July 4th Scooters

Four A-4 Skyhawks painted up as Blue Angles in diamond formation before a 50 star US flag.  Suspended from the ceiling of the US Naval Musuem at Pensacola NAS, Pensacola FL.  Taken in 2010.

TA-4J 158500

Looking down the right side of 723 assigned to VT-7 CTW-1 USS Lexington at the 1991 Keesler AFB open house.  Notice the various stains down the side.  One of the launch bridle hooks can be seen hanging down from the main gear well.  And the reds are different shades.  Look at the leading edge of the verticle tail, it has been re-painted in a lighter shade of red. In the background is the Collins Foundation B-17G Nine-Oh-Nine.

Left hand detail shot of TA-4J 158500 723.  Notice the wear from the moving tail surfaces.  And the dirty look of the rudder.  Bu. No 158500 was one of a 75 plane production run of new build TA-4Js.

Here is a close up picture of TA-4J 158500 723's nose gear.  The details pictured here are common for all Skyhawks built with nose gear steering from the first A-4F to the last off the production line in 1979.

Reference Books

A-4 Skyhawk in Action, Aircraft #11, Squadron-Signal Publications, 1973.
A-4 Skyhawk Walk Around, Number 41, Squadron-Signal Publications, 2006.
A-4 Skyhawk in Detail & Scale, D&S Vol. 32, TAB Books, 1989.
Colorful U.S. Navy A-4 Skyhawks, C&M Vol. 18, TAB Books, 1990.
Douglas A-4E/F Skyhawk in Marine Service, Naval Fighters #52, Ginter&Albright, 2001.
USN/USMC Two-Seat Skyhawks, Naval Fighters #82, Ginter, 2008.
- covers TA-4F, EA-4F, TA-4J, OA-4M, TA-4G, TA-4H, TA-4AR, TA-4S/SU, TA-4PTM, TA-4KU, AF-1A, and TA-4K.
A-4 Skyhawk, #346, Model Art Co. Japan, 1990.
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Variants, Wings of Fame Vol. 4, Aerospace Publishing Ltd, 1996.
Topped Gun:Requiem for the Skyhawk, OSP, Ross Ewing, 2002.
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Attack & Close-Support Fighter Bomber, Pen and Sword Aviation, Jim Winchester, 2005.
The A-4 Skyhawk Ayit, IAF Aircraft Series #2, AD Graphics, Amos Dor, 1999.
Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat, Osprey Combat Aircraft 81, Shlomo Aloni, 2009.

The Stash

While I am doing an assembly line production of late model Escapac ejection seats in 1/48 scale, thought I might list the Skyhawk kits in the stash.

In 1/32d scale I have all three Hasegawa kits - A-4E, TA-4J, and Hi-Grade OA-4M.  One of each.

In 1/48th scale is where things have certainly gotten a bit out of hand.
1 Monogram Pro-Modeller A-4F
4 Monogram A-4E original production run kits.
3 Monogram A-4E Hi-Tech kits.
2 Monogram A-4F Blue Angels re-issues.
1 Monogram OA-4M
2 Monogram-Revell of Germany OA-4M kits.
1 Hasegawa A-4M
1 Hasegawa TA-4J
1 Hasegawa A-4SU.

Nothing in 1/72d or smaller scales.  Intervention anyone? LOL

KMC Upgrade Kit

KMC Resin Upgrade Kit for the Monogram A-4E/F Skyhawk

Part of the stash I have accumulated is a complete upgrade kit from KMC.  Thank you eBay.  It comes with a complete cockpit tub with the area behind the bulkhead that is missing from the Monogram kit.  The ejection seat is a very nice resin piece except for the excess resin at the top of the ejection seat that needs to be removed.  A control column comes in two pieces.  The wheels are the same diameter as the Monogram wheels but detail wise they resemble the Classic AirFrames and Hasegawa wheels.  Like the Hasegawa, Classic AirFrames, and Pro-Modeller kits we get the front of the J-52 jet engine.  Get the five underwing pylons, four rocket pods, and enough sway braces for all pylons.  For the A-4F Super Fox, the ALR-45 antenna hot-dog is included.  KMC also includes the hatch on the bottom of the fuselage between the flaps where Remove Before Flight tags are stored, sometimes called the Hellhole; instructions tell the modeller to put plastic to close up the hole when you drop this hatch - for the super detail freaks who don't want to close up the hole, will need to add the aft fuselage attachment bulkhead, wiring, hydraulics, and bottom of the J-52.  There is one more part in this kit not pictured on the box and that is a nice resin instrument panel.