A-4 Skyhawk- Yoav in 1/30 scale

[Isaac]

at this point here are the refueling probe covers. The probe itself will be damaged at this stage and will be added at the end.


here are some of the parts


you can see it assembled in the next post


Isaac

[Isaac]

The skyhawk like many fighters of its time had a single engine with two side inlets ( instead of a nose inlet which restricted the size of equipment in the nose ).


Here are the parts

the triangular looking part 14 is the boundary layer separator.



and assembled to the fuselage.



Isaac

[MacSongLi]

Intakes look nice. She is starting to take shape.


Gary

[Isaac]

Here is the assembled fuselage




Isaac

[mor54]

Isaac, the model looks great with fine detailing. Whaiting to see it evolve.
Shalom Mor

[Isaac]

The Skyhawk has one of the best looking vertical fins on any aircraft. This model has it in multiple sections and parts.

There are also two options for the rudder and you have to make a decision upfront because some surgery is needed. One option has the rudder rendered to show the side stiffeners on the rudder plate. This is incorporated to the fin and nothing else is needed. The second option is to cut out the area of the stiffeners and build all of them as an assembly. However, for my version, I removed the entire rudder from the fin in order to build it as one unit.


Here are the parts


and the internal supports



note that the red hatched area will be cut out to accommodate the separate rudder



a little trial check



cut out the red area


added card stock where the horizontal support will be drilled thru




fin is assembled as one unit




dry fit



The final fit is great.



Isaac

[MacSongLi]

Well done on the fuselage. It will be nice to see the separate control surfaces on the Rudder.


Gary

[Mike1158]

A superb airframe, brilliant.

[Isaac]

Thank you Mike, Gary


more soon


Isaac

[Isaac]

The Skyhawk rudder started as a low cost construction in which a flat plate was wedged between horizontal stiffeners with a forward frame. This supposedly was a lower cost version of a smoother conventional rudder. Douglas did make a smooth surface rudder, but during flight testing found that there was really no difference, so they retained the ridged version that is a signature of all the Skyhawks regardless of the marks or derivatives.


here is a close up of an actual early Skyhawk


For this build, I decided to go for the more complicated built up version since it will be prominent in this large scale


here are the parts



remove the rudder's flat plate and add the forward frame. Then add the small triangular stiffeners on both sides


ready to mate to frame


glued


other side.



add a piece of wood dowel to forward edge to maintain a shape




here the rudder is installed



left rudder deflection



right rudder deflection


neutral rudder



and finally the vertical fin and rudder view



This detail certainly added a few hours to the build, but was really satisfying at the end.


Isaac