Tamiya 1/48 Douglas A-1J Skyraider "FINAL REVEAL"!

[UKguyInUSA]

Hello Guys,

Below are the images of my "Final Reveal" for the Tamiya 1/48 Douglas A-1J Skyraider. After the images, I will include some notes regarding this build; my opinions of the kit in terms of quality, cost, value for money etc and any points to look out for if you decide to buy and build this kit.

I hope you like the following views, and, forgive me for all the photos, but I always have a problem trying to decide what to show!














































































I bought this kit for $32.00 from Hobbylinc.com last year, but it is now for sale from their website at $33.29:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/tamiya-douglas ... cale-61073


Quality of molded product: The parts are molded well, zero flash on the majority of parts and if there was flash, it was very little. There were no warped parts and ejector pins were away from seen surfaces. The parts are molded with finely recessed panel lines to aid highlighting them when painting, and every parts details are crisp and faultless. The clear parts were very clear, not thick and there were no blemishes or distortions to disrupt the visual transparency. I give the Quality of molded product a score of 10/10

Quality of Engineering/Fits: This kit literally falls together, and without a shadow of a doubt, this has to be the best kit that I have had the pleasure to put together, out of the 15 I have built to date since starting modeling in January of 2014. The molded parts come loaded with nice details within the cockpit, on the undercarriage and the exterior surfaces. I give the Quality of Engineering/Fits a score of 10/10

Assembly and Painting Instructions: The assembly instructions come in black and white and they are clear, concise and easy to follow with each part clearly numbered along with the Tamiya color code for that part to be painted in. There is a separate sheet for painting guides for two Squadron markings. A full size view sheet is included that can be used as a paper mask for when painting your model. I always take a few photo-copies of this sheet and use the copies for this task. I give the instructions a score of 10/10

Decals: There is one sheet of decals that do not include the smaller stencils such as "Danger", "No Step" "Caution" etc and therefore, there are only 28 decals to put onto this model. That includes the 4 decals that go onto the propeller- one on each blade. The decals are thicker than normal, take a long time to release from the backing paper and some are delicate when applying to the plane. I had one tear on me, but I managed to position the two torn parts together to hide the tear. Be careful and patient when using these decals. I give the decals a score of 6 out of 10.

Packaging: There are four bags of light grey/beige sprues and a bag with a clear sprue inside. These are within a card exterior box base and lid which is pretty sturdy, has great artwork and some images of the finished model in the two different color/marking schemes on two opposite sides of the box. I give the packaging 9/10

Value for money: 10/10!

Would I recommend this kit...a resounding YES, ABSOLUTELY!! It offers a great looking build with two full sprues of weapons/ordnance and options for layout of those weapons. It includes a nicely detailed cockpit that looks great built OOB! There are options to have the rear canopy open or closed, the two fuselage and one ventral air-brake doors open or closed, the ailerons posed up or down, a detailed radial engine and a Pilot figure to finish it off. There are after-market extras that can be purchased for enhancing this kit, such as resin cockpit tub and ejector seats, PE parts and resin bombs and undercarriage, should you feel the need to "enhance" this kit further, although in my opinion it looks great built OOB.
My only two "issues" with this kit are;

1) The decals; if Tamiya were to include Cartograf decals into this kit, it would have a perfect score of 10 out of 10.

2) The artwork on the box illustrates a "Whip Antenna" on the port-side of the fuselage next to the rear sliding canopy, but this isn't included in the kit. I therefore scratch built the Whip Antenna" mounting block by carving/sanding the end of a piece of sprue and cutting it off. I then stuck this to the end of a cocktail stick and painted it black. I then made the Antenna by using the "Stretched Sprue" method and cut a piece to length, stuck it to the mounting block and painted that black. When it was dry, I mounted it to the plane.

If you're thinking of buying this kit, think no more, go ahead, make your day, you won't be disappointed!!

Below is my "Final Reveal" YouTube video for this build:


[youtube]hzqeA71uvB4[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for watching and commenting and for those of you that have followed me through this build, much appreciated!

Cheers,

Martin

[heel]

Fantastic. Loving the camo work and extra detail.

[AAC]

Excellent... that's it... just excellent!

[Russ72]

Great finish Martin. They're a good looking plane, might keep my out for the kit.

[chief5437]

That's a real beauty, can I take her out for valentines?! Good job, buddy!

[UKguyInUSA]

Fantastic. Loving the camo work and extra detail.

Thanks mate, appreciate you looking and commenting!

Cheers.

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Excellent... that's it... just excellent!

Thanks Alexander; I appreciate you taking time to have a look and comment!

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Martin

[rodrant]

Nice one Martin !

This was one is one of many kits that I'm wiling to buy ! And now and for your great build and based on your review of the kit , I sure will try to have one of these ! Look a great kit , and you make a fine job out of this !

[ManCupboardModels]

WOW! Top job mate!

[Aliktren]

Fantastic

[patrickroos]

Well done, looks Beautiful!!!
Clean build, excellent paintwork and great weatheiring.
Cool that you have both vertical (re-fill) and horizontal oil spill/stains from prop/wind blast!
Just love details like that.
The Skyraider is an impressive aircraft and I bet this looks really nice on the shelf!

[Goose]

Very nice Job Martin

love it

congrats

Goose

[Hillbilly]

I don't make it into the aircraft section much(scared of heights ) But I am glad I did today.This Skyraider is amazing Love the camo and the weathering is spot-on!

[Ridgerunner]

"Wierd scenes inside the gold mine".

[UKguyInUSA]

Great finish Martin. They're a good looking plane, might keep my out for the kit.

Thanks Russ, appreciate you taking a look and commenting!

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

That's a real beauty, can I take her out for valentines?! Good job, buddy!

Thanks, Chief, I'm happy that you like how she looks, but I'm sorry....she's my Valentine mate!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Nice one Martin !

This was one is one of many kits that I'm wiling to buy ! And now and for your great build and based on your review of the kit , I sure will try to have one of these ! Look a great kit , and you make a fine job out of this !

Thanks, Antonio, appreciate your comment!

You won't be disappointed with this kit when you buy it....it's an absolute gem!

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

WOW! Top job mate!

Thanks, Karl...appreciate your compliment, mate!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Fantastic

Thanks, Ali!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Well done, looks Beautiful!!!
Clean build, excellent paintwork and great weatheiring.
Cool that you have both vertical (re-fill) and horizontal oil spill/stains from prop/wind blast!
Just love details like that.
The Skyraider is an impressive aircraft and I bet this looks really nice on the shelf!

Hello Patrick, thanks for your kind comment mate, much appreciated!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Very nice Job Martin

love it

congrats

Goose

Thanks Goose!

[UKguyInUSA]

I don't make it into the aircraft section much(scared of heights ) But I am glad I did today.This Skyraider is amazing Love the camo and the weathering is spot-on!

Hello Steve,

thanks for your kind comment mate, much appreciated and I'm glad you like how she looks!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

"Wierd scenes inside the gold mine".

Yeah, baby!

[AndreFerro]

Superb job, Mate!
Very well done!
congrats!!

[qeialto]

Very nicely done and loved to read your review!
I share the same, Tamiya normally is great while the decals leaves lots of improvement areas!

Cheers!



Antonio

[UKguyInUSA]

Superb job, Mate!
Very well done!
congrats!!

Thanks, Andre, much appreciated!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Very nicely done and loved to read your review!
I share the same, Tamiya normally is great while the decals leaves lots of improvement areas!

Cheers!



Antonio

Thanks Antonio, greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Martin