1/48 Tamiya A-1H Skyraider

Gallery Article by Richard Boxem on Sept 12 2003

 

Background 
The Douglas Skyraider has impressed me all my life long. From the moment I saw the -dark-blue painted- aircraft of this type in action in films about the Korean war (like ‘The Bridges of Toko-Ri’) until the news reels of the air war in Vietnam. Especially Skyraiders in the old US Navy-colours have my attention. I still find it very special as I see the propeller-driven Skyraiders as a remnant of the past standing between jets like Phantoms and Vigilantes. And everybody (including the Vietcong…) took the Skyraider very seriously.  

 

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The kit 
I built my 1/48 Tamiya A-1H Skyraider right from the box and used the –very nice- decals for VA-176 that were included. The fit of the parts was very good and no filling was needed. I used Revell-colours to paint the model: light gull grey for the upper fuselage, white for the flaps and underside, matt black for the anti-glare panel, propeller and the tires and matt red for some wing-parts. 

To expose the panel lines I put some very thin black paint in the lines. No weathering was applied. The fuselage-area around the engine exhaust was blackened with black chalk powder.

Richard Boxem

      

Photos and text © by Richard Boxem