rowmk9 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) Hot on the heels of my Lancaster build (shameless plug) I'm going to launch into this group build if I may and get a kit built that has been sitting in my stash for years. Here's the kit, Tamiya's 1/48th A-1H Skyraider which many people will be familiar with. I'll take pictures of the sprues soon. and here's the twist - I'm planning on painting her up in VNAF markings. The bottom aircraft on this pic, to be precise The other option is very cool too, but alas, it is an A-1J. I'm going to have to study the differences between USN and VNAF Spads, as there may be some subtle differences that I may have to take into account. Any SPAD-sperts out there who can help will be greatly appreciated. Edited March 7, 2011 by rowmk9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Nice kit and nice choice............hope to see it done up soon best rgds mr b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Hi, great to see another spad being built those decals look superb which ship you going to do? only thing to be careful with is cutting the glazed parts of the sprues use a fine razor saw rather then a blade / sprue cutters Ichipped the wind screen on mine using a brand new blade may pay you to have a look at www.skyraider .com. Andy Edited February 15, 2011 by smuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Cheers for the advice Andy, I see how the canopy may be a problem after taking alook at the sprues so I'll be careful when it comes to that bit (famous last words...). I'm gonna go for the bottom option of the two as it is an A-1H like the kit. The other is an A-1J. I've changed the name of the thread to the Vietnamese nickname for the Skyraider, seeing as this aircraft is going to be from the VNAF it seems fitting to give it this name. It's a pretty cool nickname Here's some boring sprue pics of the kit which I have just started making my first progress on, undercoating and spraying the cockpit - pics will follow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Made a proper start on the kit last night, the cockpit is coming together. I'll have to make up some seatbelts for the seat as I have no after market ones for this kit. I'm also keeping the bucket seat instead of upgrading to the later A-1J standard one. I'm reasoning that this was an early trade to the VNAF and as such it was not fitted with any of the later upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moofles Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 wow, looking great, watching with intrest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi, good job with the office did you use the decal mine disitergrated...step up Mike Grant... phew apart from my mishap with the glazing the kits a breeze no filler at all. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Cheers Andy + moofles Yeah I used the decal, though it was stubborn and at one point I thought I'd screwed it up. Just about saved it though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 A fair amount of progress so far, seeing as I didn't get round to updating the build yesterday. So, whats happened? Well I've made up a seatbelt that will pass my 1ft challenge (does it look good from 1ft?) and thats on the seat And then the cockpit was completed and i started making up the fuselage, wings and engine. It all happened so quickly that I forgot to take pictures! but here it is with some panels masked off in prep for preshading them Remove masking tape and mock up the plane with engine in situ - BIG! - is the watchword. Also, I've put the flaps in the up position. It was tempting to drop them, but the archive photo's I've seen of VNAF Skyraiders show them up pretty much all the time. I'm gonna go for traditional preshading around the panel lines too. to try and give the paintwork a 'lived in' feel. And the latest addition is the aerial on the spine of the fuselage, that was not included in the kit but does appear to be on the VNAF Skyraider I'm building. No idea what it's for to be honest, but its there! Here's a picture of the real thing (and the aircraft in the background is the one I'm actually modelling - 34484) and the aerial is clearly visible. So here's my attempt at scratchbuilding my own version, out of spare plastic bits in the bits mixed with filler After taking this picture, I decided it was too 'pointy' and have taken a tiny bit off the top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr B Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Wow Very fast work........nice cockpit......... rgds mr b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 I have this kit, Love it. I intend to getting started one day. Will be keeping an eye on this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Cheers guys! Some more progress, the main colours are on, but I'm not 100% on them. I think the white is too white and the light gull grey is too dark, creating too much of a contrast. Maybe I can try bringing the two tones closer together with weathering? What do the BM faithful think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moofles Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 blimey that looks good, your preshading has come out great on the underside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Thanks Moofles. However, after closer inspection of the source photographs of VNAF skyraiders (and the photo of the actual aircraft) I believe that the rudder was painted light gull grey too, and not white. Also I believe the cowling mid-section was white up to the black anti-glare panel so it'll be back to the spraybooth for those two items to be fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Looking mighty good there Rowan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Good progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for the kind comments I've repainted the rudder light gull grey and the black anti-glare panel has been done as well. I think next up is the bare metal leading edge on the wings and cowling (not fun!) I'm planning on getting some aftermarket napalm tanks for my Spad and currently looking at true details BLU-10 500 napalm tanks. They look about right from the pictures I've seen of VNAF skyraiders equipped with napalm but I'm not sure. If anyone thinks they are wrong please speak up! Here's a link to them on hannants website: BLU-10 500 napalm tanks (1/48) They do sell 250 tanks as well. but I thought bigger would be better. Any thoughts then feel free to chip in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Some fiddly painting today. The leading edges of the skyraider are bare metal which is a bit of a pain to mask and paint, but I've done it. Don't worry, I wasn't going to do the whole front of the cowling silver, I just masked off to a panel line. It was way to difficult to mask off the leading edge of the curved cowling because I was trying to get the tape down on the inside of a sloping curve - very very difficult! So I decided to do it in reverse, spraying the section of cowling silver and then masking off the silver afterward with some new, (and crucially) flat white-tac straight from the pack. By pressing the model into the white-tac evenly, I got a pretty good line that was level on all sides. Of course this meant I had to redo the white, grey and black on the nose which was extra work that could've been avoided with better planning. All in all it was a right pain, but I am relatively happy with my efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 All varnished and about ready for some decals to be applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Tonights update! The majority of the decals are in place now, with a bit of touch up to do on the tail band join but other than that it was pretty straightforward. Also the main wheels have been given their base coats and been stuck in place. I must say seeing two American-style stars 'n' bars on the upper and lower wing surfaces takes a bit of getting used to. That said it's nice to see some colour on the airframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Some toys have arrived today for my Skyraider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 My proposed loadout: 2 x 500 BLU-10 napalm 2 x 250 BLU-10 napalm 6 X 250lb HE bombs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) Promodeller (or is that Flory wash now ) dark dirt wash has been used to pick out the panel lines and on a kit like this it works particularly well. I've also attempted to weather the markings a bit by sanding lightly the decal, I tried to get the red outline of the insignia to look worn and beaten up, as I've seen on the source pictures. Not a total success, but not a total failure either. I think I'll have a go later drybrushing some lighter red and blue paint to try and make them look a bit washed out. Edited March 4, 2011 by rowmk9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 mmmmmmmm...... Napalm!!!!! Looks great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 I've been working on the Napalm today. Sorry for the poor quality pic, but here's what I've done. I have made the fuses up with the nosecone of 1/72 sidewinder missiles for the larger size tanks and 1/72 chair legs for the smaller size. Then some thin wire connected them to the main main resin body. I think its better than leaving them off! I'll take a better pic of it once its painted honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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