Trumpeter versus Hasegawa Skyhawk (outline) shapes (for decals)

[jeroen_R90S]

For "Sinterklaas" I got a latest issue Hasegawa 1/32 Skyhawk, that actually seems to come with some pretty neat decals. It's just that I want to build something different, and there are several options out there.

 

Most seem to be sized for the Trumpeter kit, and before I spend €€ on a decal sheet that won't fit, does anyone know if those kits are really much different shape-wise so that most markings will or not fit?

It's mostly tail markings, tail codes, etc.

 

Jeroen

 

[Anthony in NZ]

3 hours ago, jeroen_R90S said:

For "Sinterklaas" I got a latest issue Hasegawa 1/32 Skyhawk, that actually seems to come with some pretty neat decals. It's just that I want to build something different, and there are several options out there.

 

Most seem to be sized for the Trumpeter kit, and before I spend €€ on a decal sheet that won't fit, does anyone know if those kits are really much different shape-wise so that most markings will or not fit?

It's mostly tail markings, tail codes, etc.

 

Jeroen

 

Hi Jeroen

 

Now this is a really interesting subject, and one I have often wondered about myself.

 

First up I am not familiar with the scheme you are referring to.  However they will probably fit with a little tweaking to the Hasegawa kit.

 

To me the Hasegawa A-4 has always looked a little 'chunky' not much but when compared to photo's it does to me.  The cross section isnt quite right at the mid fuse break-point whereas the Trumpeter one seems very nice in cross section.  However I dont have any hard facts to prove it.  Not like I do with the Tamiya Phantom shapes now.

 

To me the Trumpeter kit looks really nice in its overall finished appearance.  But something bugs me about the nose forward of the windscreen, and I dont have decent drawings or skills to figure it out.  To me it looks a little pinched, whereas the Hasegawa TA-4 looks really good, in fact the fuse cross section is slightly different to their single seater.  It is like the revisited the fuselage shape when they re-tooled for the TA and got the shape right.

 

The 'sit of the Trumpeter one is not right either and @D.B. Andrus and I spent a lot of time studying and measuring Skyhawk legs to find the issues there.  Damian will have full correction sets for both kits to correct their 'stance'  as Hasegawa needs tweaking too.  They really do have a characteristic look to them.

 

My money is on the Trumpeter kit overall.  And graft the TA nose onto the Trumpeter kit for a nice T Bird.

 

Oh, and as an FYI the new NZ Kahu cockpit master revision for the Trumpeter kit looks amazing....stay tuned

 

These a just my ramblings on the 2 kits as the A-4 is one of my favorite aircraft

 

Cheers Anthony

[thierry laurent]

I think that the only items that cannot be easily used are rudder markings or fuselage stripes if you have them in the chosen scheme. All other decals should not create any problem. I made that comparison years ago.

[Michael931080]

4 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Oh, and as an FYI the new NZ Kahu cockpit master revision for the Trumpeter kit looks amazing....stay tuned

 

These a just my ramblings on the 2 kits as the A-4 is one of my favorite aircraft

 

Cheers Anthony

 

Hi Anthony,

 

was just thinking about the Cockpit Set you were talking about.  I know its been a long time coming but any idea when it will be available??  

[allthumbs]

Hi Jeroen, 

 

As Thierry indicated, the style and placement of the tail markings will determine whether decals can be cross utilized, particularly those covering the rudder and associated ribbing.

 

Here are some comparison shots. The Hasegawa plastic is actually from a TA-4J kit, but I've confirmed that the tail area is identical to their A-4E/F.

 

HTH's,

 

Rich

 

 

 

[blackbetty]

any comparison of the nose section?

[otis252]

I've thought that the Trumpeter nose was too "flat" between the front base of the windscreen and the tip. I too would love to see the same comparison of the two kits. Thanks.

Chuck

[allthumbs]

Here you go...I'm not sure which is more correct.

 

 Note: for this picture, the part halves were matched up along the lower fuselage edge, with the NLG bays aligned.

 

[Anthony in NZ]

Great images, thank you!

[oyoy5]

Amazing how good Hasegawa got the Hellcat, Storch and Skyhawk 50 years ago or more .

[jeroen_R90S]

Wow, this is fantastic and far beyond what I expected! Thanks all!

 

I'd already sort of set my mind to a set of AOA decals, and already took into account most of the shape differences as was pointed out -no big tail shapes or diagonal or vertical fuselage bands (so I'm not risking the VA-144 lightning bolt...) I usually paint the rudder rib shapes on my 1/72 and 1/48 models anyway, so the fit of those is not a big problem. I've seen some CAM/Milspec sheets as well, but my experience with those on smaller scale models is less than optimal to put it politely, as they are usually oversize and sometimes translucent.

 

My question arises primarily as the Skyhawk has a rather small tail and most of the tail code letters seem to be put between the rudder and front of the tail.  So if the tail- rudder proportions are really different, even that won't fit...

Currently looking at AOA 32010: https://www.aoadecals.com/32010/home.htm

I like them all, but would like to do an A-4 without the hump. On all of those there seems to be very little space between the rudder and tail front.

Another would be: 32014: https://www.aoadecals.com/32014/home.htm

I really like the VMA-211 no-hump option on this (the rest doesn't to a lot for me, and/or has tail and fuselage designs  of unknown fit to the Hasegawa model)

Again, not a lot of excess space between the tail letters...

 

As a side note, I had to settle for the Hasegawa version because the Trumpeter would need new decals too and cost would be prohibitive as it's almost three times as expensive... I don't really mind rescribing either, and I like in-flight models so  this one is going on a base with acrylic rod

 

Too bad the  "blue tail flies" Hasegawa boxing is so hard to find... I really like those as well

 

Jeroen

[Oldbaldguy]

Seems to me if we can make resin seats, cockpits and such that are made for the trumpeter kit fit the hasegawa kit with minimum fuss and bother, (something I’ve done several times going so far as to replace entire noses and intakes), then using decals intended for one kit on the other should be a breeze.  Nearly all the universal markings on 1:1 Navy jets are standard sizes called out in one milspec document or another and decal makers know this, so 99.9% of these will handily fit either model.  Squadron markings vary, of course, and decal makers know this as well.  Most any discrepancy would be small and almost always something you can fix with a little ingenuity, imagination and effort.  Personally, I really like the hasegawa kit.  I’d say build the kit, buy the decals you want and stop worrying about whether they will fit because that’s what they make scissors and decal chemicals for.

[Phantom2]

I have done almost exactly that, I used the BlackBox cockpit (for Hasegawa) and the Aires wheelwells (for Trumpeter) in my Hasegawa A-4.

 

 

 

Can´t say It was easy, a lot of cutting, puzzling and swearing, but It´s very doable.

 

The hardest part was the depressed part of the front wheel well that conflicted with the cockpit floor, but some hard cutting, filing and sanding solved it.

 

Can´t tell how the kit turned out, tough, It´s still a work in progress!

 

Cheers! 

 

Stefan  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jeroen_R90S]

Thanks!

I'm no stranger to cutting up kits and using stuff that's not intented for a kit on it, as Stefan shows (looks great, btw!)...

Thing with decals is though, i my experience, when I have to alter too much by cutting and such it usually messes up the look of the whole thing, not to mention when I order a $35 (need to have it sent to Europe) decal sheet, I'm less inclined to take a risk as on a $5 SuperScale sheet I found at a show...

No offence meant, just a different opinion

 

However, based in the pictures and Thierry's comment I think doing one of the Marines options should work. Now which one to pick....

 

Happy 2021!

 

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

Not being a native English speaker this is exactly what I intended to say with my much longer reply

 

 

A graphic shows what I mean better I think; like the WP tailcodes on the lower 3 aircraft on this AOA sheet. I can mask and paint the tail/rudder colours, but those tailcodes would either not fit or look wrong IMHO. I could move the code lower for more room, but it'd look just as wrong in relation to the other numbers and letters....

 

Jeroen

 

PS: I tried to paste just the link without the image, but somehow it does not want to make it clickable text only, as I'm not sure if it is allowed link directly to other sites. If it is, let me know and I'll remove the link.

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by jeroen_R90S
annoying spelling errors fixed....