when operated by VX-5).  Granted, the decals aren't applicable to an A-4M, but I used them on an Esci kit and they were accurate and well printed.  I'll try and find a photo of the finished model.

Trevor

[alhenderson]

1 hour ago, klubman01 said:

If you can find it it, look out for the Testors version of Italeri's A-4M kit (Testors kit number 271).  It may get re-released amidst the hype for the new film.  It includes a decal sheet by ScaleMaster with markings for the Jester A-4E from the original film (plus markings for the final A-4M built when operated by VX-5).  Granted, the decals aren't applicable to an A-4M, but I used them on an Esci kit and they were accurate and well printed.  I'll try and find a photo of the finished model.

Trevor

 Thanks for that, I did see the Testors kit when googling.  Would be interested in any pics 🙂

 

Al.

[Giorgio N]

Realistically the most easily available complete solution is the Italeri A-4/F-14 combo, as this was issued quite recently and can still be found in most shops. Is it worth the money ? Well, it gives a not particularly good Tomcat (but IMHO there's worse out there, like the Esci kit that Italeri is now reboxing) and a decent A-4, all with proper original Top Gun decals. I've built the Esci A-4E before and fits pretty nice, the only two annoying issues are the mix of panel lines (recedded on the fuselage and raised on the wings and elevators) and the fact that slats are moulded closed. Of course the raised panel lines can be rescribed if desired, however the multitude of oval panels on top of the wing are very difficult to rescribe for the reason that part of them are surrounded by the vortex generators.

Regarding the cost, there's always the option of buying the set and then try to offload the Tomcat on Ebay or similar, somebody may be interested in an Italeri Tomcat with Top Gun decals, if only for the latter.

 

An alternative to consdier is to try and find the Italeri or Airfix decals and use these on the Fujimi kit. Maybe there's a modeller out there who is not interested in building his Skyhawk as a Top Gun machine and would sell you the decal sheet

[Hook]

4 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

Maybe there's a modeller out there who is not interested in building his Skyhawk as a Top Gun machine and would sell you the decal sheet

Or, perhaps there are people like me on BM with a couple of the Fujimi A-4E in the stash who would be open for a trade for the Viper option of the Fujimi sheet.

 

Cheers,

 

Andrr

Edited June 16, 2022 by Hook

[alhenderson]

10 minutes ago, Hook said:

Or, perhaps there are people like me on BM with a couple of the Fujimi A-4E in the stash who would be open for a trade for the Viper option of the Fujimi sheet.

 

Cheers,

 

Andrr

That's not fair - I have neither! 😞 

 

Al.