Brenhen Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 In the spirit of Halloween, I thought it would be a perfect time to start on a project that I have been wanting to do for a long while... An A-4 in costume! This was a short lived scheme that was meant to make the A-4 look like a Mig-17 in flight. For the project I will be using the Hasegawa 1/48 TA-4J Bicentennial kit and Afterburner decals. I haven't gotten too far yet, just basic cockpit construction and painting. I plan on making this an in flight model, so I am also using the Aerobonus aftermarket seat/pilot combo. Thanks for watching Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Nice work so far, and one of my favorite subjects!!! I'm tempted to do it's single-seat "brother"!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 This will be a great model! And nice start,a very clean paintjob! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brenhen Posted November 3, 2015 Author Share Posted November 3, 2015 Nice work so far, and one of my favorite subjects!!! I'm tempted to do it's single-seat "brother"!!! This will be a great model! And nice start,a very clean paintjob! Gianni Thanks guys! I'll have some more pictures soon as I make a little more progress Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 That's always been one of my favorites. I'm trying to remember if I saw it in person, I was down to Top Gun three times with the maintenance crew in that time frame (judging by the color scheme of the VF-2 Tomcat in the background). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brenhen Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 For this in flight project, I decided to use an acrylic rod through the tail pipe. I happened to have a rubber stopped in the tool box that fit the tail pipe perfectly and provided enough resistance to hold the acrylic rod steady, so I glued the stopper on to the tail pipe using gator glue. I have built quite a few Hasegawa A-4's, and one of the biggest problems with them has always been the intakes. I have tried a few methods to make the join between the rear intake portion (the kit piece with the compressor blade on it) and the forward intake parts cleaner and smoother. For this project, I decided to try a method that I had been thinking about for a while. I started by cutting the rear intake piece in half Next, the forward intakes were glued together and their internal seams cleaned up. Then, all the intake parts were painted white The forward intakes were glued on to the fuselage sides And finally, the rear portions were glued into the fuselage. Because the part was cut in half, I could adjust each side to match the forward intake part individually, rather than having one piece that has to line up with each side once the fuselage sides are joined together. I think it worked out pretty well, and will probably use it from here on out. While that was drying, I spent some time on the wing. Getting it to represent a flying aircraft wasn't anything difficult, just time consuming. The slats were sanded down and joined to the wing, as were the gear doors. The flaps already come as an option of being raised, so they were easy And this is were is stands now. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brenhen Posted November 11, 2015 Author Share Posted November 11, 2015 Update time! I didn't take any pictures during the construction. The TA-4J kit goes together just as the other Hasegawa Skyhawks do. There are a few little areas that need work, but all in all, it is a great kit. I got the main construction finished and smoothed some areas out with a little putty After priming with Vallejo black primer, I started with the undercoat of Dark Ghost Gray I enlarged the decal placement sheet from Afterburner to get the dimensions correct, and then set out to mask the gray areas off I got lucky and had both the camouflage colors in acrylics. I used model master acryl Sand and Dark Tan. After spraying the sand color, I penciled in the camo pattern and sprayed it freehand In my rush, I forgot the order of things that I had planned out in my head. To get the thin black outline between the gray and camo, I originally planned to first paint the entire area that was to get the camo in black, then mask a thin line around the outside before painting the camo. I jumped straight into the camo colors by accident, so I had to mask and paint the black line at the end. All in all, it only added a little time and complexity, but not too much. After the masking was removed, I think it looks pretty good! There are a couple of places where the black line isn't as uniform as I'd like, so I'll see if I can touch them up without too much effort. Of course, after removing most of the masking, I realized that I forgot the black outline on the back of the tail! oops! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Great job! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brenhen Posted December 30, 2015 Author Share Posted December 30, 2015 Well, I'll call it almost done. The plane is finished, I just couldn't get to the stand base in time. Hopefully that counts! It was a fun project for a skyhawk that I have always wanted to do. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for the comments. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spejic Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Congratulations on just making it under the wire. That's a fine looking aircraft. I love how the shading of the grey sections make it look like part of a totally different airplane. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
a4s4eva Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Nice idea on that intake fix. Can you see the split when you look the intake? The finished product looks great as well Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brenhen Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Nice idea on that intake fix. Can you see the split when you look the intake? The finished product looks great as well I tried for many minutes to twist the plane and look at it from every angle, and so far I haven't been able to see the split in the middle of the fan. This was the first time trying this idea, and I think I will use it on all my future skyhawks. Thanks for the comments! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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