McCain's Scooter

[Softscience]

I may be biting off more than I can chew here, but I'd like to contribute to the gb with a build of the monogram A-4. I doubt 3 weeks will be enough time to finish 48th scale jet, but we'll see how far I can get.

I'll be building the kit as an aircraft flown by US senator and 2008 presidential runner-up, John McCain. This is not the airplane he was shot down in. This is the airplane he flew in 1967 while serving with VA-43 in 1967.

[BlohmWolf]

Great! More A-4s for the GB!

You should probably check out Splash's airfix one, which is somewhere below this thread.

[ShaunW]

Nice one Ralph and an interesting bit of history attached to those markings - here's me expecting F-4s to be the predominant jet of the GB

I don't think 3 weeks will be long enough for me to finish detailing up my Phantom either, so join the club

[AndrewR]

I didn't know he was an A-4 driver. You learn something every day.

Cheers

Andrew

[Softscience]

Yep. He had some harrowing experiences around Skyhawks.

He was witness to a terrible deck accident, when a bomb became unstrapped from an A-4 and exploded on deck, maiming and killing many sailors. Later, he was shot down over North Vietnam in his A-4 and became a POW for quite a long time.

And then worst of all, Sarah Palin

[AndrewR]

Yep. He had some harrowing experiences around Skyhawks.

He was witness to a terrible deck accident, when a bomb became unstrapped from an A-4 and exploded on deck, maiming and killing many sailors. Later, he was shot down over North Vietnam in his A-4 and became a POW for quite a long time.

And then worst of all, Sarah Palin

I bet he'd like to be back in a Skyhawk at the moment

[Chris]

Let's keep politics out of things Andrew, your little quip is an insult to someone like me, who fully supports the Taxed Enough Already movement,.

[Softscience]

Hey guys. Lets build models.



-Edited to preserve the peace.-

[Chris]

Sure.

Like the choice of the A4, a wonderful aircraft.

[AndrewR]

No problem!

[ShaunW]

I try to keep out of British politics let alone U.S. politics. The Palin quip has therefore gone over my head. Hopefully this little spat has now resolved itself. Let's stick to the plastic and non-political jokes please chaps. I don't know, I leave you lot unattended for a couple of hours........

[Softscience]

ANYWAY.


I began work by gluing together some of the larger parts like fuel tank halves, wing sections, and jet intakes. Fit has so far been questionable, but that is to be expected of kits that have been repopped as many times as Monogram's.

This is nothing insurmountable, and requires only basic modeling skills to fix.

One thing this is a bit more problematic is the cockpit. It is a real weak point of the kit. Most Monogram cockpits were superb. This one, not so much.

I hope to get some plans of the real cockpit so I can scratchbuild some detail, or if I can find a replacement pit for a low enough price, I'll do that.

Here is what you get from the box. Yep, that seat is integrated with the tub. Yuck! Worse still is the hollow void behind the seat that will be visible if the cockpit is posed open. If I can replace the seat and add a back wall with some rails and actuator mechanisms, it would really help to dress things up.

[ShaunW]

Yes, swiftly moving on Ralph

This kit is quite reminiscent of the Airfix F-4 that I'm doing battle with in so far as fit is questionable but, hey, you've at least got a cockpit tub, albeit with the seat moulded into it, but it's a tub nevertheless I think that I'd look at trying to replace or improve it if possible as well.

[jssel]

Built a couple of these Ralph and they go together pretty well. The kit load out is pretty typical SAM suppression missions. Enjoy yourself.

[Softscience]

I've managed to finish sanding and reshaping one of the fuel tanks. There is no way I can finish this model before the GB ends. I'm withdrawing the build.