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CD48177 - 1/48 A-4M Skyhawk - Part 1


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2 hours ago, JackMan said:

 

Note that these aircraft are all Super Mikes and need the enlarged landing gear legs and gear doors.

 

The footage of the VX-5 A-4M landing on the deck is original and was spliced in with the footage of Scott Glenn "flying" it for the movie.

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Hi,

 

When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of the "Super Mikes".

I hesitated to suggest them for the sheet because many other cool options are to be done and a really accurate "Super Mike" is not available as far as I know. Not even with the parts from Hasegawa's "Last Skyhawk" boxing.

When my interest in the "Super Mike" was at its peak, about 15 years ago, I asked around about them.

David Aungst told me that "while Hasegawa did provide some updates to attempt to make a "Super Mike" kit, they did not get it totally right.  To do it right, they needed to make a whole new wing bottom.  The "canoes" that are the landing gear fairings changed all the way back to the wing flap line, not just in the area of the large wheel well doors.  The revised "canoes" are more tapered on their sides and faired more into the lower wing.  Hasegawa maintained the original wing bottom in the kit and thus the original "canoes".  In their attempt to make the new main landing gear doors match the original wing bottoms, they put too much of a kink in the rear sections.  On the real aircraft, the main gear doors were more of a constant dome shape without the corner kinks at their back portions".

David also told me that the 24 "Super Mikes" mostly served together in the squadrons that had them.

VMA-223, VMA-311 and VMA-331 had them at one time or other, possibly other squadrons too. During times of transition to another block of Skyhawks, they could, be seen mixed with other A-4M's of the squadron on the flightline.

Maybe that's a solution for the Caracal sheet: provide a BuNo and Modex for both a "Regular Mike" and a "Super Mike" for these squadrons.

That way, the modeller can decide what's close enough to a Super Mike or just go with the Regular Mike.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

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29 minutes ago, glevass21 said:

Is the 1/48 Hasegawa A-4M Skyhawk kit available anywhere on the planet ?

Is Hasegawa planning to reissue this kit ?

:coolio:

SharkOwl

 

That kit was available for a very long time.  I can not find it at any of the usual sources. It shows "backordered" or "unavailable" . If you must have an A-4M, Hobby Boss has one, but the leading edge slats are molded in the retracted position. 

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7 hours ago, glevass21 said:

Is the 1/48 Hasegawa A-4M Skyhawk kit available anywhere on the planet ?

Is Hasegawa planning to reissue this kit ?

:coolio:

SharkOwl

 

Hi there which A-4M are you speaking about? I see there are many available on ebay at not bad prices. Even the Last Skyhawk boxing is there too but a bit more.

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9 hours ago, achterkirch said:

Was just killing time and found this gem

for an A-4M drop tank late in the Skyhawks life with VMA-131 a-4m061.jpg

Zotz did it in 1:32 scale. Available from Spruebrothers for $22.49, but they are having 15% off decals sale this weekend. 

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On 3/14/2020 at 9:24 AM, Dutch said:

Zotz did it in 1:32 scale. Available from Spruebrothers for $22.49, but they are having 15% off decals sale this weekend. 

 

Crap I may have to get the Trumpeter kit just to use these decals.

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On 3/17/2020 at 6:41 PM, CraigSargent said:

Both Hasegawa and Cutting Edge did this scheme in 1/48 also, although they will be a little harder to find now

I don't have the kit, but according to the photo of the decal sheet from Hobby Search Japan (see below), the kit does not have the "Red Hot" girl on the scooter.  I do have the CE decals and it also does not include the "Red Hot" girl on the scooter. 

01.JPG.8d66815faab2912da34c4b62275a2df9.JPG

Edited by Dutch
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Almost done with this sheet - I will post the final draft soon. In the end I was able to fit 6 options on it: VMA-211 and VMA-223 (I definitely did a better job than the old sheet shared above), VX-5, the black/white NATC "skunk" jet, another Pax River jet (158425), and a PMTC missile test example. There were so many good high-viz candidates but this will be it for a first Skyhawk sheet.

 

Is there a need for a new TA-4 trainers sheet? There are lots of interesting schemes that do not seem to be covered.

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5 hours ago, KursadA said:

Almost done with this sheet - I will post the final draft soon. In the end I was able to fit 6 options on it: VMA-211 and VMA-223 (I definitely did a better job than the old sheet shared above), VX-5, the black/white NATC "skunk" jet, another Pax River jet (158425), and a PMTC missile test example. There were so many good high-viz candidates but this will be it for a first Skyhawk sheet.

 

Is there a need for a new TA-4 trainers sheet? There are lots of interesting schemes that do not seem to be covered.

You are a Hi-Viz Hero! And yes to a new TA-4 sheet. Hasn't been any colorful sheets since the Superscale ones.

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On 3/5/2020 at 11:52 PM, RCarlson said:

aA42un-191.jpg

 

On 3/5/2020 at 11:47 PM, RCarlson said:

I don't know that I have ever seen these markings done.

 

 

3e19db9caf305a989b13a51cb950fd671.jpg

 

Fox One did those two squadrons on 48-022 sheet for E models in 2005.  They aren't the exact same scheme for either one, though.

 

NUy600.png

 

 

JRomRu.png

Edited by Ishthe47guy
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7 hours ago, Stephen said:

Is that option on the sheet? 

Yes, the black “Naval Air Test Center” is on the black insert sheet but you can see all of the other markings on the main sheet image I posted.

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1 hour ago, KursadA said:

Yes, the black “Naval Air Test Center” is on the black insert sheet but you can see all of the other markings on the main sheet image I posted.

Fantastic! I have a kit waiting for that sheet.

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