Tamiya's 1/48 Scale
A-1H Skyraider

by Triet Cam

Tamiya's 1/48 scale A-1H Skyraider is available online from Squadron

This is Tamiya 1/48 scale USAF A-1H Douglas Skyraider. Kit #61073.

The subject aircraft belonged to the VNAF squadron 514th, 23rd Tactical Wing in Bien Hoa, RVSN. According to Wayne Mutza’s “The A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam”, this aircraft was shot down in June 27, 1972 near Duc Hue, Military Region III.

The pilot did not survive the ejection.

Even built straight from the box, Tamiya's Skyraider is one of the best engineered kits available. However, it does have some errors that need to be addressed.

The first is the flat wing dihedral angle, and the second is the propeller shape.

The propeller can be replaced with either a resin replacement part from Cutting Edge or a spare one from Monogram A-1H kit. Both prop shapes are very accurate.

Some other minor quirky details included the missing hydraulic brake lines. The seat is a little too plain. A replacement resin cockpit would be a good enhancement.

The rest of the kit is flawless. Exterior detail representations are some of the finest Tamiya has to offer.

Interior:

The kit was built with a few enhancements to give the model extra details. The O2 hose was added to the left side of seat. The instrument gauges were individually punched out using Waldron punch set and placed in appropriated locations of the instrument panel.

The gun sight glass was just a clear flimsy paper, also punched out using Waldron die set. The interior was painted Dark Gull Gray and then dry brushed to bring out the knobs and switches details.

Wings

The wing assembly was assembled next with landing gear doors in place. Before the assembly is glued onto the fuselage, the wing roots were sanded down a little. This was done to address the wing dihedral problem. By sanding down the wing, this created a small gap between wings and fuselage. To close the gaps, the wings were bent up until gaps can no longer be seen. Once in place, I brushed on Ambroid Pro Weld cement at the joints.

Engine:

Some ignition leads were added to the engine to make it look busy. Solder wiring 0.022 diameter was used in this case. Landing gear hydraulic brake lines were also added using the same solder wiring.

Guns:

The kit guns were replaced with brass and steel tubings to represent a better 20mm cannons.

Sway Braces:

I added were sway brace bolts for the inner pylons. These were made from combinations of .01inch brass and plastic styrene disks punched out by Waldron punch. The kit sway braces were sanded thin, and holes were drilled through in order to accommodate the bolts.

The ones on the outer wing were left as is, because braces were too thin to drill out.

The upper exterior was painted Pactra acrylic military paint. They were labeled as generic names without the FS34079, FS34102 and FS30219 numbers.

The bottom was painted with Polly Scale reefer white. The nose ring and cowl flaps were left unpainted. The plastic color matched exactly as FS 36440 light gull gray.

Numbers and letters were from Woodland Scenic dry transfer.

The fuselage band was homemade, combinations of yellow paint and black checker printed on a blank decal. Lastly the hardest part, at least for me - painting the exhaust smokes. After studying, the real pictures, I spray very thinned black to get the exhaust feather patterns, and the splotches streaks were done by powder pastel.

• “The A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam” Wayne Mutza, Schiffer Pub.

• “Flying Dragon: The South Vietnamese Air Force” by Robert Mikesh. Osprey Pub.

• http://www.vnaf.net  web page

• http://Skyraider.org  web page.

• “VNAF: South Vietnamese Air Force 1945-1975” by Jim Mesko. Squadron Pub.

• “Douglas A-1 Skyraider” by Frederick Johnsen.. Schiffer Pub.
  
   

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Triet Cam
Page Created 03 February, 2005
Last Updated 24 December, 2007

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