This is Douglas A-4M Skyhawk from Magic Factory in 1/48 scale. It represents A-4M Skyhawk BuNo 160024, QG-00, NAS Willow Grove, inflight circa 1994, VMA-131 Diamondbacks
Manufacturer Magic Factory
Model Number 5002
Date of release New tool 2024
Price paid ~70€
Decals in the box 2 Marines schemes
Extras Some soldering wire
Airbrush used Fengda FE-183K, Badger 360, Badger Extreme Patriot 150
High points A lot of options to open. very good surface details, goes together nicely, lot to build
Low points Electronic hump was in two halves and those didn't go together without filler. Snakeyes were pain to build. Perhaps some slide molds could be used in these parts too
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:34 Unboxing
2:58 Build
5:54 Cockpit done
6:18 Build continues
11:09 Masking
12:16 Painting
14:43 Decalling
15:51 Weathering
16:50 Landing gear & details
19:10 Armaments
20:28 Final assembly
23:29 Final reveal rotating
24:40 Final reveal photos
25:40 Photos with other aircraft
26:04 Conclusions
Kit went together nicely, tail parts were a bit warped, but when pushed together no problems were left though. Bombs and electronic hump would have benefited from slid molding, as they weren't the best time with the kit, otherwise it was very pleasant.
The selling point for this kit is all the openable features, like the nose and the engine bay. The rivets can divide options, but I thinks they were ok, at least it helped the weathering. The moving tail and arrestor hook are a bit gimmicky but I like those still.
The decals options were not the best for me as I would have liked to make low viz plane or something that I could have weather a lot. I choose this classic paint scheme and weathered it anyway. For some reason the decals and the markings in guide weren't the same size, so the most of the good of big instructions were gone. I also wondered why there were no decals for tail stripes.
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