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With my back-in-the-saddle Intruder project nearing an end, it's about time to break into another one.

Not long ago, Frank Steffens was generous enough to send a couple kits my way - a Czech Model F3D-2 Skyknight, and a Hasegawa A-4E. His generosity made me want to build one of them next (I felt like it would be rather gauche to have them hang out in the stash for who knows how long) and I was certainly intrigued by the Skyknight - it would make for a unique addition to the shelf when done. But on reading some reviews, I began to feel it might be a little much to bite off for the second model after an almost 4 year hiatus. On the other hand, everyone seems pretty pleased with the A-4. So I figured that would be a good one next - and the adversary boxing reminded me I had a decent stash of Navy (and Air Force, come to think of it) decals.

So here's the next project - going for the two-tone gray and blue paint scheme. Started very preliminary ejection seat and cockpit painting whilst waiting for things to dry on my Intruder.

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First photo-worthy progress after lots of small painting:

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I've deliberately left the upper ejection handle off, as it's rather exposed at the moment. I'll add it later.

As you can probably see, the cockpit tub and the nosewheel well are molded as one piece, so before sandwiching it into the fuselage halves I'm painting it white. The details in it are exquisitely molded (yes, pictures soon) so it will be more than just white with a wash; I'm going to go interwebs searching for pictures and paint some of the ducting and whatnot. Of course none of it will be noticeable when it's parked on the shelf but it should be fun regardless. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks, gents!

A rather agressive travel schedule this summer drastically slowed building, but yesterday afternoon (after coming home from a half marathon, and before crashing out on the couch for the rest of the evening), I did manage to sammich the fuselage halves together and add the intakes(rather nice fit all the way around). I'll try to get pictures soon :)

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Nice Karl!!

I always loved the scooters! Cuz they cute n all! Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of it! Hopfully by this week I should have some pics in here! I had so many false starts and now that I'm finally started back up I've been trolling through here everyday to see whats being built up!

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Took this picture earlier this week, only now getting around to posting it. Here's the fuselages halves sammiched together and the intakes mounted. Yes, I realize that I needn't have painted the intake lips and splitter plates white :rolleyes: but in the grand scheme of things, that'll be easy to fix.

The intakes fit very nicely, and the fuselage join isn't too bad. It mostly just required sanding where cement had oozed out a bit; a little more sanding under the nose where somehow there was a slight step between halves, but no gaps. I only needed putty right behind the cockpit, and below the tail on the inside surface the area that shrouds the tailpipe.

Since then, I've started on the wings. The first upper wing fit practically flawlessly to the 1 piece lower wing/fuselage keel part, the second one is clamped and drying now. In case anyone is wondering, I'll finish it with slats out (from what I understand, the slats aren't braked in the up position so they rest in the out position on parked A-4s) and inboard flaps down... since that's what nearly every picture I've seen shows.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, still plugging away, albeit slowly what with 'real life' and all going on at the same time ...

Last week I got the wings together:

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Then last weekend got the wings mounted to the fuselage:

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As you can see, the fit is actually pretty solid. Not much work needed to clean up the joints:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, yes, building HAS been slow. But I've also been a little remiss in photography. Little over a week ago, I got the white sprayed on the wheel wells and door interiors, but didn't bother taking pictures.

As I masked everything else (tailpipe, wheel wells, etc) for painting, I also masked the windscreen and canopy. I mounted the windscreen, however I may have erred in installing the ejection seat and/or cockpit as the canopy did not fit (in the long run it won't matter, as I planned to pose it with an open canopy like I usually do, but I tend to like to temporarily mount the canopy for painting). So, I separately masked the cockpit with tape and blocked the inside of the canopy with blu-tac.

And then, this afternoon, preshading - I stuck with black (last project, I felt black was possibly too stark, but this time around I'm doing a three tone camo scheme so thought the stronger shade may be useful). While it still seems a bit heavy handed to me in places, I'm pleased that for a lot of the lines I was able to spray with more control and precision than before, so I feel like I'm getting better at the technique.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I've had a hard time getting a chance to hit the boards, but progress continues. Just a quick update before hitting the road for Sunday night football in Seattle and a trip over the mountains to see the folks for Christmas.

Got all the camo sprayed:

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Just a little touching up to do where my masking wasn't up to snuff, then the first Future coat.

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Looking real good. I have a few of those (great) kits myself and hope to start them in the near future. I know what you mean about being busy......."what happened to the days when I'd come home and go straight to the bench....LONG GONE". Good luck with the build and happy holidays.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Short, and admittedly pictureless (I know, I know, mea culpa) update - finally got the first (ie pre-decal) Future coat.

Strangely, it didn't go down as uniformly well as it usually does for me, but as it's drying now (I shot it about an hour and a half ago) it's looking better and better - the self leveling is doing its thing B) Also, I'm not TOO worried about it anyway - there's another post-decal, pre-wash coat that will go down and then the flat-coat, so there's plenty of time for things to level out and look presentable.

Part of why I've so far stuck to military subjects and been a bit skittish at the prospect of an airline model - flat finishes hide a multitude of sins ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fear not, I've neither fallen off the face of the earth, nor COMPLETELY stalled on my project. Behold, decals!

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As you can see, on the left side forward of the intake, that blue band is too big so the end of the 'RESCUE' arrow kind of disappears. However, this is the first scheme I can remember doing where multi-part decals cross color demarcations like in this one, so if that's my biggest faux pas, I feel OK about it. How the intake warning, 'NAVY' titles, and national insignia (fear not, after seeing the picture, I fixed the one on the right speedbrake before it totally set) all came out makes me pretty happy!

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  • 1 month later...

A long overdue and, regrettably, incremental update - panel line wash and some artist oil weathering, plus the exhaust painted (Testor's Metalizers on both inside and out).

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Next up is replacing the mounting brackets (for lack of a better term) for the slats; as you can tell I broke quite a few off during the painting process. I figure I should do the replacement work before attaching things like landing gear and doors. I've got a plan - the brackets themselves may not look 100% accurate but will be close, and stronger, and any glaring inaccuracy will be hidden under the slat itself. Wish me luck...

Edited by Karl Sander
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I used a piece of brass rod and bent it around a paintbrush and used it for the top ejection control handle. Came out pretty nice. I don't know what the hasegawa kit offers but I didn't see it on your model. Looking good on the paint. I have a soft spot for blue paint jobs.

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Slat tracks - thanks! Seems intuitive enough, yet I'd have never guessed it!

The ejection seat handle isn't on because the seat and cockpit are still masked and I figured attaching it beforehand would just invite breaking it off. I have the kit one in the little plastic container I use for things-I'm-not-ready-to-install-yet but now that you've mentioned it, I'll reexamine it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So here's what I came up with for fixing the slat tracks. They're handrail stanchions from a HO scale model railroad locomotive, of which I happened to have a handful laying about in the spares stash.

The top one in this picture shows what they normally look like, they eyelet being the top of the stanchion. Wire goes through there to represent the handrail. However, the metal is soft and easily mashed with a regular pair of pliers, as seen in the second picture, which ought to make a nice mating surface for the underside of the slat. I cut off the bent part, because the slat tracks just aren't long enough to necessitate straightening it.

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Here's the right wing. The outboard track is the only one that survived masking unscathed. The middle one is one of the replacements (I've since finished up the right wing, and am letting the CA set whilst forum surfing). Turns out the hardest part was drilling out a hole in the wing leading edge to get them far enough into the wing to be more or less secure.

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Now onto the left wing!

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  • 1 month later...

I hadn't realized it had been almost two months since I'd been on the boards! :jaw-dropping:

I've had a pretty full dance card lately. Work's stayed busy, keeping up the house, training for and running half-marathons (7 so far this year), and something of an active social life (shockingly).

However, I've still been at work on this project. It just so happens that, as I got to the more detailing (and repairing things I broke along the way!) process, my achievements became much less photo-worthy.

The model itself is essentially done; slats, flaps, landing gear and gear doors as well as antennae mounted, dull-coat applied, masking removed (the clear plastic survived remarkably well considering how much longer it stayed masked than I had originally hoped), lights installed.

Now, as it turns out, the kit is something of a tail-sitter and for this project Murphy decided to manifest himself in my forgetting to install weight in the nose.

No major worries however; I found a square wooden plaque at Michaels which is just about the perfect size for a 1/48 Skyhawk. I've already stained the beveled edges, I just need to grab some polyurethane to seal it up. Meantime I'm painting a piece of plastic sheet (actually a cheap 'NO PARKING' sign I bought from the Navy Exchange for about 75 cents) to look like concrete. With some judicious drilling, and something discrete like fine wire or perhaps even fishing line, I'll be able to tether the nosewheel to the 'ground' yet still have something I can dismantle in the event of moving.

So, here's hoping pictures of the final product soon.

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