This build is for a friend and I really screwed up on several things including the botched decal of “0” on the port side, the broken (and not fixed well) refueling probe, the scratched canopy, and on, and on…
However, not having anywhere near the talent that many of the posters on this forum have, I’m relatively pleased with the overall look. The guy I’m giving this to worked on A-4’s when he was stationed at Naval Missile Center, Pt. Mugu, CA so I hope he likes it.
I keep looking at the remains of my stringbag thinking I should attempt to build it properly in the near future. However, USS New York BB-34 is calling.
Mississippivol and Theuns,
Thanks for the positive thoughts on this model. Like I said, I’m not real good at this but I sure have fun struggling to put these kits together!
Theuns, this kit went together very well indeed. I did not find any real problems at all. About my only complaint is the Hasegawa decals that came with the kit. I used some of them but the main ones were SuperScale decals which had a Navy variant that I wanted for my ex-Navy friend. The kit decals were both Marine aircraft. My compaint - and this may be because the kit is not a new one by any means - is that it took about 3 to 4 minutes of soaking in lukewarm H2O before they released from the carrier. The aftermarket ones were fine - they released in 45 seconds (+/-).
I did buy some Eduard PE some of which I used in the cockpit. I screwed up the kit decals on the IP also. Even with my headband magnifiers I wasn’t able to see the allignment of those instruments properly. Next time more and better lighting and higher magnification lenses!! I also bought some resin ejection seats - I’m still trying to learn how to get the resin sawed off the molded excess. I didn’t do too badly but not quite there yet.
Personally, in my humble opinion, you did a fantastic job on the Skyhawk! It’s exceptional. With the quality of the overall build, especially the diorama, everything looks fantastic.
Amoung the many things I’ve learned from you and fellow forum members is that we all make mistakes, but it’s how we recover and persevere the issue at hand that defines ones character! And you sir, amoung your many attributes, definitely have that, hence I can’t see any mistakes.
What I do see is a great Skyhawk build on a excellently designed diorama given to a friend from your heart. That sir, speaks volumes of you. Simply a great job!
I sure wish I could build as quickly as you do. That way I’d get through at least half of my stash before I become worm food.
Next up - I’m not sure. I thought about attempting my USS New York BB-34 but I also have so many aircraft in my stash I’d like to build. Such a wonderful dilemma! [:D]
