Finally, I was able to lay my hands on one of the most sought after model kits of the last quarter of 2012. The new Aifix 1/72 Douglas A-4B/4P ‘Skyhawk’ seems to be out-of-stock everywhere. It has a brand spanking new tooling and a price good enough to build a Squadron of them. Thanks to Bruce at Scale Model Supplies in Saint Paul for hooking me up with one of these.
Growing up in the 80’s, the Falklands were a household name. Every day in the news while living in Puerto Rico there were updates on the conflict. I know I have a few other models to tackle, but I can’t let the year 2012 go by without building a commemorative 30th Anniversary edition of this conflict. So I ordered the Dogfight Doubles set A50134 from Airfix. To my surprise, the folks at the hobby shop did received only 3 Skyhawks so I decided to drop in my basket one of them. At the risk of sounding a little bit cliché, the new Douglas A-4B/4P Skyhawk from Airfix is selling like hot cakes.
The Douglas A-4B included in the Dogfight Doubles is 100% the same kit sold as stand alone. The markings on the Airfix A03029 (stand alone kit) are for:
- VA-95 ‘Green Lizards’ USS Intrepid 1966
(the year I was born ;o)
- Grupo 5 de Caza
Fuerza Aérea Argentina
Rio Gallegos, April, 1982.
They are pretty much the same markings included with the Dogfight Double Set. Out of that set as you can see in the pictures, you get two brushes, a small tube of cement, 10 acrylic colors for your models and a nice Airfix stand should you decide to display the aircraft in-flight. For the regular modeler, the included paint could be useless. I was told by Bruce at Scale Model Supplies that the paint doesn’t seem to have a long shelf life. The occasional modeler or folks looking for a gift might end up returning the whole set due to paint gone bad.
That’s all for now folks, stick around for an upcoming finished Skyhawk A-4P vs a BAE Sea Harrier FRS.1. I’m not a big fan of 1:72 scale models but this new offering from Airfix is an exception I couldn’t resist. I hope to see an A-4 Skyhawk with the avionics hump in the near future ;o)
