Classic Airframes created quite a stir when they released their TA-4J in 1/48 scale. At long last, decal manufactures had a great excuse to make some of the very colorful markings found on the two-seat Skyhawk! Afterburner Decals wasted no time, and quickly released this sheet. Now, we all know that Hasegawa very soon after released their version of the TA-4J, but fear not as even though this sheet was printed for the Classic Airframes kit, they fit the Hasegawa kit just fine. For those that have noticed, the Classic Airframes kit looks to be a modification of the Hasegawa A-4 kit, thus both TA-4J kits are virtually identical in size and shape. In fact, for this review, I used a Hasegawa kit.

Quickboost continues to push out affordable details for scale models and one of the latest is a straight refueling probe for Hasegawa’s family of A-4 Skyhawks. The part is solid resin, and appears to be strong enough. The tip is shaped a bit better than the kit part, but does require a little clean up to remove a small nub that is there to ensure that the tip is completely filled in with resin during the pour process. It’s a direct replacement for the kit part, so requires no modification.

This probe is applicable to all A-4B, A-4C, and some A-4E, TA-4J, TA-4F. Do consult your references when building a particular aircraft to be sure it had the straight probe installed, or the later “bent” probe.

Thanks to Quickboost and IPMS for the review sample!

When Hasegawa finally followed up their excellent 1:48 A-4 series with a TA-4J, many modelers were thrilled, including me. Of course shortly after its release, aftermarket companies soon had various releases to detail the kit even further. Eduard produced several new photo-etched sets for the TA-4J, a couple of which are applicable to other A-4 variants.

The set covers the following: