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Hasegawa A-4 builders: the PITA of those kits


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The six (6) slat tracks that stick out from the leading edge of the wings, how in the heck can you build this kit without knocking most of them off????

 

Love the Hasegawa A-4’s, but hate this aspect of the kit. 

 

Rant off. 

 

Cheers

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4 hours ago, spejic said:

I don't have a problem with those. I even kind of figured out a way to do the intakes.

 

But how in the world do you close the airbrakes. They are just the wrong shape.

 

 

I leave them cracked just a tad. They are tough to build flush to the fuselage I’ll give you that. 

 

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On 12/7/2020 at 4:26 AM, Collin said:

I leave them cracked just a tad. They are tough to build flush to the fuselage I’ll give you that. 

 

Collin

 This right here. It's the perfect fix. If you want them fully closed, glue them in as best you can, leaving any edges protruding, and then reshape them with a sanding stick. 

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On 12/6/2020 at 10:26 PM, spejic said:

I don't have a problem with those. I even kind of figured out a way to do the intakes.

 

But how in the world do you close the airbrakes. They are just the wrong shape.

 

 


I reshape them with a sanding stick. To position them after I place a piece of putty under them to line them up flush, then apply super thin cement.

 

I didn’t work Skyhawks, but I doubt they can deploy just cracked open. The jets I worked on needed hydraulic pressure to open and to remain out. With power off only stayed open if you put a lock on the actuator while you had hydraulic pressure applied.

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2 hours ago, Napalmakita said:

I keep a little zip loc bag to put things I break off in.  I'll stick those onto a piece of red tape, toss em in the bag and replace and paint them when I put the slats on.  

I’m doing exactly that. I always have a small clear (former blueberry container) on my hobby bench and in that goes all the little pieces that fall off or I know I will loose before the end of the build. As of right now there are 3-4 slat guilds wrapped in tape that have come off during this A-4 build. 

 

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For the speed brakes I bend them has best I can then line up the lower edge to preserve the Rato attachment detail then sand the upper edges to match the contour of the fuselage. Leaving them cracked is also a good approach as sometime they bled open once hydraulic pressure came off

 

The speed brakes being fully open on the ground with the aircraft parked is possible and does happen (usually for maintenance),  but it's not the typical configuration. 

 

I'm currently writing an article on building the Hasegawa Skyhawk..

 

https://hamfisted-modeller.blogspot.com/2020/06/building-148-hasegawa-skyhawk.html

 

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That Skyhawk web site is fantastic. I leaned lots of tricks from it, and hope you continue.

 

Here is how I deal with the intakes. I installed the inner duct part D12 so it is centered between the fuselage halves with a little gap on either side. When you do that, the intakes have a small step to that part, but only on the bottom half. You can put a little two-part putty there and smooth it down. You then get a very close match.

 

Fz9xueI.jpg

 

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On 12/8/2020 at 7:06 PM, a4s4eva said:

For the speed brakes I bend them has best I can then line up the lower edge to preserve the Rato attachment detail then sand the upper edges to match the contour of the fuselage. Leaving them cracked is also a good approach as sometime they bled open once hydraulic pressure came off

 

The speed brakes being fully open on the ground with the aircraft parked is possible and does happen (usually for maintenance),  but it's not the typical configuration. 

 

I'm currently writing an article on building the Hasegawa Skyhawk..

 

https://hamfisted-modeller.blogspot.com/2020/06/building-148-hasegawa-skyhawk.html

 


Did you need to install a lock on the speed break? On Hornets we did.

 

I look forward to your guide.

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On 12/8/2020 at 8:20 PM, Collin said:

I’m doing exactly that. I always have a small clear (former blueberry container) on my hobby bench and in that goes all the little pieces that fall off or I know I will loose before the end of the build. As of right now there are 3-4 slat guilds wrapped in tape that have come off during this A-4 build. 

 

Collin

Great minds...something, something...👍

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