1/48 Hasegawa A-4K Skyhawk

Royal New Zealand Air Force

by Bob Herbert

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The RNZAF A-4F and four TA-4F Skyhawks were purchased by New Zealand in 1970 and saw service in New Zealand until 2002.

The New Zealand Air Force was to replace them with the F-16 Falcon.

 In 2002 the newly elected government decided to abandon the plans to replace the A-4K with the Pakistani F-16s. The reason for the cancellation was because the government decided that an air combat force was not in line with its policies. Therefore the combat force was disbanded entirely and I believe that most of the active fighter pilots went off shore to fly fighters for other countries (Australia?)

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This was my first attempt at painting a European I Paint scheme.  I did this freehand by first lightly marking the panels with a soft pencil and then used an airbrush with a low (5 psi) pressure and acrylic paint thinned with alcohol to a very watery consistency.  The metal components such as the jet nozzle were done in Gunze Stainless Steel and when slightly burnished really looks like stainless.  I found this to be a really great paint for this sort of effect.  

The decals were sourced from Flight Decals and are Gekko Graphics sheet no. GG48-001.  I had to wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive in New Zealand from Canada but that allowed the paint to dry and gave me a fresh perspective of the model when the decals did arrive.

The paint job was then sealed with an application of Gunze flat acrylic.

When I can find an image of a Scooter with RBF Flags attached, I may add some for a little extra detail!  

Bob

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Photos and text © by Bob Herbert