Airfix 1:72 A-4 Skyhawk
Posted: September 22nd, 2013, 9:31 pm
The venerable Airfix A-4 Skyhawk. A wonderful kit that fits perfectly, has lots of detail and is a joy to build.
Not!!!
I got this in the Falklands set.
And this is what it's supposed to end up looking like.
I had to set my camera to wide angle to get all the parts in the photo.
And look at this, page upon page of instructions......
And a lovely colour painting guide.....
Let's take a closer look at some or the kits' finer points, shall we?
Some lovely sink marks, which will be completely out of sight when the kit is assembled.
An amazingly thin canopy.
No flash at all.
And it sits nice and flat on the mat, so it's not at all warped.
There's some lovely intake trunking.
And lot's of detail in the cockpit.
Well there will be......
So I started with the seat. Filled and sanded.
And made a floor.
A quick dry fit showed it would also need a bulkhead.
So I made and installed that too.
And while I was at it I added an IP too.
Not perfect but better than the gaping void that was there before.
And with the perfectly molded seat.
Next job was to do something with the intakes, so I cut some straws and taped them down to try to make them a little less round.
A bit of superglue and we have the startings of something.
It still needs some work and some trimming.
So I do just that.
And doesn't it look a whole lot better. Still a gaping chasm in there though.
And a triangle of plasticard takes care of that!
A whole lot better.
Now to look at the back end. Just as I suspected, another gaping hole.....
It needs something shoving up its bottom. This bomb might do the trick.
So I chop it up.
But there's a joining pin.
Soon gotten rid of and that's going to look a whole lot better.
Out with the paints for the interior.
The seat.
And the IP.
And then it can all be closed up.
Perfect from the front.
And perect from the rear.
The wings were perfect too.
Look at this great fit.
And speaking of a great fit, I only needed a tiny bit of filler on the underside.
It was at this point in the build that I gave up taking photos as there is just so much that this kit needs to make a decect job of it. So after getting it all glued together it sat on a shelf on my desk for months.
Until Friday. When I decided that it needed to be finished and nothing at all to do with the fact I was running out of space....
So here it is, the finished product.
I know there's an anchor missing from the underside of the starboard wing. Little Ian used one when making my Fathers Day present. I have a whole box of spare decals but no, he had to use one I needed. Bless him. Couldn't be cross with him.
I would take close up pics of all the extra work I did but to be honest it's a waste of time. Airfix did the right thing in creating a new tool Skyhawk. Just a shame it wasn't in time to go the Falklands 25th set....
If you are ever tempted to build this old dog, walk away. A very long way away.....
Not!!!
I got this in the Falklands set.
And this is what it's supposed to end up looking like.
I had to set my camera to wide angle to get all the parts in the photo.
And look at this, page upon page of instructions......
And a lovely colour painting guide.....
Let's take a closer look at some or the kits' finer points, shall we?
Some lovely sink marks, which will be completely out of sight when the kit is assembled.
An amazingly thin canopy.
No flash at all.
And it sits nice and flat on the mat, so it's not at all warped.
There's some lovely intake trunking.
And lot's of detail in the cockpit.
Well there will be......
So I started with the seat. Filled and sanded.
And made a floor.
A quick dry fit showed it would also need a bulkhead.
So I made and installed that too.
And while I was at it I added an IP too.
Not perfect but better than the gaping void that was there before.
And with the perfectly molded seat.
Next job was to do something with the intakes, so I cut some straws and taped them down to try to make them a little less round.
A bit of superglue and we have the startings of something.
It still needs some work and some trimming.
So I do just that.
And doesn't it look a whole lot better. Still a gaping chasm in there though.
And a triangle of plasticard takes care of that!
A whole lot better.
Now to look at the back end. Just as I suspected, another gaping hole.....
It needs something shoving up its bottom. This bomb might do the trick.
So I chop it up.
But there's a joining pin.
Soon gotten rid of and that's going to look a whole lot better.
Out with the paints for the interior.
The seat.
And the IP.
And then it can all be closed up.
Perfect from the front.
And perect from the rear.
The wings were perfect too.
Look at this great fit.
And speaking of a great fit, I only needed a tiny bit of filler on the underside.
It was at this point in the build that I gave up taking photos as there is just so much that this kit needs to make a decect job of it. So after getting it all glued together it sat on a shelf on my desk for months.
Until Friday. When I decided that it needed to be finished and nothing at all to do with the fact I was running out of space....
So here it is, the finished product.
I know there's an anchor missing from the underside of the starboard wing. Little Ian used one when making my Fathers Day present. I have a whole box of spare decals but no, he had to use one I needed. Bless him. Couldn't be cross with him.
I would take close up pics of all the extra work I did but to be honest it's a waste of time. Airfix did the right thing in creating a new tool Skyhawk. Just a shame it wasn't in time to go the Falklands 25th set....
If you are ever tempted to build this old dog, walk away. A very long way away.....