A-4E Skyhawk - questions on MOH winner

[petrov27]

Hiya,

 

I have started the Trumpeter 1/32 Skyhawk and was intending/hoping to build it as one of the aircraft flown by Michael Estocin flying off Ticonderoga with the Golden Dragons. I have the 1/48 scale decals from Victory Productions as a reference and thought I was all set (piecing 1/32 decals for the a/c from a couple sources) but still have some questions that I was hoping one of the Skyhawk gurus on the forum might be able to assist with?

 

- Are there any pictures of Estocin's aircraft at all while with 192? I have a pic of one a/c but from service with a different squadron - it is depicted on a Zotz sheet. Not been able to find any with Golden Dragons markings though (would like to do an a/c with his name on it)

-Victory Prod decal profile shows the aircraft without an avionics hump. Another reference (Ospreys Skyhawks in Vietnam) states that this squadron recieved the humps retrofitted to their A-4Es prior to the cruise and their profile reflects that. Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

-Victory states that the likely load out for his missions were four Shrike and a centerline tank for Iron Hand. Does this loadout seem likely? I have not seen any pics of A-4s with four Shrike loaded at once. I believe the citation states he took out three SAM sites on one mission so maybe four Shrike is pretty accurate?

-for the centerline tank, is the 400 gal likely for this? I assume Fisher models offering would be good for it?

 

I have a few additional reference books on order but unsure if they will provide any answers to these. Also done a fair amount of online searches but to no avail.

 

Thanks in advance if anyone has more info!

[LSP_K2]

What sort of references are you using?

[petrov27]

I currently have for reference:

 

- the Victory Productions A-4 Skyhawk Sheet 48004 - has profile and text description of the a/c in question

- Scooter - the A-4 Skyhawk Story by Tommy H Thomason

- US Navy & Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawk Units of the Vietnam War - has a profile and text description of the a/c in question but conflicts with the Victory Prod sheet

- A-4 Skyhawk Detail and Scale

 

I have on order:

- A-4 Skyhawk in Action (used)

- Colors and Markings of colorful A-4 Skyhawks (used)

- Douglas A-4E/F Skyhawk (Ginter)

 

for the build I am using the excellent tweak list posted here

[thierry laurent]

Hi,

 

I don't want to disappoint you but it seems you've discovered why I removed VA-192 Estocin plane from the possible choices to build the Zotz sheet! Conflicting info... The Osprey book and Victory sheet have been based on serious research. So, no easy way to know who's right. I've not been able to get the final word within a reasonable lapse of time. I used all the printed and online references I've been able to find as refered in the Tweak list but... no way! Too bad...

 

Regarding the warload, two Shrikes was the classical load but the use of four indeed occured more often than you may think. The best reference regarding this is probably Tony Thornborough's "Iron Hand" book. In fact, the general use of four Shrikes was prevented either by the limited stock of missiles, either by the mission range requiring more than one drop tank.

 

I cannot give you info about the type of tank used. It may have been the 300gal or the 400gal ones. However, considering the fact that the plane had shorter legs with one single drop tank, the choice of the larger one sounds logical. Fisher one is indeed very nice.

 

HTH

[petrov27]

Hi Thierry,

 

Thank you for the info even though disappointing! I think I will still proceed with doing this a/c and will have to figure it may not be 100% correct. I guess that gives me a little leeway to do it the way I want to - now I have to decide on doing the hump or not - difficult choice!

 

I have 2 sets of the CAM Shrikes and they look pretty nice in the box so maybe I will go with four - should look pretty good. On that note, does anyone have a good close up of the markings on that missle? There appears to be a data plate or black placard on the front side in the pics I have in the skyhawk references - I would like to make a decal for that as well as the color bands...

[thierry laurent]

Just type "agm-45 shrike" in Google images

 

;-)

 

For the stenciled text blocks (at least six of them on the missile body, this is less easy...