A-4 Skyhawk Airfix
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why it is upside down?
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again... sorry guys it is not like this in my album, but you can see the dials on the instrument panel anyway 🙂
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close pics of the tube finished
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close pics of the tube finished
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close pics of the tube finished
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close pics of the tube finished
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masking canopy (I hate this) using my special tecnik: I google search for pictures of canopy masks for my plane, than I print in some sises that I feel that is going to work, than I protect the print with a thick transparent tape for boxes, to cut over it
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some wires going on to represent the brake hidraulic lines
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standing very well with the pylons in there and primed for the preshading
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the pilons are not glued yet, by the way, my plane is sharing the same space in the shelf with my daughter´s puzzle :-/
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Snake eyes primed, painted, faded, washed, dry-brushed, gloss-clear-coated, decalled, flat-clear-coated and then.... Ufa! Finally readY!!!
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Some preshading going on
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Looking so nice with the full load hanging under the airframe! I just love this "armed to the teeth" look!
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I never stop having fun with preshading🙂
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Time for some nano touch up
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Masking the threads
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And painting the wheels
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Basic paint done, nice light gull gray from AK interactive!
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one accident with the masking tape and the paint pelled off with primer and everything, I cutted the paint in the panel lines and pelled them off so i can respray it
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just after I painted the white uper surface, I found some pictures that show that Airfix instruction completely misplaced the panel were the white should be painted
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/4/7/5/193475-16302-97-720.jpg)
that´s how it is supose to be, come'on airfix, a little more research on google and you could had passed without this mistake, it is embarasing....
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masking on the front wheels (didn´t worked as good as the rear ones...)
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Panels on the movable surfaces repainted (including the tail), slats in place, wheels and ir´s covers in place, the insignia red painted down...
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/4/7/8/193478-16302-93-720.jpg)
and a nice coat of clar varnish from humbrol clear (exatly the same stuff as the old Klear of Future floor ) ready for decals, God knows how it is going to conform in this vortex details... :-/
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Ordenance
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Half of the decals on!
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seems that airfix decals works well using Revell decal set solution
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and than do the wash, but I am thinking that the panel lines are already very deep and visible, so not pannel line wash is going to be required, maybe some streaking of oils here and there will do
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Post- shading done using tamiya smoke and some masking tape/ post it sheets, first time doing this
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Some areas went out little overdone but I'm happy with the overall result
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It is a tricky technique, it seems that nothing is happening until you, Opps! Overdone....
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Further weathering using oils and pigments
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Finally decent pictures of the finished plane, sorry for the delay!
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navigation lights was painted silver and than clear red / green from tamiya / gunze, it give to my eyes a much better effect than the kit decals
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![Album image #39 Album image #39](/albums/img/7/9/9/241799-16302-39-720.jpg)
the matt varnish I sprayed over the hole model kind of "faded" and "whitened" the vibrant colors, I like the effect, helped to unify the kit so it look less like a toy.
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lau-10 navy rockets and mk 82 snake eyes, weapons for low altitude atack, the most dangerous possible mission for the scout!
![Album image #41 Album image #41](/albums/img/9/1/4/241914-16302-85-720.jpg)
the weapons came from hasegawa's weapon set, the internals of landing gear are very detailed! I scrach builded the landing light inside the landing gear door
![Album image #42 Album image #42](/albums/img/9/1/5/241915-16302-91-720.jpg)
I did this light out of the clear part sprue, I sanded one edge round than sawed with a photoetch razer saw, than I glued, painted it´s rounded back silver, and insignia white on top of it
![Album image #43 Album image #43](/albums/img/9/1/6/241916-16302-94-720.jpg)
than I putted a drop of clear coad on the clear flat side, and that is the efect you get, a bit of tinny job, very small to be seen, but I don´t know why I love so much to do it... also we can see the efect of tires's tread with the masking tape trick!
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one Carrier Deck printed to be one base.
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Some efects from my Iphone 🙂
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the final one! now, to the next project!!
Comments
30 June 2015, 20:17
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Coming up really nice!
Can you tell, what did you fix the wires for hidraulics with? What is that thin yellow thing?..
1 July 2015, 03:14
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Hello Pavel, that yelow thing is just tamiya masking tape, sliced carefully with metal ruler and medical scalpel blade n°15 (smal curved one) the lead wire are hold in place by superglue and the tape is just to simulate some suports, I have no idea if the are realistic, but I like the efect of them holding the wire, happy modeling!
1 July 2015, 06:25
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@Cesar - Yes, I liked the effect too, it's looking qiute fitting and in scale! That's why I asked 🙂 Didn't think that Tamiya tape could look so miniature and thin. Thanks for the tip!
1 July 2015, 07:50
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It's a different color,,,,,,,,,but, I just thought of some 1/72 ground crew getting all ticked off about having to remove all of that dark SprayLat.
9 July 2015, 21:34
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Great model ! Why do you place the landing gear legs before to paint the model ? Ok in this case everything was white so I understand....Cheers.
16 September 2015, 07:50
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Sou quase brasileiro, nasci na Bélgica mas morei no Brasil de 1974 até 2006. Agora estou na Suiça. E vc esta onde ? No Brasil ? Abs.
16 September 2015, 19:37
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Que legal! Eu sou brasileiro com cidadania italiana, moro na alemanha a 3 anos
17 September 2015, 12:32
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Jan, thanks, this are not the final pictures, there is missing the ordinance and some further weathering and I'm preparing final scratch building last-minute-made details, stay tuned for more updates!
17 September 2015, 12:56
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Staying tuned for this one! Great job so far! Looking forward to the final result.
3 November 2015, 12:21
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That is a very good looking model. I too noticed the painting instructions were wrong. But, you found it in time, and fixed it. I don't how to say this without being labeled a rivet counter, but, the boxart is correct, the A-4B only had 3 pylons. That extra pair is there in case you do one of the "rebuilt and sold" Skyhawks for some of the foreign operators.
12 May 2016, 17:29
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thanks for the coment guys Rex, I know the thing with the pylons, (this time the instructions was right) but as I like my birds fully loaded with stuff (and the pylons was already in the sprues) I tough with myself: Why not? 😉 I hate left unused parts behind, I know it is not accurate but looks cooler to me, I am only sad about the fact I could not reopen the speed brakes to show it off as the paint glued in that position that was supose to be temporary there with blue tac... David, das ist eine einfach Vogel, Ich bin sicher Du kann eine super model auch machen! 🙂 Ich habe eine bischen deutsche gelernet aber Ich bin noch sehr schlecht kkk
13 May 2016, 21:50
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Oh, that is okay by me. If you chose to do it that way, that is our right as modelers. My philosophy with info is to give it, and then the modeler makes his choices for himself. So, you chose to make an "A-4B heavy lifter", sort of a minor Whiff model. (and the A-4 should have had 5 pylons from the start, don't you think?)
(it costs me nothing to give away info, it costs the reader nothing to read it,,,,,,,and variety is why we all model, otherwise once someone did something, there would no reason for anyone to do that same subject)
14 May 2016, 06:20
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Ah, i thought you were a german native speaker. thanks for the motivation, i will try my best! 🙂
14 May 2016, 08:44
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Rex, I feel the same! I like wen my models aren't accurate because I want it that way on purpose and not because I didn't know the correct way, It is nice to see people paying attention on my model and I am very happy with your comments it just shows that you know what you are talking about!
14 May 2016, 15:09
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I'm just glad I didn't offend. That is a sweet little kit, isn't it? Parts that fit, etc, I noticed that your's only took a tiny amount of Red Putty. I also use the Red, because it shows up so well that I can get a model mostly built, look at the Red and it shows me how well the kit fit together. That is because once I get White and Gray paint on it, I tend to forget all the filling and sanding I had to do to get to the two main colors. (or my mind blocks out the memory, lol)
14 May 2016, 16:05
Album info
Trying out a lot of new stuff on this bird! : AK interactive primers and paints Humbrol clear for clear coat instead of future, and vallejo washes, let´s see how they behave.