1/48 Hasegawa A 4SU Skyhawk

"Black Knight"

by Leslie Choy

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  Singapore National Day 2005 

 

The Black Knights debuted in 1974 during Singapore Armed Forces Day celebrations, then flying Hawker Hunters. After a decade of performances, the team flew for the last time in 1983. The team reformed briefly in the 1980s  flying F-5E Tiger IIs.

The Black Knights reformed again flying 6 re-engined A-4U Skyhawk. They performed for the first time in the 1990 Asian Aerospace in Changi, then again in 1994. However in 1996 and 1998 only a solo Super Skyhawk performed.

In Asian Aerospace 2000, the first major air show in the millennium. The Black Knights reformed flying four A-4SU Super Skyhawks and together with for the first time two F-16As (Hasegawa 09387, F-16A Black Knights). This made the Republic of Singapore Air Force, RSAF, the first air force to combine two aircraft type into one aerobactic team.

Sadly, the A-4s made their last flight 31st March this year ending 31 years of operational duties. This year onwards, the crowds will miss the familiar bomb burst flypast during the National Day parade.

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This Hasegawa A 4SU Skyhawk was issued some years back.  This kit comes with a resin Air Cooling Duct (fitted to the port side of the air intakes) and a ADF antennae (fitted to the spine of the fuselage). The shape of the ADF antennae supplied in the kit was wrong (tear drop) and replaced by a scratch build one (rectangular). The gun gas deflector was also supplied as resin in the kit.
The rest of the kit was build straight out of the box. I did not use all of the decals supplied. Most of the red and gray (bottom) was by masking and the colour sprayed over. I used Gunze gloss with Burnt Umber washes.

The aircraft I've chosen was flown by the team leader "Black Knight one" LTC (Lt. Col)  Sham Chee Keong, he has also lead the  Black Knights in the 1994 Asian Aerospace.

It will take me some time to complete the whole team. So, this is number one ............

Leslie

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Photos and text © by Leslie Choy