Fernando N's Airfix 1/72 A-4B Skyhawk

[Fernando N]

Hi everyone,

With a long weekend and a bench slowly turning empty, it was time to start no.2 in the GB for me:

Always loved the Skyhawk since seeing it in the Buck Danny books a long time ago.:smiling4:

Read good things about this tooled kit from Airfix, made me have a crack at it and it’ll be an interesting one to hand paint.
One version and painting instructions on the back:

The sprues, very little flash and all parts seem to be properly moulded:

Two brushes and six pots in this kit, labelled the pots with a Brother as the printed numbers faded off after a couple of touches:rolling:…:

Basic tools to tackle this one:

Wanted to start this tread and build two weeks ago, but things got in between and only managed to prep the brushes…
As said first job was to modify the brushes by cutting the ends for better results, this:

To this one:

Cockpit assembly, painting and interior was pretty simple and straight forward due to nice clean and good fitting parts:smiling::


Tried to add a little wash of diluted 33 Black in the office but kept it to minimum, as I plan to close the canopy and hope much contrast will keep as much as possible seen.
Care had to be taken in cleaning up the parts, as the plastic is quite soft and it’s easy to cut away too much.

Started on it yesterday and almost had the basic airframe complete this evening, joys of a modern kit:

Used the glue as a makeshift filler, hope it looks good with some paint on the seams:thinking:.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

[stillp]

That looks very well equipped for a starter set Fernando - nice cockpit detail too.

Pete

[flyjoe180]

Nice start on your Skyhawk Fernando

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Pete and Joe thanks guys, the kit has five bombs and three drop-tanks to put on three pylons and the decals give a nice impression of detail eh, with that little office good enough when closed.:smiling4:

Completed a few steps of little scooter in the last weeks, last airframe bits with a coat of paint were pretty easy to accomplish.
Love the fit of all the major parts, some smaller ones could use a bit of filler:thinking:, can’t have it all now can we:


Next was the main camo colours, thinned both a bit with tap water and the gull grey turned out fine with just two coats.
The white took something like six or eight coats, I lost count…but hey the results are not bad:smiling4::


Maybe a detail here and there to paint and on to the decals.:smiling:

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando.

[scottie3158]

Fernando, That is a good looking build mate.

[minitnkr]

Always loved the "scooter". Coming on strong. PaulE

[Guest]

Nice quick start Fernando, like the surgery on the brushes, look much sharper now.
Seeing the resulting paint work says they worked well

[Guest]

Like Paul, I always liked the Skyhawk — I built quite a few variants of it 25–30 years ago, mostly from Italeri and Fujimi kits. This one looks like a pretty good kit, and you actually appear to get all the colours you reasonably need for it. To be honest they should have moulded it in white plastic, given the number of coats you say you needed for the underside.

[spanner570]

Very nice brushwork Fernando. Looking good.

Lots of coats of white over a darker colour is just the brush painter's lot, I'm afraid.

Brush 'ands membership form in the post. Please pay £100 joining fee + £500 per year by a none cancelling Direct Debit into my paypal account. P.M with details to follow.

Ron

[colin m]

Looks good, I'm impressed.

[Fernando N]

Evening, just a short update of the Scooter.:smiling:

Scottie, Paul, John, Jakko, Ron and Colin, thanks for kind words guys :thumb2: .
White is an awful colour to get a decent finish over something dark even with an airbrush, still with patience the kits paints are nicely covering and satin too.:smiling4:

With a lot of concerts, running events, festival and of course work there was just a bit of spare time left to get the decals on:



On the satin surface they went on with little trouble, the black anti-glare one gave a bit of a fit issue and the ones on the upper wing are over the little airflow thingy’s:


Just a little to show for now, almost bedtime and a day to work followed immediately by a drive to the south.
Staying with friends at a camping for one night and then it’s almost four days of beer and metal-music at Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium.

If I survive that there is a week off for finishing this one and more concerts to visit….:upside:

Thanks for looking in and have a great weekend in advance.:thumb2:
Fernando

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Well I survived the Metal heaven that is called Graspop Metal Meeting and the concerts of Rammstein and Muse this week…:upside::upside::upside:

In between cleaning the camping kit and such, I managed to give the Skyhawk a little wash of the exterior colours combined with a touch of Black.
Also thinned it a lot to get it work more as a wash and less like a paint coat.
And with the washes on, followed by the droptank and bombs I called it finished. :smiling:

The little rod under the tail is only for photographic purposes BTW:tongue-out3::




Hopefully I can find some time in the weekend to make a more comprehensive set of pic’s for the completed section.

Thanks for looking in and have a great weekend.
Fernando

[Guest]

Hope your ears are OK after the festival Fernando, but I suppose you don't need them for modelling.

A beautiful result on the Skyhawk - very clean and sharp.

[scottie3158]

Fernando,
That is a great result mate. hope you enjoyed the festival.

[yak face]

That looks fantastic fernando! You have done a superb job considering the limits placed on the build . I do like the skyhawk and several people on here have made this kit and found it to be a little gem -oh no ! another likely stash candidate and im trying to get it down!! Cheers tony