A-4PTM
KIT-Hasegawa
A-4C
DECAL-VFA
Productions
PILOT-PJ
Productions
This
aircraft depicts an A-4 PTM Skyhawk at the tail-end of its service with
the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
The
aircraft was built OOB with a few additional parts. These included the
pilot figure (PJ Production) and the air-to-air refueling buddy-pack
(swiped from the AMT/ERTL Viking kit)
Assembly
Building
the Hasegawa A-4 is a relatively simple process thanks to the excellent
engineering of the kit. Assembly was fuss-free. The buddy pod was mated to
the aircraft with minimal difficulties. The fuel tank that came with the
kit lacked the fins so this was scratchbuilt. No big issues there as well.
Painting
and Decalling
For
painting, I used Gunze 303 and 309 as mentioned in VFA Production's
instruction sheet which was applied by free-hand. I prefer this method
rather than the masking technique as I feel it gives a more realistic
finish. Ultimately, it's a matter of one's choice.
Once
the paint has dried, I coated it with a layer of Gunze Gloss Cote, attach
the decals from VFA Productions and coat it with another layer of Gunze
Gloss Cote again.
Next
stage would be weathering. This project called for heavy weathering on the
aircraft as it depicts the Skyhawk towards the end of its service life
with the RMAF. This was done by doing several layers of oil washes to dull
effect the colours applied initially.
Silver
was then added liberally to depict scratch as well as scrape marks. A
final coat of Humbroll Matt cote was sprayed on to seal everything in.
As
mentioned, building the aircraft was a relatively fuss-free affair, the
only difficult bits were having to perform some surgery on the pilot
figure (removal and reassignment of the right arm) so that it could fit in
the cockpit as well as scratch-building the refueling basket using some
parts from the donor kit. The hose was actually a plastic rod sanded down
to the appropriate thinness.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Hawk
Mk 208
KIT-
Airfix Hawk 100
Decal
– VFA Productions/Model
Alliance
Pilot
– PJ Production RAF Pilot
Conversion
Set – Neomega Hawk 200 Conversion Set
This
aircraft depicts the Hawk 208 operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
In this case, it one of the several operated by No. 15th Squadron.
Assembly
The
aircraft was built combining the Airfix Hawk 100 with the Hawk 200 nose
conversion from Neomega. From my humble opinion, detailing on the Neomega
kit is excellent although fitting was a bit off. Not an uncommon issue
when it comes to conversion kits. The funny thing was that Neomega opted
to cast the panel line on the nose on a raised format. This of course was
sanded down and rescribed.
After,
a coat of primer, the cockpit was painted using some photos as reference.
Note the thumbnail which served as a cheap and convenient paint pallette.
After
all the hard work done in painting the cockpit, I was kind of sad to see
that only 20% of it could be seen when the pilot was placed in the
cockpit. Oh well…..
The
next step was to join the fuselage and the nose conversion set together.
This was where I again ran into problems as the panel lines did not align
with each other. Another round of sanding and rescribing!!
Next
came the trickiest part…scratchbuilding the air to air refueling probe.
This was done using epoxy bondite, plastic rod and the cranked refueling
probe from the Hasegawa A-4C. A lot of sweat and tears was spent trying to
get the bulge shape correct.
Other
scratchbuilt items were the wing fences utilizing 0.3mm that were built
according to the measurements and instructions given in the VFA
instruction sheet.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Next
step, putting on the canopy. This was another tricky bit as there were some seam
lines that were apparent. This was cure by some sanding and dipping into the
ever trusty Future.
Dry
fitting reveled that there was a gap between canopy and the rear part of the
cockpit frame. This was cured by the usual combination of epoxy bondite and lots
of sanding work.
Final
touch up on the cockpit and the pilot before the cockpit was glued into place.
Painting
and Decalling
After
a coat of primer, Gunze 335 was applied. This was then sealed in with a coat of
Gunzel Gloss Cote. When the coating had dried, I then applied the decals from
VFA Productions and some bits from Model Alliance. This was then given a final
coating of Humbrol Matt Cote before some minor weathering was applied.
Diorama
It
was decided from day 1 that both aircraft would be incorporated into a single
air to air refueling diorama. After several rounds of discussions, we agreed
that an air to air refueling scence over some of the islands off the east coast
of
Malaysia
would provide a great base.
The
base was a 13 inch by 32 inch plywood sheet. The island was fashioned out of
Powderfilla. Vegetation was provided by Busch (accessories for train
layout). The ocean was painted 3 tones of blue before white glue was liberally
poured over it. Food wraping cling film was applied to give a "wavy"
effect.
The
stand was fashioned from 3mm thick polycarbonate and polished so as to make it
"disappear" when viewed from a distance.
Overall,
I spent close to 1 month to build the aircraft and diorama.
Nazaruddin
Click on
images below to see larger images
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