Argentine Navy A-4Q Skyhawk, Falklands War.

[BradG]

This is the new Airfix kit in 1/72. It represents Skyhawk 3A305 as she would have looked the morning of May 21st 1982. This morning saw the first large scale attacks of shipping in San Carlos, or Bomb Alley as it would be know. 3a Escuadrilla launched 6 Skyhawks in two strike groups, each carrying 4 Mk 82 fin retarded bombs. '305 was flown by TN Lecour that morning as wingman in the second element strike. Approaching San Carlos, both sections found and attacked HMS Ardent. The first elements strike hit the ship with at least 1 bomb, but it failed to explode, they were then intercepted by Sea Harriers and shot down, losing all 3 aircraft and 1 pilot KIA. TN Rotolo leading the second element arrived 15 minutes later and flying through a hail of light flak dropped their bombs on Ardent. One of '305's bombs penetrated the stern and exploded under the fuel tanks, fatally crippling the ship. TN Lecour would fly several more missions along with Skyhawk 305, both surviving the conflict.

Pros.
- Readily available for a reasonable price
- Nice fit of parts
- Nice decal sheet
- Engraved panel lines (although these are deep which may not be to everyone's liking).

Cons.
- Very soft plastic with large sprue attach points and flash on smaller parts
- No MER included for which you need if arming up the Argentine aircraft
- Incorrect weapons included for Falklands War A-4Q and not enough of them
- Incorrect shape of antenna behind cockpit for A-4Q (not changed on mine)
- No windscreen wiper or VOR antenna included (not included on mine)
- Colour of Argentine blue on the tail flash is too light (tail flash masked and painted on mine using Humbrol 109 blue)

That said, it's not a bad kit, just you need some extras if you want to get the A-4Q right. It seems that Airfix were either a little bit lazy with the details of the Argentine aircraft, or more likely the inclusion of the markings was an afterthought, leading to the mistakes listed. In any case you do get 2 Expal 250lb bombs and a Mk 17 1000lber, that you can use with your other 1/72 Argentine aircraft.

[RayS]

Nice work Brad, you've built a lovely model there.

I agree Airfix most likely added the decal option with little thought on correct parts (as do many other manufacturers).

[BradG]

Nice work Brad, you've built a lovely model there.

I agree Airfix most likely added the decal option with little thought on correct parts (as do many other manufacturers).

The thing is, they included the "HMS Invincible" graffiti that was applied to a bomb for a mission against the aircraft carrier that ended up being cancelled. So that tells me they at least googled the aircraft, but the famous picture shows the MER loaded with 6 Mk 82s....so why did they just include the MK 81's and no MER? Why bother going to the effort of making a decal for the bomb graffiti if you're not going to make the effort to include the correct weapons? So I'm not sure if just and error or Airfix half arsed.