Douglas A-4B Skyhawk, Fuerza Aerea Argentina - Falklands/Malvinas War 1982 – Hasegawa, 1/48
His second, ultimately fatal mission was on June 8. Along with three other pilots from Grupo 5, Arrarás attempted to attack landing craft from HMS Fearless. One Fox Trot 4 vessel, L-703 was destroyed by a bomb from Grupo 5’s Teniente Alferez Vasquez before all aircraft were intercepted by Sea Harriers. Dave Morgan in Sea Harrier ZA177 shot down Teniente Arrarás in C- 226 with a Sidewinder heat seeking missile. Arrarás apparently tried to eject but did not survive the attempt. A brave pilot who deserves to be memorialized.
This was quite a lengthy build. I spent a long time painting the cockpit details, having no Eduard set with the IP for an A-4B. I used the Eduard belts for an ESCAPAC seat for the A-7 Corsair II, since I had a spare set. The face curtain firing handle was made with stretched sprue and zebra striped decal. The decals are from FCM. They kind of fought me all the way and I had to do some careful work to stop the small numbers below the cockpit from silvering. This was partly because I had to rearrange numbers to get the “226” for Arrarás’s A-4B.
I had originally intended to do Teniente Luciano Guadagnini’s aircraft – another brave young pilot KIA - but realized part way through painting that the colors were reversed on his particular camouflage mirror pattern. Interestingly, Guadagnini also flew C-226 on occasion, although he was lost in C-242.
Here are the particulars of the build:
Step in leading edge flap fixed with 5 thou plastic sheet. Scribed and riveted in place for surface detail.
Single 1000 lb (500 kg) bomb is from Reskit.
Kit supplied resin radome was reshaped in line with photographs of actual aircraft (in flight and in museums)
Most tiny details –antennas, lights and sensors, added after major painting done (nerve-wracking but ulitmately successful).
Upper surface camo: Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown and XF-62 Olive Drab
Lower surface camo: X-4 Blue plus XF-2 Flat White
Weathering with pre-shade, oil wash and some post shading with Tamiya smoke and lightened variations of camo colors.
Hope you like it. Comments welcome.
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- 1. Just to show how the paintwork looks in brighter light that doesn't work in controlled backdrop
You finally made it across the finish line with a terrific and accurate looking Malvinas Scooter. You really cleared a few hurtles along the way. Enjoyed your build thread.
So what’s the current count of completed models since the start of Falklands/Malvinas group build? Didn’t you start it?
Thanks, Eric. Yes, I did start the Falklands/Malvinas GB. The count would be four completed, counting Chuck A. Villanueva's Chinook which he declared "finished" in the GB, although it has not appeared in Headlines yet. Two Pucaras were built, yours and Tom's. My Super Etendard could see the light of day pretty soon, since it's largely built - it just needs painting.
Hey Colin- awesome finish to the build- I need to get my second Argentine Skyhawk going- it will be a similar scheme to yours, going to use my resin parts to convert/correct an ESCI A-4E to a P as I did for my A-4Q.
Your build is excellent! congratulations!
Dan.
Thanks, Dan. Glad you like it. Hope it provides some inspiration, especially since the 40th anniversary of the War is now upon us.
Really nice result, @coling. I really enjoyed following this over the course of the project.
Thanks, Tom. Great to have your input along the way with this build. I am happy it looks the part after all the work entailed to get it done right.
Nice looking A-4!
Thanks, Robert. Great to have your response.
Nice work, Colin. I need to dig mine out of post move storage and finish it up.
Thanks, John. I was wondering what had become of your A-4Q. Moving house is quite a production. I hope it hasn't been too stressful or curtailed your model-building too much.
Thanks, Colin. I’ve been fortunate not to be under the gun and have been able to move stuff from one large property in Illinois to two smaller ones in Alabama at a leisurely pace. I’m still finishing about one per month.
An amazing result after an equally amazing build thread, Colin!
Congratulations!
Thanks, Spiros. You have been a steady friend in keeping up with the build. I appreciate your kind comments and support in seeing this one through.
A true eye catcher, Colin @coling
Great build combined with a beautiful chosen scheme.
Thanks for sharing us your building thread.
Very clear and absolutely helpful.
Well done.
Thanks, John. I hope this build will help to re-kindle some interest in the GB. Work got in the way of getting my own contributions done in a timely way. This is the year of the anniversary that the GB was aiming for, so maybe we will see a few more done.
It’s the first model I see bearing this camouflage. All details are very sharp as is the paintwork. Terrific build Colin
Thanks, Pedro. It was an interesting challenge getting the camo just right. Lots of blurry and faded wartime pics with all kinds of shades. Topside colors are almost always very dark. Some postwar birds appear to have had undersides painted a light gray, rather than the blue but wartime pics and early survivors show blue as the same as gear color.
These pics prove your model is spot on Colin, remarkable researche
Thanks for that observation, Pedro. The Internet has some great pictures and stories. I also had 2 well-researched Osprey publications to cross-check accuracy about events in the war.
Very nice - came out looking great! Well done.
Thanks, Greg. I am glad you like it. It was a learning experience getting the details right but ultimately worth the effort.
Nice work Colin@coling!
Thanks, David. I am really glad you like it.