Hello, fellow modelers and readers!
This time I'll share with you my recently finished Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk from
Fujimi, in 1/72 scale. The Fujimi TA-4J/F kit is a very well detailed one with
fine engraved panel lines. It has four decal options: two different TA-4J
trainers from the US Navy, one TA-4F from the US Marines and a TA-4H from
Israel. The Israeli version in fact cannot be built without scratchbuilding or
buying aftermarket parts, because the kit doesn’t supply parts for its
enlarged tail section. I selected to build a TA-4J trainer because of its
colorful marking options.
My first choice was the VC-1 sqn. "Blue Alii" option, but I noticed
that one of the rainbow-like decals that go over the fin was noticeably out of
register. I also feared that the decals wouldn’t sit well over irregular
surfaces such as that of the rudder’s ribs. Therefore my final choice was to
build the VA-45 sqn. "Blackbirds" option.
The kit has several building options, such as open or closed canopy, and open
or closed air brakes. Through my research of the subject I found that the
airbrakes were never opened when the aircraft was parked, so I chose to build my
kit with the airbrakes closed, and with the canopy opened. Although the kit
instructions indicate to add Zuny rocket launchers to the outer underwing
pylons, I found that the TA-4J trainers didn’t even had the outer underwing
pylons, so I sealed their attachment holes with CA glue. Regarding the center
line drop tank, although I didn’t found photographs of TA-4J trainers carrying
it, at first instance I decided to use it.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
I began to build this kit many years ago, and the build process went without
big problems. The fit was very good, so very little filler was used. By the time
I was building this kit I was using grey putty. I didn’t imagine then that the
color of the putty would represent a problem at the finishing stage.
My Skyhawk remained unfinished for years for several reasons. In first place,
it should be finished in gloss white. I know that enamel gloss white doesn’t
remain white over the years. Although I’ve experienced with enamel flat white
with a gloss coat on a pair of models, on one hand I hadn’t enough flat white
paint to cover the whole airframe, and on the other I wanted to experiment with
acrylic white paint. As I’ve mentioned here before, it’s extremely difficult
to get models and modeling supplies in my country Venezuela, so I had to wait
until the end of the 2019 year, when a fellow modeler and friend could bring to
me some modeling supplies, including gloss white acrylic paint, from the USA.
I started painting the model in 2020. The Model Master Acryl Gloss White
paint didn’t behave as well as I expected. I found that it has a very poor
coverage when I applied the first coat. Therefore, I decided to paint the areas
where the grey putty was visible with a coat of pale grey before painting more
coats of white. Three full coats of white and some touch ups were needed to get
a uniform finish. As a result, some of the panel lines almost disappeared, so I
had to rescribe some of them. The gloss finish wasn’t as gloss as I expected,
but I thought that it was good enough for decal application.
Now it was time to paint the red that goes on the edges of the undercarriage
doors and the air intakes, inside the underwing flaps and inside the slats. It
was very difficult to mask around these areas, specially around the slats and
top wings. It was painted with flat Insignia Red, and later a gloss varnish
overcoat was applied.
One of the most difficult to mask and paint things of this model were the
front and rear tips of the underwing drop tanks. The masking was difficult
because the surfaces are curved but the lines should appear straight when viewed
from the side. In the case of the front tip there should be two straight lines
symmetrical with respect to the center of the drop tank. In the case of the rear
tips, there is only one straight line, but separate masks should be designed for
the bottom and the top because the rear winglets are in the middle. In both
cases, the green areas should be symmetrical when viewed from the top or from
the bottom. I made my masks with Scotch Magic tape and the aid of a French
curves template to achieve symmetry.
Although the kit’s instructions indicate Gunze Sangyo H80 for the green, I
compared it with that of the decal sheet and realized that it wasn’t a good
match. I mixed a close match using Humbrol enamel greens Hu80, Hu3 and Hu38, and
tested it on the decal sheet. When the masks were cut and applied, I airbrushed
my green mixture, and when it was dry I carefully brush painted the black
outlines and put the drop tanks apart.
It was time for decal application, and additional problems arose. As I feared
at the beginning, the decals didn’t conformed well over curved or irregular
surfaces, even after applying several coats of a strong decal solvent (Solvaset.)
In the case of the two decals that cover the top of the nose and part of the
bottom, the decals wrinkled and cracked near the tip. In the case of the green
triangles that go near the top of the outer wing extremes, and their
prolongation over the slats, they didn’t conform over the vortex generators. I
decided to remove the problematic areas carefully with a knife and paint these
areas later. In the case of the USAF insignia that goes over the port wing, I
couldn’t made the decal conform over the vortex generators, but I didn’t
tried to fix it.
I made the same green mixture that I used to paint the tips of the underwing
drop tanks, and brush painted the areas where the green decals were removed. I
regrettably found that painted green didn’t match the one of the surrounding
decals. I reached to the conclusion that matching a color on the decal sheet
doesn’t guarantee that the color is a good match after the decal is applied to
the model, especially if the model is painted white. I had to test several new
mixes until I could find a good match again. Nevertheless, I wasn’t fully
satisfied, so I brush painted again the green of the tips of the underwing drop
tanks, and also painted the triangles on the top wing surface.
Another part that required carefully painting was the arresting hook. The
thin and straight part of it measures 25 mm and has 15 interwoven white and
black strips. To make 15 equal segments, I draw a triangle with a 30 mm
hypotenuse and a 25 mm side, divided the 30 mm in 15 equal 2 mm segments, and
transferred these marks to the 25 mm segment using lines that are parallel to
the third side of the triangle. In this way I could made a 25 mm Magic Tape
template with 15 equal-width segments. The template was placed over the
arresting hook and the segments were marked. Then the black strips were
carefully brush painted. I never imagined before that I would use geometry in
this way!
In the case of the black anti-glare panel, I decided to airbrush it, instead
of using the kit decals, for four reasons. The first, and more important one, is
that I found after the decals were dry that the top separation between the two
green nose decals that surround this panel was bigger than the width of the
anti-glare panel decal. The second reason is that the black of the decal looks
like a brownish dark grey, as it can be seen on the wing walk "black"
decals applied to the model. The third reason, a very important one, is that the
pitot tube and its base (both were scratchbuilt, by the way) lie inside the
anti-glare panel area, and I was sure that the decal wouldn’t cover it. The
fourth reason is that, even if the three previous reasons didn’t exist, the
panel would need a carefully applied overcoat of flat varnish anyway, to
represent an anti-glare panel (in fact, I later applied a flat varnish coat over
the wing walk decals with a brush.)
During my research of the TA-4J at the Internet, finding a photograph of the
real VA-45 airframe (#3502) was very difficult, and I could find it only when
the decals were already applied to the model. I carefully observed it and
noticed several details. The more important is that the tip of the nose wasn’t
black as the kit’s instructions indicate, it had a light red-brown that I
could reproduce very well with a mix of Hu100 and Hu63 enamels. The second
detail is that the tip of the refueling probe isn’t black, it has a dark steel
color and I could paint it this way.
The third detail is that the front undercarriage door doesn’t carry the
lettering that was applied as a decal. I tried to remove the decal following the
directions found in my bottle of Microscale’s Micro Set, but it didn’t work.
I initially decided to keep the decal. At the beginning of 2021 I changed my
mind and removed the decal by sanding it. I knew that I had to paint the front
undercarriage door again, so I decided to remove also the pylon that would hold
the center line drop tank. In this case, I had to fill the holes were it was
glued and sand the surrounding area. Then I airbrushed the undercarriage door
together with the place where the center line pylon was.
Other details I found looking at the photograph of the real airplane are that
the green of the kit decals is different than that of the real airplane, that
the black trim of the real airplane is thinner, and that the inner edge of the
intakes had a red strip that isn’t supplied as a decal. I decided not to
invest more time and paint in fixing these little differences, except in the
case of the red strip, that was made by cutting it from a decal of an unbuilt
kit that I’m sure I will not use.
Once I was satisfied with the painting, it was time to deal with the panel
lines. I mixed an enamel wash and applied it carefully with a very thin brush
over almost all the panel lines, carefully cleaning any excess with a moistened
cotton bud or with another brush. I left off some panel lines that almost
disappeared under the paint or under the decals. It was a fastidious task that
took a couple of days. Then I glued the drop tanks and the rear canopy to their
places and the model was finished.
Well, after all the struggle with this model, I’m very pleased with the final outcome and with all that I learned. I dedicate this colorful model to my lovely wife Omaira in the month of her birthday. She helps to
Colour my World (the title of a very famous old song from the
band) in many different ways!
Thanks for watching and for your patient reading.
Orlando
Sucre Rosales
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|