1/32 A-4E Aggressor

[hrtpaul]

Back again. I've been hangin to start this so it started yesterday arvo.I've got right into the whole aggressor thing with plenty of kits and decals to feed the habit. This is the old Hasegawa 1/32 Blue Angels boxing. As I'm doing a 1/72 Blue Angels theme this'll be an aggressor. I picked this kit up at a Sydney model show earlier this year for $40. It has raised panel lines and the detail is a bit lacking in some areas.

The kit


I'll be using a lot of AM stuff for this build. This includes Avionix resin pit, Eduard canopy masks, Quickboost scoops and antennae, AMS ACMI pod and wheels and AOA stencils. I got the aircraft decals (from the Trumpeter A-4E kit) from another modeller that didn't need them. A set of masks from Aero Masks will be used as well. This bloke is seriously helpful as he had these as 1/48. It was no trouble for him to scale them up for me. I hope these are good cos I have a few more sets from him.

The goodies


And this is what it'll hopefully look like when I'm done with an ACMI pod on the centreline pylon.


So far I've ground what sidewall detail there was inside of the fuse in preparation for the resin sidewalls. The pour stub on the pit floor took a while to get rid of. I also had to cut away the instrument combing for the resin replacement. The nosewheel well has also been added to one side of the fuse for pit placement and adjustment. I'm still tossing up whether I rescribe it as my scribing skills suck the proverbial. Hmmm might have to do my 1/32 Tamiya F-16C Block 50 converted to a Block 32 aggressor. Long live pretty colours

[tor lives]

OK.... this will be good to watch, as aggressor schemes are just out-and-out cool, and who doesn't love a Skyhawk in any colour scheme. Bring it on!!!
TOR

[RayS]

FInshed one of these not long ago, no real gotchas with the kit.

Looks like a nice scheme you have picked as well Paul.

[hrtpaul]

Ta boys. As I said I've been hanging to start this. I've well and truly been bitten by the aggressor bug with at least 10 x 1/48 Scooters, 4 x 1/48 F-5E/F, 4 x 1/48 F-16's and 2 x 1/32 F-16's to be built. There are more decals in the stash than the whole US Navy fleet put together LOL This first pic is all Paul's fault as we were talking about displacing rudders last night. So off it came


After spending a fair bit of time on LSP reading some awesome Scooter builds I came away with quite a few ideas, some of which I'll do and others that are beyond my skills. First was the vent on the R/H aft fuselage.


Actually I spent a lot of time today "venting" On the the mid fuselage area on the R/H side was a vent that I thought I could improve the look of.







These one's were covered inside so you can't see straight in the fuse


Now who doesn't like using power tools when building models


I've boxed in 1 of the 3 NACA vents on the plane. The other 2 are slated for completion tomorrow




I think I'm gonna try and re-scribe the kit as well as try riveting it. With all the things I wanna do to this I reckon this will be a rather long term build. I can see a 1/32 Trumpeter A-4E in my future to use a few excess bits and pieces I bought for this one but won't be using. Loving this build so far

[RayS]

A good start there, this little fixes should pay off in the end.

Are you going to drop the flaps as well Paul? They are usually down when parked.

[tor lives]

Really looking the business so far. Geez, for a self-proclaimed "lazy modeller", you are going all out on this one.
TOR

[uncle les]

"Actually I spent a lot of time today "venting" "

...groannn.

[Adam the Akrodude]

"Actually I spent a lot of time today "venting" "

...groannn.

'tis the age Uncle, 'tis the age. It's what we do.

[Adam the Akrodude]

Pure A-4 Awesomeness there!

[Wedgetail]

This looks interesting, I'm going to pull up a chair and follow this one. I might get some tips for my A4 build.

Wayne