Airfix 1:72 A-4 Skyhawks Father/Son build

[Ed Sunder]

Now that school is out for the Christmas holidays, my 15 year-old son and I are going to be building the 1:72 Airfix A-4 Skyhawk kits together. I happen to have 2 of them and he's interested in learning more about building models. So I figured this would be a good opportunity for us to build side by side. I did this with my (now 22 year old) twins several years ago with F-22's. It was quite fun and their models turned out well while they learned some good building skills.

I'm going to build mine as an A-4P from Argentina, and he hasn't decided which A-4B he'll build, but I have a ton of decal options for him. We started with the cockpit, as per the instructions and particularly with the bang seats. The kit doesn't include the prominent ejection handle so I scavenged a couple from a Fujimi A-4J kit that I had used resin seats on and we each built the seats with the handles added and a bit of styrene on top. Mine is on the left and his is on the right, below:


Don't worry about the seams- they will be covered up.

After airbrushing the main parts and then picking out details, we let the paint dry. Then we put a wash over everything to pull out details. I put an Argentine flag on my pilot's sleeve, though you can't see it from this angle and while I normally paint and scratchbuild details in the cockpit, since he wanted to use the decals, I'll be using the decals as well.



And here is his version:



I actually think his seat looks a bit better than mine.

Tomorrow we'll add the control decals and dullcoat everything here. Also note that the large ejector pin marks in the cockpit will be completely covered by the seat so we didn't bother completely getting rid of them.

Anyway, these should be fun to work on over the next couple weeks and I hope he'll pick up some useful skills. Thanks for looking!

 

[flyjoe180]

What a great project to do together. Look forward to seeing your Skyhawks evolve Ed

 

[colin m]

Nice project Ed. That pilot looks amazing.

 

[Jim R]

How nice to see a youngster enjoying the hobby. Also great for father and son to share an interest together. Progress is looking great.

 

[adt70hk]

Cool Ed!

I got back into the hobby when my then 6 year old son decided he wanted a kit. Eight years later he still dabbles.... And it's taken over my life!

Search for 'junior' in thread titles for ones I have created.

Looking forward to these come together!

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely idea. You are not building a kit you are both building memories…….
Pilots look good, as does the pit. Pass on my regards to your son (what is his name?). He’s doing well

 

[Jakko]

Always been one of my favourite planes, so this should be interesting to follow

 

[Valeron]

Fantastic. They're coming along nicely.

Good luck to both of you.

 

[Lee Drennen]

Great way to stay connected to your son Happy Modeling together

 

[Ed Sunder]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Nathan thinks it's cool that y'all are interested in what he's up to.

I got back into the hobby when my then 6 year old son decided he wanted a kit. Eight years later he still dabbles.... And it's taken over my life!

Similar story for me - I did models as a kid and about 10 years ago visited a local model show here in Chattanooga with my kids and got hooked. I joined the club and we even hosted IPMS Nationals in 2019. It certainly has taken over a lot of my life as well. Though it was all the work for Nationals that kind of got me away from building for a while. I'm really enjoying being back.

 

[Ed Sunder]

Just a little bit of an update today. There's a pocket on the starboard bulkhead of the cockpit which is pretty noticeable. After I made one with tape, my son decided he wanted one too. Here's his pre-paint:


It's actually two pieces of tape - one on top of the other to create a 3D shape. After painting the cockpit a dark wash really makes it pop. Here's his on top and mine on the bottom (I also scribed some detail lines on the wall which I promise looks better in person):



In mine, I also placed a paper in the pocket. Once the cockpit center section is in, they both look really nice. Tomorrow we'll probably join the fuselage halves (we've already build the engine intake and exhaust (and painted them) that need to go in there.

 

[Jim R]

Good progress from both you and Nathan. The added detail is certainly worth the effort.

 

[Andy the Sheep]

A father and son build is a nice thing. I'll follow with great interest.
Love that "Hi!" smiley...

Andrea

 

[Ed Sunder]

Over Christmas we were busier than I thought we'd be, but we're back on it with a quick update. We've glued the fuselage halves together. In doing so, we did things out of order, and so there wound up being a slight gap between the outer intakes and the body. I figured it would be a great time to introduce him to perfect plastic putty and filling in gaps. We used Tamiya putty on the bottom to fill in the gaps. The panel at the back of the wings is pretty concave and needs quite a bit of filler. We also painted the intakes along with the front and rear of the engine prior to assembly.

For all photos, mine is on top, his on the bottom.






After assembly we painted the instrument cowling so we'll be adding the windscreen soon. We'll also be masking off the interior of the intakes as well.

 

[Ed Sunder]

And the wings are on. (Mine is on left, Nathan's on the right):


I had a bit of a gap at the wing root which I puttied. He didn't - his looked perfect, the stinker...

 

[Airborne01]

I wish my old man had taken an interest in doing something with me; I think it's brilliant watching you two working together!
Steve

 

[yak face]

Great progress ed , good to see nathan matching you step by step . Always loved the skyhawk , a straightforward , simple design that is just so effective and loved by pilots and ground crew alike. Cheers tony

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Ed. Great to see this stereo build unfold….

 

[BBdave]

Looking good, got to love the skyhawk!.
My dad taught me how to build models in later years I learnt "modern" techniques and could pass knowledge back great memories.

Dave

 

[Ed Sunder]

It's been a long time since we've worked on these, but we're back on it. Some of the steps have been skipped as we've been working.

This is the preshading I did on my A-4:




Here is the underside after initial bottom paint (with the blue of the Argentina A-4P):


And here is the bottom of Nathan's (his will be a Navy A-4B):


Initial camo paint for my Argentine A-4P along with the identification stripes:


Nathan's so far (his refueling probe broke and he'll add it again later):


And his gear well detail:


So we're moving along again finally. Unfortunately, I realized too late that I forgot to add nose weight so we've both got tail sitters. We'll probably use small bases for our models and so we can pull the front wheel down onto the bases. Of course this teaches my son a lesson about model making: we all make mistakes.