Splinter Scooter: 1/48th Hasegawa A-4M Skyhawk

I have always liked the A-4 Skyhawk series for its simplicity in design and long service career with various air forces.

This is my rendition of the 1/48 Hasegawa A-4M Skyhawk kit which is based off the original A-4E/F series. Hasegawa includes the necessary inserts or replacements to the fuselage pieces as well as the new shaped canopy and variation of the instrument panel. A separate forward nose section has the ECM antennae arrays, a revised avionics hump is provided, tail RWAH antenna, new intakes and exhaust are also included to represent the upgraded J57-P408 engine.

I don’t often go off-script for a pant finish on a build, but for a new Aggressor scheme, I will make an exception. This A-4 got a “What-If” scheme to broaden out my Opposing Force with another flavour of a “Tactics Teacher”.

The 1/48th Magic Factory A-4M Skyhawk is now probably the pinnacle release of the A-4M to date, however this kit can still hold its own place for model builders.

You can see more in-depth detail of this build with additional photos at: https://www.flypastrush.com/post/splinter-scooter-1-48th-hasegawa-a-4m-skyhawk

Thanks for looking & good luck with your builds.

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Totally awesome. Not to often we see What-if that looks good. Meaning, it could pass to be a possibilities of being a real world subject but this I can see as a real candidate for adversary or aggressor scheme. You did well with the old gal. Of course, we need more pics.

Thanks for the nice comment there Stryker45. That is what I was aiming for when I designed the scheme… something that would not look out of place in the line-up. Admittedly these Aggressor type schemes are a favourite of mine - I did another of these “what-If” schemes on the Old Monogram OA-4M kit a few years back,

as I got around to the finish on that one and just couldn’t do another gray over gray scheme …so it became The best paint job (IMHO) that “The Outlaws” never had. :wink: Cheers (I will get around to some back-fill photos on the Splinter Scooter later.) You can see my 250+ aircraft collection at : https://www.flypastrush.com/post/the-completed-build-list

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For a bit of Drill-down into the paint process… May I present the series of paint-shop photos of this development:

Base Coat

Mask 1

Next paint coat & mask

…Next paint coat & mask

…Last one & we’re done

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Dang son, you got your own Air Force :rofl: You have been at this for a while. Nice collection took me a while to go through few but still got ways to go. Well, it’s all about fun and looks like you are have plenty. :wink:

We kind of think a like when it comes to gray on gray jet scheme. Thou they do have their place but I too am a fan of bold and beautiful. While back I worked on 1/32 A-10A N/AW but halfway through went off track and did a what-if instead of what the prototype hog had. So, I painted it as a Artic Hog from 1980ies. They had a A-10A that took part in the Arctic Snow exercises in Alaska when Russians were flexing their muscles up north and this A-10A was paint in a winter camp scheme. It turned out pretty good.

Thanks for posting your in-progress photos. :wink:

The Hangar here certainly is packed full of an assortment of aircraft that I have built up over the last few decades. As you noticed it has been a long-time hobby for me.

That A-10 N/AW build from a while back sounds like a great looking project in the end. Is it posted anywhere on this site?

Thanks for looking into my Weblogs - glad you enjoyed some of the posts I have there… Still have some new (and a few old builds) to post an article of at some point in the coming months. - Cheers

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I don’t have it posted here because it was a while back since I build it. If you don’t mind, I’ll post couple off pics here to share with ya. If you’re ok with it.

Sure thing Stryker45, Bring on the Hawg photos :boar:

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Had to do a quick digging into my computer but found the pics I had taken when it was done. So, why reinvent the wheel :wink:

Anyways, here is the Trumpeter 1/32 A-10A N/AW that I build as What-if that I got inspiration from the Snow Hog. I called it the Arctic Hog.

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Oh Very Nice. That one looks very at home with the Aggressor crowd. The dual-seat version is a nice addition to the A-10 family as well… I will have to keep an eye out for one of these kits in 1/48th scale - Great looking build :boar:

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The story caught my interest but I didn’t have a A-10A at the time so I went with 2 seat experimental version.

Bit more research and I found the camouflage pattern drawing and that was the beginning to an adventure.

Decals were a mix of bits and pieces from AM and some home made. Someday I hope to make a regular A-10A with same scheme.

Hog is a heck of an aircraft and every modeler should have at least one in their cabinet. However, I was surprised how big this thing was once the wings were glued…23.” I had a 1/32 Revell F-15E that I build while back and it had a wingspan of 18.” Big sucker for sure.

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