Hi all,
I remember the time of the Falklands War very well during my teenage years, because of the fact that the RAF used Bermuda as a rest stop on the way down south! I got to see Victor and VC-10 tankers transit through Bermuda (see pic).
I reworked an ESCI 1/48 A-4E into a Falklands War Armada A-4Q. The first step was to correct the rear fuselage of the ESCI A-4E kit- they developed the exhaust area into a weird ogival cross-section, which I have never seen on any scooter! Weirdly, the same odd shape is also found on the 1/32 Hasegawa A-4 kit. Thankfully, Hasegawa got the 1/48 A-4 series right! I had bought a ton of ESCI scooters years ago, because I thought they were better than the Monogram A-4 kits, and they were inexpensive. Later, when photographing museum examples, and looking at my reference books/articles on the scooter, I noticed the issue with the exhaust!
Unfortunately, I didn't photograph the steps in removing the incorrect ESCI exhaust area. I have already replaced the exhaust in the picture provided with casts of the Hasegawa parts, as well as the recontouring of the intake area with Hasegawa intake parts already added as well.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
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1. Civil Air Terminal, NAS Bermuda, circa 1985. XM717 took part in the first mission of Operation Black Buck during the 1982 Falklands War, and later took part in the first Gulf War.
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1. you can see the exhaust area already replaced and A-C intakes already added. we won't talk about the white control surfaces - Armada Argentina didn't paint them white like the USN/USMC!
