The basis for this project is the excellent 1/72 Aifix A-4 Skyhawk. This is the first Skyhawk I've built in 35 years and probably the only one I've done in "the one true scale".
As the picture shows, not only is the box art stunning in that inimitable Arifix style, but the kit is an absolute gem as well. The parts are incredibly well molded, so much so that the wings and tailplanes hardly needed glue. The details and marking options offer excellent value for the money. Any ham-handed modeler should be able to make a stunning Skyhawk from this kit.
Mine would come out a little differently...
Some of the parts are just too nice to waste being mostly hidden inside the fuselage, so I saved them.
This required the first round of modifications. I inserted some large half-wheels inside the intakes and topped them off with bomb tips as shock cones and painted the inside of the tail.
Those half-wheels aren't half bad and should look the part once everything's painted and buttoned up. The big gaps were filled with white glue and further historical research commenced as I waited for it to dry. Another smaller wheel and a drinking straw were drafted into duty for the jet exhaust.
Pleased with that progress, I went on to perform a nose-job. The kit nose was cut off and replaced with a resin inline Lycoming engine sent by the late, great HOG a while back.
An oil cooler intake that came in the same box as the engine was added underneath. I used half of the kit's large drop-tank for a belly camera pod. Gotta earn that Airfix Flying Hour you know!
Lastly, the exhaust pipes from a Spitfire and the prop from a Miles Master (thanks, Raafif!) were added as this model obviously required British parts. Then it was on to paint and decals.
I can't say enough about the resurgence of Airfix under Hornby. Their kits seem more available than ever at a great price and their new-tool offerings like this Skyhawk, are an outstanding value and almost impossible to stuff up. They've upped their game nicely with a full-color paint guide.
However, mine had a minor printing error.
I actually like these colors better, accuracy be damned.
The model was brush-painted by hand with Model Masters acrylics. I used Olive Drab and Euro Green on the uppers and Light Sea Grey on the underside for added kinkiness.
Decals were a mix from the stash. I used two round ones (instrument panels? disco lights?) left over from a DH Chimpmunk as the camera ports on the belly pod. Many thanks to Jeff Fontaine & Tophe for sending me the markings and codes.
The drop-tanks are from an Emhar 1/72 F-4B Fury jet.
The entire project took me two days from start to finish and made for a fine weekend of modeling.
If you like your Skyhawks in 1/72, think about giving one of these Airfix kits a try. I found this kit to be as trouble-free a model as I've ever built despite my repeated attempts to ruin it.
I hope you like the model and enjoyed reading a little forgotten history of the 1982 Falklands crisis.
Brian da Basher