The RNZAF A-4F and four TA-4F
Skyhawks were purchased by New Zealand
in 1970 and saw service in New Zealand
until 2002.
The New Zealand Air Force was to
replace them with the F-16 Falcon.
In 2002 the newly elected
government decided to abandon the plans to replace the A-4K with the Pakistani
F-16s. The reason for the cancellation was because the government decided that
an air combat force was not in line with its policies. Therefore the combat
force was disbanded entirely and I believe that most of the active fighter
pilots went off shore to fly fighters for other countries (Australia?)
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This was my first attempt at
painting a European I Paint scheme. I did this freehand by first lightly marking
the panels with a soft pencil and then used an airbrush with a low (5 psi)
pressure and acrylic paint thinned with alcohol to a very watery consistency.
The metal components such as the jet nozzle were done in Gunze Stainless Steel
and when slightly burnished really looks like stainless. I found this to be a
really great paint for this sort of effect.
The decals were sourced from
Flight Decals and are Gekko Graphics sheet no. GG48-001. I had to wait a couple
of weeks for them to arrive in New Zealand from Canada but that allowed the
paint to dry and gave me a fresh perspective of the model when the decals did
arrive.
The paint job was then sealed
with an application of Gunze flat acrylic.
When I can find an image of a
Scooter with RBF Flags attached, I may add some for a little extra detail!
Bob
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