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Hobbycraft's 1/48 scale A-4 Skyhawks.


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To preface this, I've never bought the Hobbycraft kit, nor do I intend to.

The canopy looks squashed and the detail is lacking compared to the Hasegawa kit. With the Hasegawa family being one of the best 1:48 model series I've seen I can't see a reason anyone would buy the Hobbycraft kit. If you are having trouble finding a A-4B, MAW-Decals makes a resin conversion for the A-4C that seems to be more available. The conversion provides a new nose and instrument panel for about $5.

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The Hobbycraft A-4 kits are a decent alternative to the higher priced Hasegawa offering. It does have some faults, but it's relative to the price. They can be found for $10-15 and when built, most of the flaws are unnoticed by the normal eye. Fit wise, it's good. I'd suggest new decals. The kit ones aren't very good.

Like everything else in this hobby, it's all in what you want. If it's a shake-n-bake kit, the Hasegawa is excellent (and can be found in a ProModeller box sometimes). But don't automatically count the Hobbycraft Skyhawk out.

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Got 2 in the stash along with the Hasegawa offering, I'd say it is a very good alternative. Better than the old Monogram offering which is still in my stash BTW. If you are a rivet counter you will dislike it only because other rivet counters tell you to dislike it. :whistle:

I'd buy more.

Just my humble opinion.

Emil

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Aren't very good in what way? The ones that came in the Adversary E/F boxing were excellent. Well printed, opaque, thin and conformed very nicely.

The "B" boxing has the "C" nose. They never really did a "B" version even though it said it on the box.

Steve

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Aren't very good in what way? The ones that came in the Adversary E/F boxing were excellent. Well printed, opaque, thin and conformed very nicely.

Joe,

I've got the Israeli boxing and mine were off register. The blue used in the Star of David was more of a sky blue than the darker shade I've seen. Could be just a fluke.

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If you are a rivet counter you will dislike it only because other rivet counters tell you to dislike it. :thumbsup:

aerofan can decide by himself. I think it's better to provide him the infos so that he can decide what he'll do.

-----------

Flattened canopy ?

Real world

Hobbycraft (Darius Aibara's A-4Q)

Improvement possibility: http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/clearvax/set53.html

Edited by Laurent
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The biggest gripe is that the nose is too wide on the early (pre M/N) Scooters. The tooling was done with the measurement of the wider nose/cockpit area of the later versions and used for the earlier ones and thus made a mess up of the early ones outline when seen head on.

The biggest plus is still the ability to do Israeli versions OOB. Hasegawas still have not had a true Israeli one OOB with all of the IDF options (like the extended tailpipe)

The Hasegawas are still best for USN/USMC versions.

The bad thing is that this discussion tended to be the mid 2003 version of the Kinetic versus Tamiya Viper debate we have endured in the last year.

The decals are ok, HC decals are some of the best OOB decals, and yes there are lots who hate Hasegawa decals. One thing to remember is that the HC boxings do focus on foreign users. The C has the Mig Killer A-4C from Vietnam, the Agressor F has, well aggressors and the M has low vis USMC schemes. If one wants a gull gray and white line bird the Hasegawas are the best options OOB. There are an Argentinian B/Q boxing, the A-4C also has Argentinean markings and the M has well also Argentinian markings. Brazilian markings are in the 'N' boxing and Malaysian markings are in another boxing (I think the B ). Finding 'foreign schemes in Hasegawa boxings is difficult and they usually are the highest priced kits in the used kit stacks (like at the Nats) where the A-4K and Argentinian B/C boxings were seen for between $45 and $50 bucks

Matt

Matt

Edited by Matt Roberts
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Joe,

I've got the Israeli boxing and mine were off register. The blue used in the Star of David was more of a sky blue than the darker shade I've seen. Could be just a fluke.

I haven't seen that kit's decals. Your experience has obviously been different than mine.

Joe

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I've done the Mig Killer 'C'. Comments above just about cover all points. i only noticed how bad the front canopy was after completion. - I've now got the Squadron VACFORM canopy which I hope will allow me to correct what is the biggest error on this kit - how well it will blend in to the wider nose........

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Finding 'foreign schemes in Hasegawa boxings is difficult and they usually are the highest priced kits in the used kit stacks (like at the Nats) where the A-4K and Argentinian B/C boxings were seen for between $45 and $50 bucks

I have the Hasegawa Argentinian B/C boxing. It's has errors if you are trying to build this version, and IMO not worth the premium it seems to carry. Hasegawa includes a resin dorsal antenna fairing that is incorrect in shape for either version. It's sort of in between the 2 different versions. Condor Decals has the correct antennas.

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I think they are excellent alternatives to the Hasegawa kits, and look great when completed. Squadron makes dirt-cheap, accurate vacform canopies for several Hobbycraft Skyhawk kits, so I don't think the canopy complaints are a big deal. They also come with a full sprue of weapons, including a bunch of Mk.84s, Sidewinders and TERs. You can usually by 2-3 Hobbycraft Skyhawks for the price of one Hasegawa. I built mine with aftermarket seats and canopies, and I am perfectly happy with how they look.

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Hi All..

Also, the C argentinian boxing has one version for Singapour... and the big plus i think is the weapons.... yes, granted they look a little weird on the nose, but other than that i think they are a keeper.

Cheers

Man

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The Hobbycraft A-4 kits are a decent alternative to the higher priced Hasegawa offering. It does have some faults, but it's relative to the price. They can be found for $10-15 and when built, most of the flaws are unnoticed by the normal eye. Fit wise, it's good. I'd suggest new decals. The kit ones aren't very good.

Like everything else in this hobby, it's all in what you want. If it's a shake-n-bake kit, the Hasegawa is excellent (and can be found in a ProModeller box sometimes). But don't automatically count the Hobbycraft Skyhawk out.

Almost word-for-word what I was going to type. Very decent kit, especially for those of us who wind up building multiples. If you're going for a one-off show stopper, maybe you should invest in the Hase kit,but I was pleasantly surprised by the Hobbycraft ones.

-Mike

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I used the HC 1/48 Skyhawk for an Argentinian bird, I thought it was an excellent kit, went together with almost no problems. The only problem I had was with the refueling probe, it broke, I added a brass piece to reinforce it. I later found out the Argentinians did almost exactly the same thing on the real A/C-cool!!

Felinoid

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Even if you consider the Hobbycraft as a cheap form of aftermarket for a Hasegawa kit (i.e. getting it for the decals, lumps and bumps, and weapons), chances are it will still be cheaper to go this route and put all that stuff on a Hasegawa B or C model then it will be to get the Hasegawa Argentinean C model with the stuff in it and a Hasegawa weapons set for the bombs. I do admit though that Condor's resin spine lump that comes in their decal sets does seem to be more accurate then HC's, based on the sketchy photos I've seen of the actual ones.

As for doing multiples or not, A-4s are kind of like potato chips. Bet you can't build JUST one since they are pretty easy to make and don't take up much room on a model shelf at all.

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I prefer the Hasegawa Scooters. Pricely? yes but they worth the money. I built one HC kit replacing some pieces from Hasegawa spares (exhaust, B nose) to fix some lack of detail or inaccuracies. But OOB I dont like it.

Hasegawa and HC did Argentinean versions, Hasegawa B/C box are wrong with ALL decal sheet, HC have weird B/Q/M noses and dorsal humps but their decals seems to be OK.

Cya.

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Interesting discussion. I've built both, and I prefer the Hasegawa kit for overall finished appearance. The Hobbycraft kit went together well and isn't a bad kit, but it doesn't look "right" when finished. I don't know if it's lack of detail or the nose issue that Matt talked about. I can't put my finger on it. It's like looking at the Monogram and Hasegawa F-4's in 1/48 scale, and knowing that the Monogram kit just looks "better" than the Hasegawa. I would disagree with the poster about the Hobbycraft being better than the Monogram A-4. The Monogram A-4 can be built into a very, very nice finished model. Just because it has raised lines (GASP!) doesn't mean it's not a worthy kit. Even the old ESCI kit, if given some TLC, can turn out looking quite nice. The Skyhawk is one of those subjects that has actually been done well from the get-go. Overall, though, the Hasegawa offering is the nicest.

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Interesting discussion. I've built both, and I prefer the Hasegawa kit for overall finished appearance. The Hobbycraft kit went together well and isn't a bad kit, but it doesn't look "right" when finished. I don't know if it's lack of detail or the nose issue that Matt talked about. I can't put my finger on it. It's like looking at the Monogram and Hasegawa F-4's in 1/48 scale, and knowing that the Monogram kit just looks "better" than the Hasegawa. I would disagree with the poster about the Hobbycraft being better than the Monogram A-4. The Monogram A-4 can be built into a very, very nice finished model. Just because it has raised lines (GASP!) doesn't mean it's not a worthy kit. Even the old ESCI kit, if given some TLC, can turn out looking quite nice. The Skyhawk is one of those subjects that has actually been done well from the get-go. Overall, though, the Hasegawa offering is the nicest.

I'd actually put the Hobbycraft and Monogram kits pretty much equal, maybe HC slightly above Monogram for the weapon options, with the Esci kit above them both, entirely because the Esci kit has a correct nose/canopy shape that looks just about as good as the Hasegawa (I've got one of each built, sitting adjacent on my shelf so I'm not making that up). The only things I really didn't care for with the Esci are the wheels (Hase's are MUCH nicer), the LE slat track arms which are quite fragile, and the centerline MER with has really poor places to attach the bombs. Esci's tanks are excellent; in fact if anyone has some of the Esci A-4 tanks to get rid of let me know!

The thing about the HC and Monogram kits is the too-wide cockpit area which gives the windscreen a funny look from the front (too wide through the center section). Also, the HC and Monogram wheels have the same look as the Esci ones (to me they look like there's too much tire and not enough hub).

Any of the 3 can be made into a nice-looking A-4 model.

Joe

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The Hobbycraft kit went together well and isn't a bad kit, but it doesn't look "right" when finished. I don't know if it's lack of detail or the nose issue that Matt talked about. I can't put my finger on it.

From my PoV, it's simply that the windscreen looks like a porthole compared to the Hasegawa A-4s.

Jon (who owns Hasegawa A-4B, C, E, F, H, J, K, L, M Skyhawks and has no intention of owning a Hobbycraft one :worship: )

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