Airplanes

Hasegawa's Skyhawk A4 E/F 1/48 scale 

by Pablo Scordo

 

One of the brand new releases by Hasegawa in 1/48 scale is the classical A4 Skyhawk, in its E/F version.

Hopefully, this new Hasegawa kit is the point of departure for other releases of the A4 family.


The kit

The model is presented in the classical box with an excellent artbox. According to its tradition, Hasegawa packed all eight sprues in just one bag! Therefore, the plastic surface can easily get scratched or the parts can be broken (like the ladder). All transparent parts are wrapped in their own bags.

This model is composed of approximately 170 parts with an almost excellent detailing.

The recessed panel lines have crisp details (including all curved parts) and all rivets, registers and general details of the fuselage and wings are excellent.

In this kit, the inner side of the fuselage shows the division between its front and rear parts (like in the real thing). In this way, just by changing the front part, Hasegawa will be able to produce other versions of the Skyhawk (B, C - already announced -, two-place and M).

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The rhomboidal liner, controls and accessories are finely printed on the sides of the cockpit. The side consoles and instrumental panel show very accurate relief details. The part behind the main bulkhead includes an opening system for the canopy but does not include the actuator.

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The ejection seat, made of six parts, is acceptable but I think it would be better to replace it by one made of resin.

The quality of details of the forward wheel well (cast together with the cockpit tube), is more than enough for modelers not used to superdetailing.

Other component parts of the fuselage are: airbrakes to be used in open/closed positions, complete intake, navigation lights, humbpack for electronic equipment and two different options for probe.

 

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Wings

Both wings are composed of one lower and 2 upper parts. The lower part includes the undercarriage wheel wells with their corresponding plumbing.

You will probably notice that, although all details of these parts are really excellent, these undercarriage wheel wells are slightly inaccurate since, in the real aircraft, they are not symmetric as in the model.

The main problem here is that the inner sides are solid, while you should be able to see the guns and part of their inner structure through them.

The step existing between the leading edge (where the slat is located) and the wings should be eliminated, since in the real thing this "step" is just a flat continuous surface from the leading edge to the trailing edge. This detail is hard to see even in the real aircraft, since the red paint that marks the area where the slat folds, only diverts the attention and causes confusion. It is up to the modeler to modify or overlook this detail.

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The ailerons, cast together with the surface of the wing, show a very convincing curve in their articulation point, thus looking like two separate parts.

The flats can be used either in the open or closed positions. The wings are detailed with pylons, dropable fuel tanks and transparent navigation lights.

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Undercarriage

The main undercarriage (with decals representing the data plates), the retraction bars and brake center hubs show very accurate details. Two center hubs are included as optional parts.

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The only thing that I would criticize is the absence of retraction jacks for legs.

The covers are detailed with perforated plates.

The forward undercarriage is really disappointing!!! It has very good details but the wheel is cast together with the leg. This is a classical detail of the 1970's, which is acceptable for a 1/71 scale, but not for a Hasegawa 1/48 scale.

 

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Decals

This kit provides two colorful versions, very finely printed with high color density, but I would say they are too thick.

 


Conclusion

All component parts of this kit, as well as all details and definition are really excellent.

After a good painting job, all modelers will be able to have an excellent straight-from-the-box model on their exhibition racks.

Although there are some parts that need modifications, the quality of this kit enables the modeler to make all necessary corrections, and once all problems are solved the rest of the assembly is quite straightforward.