ESCI | No. 4045 | 1:48 | Douglas A-1H Skyraider

Neil
Hi Roland 🙂 welcome!

Guy Rump
Looking good! 👍

Neil
Hi Roland and Guy, welcome aboard mates! Great to have your interest 🙂

Rui S
Looking good 👍 I'm in 😎

Neil
Hello Rui 🙂 hope you're well. Thanks for dropping by mate, great to have your interest 👍 thanks to others for the likes also 👍

Mona
👀 🙂

Neil
Welcome Mona 🙂

John
Looking good! Once again you are doing an older kit justice 👍 How many of these ESCI kits do you have in your stash anyway? 😉

Neil
Thanks John 👍 very kind... The answer is... Too many! I think I may have a problem! 😆

Skyhiker
Looks mighty fine

Neil
Thanks Skyhiker 👍

Villiers de Vos
Very nice paint work.

Mr James
Nice nice nice, great skills on display

Neil
Thanks Villiers & Mr James - very kind 🙂

Chan Li
Harmonious and neat, with reasonable weathering so far.

Neil
Cheers Chan Li! 👍 I'm sure I'll do my usual and ruin it soon enough with too much weathering! Haha! Though tbf not sure you can over-weather/grime a Skyraider?

Rui S
Beautiful weathering 👍

Neil
Hi Rui 🙂 You're super kind. Thanks very much, someone with your skills commenting on my efforts at weathering is much appreciated 👍 Propeller, canopy and most of it is now complete, just got to add the ridiculous exhaust staining these things get and then we should be there 🙂

Treehugger
Any idea if the 1000 lbs bomb can be fitted plausibly under the center pylon?
The build guide states the two bombs can go onto the other two pylons in place of the other two fuel tanks.

Edit: Oh, wait this is not the Tamiya kit apparently, heh the decals looked the same.

Villiers de Vos
Very nice effects.

Chan Li
looks good! I should be back building some aircrafts too!

Neil
@Treehugger, yes, sorry mate, I can't advise. As yet again I'm building an older 'crappy' ESCI kit! Though to be fair this one ain't too bad 👍 I'm sure someone with more knowledge than I will be able to offer help though, I've seen a fair few mates build the better Tamiya kit...

Neil
Thanks very much Villiers and Chan Li 👍🙂

Rando
Watching this one! Also building an old Navy kit with raised lines.

Neil
Thanks Rando! 🙂 I've seen your great work too 👏

Jan Eifel
Nice Job!

Neil
Hi Jan 🙂 thanks very much for saying that 👍 very kind.

CaptGPF
For all the primer failures you have had to endure, this is turning out great! Only advice I can give on the primer is washing that parts prior to priming, as well as de-tacking the tape.

Thomas Bischoff
built this back in the eighties - the kit is not bad for its age and you turn it into a beauty 👍
… and I love your attitude to historical accuracy - lol

Neil
Hi CaptGPF, thanks very much for feedback and suggestions. I'll take them onboard. I do wash kits first and I've also got some de-tacking cloths. But for the most part I tend to save 'em for decorating the house/gloss work 😄👍 you're very kind to say encouraging remarks.

Neil
Hi All, Have added final reveal imagery for this one also...

As I already said on my Corsair, I have a bit of a soft spot for Esci kits. In my youth a 1/72 scale Esci was an affordable choice for me, so I still enjoy building them in this larger scale very much... I endeavour to build these oldies as 'tight' as I can and to have some basis of modern style weathering, etc. Not always an easy task when dealing with older raised panel line kits and poor fitment.

Thanks to all who took time to comment on my efforts and who liked. As always you're very kind to comment on my fascination with building an 'oldie' rather than putting my efforts into building a modern kit! I also apologise in advance for utilising my usual disregard for complete historical accuracy. I am aware that the wheel wells shouldn't be zinc chromate green, I just wanted to break up the grey! As others have said before... My model, my way! Haha! 😉 👍

CaptGPF
Wow! That really turned out great! Chan nailed it - the weathering is just spot on ('not heavy or too light), and adds to the worn look.

James C
Thats a beauty! 👍

Christoph Schnarr
Very nice, Neil 👍

Neil
Thanks very much mates! 😁

Guy Rump
Great job Neil! 👍

Grant Lehman
thats a beauty... I have this kit... how was the bee decal ?? any tricks to it?

Neuling
Excellent work!

Neil
Thanks Guy, Grant and Neuling 👍 very kind of you 🙂 @grant: my only tip would be no solvent softener use, if like me you intend use the original decals. They're over 40 years old and just won't stand up to a lot of fiddling and shrinking due to a setting agent. Plus it's quite a large decal. So I cut in half before wetting and got it to settle that way. It took a bit of care, and you can see a join if you look super close. But then I build these oldies out of the box with an understanding that they'll never be perfect! 👍

Daniel Schlosser
Hello Neil, you Esci-Kit turned out very,very well!!! Awsome!!! I am building the same kit in the AD 6 Able Dog version right now. Hope mine will be as cool as yours. Again: very good work especeally on these old kit!

Neil
Hi Daniel 🙂 thanks very much! I will check out your model definitely. I'm sure your build will be awesome work also 😉 thanks to all who have recently liked too 👍