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A4 Skyhawk - minimal build blog


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I had made some spare wing mounts as it was easier to create them with the holes in the right places when I was building the wings. I used one pair to make some rocket launchers incase more fire power was required.

Created the bodies by wrapping fibreglass round some cardboard tubes, then glued in the pylons

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​ I'm not sure it's scale but I glued in rocket heads and painted them red for effect.

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My original wing guns got knocked off when we flew on the Orme at new year so I made a new set with 3D printed gun barrel

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Fitted onto the wing root

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Next up was an arrestor hook. I 3D printed the pivot and hook, joining them with 4mm carbon rod.

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I pinched Harry's idea, they are located on the airframe using two dowels, Just a push fit incase they get knocked off on landing. I made a wood template for the dowel spacing

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And used the template to drill the holes in the fuselarge bottom

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Finally fitted.

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The main lesson that most of us learned from the September meeting was that the fuel probes are prone to get damaged when landing or even just when carrying the model.

As I also broke my wing mounted guns I decided to make some spare guns, fuel probes and arrestor hooks - Hopefully I have enough to get me through a full PSS season. Fuel probes are using the 3D printed nozzle designed by Andy Meade..

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Some pictures of the completed aircraft carrying the drop tanks. It flew with these on at the new years eve meeting on the Great Orme and there was no noticeable effect on flight performance. Now that it has been on a number of combat missions it is carrying the worn/dirty look of a Vietnam veteran

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With rocket launchers fitted

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Hi Harry,

​when I did the weathering on the Supermarine Attacker (after the first time I crashed it and had to repaint it) I used weathering powder. Stick masking tape on along the "front" side of the panel line, sprinkle a small amount of weathering powder onto the masking tape and then "sweep" it back (in direction of airflow) with a bit of kitchen towel or your finger - don't use much. As it's weathering powder it then needs a coat of varnish (I used humbrol matt, satin or gloss cote depending on the finish required.

On the Skyhawk fuselage I used humbrol weathering wash, after applying masking tape used a brush, kitchen towel and fingers and a combination of sweeping it in the airflow (as above) and dabbing around hatches and tailpane/fin plate. This was a bit hit and miss trying to get the right effect, but using a bit of humbrol thinners you can "tidy up" or flatten the effect.

As that took so long, when doing the wings I used Tamiya weathering pigments - you use a small foam "stick" which you rub on the pigment and then do the same "sweeping" trick as above. If you make a mistake you can quickly rub it off or flatten it using a damp kitchen towel. To ensure it remains permanent I suspect it should then be varnished but I'm going to leave it and see if the "grubbiness" survives the elements.

Edited By John A H on 26/02/2017 22:51:46

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The best advice I can offer is make up a test piece with the paint you used on the model and test each technique before doing it on the model.

Most importantly I suggest doing any weathering in daylight. If you do it under electric lighting you can't see the effect very well and then next day when you see it in daylight it looks overdone - that's my experience anyway.

I can never decide if it looks better or worse after adding panel lines and weathering. When you've been staring at it for 3 hours it's easy to convince yourself that you've made a pigs ear of it - actually halfway through the process I normally decide I should not have bothered as it looks false .....but by that time you have to plow on.

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