1:72 A-4 Skyhawk Undercarriage Bays Mask Fujimi/Hobby 2000

The landing gear bays of the Skyhawk for the Fujimi and Hobby 2000 models

A covering set for the underside of a seventy-second scale Douglas A-4. The target kit is stated deliberately: similar items exist for models of other brands and without this detail they would be hard to tell apart. This item is an aid for the painting phase, not a kit of the aircraft.

Heinemann's light attack aircraft

When the Skyhawk came about in the middle of the 1950s, the requirement was to build a carrier attack aircraft at half the weight the navy considered necessary. The designer Ed Heinemann met it with radical simplicity: a delta wing in one piece with no folding mechanism, a slender fuselage and a minimum of extra systems. The weight saved turned into range and load. The machine could be maintained easily even on a cramped deck and its toughness was tested by decades of combat deployment around the world. The combination of a low price and reliability precisely made the Skyhawk a long-term export success; it flew, among other places, in Israel, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

How to reach a clean transition

The key is the order of the work and patience. Paint the inner surfaces, let them harden and only then lay the covering on. Spray the outer shade from the middle of an area toward the edge, never across the edge inward. When you need darker shadows in the corners of a space, add them before fitting the covering; later it will no longer be possible.

Suitable for

• Those who build the seventy-second scale Skyhawk models mentioned
• Collectors of carrier equipment with a long service history
• Modelers who want a sharp outline with no touching up by brush
• Builders who do not feel like cutting covering by hand