Attack Squadron VA-212 RAmpant Raiders

Christian Bruer
This will become a challenging project. Although the Kangnam kit is not up to date and lacks a lot of details I start building the kit. If the kit itself was a bargain for less than 10 EUR, well time will tell.

Overall look and proportions are ok, and because of the fact, that an A-4E/F is not currently available from any producer at the moment, I decide to build the kit. I would like to present the Scooter just at touchdown and catching no. 3-wire, similar to the illustration on the Airfix kit. So the canopy will be closed, but first I have to add a little more to the interior that included in the Kangnam kit.

I bought an Airfix A-4B for some replacement parts, like the flaps. But I found out there are much more parts to use. The cockpit tub and wheel well section for example fit astonishingly well and with this I can use the Airfix seat and nose wheel. Some other parts will be used, but later more.

First I have to detail the cockpit area with a minimum of details. The PJ Productions pilot fit well to the ejection seat and all fit well into the fuselage halves with just slightly corrections on all parts. An aft bulkhead, new consoles, an instrument panel and the typical side covering was all made of styrene. I follow some reference photos but most of it was to fill the empty space and not to be 100% close to the real thing.

As with all, it makes a lot of fun and at the end more work was done than necessary 😉
But it looks nice and that counts.

Well the first step was not that complicated. Looking forward to the next step.

Cheer, Christian

Martin Oostrom
Good luck. I'm in

Christian Bruer
Thank you Martin🙂

Ekki
I'm in too.

Spanjaard
good luck. cockpit scratch build looking good. i am in 🙂

Dave Flitton
Might I suggest that you extend the harnesses so that they attach the pilot to the seat?

Patrick Hagelstein
Looking good already!

John Thomas
Nice work

Christian Bruer
Thank you all very much for your kind feedback and interest🙂
Thank you for the hint Dave, certainly I will follow your tip and extend the harness.

The interior is sprayed in gull gray, today I will add some details by brush painting.

Cheers, Christian

Christian Bruer
Basic and detail painting in the cockpit area is done. Now a slightly wash and highlighting the details before I can assemble the fuselage halves.

Cheers, Christian

Christian Bruer
A slightly wash and a light dry brush, all with oils, was applied. I much like the subtle effect you can achieve using oils. I used oils for the first time instead of the basic colour to add highlights and it worked pretty well. Dry fit is perfect, but it need now a day to dry before I can assemble the fuselage halves.

Cheers, Christian

Christian Bruer
There is a lot of sanding required to make the surface look smooth without any edges along the seam lines. The air intakes now look smooth. I engraved all the panel lines parallel to the sanding process.
Some more work is started. I add flat styrene to modify the wrong shape of the tail fin. Also I add rectangular styrene inside of the exhaus noozle later to modify the noozle because of a foming issue.
There are also some wrong hatches etc. I filled them with superglue for later sanding.

Well still a lot of work to do but it makes a lot of fun and that counts 🙂

Cheers, Christian

Stephan Ryll
Lookin good Christian 👍

Christian Bruer
Thx Stephan 🙂

Burkhard D
I'm in.

Christian Bruer
🙂