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1/48 ACADEMY DOUGLAS A-4G SKYHAWK 75 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force circa 1985
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This was the first kit I
bought when I decided to start Modelling after a 15 year break. Having worked on
Skyhawks in the RNZAF, the A-4 is a favourite of mine. This kit is a very
basic A-4E missing plenty of the little details. Thankfully I am currently
building some Hasegawa A-4's and they have plenty of spare bits to add detail.
eg the Pitot probe, Tacan Antenna, Drop Tanks and LAU 7as example. I decided to
build this as a flying kit because the slats were up, and rarely if ever are
they that way on the ground |
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Except for the rocket
launcher I used weapons from the Hasegawa weapons set as the ones supplied
weren't that flash. As A-4's always look better fully loaded, I decided to
load the aircraft with 3 MK82's on a TER, a AIM-9G and 2 300 gal drop
tanks. |
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The RAN scheme of
Light Admiralty grey (blue) and Dark Sea grey is IMO one of the most
attractive A-4 schemes. Finding paints that match was difficult but I
settled on the Tamiya Acrylics (XF23 Light Blue and XF54 Dark Sea Grey) I
still haven't mastered them as yet, they, particularly the clear, seem to
take a while to harden and I ended up with finger prints in some areas.
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I used some of the
Hasegawa decals but the RNZAF decals are the excellent Gecko Graphics (www.gekkographics.com.au)
A-4 Decals. If you want to build a Kiwi A-4 these are the decals to get.
I'll be using them on the other 3 A-4s I intend to build. Overall
though I think it has turned out OK. |
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The Pictures Click on
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