Aftermarket Decals

Another major failing with the Hobby Craft kit is the decal sheet and the instructions on placement.  The sheet has almost no stenciling decals, the ejection seat warning triangles are just black line triangles.  All the other small stenciling is absent.  What instructions they do have are seen on the back of the box which also suffices for painting instructions.  Which are also incorrect.

Luckily there is a set of aftermarket decals that handily fills the void that I bought from Sprue Brothers.  FCM markets the decal sheet and instructions shown above with the model kit.  This is decal sheet 48-044.  It has all the small stencil decals needed for the AF-1/AF-1As.  Another life saver is this sheet precisely calls out where these markings go.  About the only shortcoming is a failure to show where the underside markings go, they are not placed outside the outer weapon stations as the Hobby Craft directions call for.  They are in fact located just inboard of the outer weapon stations.  Luckily I don't plan to waste this decal sheet since it also has markings for Indonesian Skyhawks along with Argentine A-4P and A-4Q aircraft.  Might take a stab at making an Indonesian A-4E.

This photo of AF-1 04, ex Kuwait AF #807, shows clearly where the roundel is located on the wing's underside.

Prep and More Prep

I used a Monogram A-4E to make the masks to cover the Aircraft Grey.  Lot easier to lay them out and mark on this kit than doing it on the almost built model.

Here is the AF-1 finally all masked off to receive the top coat of Neutral Gray.  Both leading edge slat areas have also been masked off.  And in spite of all the care in the world, still managed to break the refueling probe off.  So that has to be fixed.

Watching Paint Dry

Bottom color has been sprayed and let to dry.  Masked off the entire bottom to prevent over-spray.  Just finished shooting the middle gray, Aircraft Gray, and since it appears on the sides of the avionics hump painted the whole top the color.

Once this is dry will install the vertical tail antennas.  Then shoot the final top color Neutral Gray.  Followed by the gloss coat, decals, dull coat, and the other little fiddly bits.  But getting closer to being finished.

Keeping Tabs

There is a good thing about building two of the same plane at the same time.  Eventually you will notice little things that are missing.  For example there are small tabs on the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer.  These are present on the Monogram kit but missing on the Hobby Craft kit.  So some quick cutting of sheet plastic and glue, voila, three tabs.  Once dry will trim and clean it up.

TA-4H 544 Climbing

In a fit of whimsy posed 544 as if it was climbing.  Amazingly everything was level and perfectly balanced. 

Scattered about are the tires and landing gear for these kits and even a set of tires for the next kit after these.

Hey Where's The Defrost?

So I am installing the refueling probe and have to overcome an oversight from HobbyCraft.  They did not include an alignment pin to make sure you install the probe correctly.  So built up a platform from modelers clay to rest the probe and nose on.  Made sure the probe was in line with the win and level, then glued.

And as I doing that something else finally smacks me between the eyes.  This kit does not have the defrost vent that is just in front of all flat windscreen Skyhawks.  Luckily quickly cut a piece of sheet plastic, sanded it to shape, and glued it before I changed my mind.  Then when I saw the picture, realized the vent was crooked; had to quickly fix that before the glue set.

And finally you can see the tan avionics hump from the Monogram kit that I took out of the spares box.  Still do not understand why the kit supplied one refused to cure and stay together.