Scale 1/48th, A-4G Skyhawk, RAN V805 Sqn

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parsifal

parsifal

Colonel
13,354
2,133
Apr 6, 2008
Orange NSW
Well, this is my first ever model build, and I am a bit nervous. Ive been watching things develop, and have wanted to do this build for some time.

I want to build a particular aircraft lost in October 1980 off Sri Lanka whilst I was serving on the carrier. It was a fatal takeoff crash, I believe the pilot was Sub Lt Baddams (but I might be wrong....I am so embarrassed)....

The aircraft number was 885 I believe and the airframe number was N13-154906. The recall this aircraft was finished in standard US matt grey with white undersurfaces, but the fleet air arm site shows it has having olive green camo as well. I may finish the bird as I remeber it, not as the association says it was. I dont believe th4e olive green colour was used until 1982....but my memory could be playing tricks

Here are some photos of the aircraft I am trying to re-create, plus a picture of the box.

I was hoping you guys may have some photos of the interior colour scheme and cockpit layout.

In the meantime I intend to break out the cockpit, prime the pieces, paint them, and then fit them together. I will be using mostly spray finishes, as much as I can, as I have a bit more experience with spray paints (albeit for auto sprays). Anyway, here we go...
 

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Nice! I believe it's a good kit too. I think I've got a cockpit shot somewhere, but it may take some time to find. I'll post it here if/when I find it.
 
Nice to see u getting into modeling, and using a certain plane that means someting to u is certainly the way to go man...

Theres no reason to be nervous in ur first build, it is what is is: Ur first.... I would take as many pics as u can during ur building phase so the experts and know-it-alls can offer advice and keep u on the right track... Dont be afraid to ask even the dumbest of questions, as I have in the past, cause they all end up being important decisions....

Glad ur onboard....

85461384.6zsiN4hC.jpg

a-4m006.jpg

A4cockpitR500.jpg
 
lesofprimus said:
Nice to see u getting into modeling, and using a certain plane that means someting to u is certainly the way to go man...

Theres no reason to be nervous in ur first build, it is what is is: Ur first.... I would take as many pics as u can during ur building phase so the experts and know-it-alls can offer advice and keep u on the right track... Dont be afraid to ask even the dumbest of questions, as I have in the past, cause they all end up being important decisions....

Glad ur onboard....

85461384.6zsiN4hC.jpg

a-4m006.jpg

A4cockpitR500.jpg
Click to expand...


Thanks Dan (and everybody). I have cleaned, trimmed, primed and dry fitted the first three stages in the build instructions, everything seems to fit pretty well so far. Thanks for the cockpit shots, I could not remember the trim, or that the underside of the dash was so dark. I can start to paint the cockpit parts and put them together tomorrow.

Will do a small amount of work and then make my first posts tomorrow.

Pardon my dumbass questions, and I admit I am jumping out of sequence here, but is it possible to get the grey/white USN paint finish using spray???? I was thinking to spray the entire outer skin white as a base coat, over the primer, and then to do the grey on the upper surfaces. There does not appear to be a hard edge as such separating the grey from the white, it appears that the spray of one colour runs into or over the next.....is that just done with the gun, or do i need to learn some new technique????
 
Yes its possible with spray cans, a gun is the way to go, but as this is ur first one, maybe wait till u get one or 2 under ur belt before purchasing the whole gimmick of airbrush/compressor...

As for priming the surface, I dont think u need to go there... I would use ur white base coat as the primer per se... The demarcation line ur gona have between white and grey can easily be replicated several different ways....

Ive tried a couple and the best result was using the top sticky edge of a post it trimmed down so just the sicky part and a small couple mm's worth of paper... Put the sticky part over the white and the small paper side on the line u want to paint... It will flap alittle bit when spraying and this will give u the slight feathering of the demarc line...

Remember, do a test run on some scrap piece u have, get comfortable with what ur doing before u get to the real deal on ur model... Trial and error on scrap...

And there are no dumb questions man, not in this hobby...
 
Thanks wildcat

I have seen the site....I should drive to Nowra and have a lookat the aircraft itself,

It seems my memory is failing me. Baddams was in the cockpit, but he actually survived. I actually was in the same class as him, and for some reason had thought he died in that stack......obviously my memory was wrong. I cannot remember the scheme the bird was painted in at the time. Any suggestions as to how I might track this detail down??
 
Great info and suggestions, Dan and Andy, and saved me a job looking for the cockpit shot!
Regarding checking the colour scheme, given you've got the date, there should be references, possibly via the RAN Museum (?), or even one of the forum members, as to when the colour schemes changed. From the pics you posted of Scooters in the same serial block, it looks like your first choice of the grey/white is correct. From the little I know of Aussie A4's, that's the colour I remember. I'll see if I have anything in my refs and let you know.
 
From the looks of it, I think the 2 tone camo workup happened after 1980.....

Shot of a late 70's 805 bird bein lauched...
http://www.skyhawk.org/6e/html/ran-launch_laurie-hillier.htm

Hmmmm, shot of 885 in 1979, different camo job...
http://www.skyhawk.org/5e/g154903/html/154906.htm

1981 shot of 876:
http://www.skyhawk.org/5e/g154970/html/155063f.htm

Heres a pic of the incident in 1979 where 805 lost a plane on launch.... U can kinda see the camo job in the one pic of the Scooter in the water....
RAN Skyhawk Loss

Little bit of info here, no dates tho:

After a number of the squadron crests (which were decals) ended-up being digested by the engine, they were moved to high on the vertical fin, immediately in front of the rudder flutter damper access panel. Still later, they ended-up high on the f'lage sides, approx mid-way along the length of the a/c.

VF-805's practice of painting the a/c flight controls (rudder) in a colour other than the USN specified Gloss Insignia White was frowned upon by the RAN's higher authority and hence we reverted them to plain white. (This example matt dove grey scheme exactly matches the first batch of A-4G Skyhawks for the RAN until they started to change to gloss colour scheme.) At the same time we considerably enlarged the red white checkerboard pattern and moved it forward onto the vertical fin, taking up the whole of the fin upwards from the lower edge of the rudder. The squadron crest was moved to high on the f'lage sides, approx midway along the a/c's length. This scheme, when applied over the standard Gloss Gull Grey (all fuselage upper surfaces) and Gloss Insignia White (undersides flight controls) made for quite a colourful little a/c !

Still later, our a/c went to a so-called 'air superiority' camouflage scheme (Aircraft Grey BS 381C-693 Matt and Light Admiralty Grey BS 381C-697 Matt) and the bright red white checkerboard on the vertical fin was lost forever. In its place was a Matt Black horse's head (the 'Rook' in chess) with the slightly inclined (to the rear) horse's head facing forward. At the same time, the national insignia (still full colour) was considerably reduced in size and deleted from the underwing surfaces.

At one stage, while our a/c still 'wore' the Gloss Gull Grey over Gloss Insignia White scheme, we tried various representations of the horse's head, sometimes on a circular red white checkerboard background. We never 'settled' on this scheme for all our a/c however (much to the chagrin of our corrosion control team, who were carrying out all these paint re-paint evolutions !) and at no stage did ALL our a/c appear thus.

Similarly, when we ran out of Matt Black paint (probably because of the above carrying on !), several of our a/c ended-up with dark grey anti-glare panels in front of the cockpit ! So much for 'standardisation'.

Unfortunately, I don't have the dates all these changes took place (we seemed to be forever changing something in the paintwork on our a/c !) and probably don't have detailed photos of them, either, but I do know most of what happened over time.
Laurie Hillier

Heres a shot of 886, no checkers on the tail tho.... Sept 1979:
BuNo 154907, #886 rolled off the deck of the HMAS Melbourne in a storm 355km off east Australian coast... Pretty sure the pic is of the actual plane, so gotta be taken before the mishap...
http://www.skyhawk.org/5e/g154903/html/154907.htm

U may know a couple of these Blokes???
http://www.skyhawk.org/5e/g154903/html/154908l.htm
 
parsifal said:
I cannot remember the scheme the bird was painted in at the time. Any suggestions as to how I might track this detail down??
Click to expand...

G'day Parsifal. Looking at Stewart Wilson's work on the Skyhawk I'd say it was the two tone scheme. They were all(?) repainted to this scheme in 1979. Here's 885 in this scheme...


 
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