1/48 Hasegawa A-4M 'Bulldog'

by Scott Minium

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Here is my 1/48 Hasegawa A-4M of the VMA-223 "Bulldogs."  My dad concluded his Marine Corps career flying A-4Ms with the Bulldogs out of Yuma, Arizona.  I built this as a birthday present for him this year.

I custom made decals for the squadron emblem and his name.  This decal reflects the emblem then in use.  The name bar on the port side reads " CAPT L.R. MINIUM  'MIDKNITE' ".  By the way, if you like Bulldog emblems I have enough for 12 more models--just email me.  They are really sharp--and free if you want them.

This was, by far, the best kit I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  If you are interested in building an A-4M, this is THE kit.  Overall fit was excellent, with only minor (really minor) filling and sanding needed for intake joins, wingroots and the avionics pod.  However, the slats were only meant to go in the down position, so if you want them up--be prepared to fight. 

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Since the instructions for the model never include how to paint it, I'll tell you how I went about it.  The area under the intakes was painted with one coat of gray before attaching them. The insides of the intakes were painted before assembly and touched up after getting the 'seamless sucker' look.  The intakes were then protected with cotton balls and liquid latex.  The flaps, speed brakes, landing gear (and doors), pylons, tailcone, guns, stabilizers and clear pieces (nose and red lights) were painted separately and put on after just before final overcoats were applied.  Clear parts needing color (blue and red) were done with Sharpie markers.  Final overcoat was gloss on the bottom and semi-gloss on top.  Weathering was done with pastels.  Any unnecessary 'glossy' spots were hand painted with acrylic flat clear (the tailcone and tires).

As for clear pieces, the wingtip lights were put in place during the build since they had to be faired in with a tiny bit of putty.  I used liquid latex to mask them during painting.  The canopy was dipped in Future, masked with clear tape then attached with a dab of modeling clay.  Press into position then use more clay to remove the excess.  Now the canopy is protected by tape and the cockpit is protected by the canopy.  This was really easy and allowed the canopy frame to have the same color as the rest of the model. 

After applying a smooth glosscote I used a combination of the kit decals (which were outstanding), the VMA-223 set from Superscale, and the self made Bulldog emblems.  This was the first time I used future/water as the decal set--great results. (see "Common Techniques" in Painting)

Two problem areas:
The canopy had a nice fat seam right down the middle--an absolute deal breaker.  I read "Removing..seam lines" by Steve Bamford but could not find the flex-i-file he used, so I purchased a three grit file from Squadron.com (part number 30505) for just a few dollars and got great results in under 10 minutes.  The tool is worth its weight in gold!

The Superscale 'anti glare panel' decal was about 25% to small and did not fit around the windshield.  Fortunately, the kit supplied decal fit beautifully.

All in all the most fun I've ever had building a model.

Scott

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Photos and text © by Scott Minium