Article by Ed
On my workbench, a kit of the much beloved Vietnam War workhorse, the Close Air Support (CAS) A-1J Skyraider, from longtime Chinese model-maker Trumpeter in 1/32 scale. Once completed, final model photos will be on my website's "Gallery" page (TBD).
During the Vietnam War, a war that cemented the rise of the jet to the top of air power, an 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, propeller driven aircraft became much beloved by those fighting the war and its pilots didn't pay for drinks in any bar. That plane was the Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly the Douglas AD-1). Designed in the late 1940s, the aircraft would see service with the US military in Korea and Vietnam, with both carrier- and land-based versions. The Skyraider could unleash hell on the enemy during CAS sorties, but it could also loiter overhead for hours, flying low and slow enough to support vulnerable helicopters conducting Search and Rescue (SAR) of downed air crews and support for Special Mission Unit missions.
By 1969, the war in Vietnam was well underway, and out west in the jungles and low mountains across the border in Laos and Cambodia, a deadly and secret war was being fought. Here in the "forbidden" zone (where officially the US military denied any presence), small teams of highly skilled special operators relied on Skyraiders for timely CAS. This critical support came primarily from USAF Special Operations Squadrons (SOSs) flying A-1E, H and J models based at Royal Thai AFB in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand.
These USAF SOSs (1st, 6th, 22nd, & 602nd) in Thailand supported the secretive Studies and Observations Group or SOG–an elite joint special operations unit loosely aligned under MAC-V HQ. The SOG teams took on sensitive and dangerous missions including reconnaissance, sabotage, personnel recovery, psychological operations and counterintelligence, most often operating deep behind enemy lines. There's a great book about this secretive "war-within-a-war", by John L. Plaster, "SOG - The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam", I highly recommend it. The sacrifices these SOG operators made were incredible and sadly, drastically impacted by the treacherous actions of the US Navy's Walker spy family.
Although Skyraiders conducted a wide variety of missions during Vietnam, timely on-point close air support over dangerous territory was its most distinguished. Using callsign "Spad", SOG teams would call for A-1 CAS from the SOSs in Thailand whenever they were compromised (by Walker), outnumbered and in trouble. "Spad" Skyraiders would also escort the helicopters conducting the small teams' insertions and extractions (many were hot LZs and occurred during contact with the enemy). The callsign and nickname "Spad" was derived from the famous WWI French aeroplane that was large and cumbersome, but sturdy and reliable; it was also widely used by the US and the one flown by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, famed ace and Medal of Honor recipient.
Skyraiders throughout the war would carry extremely heavy ordnance payloads (up to 8,000lbs., with many missions in Vietnam pushing that to 10,000 lbs. or even 12,000 lbs.). These were greater payloads than those carried by B-17s during WWII. Also armed with 4 integrated M2 machineguns (actually 20mm cannons), the aircraft was the perfect tool for "low and slow" loitering, high-damage dealing, close air support. What was so valuable is that the A-1 pilots could throttle back over a target to just above stall speed, and drop ordnance inside a 10 ft. circle. Sometimes, pilots had to increase airspeed to keep their own bombs from knocking them down!
> A-1 Skyraider "Spads" conducting CAS during Vietnam War
In addition to "Spad", the A-1's other famous callsign was "Sandy". These were the more well known Skyraiders, called on to help rescue downed personnel and to clear out hot LZs and to create helicopter landings zones in the middle of the jungle. The rugged A-1 could circle overhead for up to 4 hours, all the while exposed to enemy ground fire and providing crucial covering fire for the more vulnerable Jolly Green helicopters as they went in to extract pilots and crew. Skyraiders were able to loiter over a target far longer than any jet aircraft (4 hours versus mere minutes), plus it could withstand a godly amount of damage before it was brought down. A-1s worked best in coordination with a Forward Air Controller (FAC callsign was "Covey" ) flying within close proximity in a OV-10 Bronco or in a Bird Dog Cessna, a common tactic during the war.
Of the hundreds of A-1 Skyraiders that served in Southeast Asia, only a few made it back to the United States after the war. Throughout the war, jet aircraft began to replace various Skyraider roles; these jets included the A-4 Sky Hawk, A-6 Intruder, and the A-7 Cosair. Of course, for jet bombers the USAF & USN were mainly using F-100Ds, F-105 "Thud" Thunderchiefs and the F-4 Phantom IIs during the conflict. It's ironic that in the new age of fast movers, the first occurrence of an airplane shooting down a jet with its “guns” was when a pair of A-1s downed a North Vietnamese MIG-17 jet with cannons blazing as they supported the helo rescue of a F-4 Phantom crew (the first F-4 shot down in the war) outside Ta Chan, North Vietnam in 1965.
> A-1 Skyraider "Sandy" in support of a Jolly Green Giant conducting a SAR mission
Lastly, by the end of 1972 when the US presence in Vietnam was drawing down, over 100 Skyraiders were transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force where they performed admirably until 1975. An estimated 265 A-1s were lost during Vietnam and 144 pilots KIA. Moreover, a few Medals of Honor went to Skyraider drivers during the war. The Skyraider had a remarkably long and successful career, even inspiring its straight-winged, slow-flying, jet-powered CAS successor, the stellar A-10 Thunderbolt II.
KIT BUILD
> Once again, just like their 1/32 Ju-87 Stuka I built recently, I Do Not Recommend this model kit. Trumpeter seems to lack the ability to make a 1/32 scale aircraft model that actually fits as it should. Instead it requires lots of work of sanding, gap-filling and sheer effort to make the plane model come together. In this case it was the fuselage halves, they simple didn't align correctly and the folding wings, designed to replicate the USN Carrier-based Skyraiders in case the modeler selected that option, are weak and extremely fragile. Lastly, I was shocked to find the model kit included no instructions nor the needed parts to finish the aircraft with landing gear up. An unbelievable oversight especially given the damn box art has the aircraft shown that way! Options for ordnance were lacking as well, with no truly Vietnam War-centric bombs, lacking ones like the BLU series of Napalm &White Phosphorous (Willie Pete) Canister Bombs or the Daisy-Cutter equip'd Mk 82 bombs. Numerous after-market upgrades were used to bring the model up to the standard I desired. I have one more of their kits in my stash, a 1/32 scale USAAF P-47 to build, and then I am officially done with Trumpeter kits, never again!
For my A-1J kit, I plan on painting the aircraft in the standard South East Asia (SEA) Camouflage with White undercarriage and Yellow prop tips, based loosely on the Skyraider planes of the 1st SOS, operating along side its 3 sister SOS units of the USAF 56th SOW, flying out of Royal Thai Air Force Base Nakhon Phanom (NKP), Thailand.
I am eager to try my brand new airbrush on this project, a Mr. Hobby Procon Platinum 0.2mm Double Action. I needed to add a finer control airbrush and this one was highly recommended at Mr. Spraygunner. I like my Itawa HP-C Plus 0.3mm double action okay enough, but I'm really looking forward to using this new one on the SEA pattern and overall aircraft parts.
> Beginning the Acft Assembly
First up, was the cockpit build and after a quick spray of Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green, I used the excellent Eduard #32-789 A-1 Interior PE set to spice it up. This was straight forward, just have to keep referencing the kit's instructions to make sure you get it right. On the faces of the gauges and dials, I added a dash of Tamiya X-22 Clear to replicate glass. Next was the pilot extraction system, which the same Eduard Photo-Etched set had a gauge for and using the book by David Doyle, "AD and A-1 Skyraider: Douglas's "Spad" in Korea and Vietnam" as a guide, I added some wire for hoses as well. Then the front canopy piece and dashboard (with PE parts added) were glued on with PVA glue. Additional sanding and CA gap filling was required around the bottom fuselage cowling and vents, as well as on the fragile wing assemblies. Also, I used the great "Apoxie Sculpt" product to create an epoxy-fill for the top fuselage seem in front of the canopy that looked terrible; as well as around the poorly fitting front canopy piece. There were so many poorly fitting parts it was frustrating to say the least. Then the ordnance and centerline fuel tank hardpoints were attached.
> Ordnance Bombs & Weapons Payload Build
Ordnance for the A-1 Skyraiders offers a wide array of options. One of the most powerful weapon payloads for the A-1J CAS Spads was the BLU family of napalm and white prosperous canister bombs. These canister bombs, most often dropped from very low altitude, were finless and designed to tumble on the way down to ensure a wide impact effect once the canister hit the ground. The tumbling action would act to "spread" the fire-storming, fuel-gelled napalm or chemical-burning white phosphorus along the ground after the thin-cased aluminum canister cracked open.
For my A-1J Skyraider, I purchased the excellent AMS Resin #AMS32082 kit, BLU-108 Napalm Canisters (Early Vietnam). Once cut, sanded and assembled, I primed them with Red Oxide primer and then masked off the canister "caps" to keep them red and airbrushed the bombs with Isopropyl Alcohol thinned Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum. I then applied AK's True Metal #455 Aluminum paste product. It was my first time using this new product. I applied it with a Q-tip and then polished once it dried. I was very pleased with the outcome, love the way the BLU canisters turned out. Then I varnished them with Mr. Hobby's Semi-Gloss lacquer.
For general-purpose ordnance, I started on the kit's AN-M66 2,000 pound bombs, building two of them. Once assembled, I applied texture to the bombs' casing by stippling on Mr. Hobby's great Mr. Surfacer 500 with a cheap flat brush. I then airbrushed these two bombs with the dark green that I mixed for the aircraft's SEA camouflage pattern, but I added a lighter green paint to make it more Olive Drab-like. This bombs were used during the Vietnam War to collapse tunnel complexes and destroy enemy bunkers, as well as creating helicopter LZs in the thick jungle foliage.
Next up was the Mk 82 Daisy-Cutter equipped "Snake Eye" 500 pound bombs with the early version air-brake fins. The Daisy-Cutter extended fuses ensured the high-explosive blast wasn't wasted in the ground, but rather exploding a few feet off the ground for maximum area effect. As with the AN-M66s, after assembling the Eduard Brassin #632097 Mk. 82 Resin Kit bombs I stippled on Mr. Surfacer on the core bomb. I airbrushed the fins and bomb cores with the same OD paint.
I repeated the same exact process for the kit's M117 750 pound free-falling general-purpose bombs. The M117 was one of the most dropped HE bombs during the Vietnam War, with almost 50,000 in total dropped (largely by B-52s along the Ho Chi Minh Trail). Originally used during the Korean War, the last M117 HE bomb in US inventory was dropped in Afghanistan in 2015.
> Continued Aircraft Build
As mentioned earlier, for some unknown reason Trumpeter didn't allow for a Landing Gear extracted configuration. So as best I could, I test fitted the provided doors for the landing gear and then with much sanding and gap-filling CA, I forced the issue. It took a lot of time because the landing gear doors actually didn't assemble correctly closed from some odd reason. Once satisfied, I affixed the 3-piece door assembly to the bottom of the wings with thin CA.
> Painting the Acft
Once the majority of the aircraft main body was assembled, I gave the model an ISO bath to remove chemicals and greasy fingerprints. I primed the model using Tamiya's excellent Fine Grey rattle-can Surface Primer. Some pre-shading was airbrushed applied next using ISO-thinned Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black at a 50:50 ratio. Since my Skyraider is to look worn and heavily-used, I decided to try out the famous "Hair Spray Chipping Technique" on this model. I applied a base coat of Tamiya's TS-17 Gloss Aluminum over the entire plane and once dried, using TRESemme Lvl3 hairspray, coated the model with a few thin coats and let it dry (I sped this up via a hair dryer on high-heat). Notice the subtle pre-shading showing through the Aluminum acft skin as planned.
For the SEA pattern, I sketched the pattern onto the model following the reference photos I selected. I applied black stripes on the wings, then masked over them for the SEA camo application.
I started off the SEA pattern with the Dark Green paint color. I mixed Tamiya XF-56 Olive Green, XF-67 NATO Green, and XF-10 Flat Brown at ratios until I reached the color I wanted, then thinned the mix with ISO. Next was the SEA's Green paint color. My first attempt was a failure with the Green being to oddly green, this was using Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green and P3 Formula Gnarl Green. It just looked off. So I started over with a mix of Tamiya Olive Green, Deep Green and XF-5 Flat Green. I was pleased with that tone. Last was the Earth color of the SEA, and for that I mixed Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan, XF-57 Buff and XF-60 Dark Yellow and of course thinned heavily with ISO. These were applied with my airbrush at 18psi. For Earth tone application I masked using the great MIG Ammo Masking Putty.
For the chipping process to show wear and tear, I used an older stiff flat brush cut short and warm tap water. Applying water along the areas I wanted to chip, I let it "soak in" for a few minutes, then scrubbed with the stiff flat brush. The SEA paint is "chipped" as the hairspray absorbs the water and pressure is applied, removing the top layer of paint and exposing the "skin" of the acft underneath, the Gloss Aluminum color. This can easily be overdone, but I find it vastly superior to the hand painted, brush applied or silver sharp-tipped color pencil applied chipping methods.
With the top of the aircraft completed in the SEA pattern and chipping done, it was time for the undercarriage. First, I applied two thin coats of the TRESemme Lvl3 hairspray (for chipping effects later) and then masked off the model and made ready an ISO-thinned Tamiya XF-2 Flat White. I then sprayed the bottom with the thinned white paint in my airbrush at 19-20psi. Knowing I'd be doing washes and adding oil/grime later, the stark white color is okay for now.
The next step in order to prepare for hanging the ordnance was to seal the white and do an initial wash of the under carriage panels. I used a enamel-thinner diluted Oil dark brown wash, building it up slowly and removing the excess Oil wash once it was dry with a make-up sponge, lint-free shop paper towels and cotton swaps; all dipped in enamel thinner. I think it came out well knowing further grime and oil streaks will be added later.
With this first wash process completed, it was weapons payload "hanging" time. Again, the fun of the Skyraider build is the sheer number of different weapon loadouts you can select from. I decided to include two 2.5 inch white phosphorus marking rocket launchers on the outboard hardpoints. This were assembled pert the kit's instructions then simply given a coat of Tamiya Flat Aluminum.
> Pilot Build
The aftermarket resin pilot is from the Czech Republic's Aero Bonus model company, part #320109 USAF Pilot A-1 Skyraider - Vietnam. Once assembled, I primed it with Tamiya's Fine Grey Primer (rattle can) and began painting using 000, 9/0 and 10/0 red sable brushes with a variety of Vallejo's Model Color line of US Military Uniform Colors and AK Interactive's 3rd Gen Acrylics. I sealed the pilot with Mr. Hobby's Semi-Gloss lacquer than applied a highly-diluted Neutral Grey enamel wash. As a reference photo I used a picture of Col Olds, the USAF's most famous F-4 Phantom driver of the Vietnam War. He was a rare triple Ace, flying a P-51 and a P-38 in World War 2 and a F-4 in Vietnam, achieving Ace status in all three aircraft.
