The A-4 Douglas Skyhawk was a workhorse for the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Able to carry as much bomb load as the WWII-era B-17 Flying Fortress, the Skyhawk was used to pound North Vietnamese positions relentlessly. This was the aircraft that John McCain was flying when he was shot down and became a resident of the Hanoi Hilton.

This kit was very simple. There were literally no cockpit details other than a simple seat. The pilot figure was below par and wouldn’t really be visible anyway, so I didn’t bother to include it. The canopy lacked the proper framing, so I had to do the best I could painting it.

The fuselage and wing attachments required a lot of putty and sanding. The kit didn’t really have to much in the way of panel lines, so no rescribing was necessary.

I painted the top with old Testor’s gloss grey and the bottom with Tamiya acrylic laquer gloss white.

I added the red details with Tamiya acrylic red. For some reason, there was lots of bleeding under my Tamiya masking tape, so I had to fix it with a Q-tip, rubbing alchohol, small brush and a steady hand.

The decals were in really good shape (finally!). The landing gear was very simple, though I had to drill a hole for the front gear to make it install correctly.

Thought I was done, when I shockingly realized I forgot the glare panel in front of the canopy. I did a quick coat of Future to seal in the decals and then masked the glare panel and painted it in a darker grey (mixed from Tamiya acrylic white and black). Unfortunately, the clear coat did not totally protect my decals and I had to draw some of the “312” number back on to the right side of the aircraft with a technical marker.