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" ABLE DOG SIX" PART TWO
This article, the second in a four or five part series
(or as many as it takes), continues a progressive article on building
Tamiya’s 1/48 A-1H Skyraider kit.
The kit is being built "straight-out-of-box" except for a
replacement seat from KMC, some ordnance also from KMC, and maybe some
wire for the brake lines down the undercarriage legs. One thing is for
certain, the kit decals will definitely be substituted with quality
after-market decals.
Part One got the building process started with what I
call the "real boring side of modelling", ie. detaching the major parts
from their sprues, cleaning up the sprue tags and mold lines etc. Some
minor construction was also achieved. That’s all history! On with "Part
Two"!
USN/USAF Skyraider
Tamiya’s Skyraider A-1H depicts a US Navy aircraft. It
also contains several unused parts which will come into play when the kit
is inevitably re-boxed as a USAF "Sandy" (in a similar fashion to how
Tamiya re-boxed their P-51D/K Mustang into a Korean War F-51D/K with the
addition of a new sprue and decals). A dedicated USAF Skyraider kit is
bound to please many modellers.
The "unused" parts I’m referring to are the rearward
slanting COLLINS VHF antenna (on fuselage spine), FM Loop antenna (bar
antenna placed across the fuselage to the rear of the belly dive brake)
and USAF style wheels. All these parts are unique to a USAF Skyraider.
Upon close examination, each fuselage half has a small
flashed over notch on the top seam which, when removed, will leave a hole
in the exact spot for the COLLINS VHF antenna. (I may be starting to sound
like a Skyraider expert but the truth is KMC’s update set instruction
sheet provides an excellent side profile with notes identifying the
various "lumps and bumps").
It’s not all good news on the USAF front. The USN style
seat provided by Tamiya looks nothing like the "YANKEE" seat found in the
USAF Skyraider. Perhaps Tamiya are planning to provide an extra sprue tree
with the new seat in a USAF kit. If not there's always the KMC update
set/s).
So for all those unhappy that Tamiya’s first Skyraider is
a Navy type and not USAF, you can easily build the kit in a USAF scheme.
All you need is a set of USAF decals and a "YANKEE" seat.
Pre-painting
I decided to pre-paint some of the interior parts white.
This simplifies painting before the airframe takes shape and then painted
in the Light Gull Grey over White scheme (I’ve now settled on a USN
scheme).
AeroMaster White is my preferred white enamel. It sprays
beautifully when mixed with automotive thinner/lacquer. The inside of the
three dive brakes, fuselage dive brake recesses, underside of flaps, wheel
well walls/ceiling, undercarriage doors and inside of the wheel "knuckle"
doors plus the main wing pylons all received several light coats.
HVARs Continued
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Even though I’m still tossing up my Skyraider’s
ordnance configuration I decided to assemble the likely candidates from
the kit and KMC’s A-1H/J Skyraider Weapons Set 48-5070 (thinking, hoping
that the finished parts would inspire some decisions !).
Having already spent some time cutting out and cleaning
up the kit’s HVAR parts (refer to "Part One"), a quick check in broad
daylight showed most required a little more attention - much to my disgust!
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So it was out with the Xacto knife again and medium grade
sandpaper . Once satisfied with "Operation Clean-up Part 2" (by this stage
I was thinking "is this really worth the effort ?") the rockets were
assembled by simply gluing the 12 front sections to their rear sections.
Tamiya’s thoughtful engineering is evident as a keyed plug firmly secures
the single join on each rocket where the rocket head and fins meet. |
Once the glue was set, the rockets were wiped clean with
a moist rag, to remove all sanding dust, and then painted according to kit
instructions.
After all this time and effort on the HVARs I was
starting to wonder "can I really be bothered with any other ordnance
options ?". Well AMS ("Advanced Modelling Syndrome/Sickness") again took
over and I went on to assemble, paint and weather twelve mini-guns (six
each from the kit and KMC set). These will not go to waste as I intend to
do a USAF "Sandy", finished in typical SEA camo scheme, in the near future
as a companion to the USN marked model (probably when Tamiya gets around
to releasing the USAF version).
Fuel Tanks
Three external fuel tanks are provided in the kit, each
consists of an upper and lower half.
The two underwing drop tanks each have small stabilising
fins molded into their rear lower half. The 300 gallon centreline fuel
tank is easily identified by the lack of stabilising fins. All three tanks
are to have poly caps inserted into their locating plugs to allow quick
removal from its pylon. The underwing tanks are designed to be
interchangeable with 2000lb bombs.
Two poly caps were placed in their locating recesses in
each upper tank part. I found the plugs for the poly cap recesses needed
to be sanded down slightly to allow the seams to fully close (very ominous
signs of things to come !). Super-glue, "Zap-a-Gap" gel, was carefully
placed on the matting surfaces with a tooth pick, the parts were then held
tight for a couple of minutes for the glue to fully set (making damn sure
my fingers were placed away from the seams so as to NOT super glue my
fingertips to the seams !).
There are several advantages of using super-glue on long
curved seams, such as fuel tanks. Firstly, the seam will be glued and
filled all within a minute or two. Secondly, super-glue is less likely to
"shrink" as I’ve found some tube-like glues do. Any excess glue squeezed
out of the seam can be easily sanded smooth. I’m fast coming round to the
"school of thought" that supports using super-glue for all my major
construction. Well that’s the theory, now for reality !
As the fuel tanks were meant to be "seamless", the seams
on my fuel tanks looked "less than perfect". A spray of white confirmed my
worst fears as the seams stuck out "like sore thumbs". So super-glue, my
preferred gap filler, was used to "touch up" all seams., these were then
rigorously smoothed down with a sanding block and wet’n’dry sandpaper. Any
lost panel line detail was restored with the new Xacto blade.
A couple more light coats of white were applied, some
areas were still a little rough - these were then lightly sanded. Now that
the seams were "perfect", each fuel tank was mounted on two wooden skewers
and received a few more light coats of white.
If the construction and painting of the three fuel tanks
sounds like a bit of saga then your damn right. Being "seamless", the
horizontal seams needed to be totally eliminated so as to not stand out
under the white paint - give me "seamed" fuel tanks, like you find on
P-51s, any day !
Cockpit
The kit cockpit is made up of only five pieces; cockpit
tub/side consoles (all-in-one), floor, rear wall, front instrument
panel/foot pedals and joystick. All parts were base coated Dark Gull Grey
FS36231 (as advised by members of the rec.scale.models newsgroup). The
instrument panel, side consoles and joystick handle were painted Matt
Black and drybrushed with light grey and then aluminium to "lift" the
detail.
Tamiya’s seat has minimal detail so it was promptly
replaced with the USN type seat from KMC’s A-1H/J Skyraider Update Set
48-4015 (designed for the Monogram kit). The KMC set also has the USAF
"Yankee" seat.
KMC’s resin USN seat is very well detailed as it
incorporates seat/lap belts and frame detail (unlike the kit seat which is
very basic). Following the KMC instructions, the seat was first sprayed
Dark Gull Grey FS36231, the lap belts and buckles were then handpainted. A
light dry-brushing highlighted the edges and raised detail. The finished
seat was then firmly attached to the cockpit tub floor with super
glue.
The joystick was cemented in place on the cockpit floor
followed by the rear wall and front instrument panel parts.
Fuselage
Having taken care of the cockpit it was onto the
rest of the fuselage. The front inside of each fuselage half was sprayed
Dark Gull Grey. The completed cockpit tub was glued into the right
fuselage side before cementing the fuselage halves together (the one-piece
tail wheel well had been glued in placed in the initial construction
completed in "Part One").
The fit of the fuselage is very good, however I suggest
dry fitting the parts several times to find out the best way to put the
two halves together. This recommendation may sound odd for a Tamiya kit
but with my first couple of dry fit attempts I mismatched the rear
fuselage seams (no I was not drunk at the time !).
I found the best way to put the fuselage together is to
carefully match up the nose section, ensure both top and bottom seams are
perfectly aligned, and then progressively press the remainder of the
fuselage together (ie. work back down the fuselage to the tail). This is
not a flaw of the kit just an area to take some care.
The lower fuselage plug (part #B2 - radiator grille ?)
and several small fairings (two on each side) were cemented in place to
complete the fuselage. All fuselage seams were sanded smooth after a few
days.
Wings
The inner wheel well walls, with undercarriage doors, had
been glued in place and painted White earlier. Tube glue was placed on all
matting surfaces on the lower wing before the upper wing sections were
firmly placed on top.
The fit of the left wing was very good. On the right wing
there was an annoying small gap, about 5mm in length, either side of where
the inner cannon barrel is to be placed. A small amount of Kibri liquid
glue was applied around the gap to slightly melt the plastic to close the
gap. This almost worked - once again super-glue was used to fully close
the gap. After a few days all seams were gently sanded with a medium and
fine grade wet’n’dry sandpaper.
The fuselage and wings were then brought together - the
fit was near perfect. Only a tiny bit of filler was need at the forward
and rear fuselage-to-wing joins, and front left fuselage to wing join. Any
gaps were more likely my fault rather than the kit’s.
Kit Running Time
Part 1 6hrs
Part 2 7hrs
So Far, So Good!
Well that concludes "Part Two". I’ve been pleasantly
surprised by how far I’ve got with the Skyraider in such a short amount of
time - total "running" build time to date is 13 hours (OK so I’m a slow
builder as I like to take my time).
The large size of the aircraft is evident when the
completed model airframe is compared to smaller WW2 aircraft, eg. Bf109,
Fw190, Wildcat, Spitfire and P-51. In short, the Skyraider was a beast of
an aircraft !
If you’ve read the story so far you’ll know that the kit
is reasonably easy to build. The only real problem/s I found so far are
the three fuel tanks with their less than "seamless" seams.
As for the markings to be applied, I’ve decided on the
box-art scheme from VA-176 "Thunderbolts" MiG killer AK409 (as per Tamiya
kit decals and Third Group set) or AK405 (as per AMD set). I would be
interested if anyone can provide a definitive photo of a/c no. 37543 to
clear up the AK405 versus AK409 issue.
By the time I get around to writing "Part Three" I hope
to have completed painting, decaling and weathering the airframe, followed
by the "add-on" parts (flaps, dive brakes, undercarriage, ordnance, canopy
etc.). Well that’s the current "Game Plan".
Many thanks to Brown Ryle and Richard Chafer for their
assistance with a few questions I had about USN Skyraiders.
Happy modelling to all !
John
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