Dave Ward's Matchbox 1/72 SkyKnight

[Guest]

And the A-1 Skyraider. And the A-26 Invader. And the A-20 Havoc. And the SBD Dauntless. And …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Heinemann#Designs

Edit:

what is " personnel gear receptacle" ? - Is that officialese for pee bottle?

Page 12 of the manual, §1-59:

PERSONNEL GEAR RECEPTACLES. Receptacles for plugging in personnel gear adapters (…) The receptacles have provisions for connecting simultaneously, the oxygen mask, anti-g suit, headphones, and microphone cord.

In other words, these are stowage bins for some of that kit, allowing it to be plugged in yet stored out of the way when not needed — or so I assume.

[Dave Ward]

.....................Skyray, Stiletto etc etc - I have his autobiography " Combat Aircraft Designer " - quite a good read
Dave

[Dave Ward]

A long time since I posted anything on a blog - I've been off colour, with what seems to be some form of sleeping sickness!!, and haven't had the energy, or enthusiasm to do much at all.
The Skyknight is a very simple model - about 30 parts so far! The fit isn't too bad, details, let's just say about average for Matchbox..............
The real challenge is the colour scheme - white and international orange. The whole thing has turned out to be a masking exercise, I used white & red primer to prepare the surfaces. The Hataka International Orange wasn't great, even though I sprayed thin coats, it still gave a patchy appearance, I had to go over it several times & eventually used a brush, I don't think I'll be buying any more Hataka paint in the near future.

Even though the masking has worked OK, the huge contrast between the colours highlights the slightest flaw - I can see that a lot of touch ups will be needed - I'm thinking that the all-black finish didn't look too bad after all! I'll touch up as needed, then seal everything in with gloss varnish before decals.
I added 8 ball bearings to the nose, and that's enough to prevent it tail sitting.
Dave

[colin m]

Coming along nicely Dave. It'll stand out on the shelf.