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Hi everyone,

Well I decided to start a pair of Hasegawa 48th TA-4J kits. I've already done some preliminary painting and gluing. Of course both jets will be USN adversaries, but I'm not sure which ones just yet! Fortunately, I've got a number of great choices thanks to Fightertown and Afterburner ;0) One kit will be done OOB, while the other will get Two Mikes resin seats and a centerline 150 gallon drop tank and ACMI pod under the wing. The kit decals are surplus, so if anyone wants them for the cost of shipping ($3 in the US), let me know. More later.... Fred.

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DSCN1381_zps1ae1eb58.jpg

Edited by f5guy
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Very nice, if you think you can get one (or both) done in 3 weeks you can join up with the "bad boys group build here on ARC and maybe win something. Our GB ends July 1.

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Very nice, if you think you can get one (or both) done in 3 weeks you can join up with the "bad boys group build here on ARC and maybe win something. Our GB ends July 1.

You're a funny guy Phantom..... ME?? Finish a model in three weeks???? That won't happen! However, I will keep posting updates ;0) Take care, Fred.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 years later...

Hi everyone,

        Continuing my current theme of resurrecting long dead builds in an attempt to thin my boneyard down, I have begun working on these Scooters again. Since my last post almost 9 years ago, I have gotten the first A-4 to where you see in the pic below. Also pictured is the jet that I'm going to build. Thanks for checking in ;0) Fred.

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TA-4J 154334 VA-127 #14.jpg

Edited by f5guy
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I'm thinking that the second Scooter build will be this one. I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph this jet a couple of times while landing at NAS Miramar back in the early 1980's. It always looked so different than all of the other camo A-4s, and was quite eye catching. It's been on my "to build" list for ages, so why not! Plus I've been wanting to play around with MRP's silver paints, so this will be a good test drive. It may be a bit before I get to it, but it's in the works. Fred.

TA-4J 152861 VF-126 #00R.jpg

Edited by f5guy
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42 minutes ago, Thadeus said:

Great! I hate when a good thread goes dead just because of the couple of years of hiatus. Nice to see You re-engaging these two 😉

 

Thanks! Sometimes it just takes a bit of time for mojo to strike again. Fred.

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On 3/7/2023 at 3:27 PM, habu2 said:

Next update due in the year 2031.....

 

😂😂😂😂😂

 

Nah.... I'll have them done by 2030 at least 😂 Fred.

 

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So, I guess I'm not the only one who has placed all its Adversaries at the boneyard for more than a few years!!!

 

You have picked to build two of my favourites from VFA-127 ! My last calculations showed that I need around thirty (single seat/two seats) to make all the schemes the squadron's Scooters used to have.

 

Best of luck my friend and I look forward to seeing them finished!!!

 

Cheers,

Bill

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17 minutes ago, SERNAK said:

So, I guess I'm not the only one who has placed all its Adversaries at the boneyard for more than a few years!!!

 

You have picked to build two of my favourites from VFA-127 ! My last calculations showed that I need around thirty (single seat/two seats) to make all the schemes the squadron's Scooters used to have.

 

Best of luck my friend and I look forward to seeing them finished!!!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

Hi Bill,

      I'm in the same boat too..... way too many that I'd like to build, and not nearly enough time to build them all! 

 

      The good news is that the first one is just about ready for paint. Once it's mostly done I'm going to get going on number two in earnest. I'm still not sure which one I'll do, but the silver jet is the leading candidate.  Thanks for checking in 😉 Fred.

 

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Hi Fred,

 

Well, Chuck Stewart in his book "Aggressor Aircraft" describes it as "anodised silver"!! which I'm certain it will "turn" a lot of heads, because what kind of colour is that? Did he meant to say that this was some kind or primer? :dontknow:

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  • 4 weeks later...

All right guys..... the first one is done! Unfortunately, the lighter blue really gets washed out in the pics, but you get the idea. I had planned to enter this one into the local clubs show in September in the out of box category, but I dropped the canopy at one point and put a nice little crack in it, so never mind. Since it is now not going to make the show, I decided to add an ACMI pod to the sidewinder rail (that would have bumped it into the detailed category had the canopy not cracked). Here's the pics. Thanks for looking! Fred.

 

Oh yeah..... to Habu2 to I say 😝 😆

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Now that number one is done, it's time to get going on the second one. My original plan was to do the silver jet pictured above, but I cannot seem to find a silver paint that I like. I tried MRP's chrome, and while it didn't peel up under tape, it looked awful..... very grainy and not smooth at all. I also tried Mr Hobby (I think). That one looked great, but easily came up under tape. So I've shelved the idea of that airframe for now, and have decided to go with the one pictured below. I will be using the decals from Fightertown sheet 48-027, which has loads of great options. Fightertown call for FS36081 as the dark color, and I think they're right, but in the pic you can see that it has a slight greenish hue to it. I'm guessing that this is due to sun fading. Your thoughts folks?  All for now. Fred.

TA-4J 153483 VA-127 #14.jpg

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Hi Fred,

 

First of all, my kudos for #154334. She looks astonishing!!! HOWEVER, I would like to see how the colours look under natural light. So, if it's not too much trouble to take her outside for some photos, that would be great.

 

As for the silver one, well, it is difficult to recreate how the original looks under scale. My thought was to do it in 1/72, using Fujimi's kit, but I'm not yet at that point.

 

As for the '14', it might be FS-36081, or a 'greyish' green, I don't know. I mean, back in the '90s, when there were no references (besides a couple of books), no decals, I had to make several experiments with mine before deciding which hues look close to the real ones. However, please notice that this Skyhawk has more weathering.

 

P.S.: Did you try to contact Hasegawa to ask them for a replacement part?

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Hi Bill,

     Thanks for the kudos! The first pics that I originally took of 154334 for this post were taken outside and the light blue disappeared completely, and the other blue literally glowed! So that's why I went with the indoor pics as the outdoor ones were even worse.

     As for the silver jet, it will get done at some point. I definitely need to make a better effort fitting the parts for that build though. I got a little sloppy on build #2, and that silver paint would really show it.

     As for #14 number two, I'm going to go with Fightertowns recommendation of FS 36081, but I think I will add a little light green to knock it down a bit. I'm going to get going on #2 this evening 👍 Take care, Fred.

 

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8 hours ago, SERNAK said:

Just remember Fred, as Chuck Stewart says in his book, it's 'anodised silver'! 

 

Oh I'm not worried about matching the silver exactly. I'm just trying to find one that will give me the results that I'm after. Thus far, no luck. Fred.

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