1/32 Trumpeter A-4E Scooter: 8/4/17 Crossed the finish line

[Joel_W]

Great work Joel! I've been lurking on your build for a while - keep it up!

 

John

 

Hey John,

  Glad that you're here on LSP. I'm loving it. The Scooter is just one of those builds that for some reason I've personally connected to. And on my list of favorite jets, which is very, very short, it's in the top 3 for sure. 

 

  Hope all is well, and enjoying your new home.

 

Joel

[Joel_W]

Where do you get the "jig" to rest the model on?

 

dsahling1,

  It's a JH model stand and you can buy them from UMM-USA. This is my 2nd one as I was just too rough with the 1st one. One suggestion is to use wood glue for assembly, which I did this time, and not CCA glue as suggested in the instructions the 1st time. It bonds the wood pieces, not fuses them, and I had a few pieces actually break off at real inappropriate times.

 

Joel 

[ziggyfoos]

Much better!

 

Just to clarify, that part isn't a "flap", it's just part of the upper wing, there's no pivot, hinge, etc on the top, no real break in the wing from front to back. It's not a control surface at all (why it's not white). Only starting with the A-4F was that panel part separate from the rest of the wing when it was a wing spoiler (it was still painted grey though when it was a spoiler).

Edited July 11, 2017 by ziggyfoos

[Joel_W]

Much better!

 

Just to clarify, that part isn't a "flap", it's just part of the upper wing, there's no pivot, hinge, etc on the top, no real break in the wing from front to back. It's not a control surface at all (why it's not white). Only starting with the A-4F was that panel part separate from the rest of the wing when it was a wing spoiler (it was still painted grey though when it was a spoiler).

 

ziggyfoos,

  Thanks for liking my fix, but if you're correct about the section of the wing being part of the wing, and I'm sure you are, then I'm still wrong, and I do have a separation as though it's a separate section. What I should have done is glued & puttied it during construction, but I'm not willing to go that route now. 

 

  I kind of blame Trumpeter for this, as there is no mention in the instructions about this, and it attaches like the rest of the flying surfaces. 

 

Joel

[Joel_W]

   Finally, After nearly two weeks I've finished all the Stations, center fuel tank, and all the bombs. 

 

  The stations were primed with Mig Ammo black primer only rather then the going the Black Basing route, as I felt that they were just to small to utilize it.   White air brushed over a dark base color is easy for me to get a uneven coat just by modulating the paint flow. 

 

  I had test fitted the Mers and no matter what I tried, they kept on hitting the flaps in the down position. So it was back to my references for a loads out with the same mission duplicated with Ters, which is just half a Mer with just 3 stations rather then six. Again, they were primed with just Mig Ammo Acrylic Black primer, then air brushed with Tamiya XF-2 Flat white. 

 

   For the two Ters, each recieved two Snakeyes, one on the bottom station, and one on the outside station. No bombs were carried on the inner station due to concerns of the gear doors hitting the bombs.  The outer wing stations each would carry a single MK82 bomb. 

 

  All the bombs were painted the same exact way:

Primed with Mig Ammo Acrylic Black primer

the Yellow ID nose band was painted with Tamiya XF-8 Flat Yellow in several light coats. 

The Bands were masked with Tamiya curvabe 1/8 inch tape. 

the base color of Tamiya O.D. XF-61  thinned 2:3 

then a thinned coat thinned 1:4 of Tamiya Kaki Drab XF-51.

Finally a blotchy coat of Tamiya Kaki Drab and Yellow mixed 1:1. 

Tamiya X-22

Trumpeter Decals  for the bombs

Tamiya X-22 to seal

a light coat of Tamiya XF-52 Dark Earth thinned 1:8 

Testors Dullcoat.

 

And this is how all the bombs look.

 

 

 

   You can also see that each bomb has the two safety arming wiring that I made from stretched sprue.

 

    It's hard to believe that just the 5 stations and their loads took this long to do, but that's about how slow I work these days.

 

 

  Here's the starboard wing's station 5 & 4

 

 

 

Notice that station 4 has the inside position empty due to concerns about the gear door hitting the bomb

 

 

  the finished centerline gas tank

 

  And a few pictures of the overall loads out

 

 

 

 

  Since the stations are just dry fitted, I didn't want to turn the Scooter over, so I flipped the picture 180 degrees. At least you'll get the effect of what it must have been like  for the enemy to see one coming straight at them.

 

 

thanks for checking out the update.

 

Joel

Edited July 18, 2017 by Joel_W

[chuck540z3]

Joel.  Those bombs are AWESOME!  Terrific job with the wiring, which is something I've always been too chicken to do.  It adds so much to the final product.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[Joel_W]

Joel.  Those bombs are AWESOME!  Terrific job with the wiring, which is something I've always been too chicken to do.  It adds so much to the final product.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

chuck,

  Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my latest update. it really means quite a lot to me to get your feed back.

 

  the safety wiring really isn't all that hard. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.  As for the bombs, they're my best effort to date, but do have room for more color modulation.

 

Joel

[Out2gtcha]

Don't those look a treat!    I love the wiring. Makes all the diff

[Joel_W]

Don't those look a treat!    I love the wiring. Makes all the diff

 

Brian,

  Thanks for taking the time out of your build schedule to check out my update. it's really much appreciated.   the fuse wiring is something you sure don't have to worry about on your Wilhelm Hipperts Jasta 74 Mimmi build.   

 

Joel

[Guest]

Joel buddy, you made me proud. Not to many builders bother to put arming wires on their weapons. Being an old bomb loader, it gets me when guys don't do this one thing. Kudos to you !.....Harv   

[blackbetty]

Love your work!

[Shaka HI]

Hot damn! Looks awesome Joel!

 

Wow!

[Gazzas]

Damn, Joel!  Those bombs and pylons look beautiful.  The color  modulation on the bombs looks good.  Wouldn't want to overdo it.  The wires are a nice add.  I've never noticed them on pictures, so I'm gonna have to do more research if I'm ever to do external loads.

 

Very nice!

 

Gaz 

[ClumsyDude]

Those bombs ROCK.  Like the others, I love the wires.  Super work Joel.

 

Jim

[Joel_W]

Joel buddy, you made me proud. Not to many builders bother to put arming wires on their weapons. Being an old bomb loader, it gets me when guys don't do this one thing. Kudos to you !.....Harv   

 

Harv,

 

    You made my day for sure. Thanks so much for those words.

 

   I've only built 2 other 1/32 props; the F2A-3 Buffalo, and the F4F-3 Wildcat, neither had bombs, so this is the 1st time that I've had the opportunity to try to wire the arming fuses.  I think that it works well in 1/32 scale and as you said, it does add another dimension visually to replication of the real aircraft.  Now that I've done it once, I can see a few other ways to make it easier to wire, yet retain a realistic look to it. 

Joel

 

  If I remember correctly, Marcel on his  F-4E Chico added bombing wires to his inner station bombs.  That's about the only other time I can remember seeing it. 

 

Joel