Friday 11 July 2014

Hello there Sandy...

Howdy everyone,

Just a quick update today...life has been a little busy as of late, but thankfully I was able to squeak out this beautiful piece of miniature goodness.  I have long been a fan of the A-1 Skyraider, or as the title suggests, a fan of one of her great nicknames.

Sandy, a sweet girl-next-door who travelled abroad in Vietnam has a great history and a great place in the history of war and airplane development.  One of the latest additions to their growing Vietnam line, Battlefront brought their version of Sandy to the gaming world end of last year-beginning of this year.

When I saw the release notice, I jumped at the chance to get one.  Overall, I am very happy with the model and weapons load out...it is a fairly general representation of what this bird could field and the provided payload gives a good overview of all that Sandy was able to bring to the battlefield.  As well, there was a great painting guide for USAF or USN depending on your choice.  My only beef with the kit from BF:
  • the decals provided only represent the US Navy Skyraider...
As I chose to paint mine a la USAF, I did my best and hand 'drew' the tactical lettering but chose not to jerry-rig the insignia (didn't really want to frig that one up).  Luckily I found some great online resources and saw a bunch of pics of Skyraiders with subdued tactical markings and no stars and bars insignia...so, point goes to OCD and google.

The only other dilemma that arose came immediately after I picked up the aircraft to apply the first coat of Vallejo US tan earth...the damn thing fell out of my hands, spun hard on the port wingtip and CRASHED into the ground...oh dear God, the humanity...once the screams were over, recovery ops began...Sandy proved pretty sturdy, but she did snap her left wing off about an inch down from the tip...<sob>

Quick bit of glue, some deep breaths, consoling words from my kids, and she was good to go.  NOW, the pics.  Enjoy and have a good one.


Hello there Sandy...

Closer look at the girl...nasty snarl on that left wing

So this is what the flash button means on my camera...not sure how I feel about this...

Mandatory fly-by pics...


 Sandy...comings and goings...and a great looking undercarriage...

Cheers.

2 comments:

Barks said...

Skyraider is a great little plane; nice work!

Stan M. said...

Couldn't agree more, thanks for the look.