I've also knocked out another hanger queen. Pics likely to happen tomorrow once the last bits of ordnance get hung on to it........
I lied. Theres two ex hanger queens tonight.
McDD A-4B Skyhawk S Mk-1 of the Fleet air arm. based on HMS Centaur in the mid 1960's.
This is one of the six American built A-4's acquired by the Royal navy, the rest were built under licence by Armstrong Whitworth in place of the now cancelled Hawker Seahawk order.
And after a decent stint as a trails aircraft was brought up to the then current configuration for RN Scooters and issued out for front line use, the update was roughly akin to the A-4E.
HMS Centaur served until 1968 when she was sold to the Dutch to replace their previous carrier, Becoming the 3rd Karel Dorman.
The RN scooter force carried on in service operating off Centaurs sisters, Bulwark, Albion and Hermes well into the 1980's. Even seeing A-4 on A-4 combat in 1982 over the Falklands along side the then new Sea Harriers operating from the new VTOL light carrier HMS Invincible.
This one XE289 now sits quietly in a corner of the flight deck display at the fleet air arm museum enjoying a well earned retirement.
Italeri Kit with some resin bits (shorter intakes, and gear doors), and other stuff robbed from a doner kit. Decals are a mix from my decal stash. This one was started about 2 years ago along side a 2nd example that was being built OOB. Both were intended to be RN birds the 2nd was to be as they appeared in this back story over the Falklands.
As it happened I put them to one side for one reason or another and then lost the box with the remaining bits, Gear doors, pylons etc.
I then went about acquiring doner kits for the scooters and made use of the time I had off in the past week to get at least one of them finished.
2nd hanger queen
BAe Hawk 100 LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) of the Lithuanian Airforce in 2012. A direct competitor to the Czech L-159 LCA these single seaters were quick and dirty conversions from 2 seaters for those air arms seeking a cheap and simple combat type. The rear cockpit tub was simply plated over after the tub had been gutted of anything not required.
The Lithuanians were given a rather hefty discount to buy the Hawk over the L159, which had been considered a shoe in considering the long use of 1st gen Albatross trainers since Independence from the old USSR. BAe has spent the last few years fending off claims of down right dirty tricks to score a sale. Something they vermently refute.
How ever the Hawk has been well received by the LAF and is deployed along side the NATO air policing force over the Baltic and can routinely be seen shadowing Russian aircraft operating near to Lithuanian airspace. Hence the air to air weapons load out.
Another Italeri Kit built OOB bar the removal of the rear bang seat and the hole left being covered with thin plasticard.
Two British shades of grey (Light Aircraft & Medium Sea) make up the paint job. Decals are from a Blue rider sheet (for an Albatross!)
This one was only on the shelf of doom for a few months. I simply got bored and moved on to newer build. Ive built so many of these Italeri Hawks that I can throw them together in less than an hour before throwing any paint at them...............
And lastly a peek at this leave periods main build...............Not a whiff but you cant win them all
Yes the Fine Molds Falcon is finished. Im not that good at weathering hence why she looks quite clean compared to how she appears in the films................
904 parts and 84 decals done over 7 days............That rear upper deck has nearly 200 parts alone, alot of them are bleeding tiny! But in the end its was a holy grail kit and I've had a ball building it.
