1/72 Fujimi A4KU

"Free Kuwait"

by Eddie Lau

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At the Beginning...

in 1970s, Kuwait bought some A4M and TA4J from US surplus with some modification for adding and removing some electronic equipments, which resulted with some new antenna at nose, back and the upper tail and become A4KU and TA4KU respectively. This A4s formed the front line services between 70s and early 90s. During Gulf war 1991, they escaped to Sandi Arabia and joined the allies to liberate their country.

They carried out some ground attack missions and took only 1 loss throughout the campaign, in which their commander was downed and being the POW at the first day of strike. After the war, the planes sold to Brazilian Navy and now Kuwait flying with F18s.

Building the Kit

Fujimi A4s series is almost the best 1/72 in the market, while the Hasegawa come with raised line and Italeri with A-4F version only.

This plane is Fujimi 1/72 A4KU re-boxed from A4M, it's nose section is come from A4M while the fuselage section is from A4E/F. The detail of the cockpit itself is enough for 1/72 scale especially with small canopy like A4, I replaced the original seat with an aftermarket resin but really not noticeable when the canopy is closed.

Similar to other A4 version by Fujimi, it is suffered from over-engineering. The nose does not fit well with the fuselage section. Some filling is need for the air intake and I replaced the original refuelling probe at nose section with a plastic rod since the position simply doesn't match with the remains in the fuselage.

The other parts were fine and the fitting has no problem, note that don't forget the follow the instruction to add the antennas and drill out the hole at the front of the cannon barrel.

For the loading, experts in ARC told me that most of the case was 1 + 3 + 1 MK82 with 2 fuel tanks. So I put them on while the Zulu rocket set was put into the spare box for other US navy planes in future.

Click on images below to see larger images

Painting and Decaling

For painting, since the supply of Xtracolour in my town was hard to reach, therefore I followed the instruction sheet to use the Gunze one. The colour I used were H66 RLM Snady Brown 79 for base yellow, H72 for Dark Earth for camo, and XF19 for lower part of the plane, all added some white to tone down. Exhaust pipe painted with silver while the pipe's inside with H76 Burnt Iron, XF2 white for wheel bays and Gun Metal for the cannons.

At the beginning I tried to mask it with masking tape but found really hard to do so, therefore I sprayed the camo by hand freely. Effect was fine but still too soft when compared with masking by paper, this will be the best way I think.  

Decal was come from the box only, after applying them and let them dry, I sprayed a layer of gloss and washed with black enamel paint. Finally, I applied a layer of flat clear to finish it.

Last but not least

This is my first rolled out plane, I still have many things to learn as a beginner. Many tanks for advises and comments by ARC experts, without you guys' tips and hints, this plane still no chance to show.

Eddie

Photos and text © by Eddie Lau