Thanks to the recent releases of 1/48 Skyhawks from both Hobbycraft and Hasegawa, there have been a raft of new sheets from the various manufacturers. Amongst them is this sheet for A-4C/L versions from Eagle Strike. This particular sheet is printed in Italy by Cartograf and offers two schemes, both in the light gull grey over white scheme. There are enough common markings to do one aircraft and a small additional sheet is included that has wing walks and tail hook stripes.

The first plane is from VC-2 and is an A-4L. Basically the L is a C version with the avionics hump and equipment from the A-4F. If you have built the Hasegawa A-4E/F as an E, then you may have this part left over to use on the C kit. Same goes for the Hobbycraft kit. With this particular scheme you'll have to paint the tail dark Navy Blue. The sheet states that it is black, but I'm not positive that it should be. I do know that before I paint my Skyhawk, I'll closely go over the slides I have of VC-2 aircraft.

The other is an A-4C from VA-106, which is now the East Coast F-18 training squadron. As with the previous aircraft, you'll have to paint the tail light blue, mask off each of the segments and paint the ribs white. You will also have to paint the lips of the engine intake to match the warning decals.

The instructions with the sheet are quite good and with a bit of painting, you should be able to produce a superb model.

Review sheet courtesy of my ever increasing decal collection.

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