A-4 Skyhawk colours, photos, scale references

[Phil Cooke]

Thanks John some good history there and yeah - wow! I've never seen the link and pedigree in design before between the A-3 and the A-4 but the fin profile is almost identical as is the position of the tail plane!

I've been trawling the net for the best pictures of the Skyhawk cockpit console and ejector seat - the canopy is only small on the model but a little bit of scale detail is needed in there to satisfy the judges! Anyone already got images sorted they can post and share?

[Harry Twist]

Great b&w picture of the A3 plus the 2x A4's .

Not really for this thread but ..the A3 looks like it could also be a good PSS prospect - all the ratios look good -shoulder / high wing / smooth lines/ relatively large wing area etc etc......

Regards H

[Phil Cooke]

Agreed Harry, the A-3 looks like a natural for PSS - cant recall ever seeing one on the slope either - it just goes to show, there are still some fantastic airframes out there yet to be tackled for slope use!! Would be great at about 80" span don't you think? Get it drawn up!!

Edited By Phil Cooke on 06/02/2016 20:16:20

[Flyer]

Posted by KiwiKid on 05/02/2016 05:14:02:

Posted by Flyer on 04/02/2016 11:03:15:

This is what I hope mine can look like.....

Great choice! I have actually sat in that one.

The RNZAF Scooters went through five or six different schemes. Here's my EDF version in the original SEA scheme - she's on her second fan and third motor, but still going strong. Glides well and I have flown her as a PSS with the inlets blocked off.

RC EDF RNZAF TA-4K Skyhawk from KiwiKid on Vimeo.

Wow, just goes to show how great this internet can be. All of this information available, with great input.

Only problem is now I will have to make a real effort in the cockpit area now.

Making a rod for one's own back methinks

[Steve Houghton 1]

Posted by Phil Cooke on 06/02/2016 10:37:22:

Thanks John some good history there and yeah - wow! I've never seen the link and pedigree in design before between the A-3 and the A-4 but the fin profile is almost identical as is the position of the tail plane!

I've been trawling the net for the best pictures of the Skyhawk cockpit console and ejector seat - the canopy is only small on the model but a little bit of scale detail is needed in there to satisfy the judges! Anyone already got images sorted they can post and share?

Phil - there are lots of cockpit pictures available, the cockpit panel changed with the times, so I guess we need to pick a cockpit that relates to the period in time of the model being built.

[Steve Houghton 1]

So I've just had a reply to last weeks email from Pyramid models saying that unfortunately he is too busy to be able to fulfill my decals request for my Skyhawk .

I received a reply from Tim at Model Markings at the weekend and that is looking more promising. Failing that, I shall just have to make my own as I did for my Lightning.

[Flyer]

Just remembered I subscribed to @Wings of Fame years ago; this edition and the following one include lots of useful information:

**LINK**

[Peter Garsden]

Posted by Steve Houghton 1 on 01/02/2016 10:24:05:

Hi Robert. I hadn't really got that far but I had thought about the following.

I need to find someone who can produce decals/vinyl print for this in the correct size. If anyone knows of a service that can do this I would be grateful to hear from you.

Someone tried Pyarmid Models who said they haven't the time. I am using Tim Calvert at Model Markings - www.modelmarkings.com

[John H. Rood]

I'm sorry I can't recall where I found the above drawing, nor vouch for its accuracy, nor give author credit, but it does give some idea of the general config changes.

Edited By John_Rood on 16/02/2016 20:49:15

[John H. Rood]

And here, as demonstrated in this circa 1984 photo, is how, if we fast-forward to September 2016, mass-build PSS models of A-4F Skyhawks will do it on small, constricted slopes.

[Mark Kettle 1]

Rare picture of lots of different marks all together.

[Phil Cooke]

hopefully that's what the Orme will be like on September 11th

[Mark Kettle 1]

Wow ...rock on Tommy, met him once at Derby Assembly Rooms, and Bobby.

[Flyer]

Here's a link I've found to the dimensions of all the variants:

**LINK**

Hope this helps

Ade

[John H. Rood]

A better fuselage planform analysis than I posted here last night; this is from TAILHOOK TOPICS, a very detail-focused blog by a very reputable source, Mr. Tommy H. Thomasen.

Thomason's most recent book: http://www.amazon.com/Scooter-Douglas-4-Skyhawk-Story/dp/0859791602

A quick link to perhaps all of his blog posts thus far re: the A-4 Skyhawk family: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/03/a4d-4-skyhawk-collector.html

[Mark Kettle 1]

Got some goodies today whilst at a visit to Coventry's 'Midland Air Museum' **LINK** - and bumped into some of the posse you find on here within this fine hallowed site.

The book is 109 pages of the Skyhawk in numerous squadron colours and 7+ countries that used it. ISBN code      :978-2-35250-364-4                                                             The sticker PSSA 30th year roundel and a Tamiya A-4E/F 1/72 scale plastic kit with a wing span of 115mm and fuselage length of 171 mm.

 

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 20/02/2016 19:24:50

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 20/02/2016 19:25:23

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 20/02/2016 19:25:44

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 20/02/2016 19:26:27

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 20/02/2016 19:27:02

[Phil Cooke]

Good to see you today Mark, I really enjoyed the museum as did the kids!

Any good schemes we've not yet considered in that new book then??

[Mark Kettle 1]

No not yet, there's so many.

[John H. Rood]

A first draft at the early Douglas A4D (-1 and -2) fuselage profile: Enlarging Mr. Tommy Thomasen's published sketches and seeing how they scale up alongside our 2016 Mass-Build 1/12th scale model plan of the Douglas A-4E/F. Just using my copier at home, manually enlarging, and drawing some reference lines; it ain't exact -- but it's a start, and I'm just praying this ain't the Scale Masters World Championships of PSS Perfection! .

[John H. Rood]

These differences you may see above:

• shorter nose, with a higher centerline.
• engine air intake begins further aft, and its mouth runs perpendicular to the fuselage reference line.

The variance you see in canopy height and the fuselage floor/wing root area is probably just due to the difference in source drawings and the imprecision inherent in enlarging sketches with my home office printer/copier machine. I penciled-in a series of reference lines in an effort to reconcile the enlargement with the model plan, but with inexact results as you see.

[Andy Meade]

Some fine detective work there John!

[John H. Rood]

At a glance, the major 1960's era variants and NAVAIR designation changes:

A4D-1 = A-4A

A4D-2 = A-4B

A4D-2N = A-4C

A4D-5 = A-4E (and the A-4F profile is very near identical to the A-4E)

All the above via Tommy Thomason's aforementioned blog:

**LINK**

Edited By John_Rood on 24/02/2016 16:34:19

[John H. Rood]

And, for the proper GUZZLERS amongst us...

**LINK**

 

 

 

Edited By John_Rood on 24/02/2016 16:53:28

[Andy Meade]

Is that similar / the same as the tanks used on the in-air-refuelling tanker version of the A4?

I'm sure I can knock up some hardy drop tanks on the 3D printer if anyone wants them 

Edited By Andy Meade on 24/02/2016 16:55:05

[John H. Rood]

Andy, click on the link I posted to Tommy's page on external tanks -- and scroll all the way to the bottom... he's got some stuff there plus a link to another of his wonderfully OCD blog pages devoted exclusively to that topic!