The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk series has long been one of my favorite jets. The 1/48^th scale offerings have varied over the years, but I have built up Scooters from Monogram, Esci, and now Hasegawa. I have the Hobbycraft A-4B as well, although I will have to do an "in-box" review of that one for now. Here is how the current A-4 kits stack up against each other…

The Esci offering is no longer in production, and we can all be thankful for that. It was awful, to be honest. Monogram has offered an A-4E (late, with avionics hump) and the OA-4M. For many, many years the Monogram A-4 was the best available. Fit problems (for a Monogram kit) were minor, detail was (and still is) pretty good, and it was accurate. It’s main shortcomings were raised panel lines, partial intakes, partial exhaust tailpipe, and lack of catapult hooks in the main gear wells. It can be built up into a very nice Skyhawk using aftermarket cockpits, intakes, and detail sets, and many decal sheets were made for it as well. The panel lines can also be rescribed, although it is not an easy job. Since the Monogram A-4s are now out of production, many of these aftermarket goodies are gone as well.

For some strange reason, two new A-4 offerings have hit the shelves this past year. Hobbycraft struck first, with an A-4B "Falklands Fighter" kit, an A-4C "Vietnam", an A-4E/F "Adversary", and an Isreali A-4H. These are not the Hobbycraft of old, but neither are they that much better. Surface detail is decent for the most part. The kits come complete with drop tanks and various ordnance, all appropriate for the A-4s and nicely rendered, as well as a nice selection of markings (The A-4B "Falklands" has markings for no less than 7 different aircraft in 6 distinct paint schemes. Cool!) For those like me who model on a tight budget, the Hobbycraft Skyhawks are about $20 cheaper than Hasegawa’s.

Hasegawa has released the A-4E/F combo kit and the A-4C will be out as you read this. Hopefully I will not seem too enthusiastic but the A-4E/F kit may be the best model kit I have ever built. It is not quite perfect but real damn close. The surface detail is recessed and gorgeous. Flaps and slats are positionable. The cockpit is a good bit better than the usual Hasagawa offerings, which I have found to be a little simplistic and 2-dimensional. Wheel wells and speed brake wells are fabulous, as is the landing gear detail. The model comes with all necessary probes, antennas, chaff launchers, etc to build anything from an early A-4E without avionics hump up to the late A-4F. Fit is near perfect throughout.

As I said earlier, the Hasegawa A-4 is not quite perfect. The biggest gripe I have heard about is the kit’s lack of external ordnance other than the drop tanks, which can be built into the finned or non-finned versions. All the ordnance selection you could ever want can be found in any of the three Hasegawa 1/48^th scale Weapon sets, but it is a legitimate beef to have to buy one or more of these sets to add to a $35 kit. A bigger gripe is a significant gap that appears inside the intakes, but it can be fixed (see review). The Hasegawa A-4 decal sheets come with a choice of 2 aircraft.

OK, so which one is best? Here is an item-by-item comparison…each item is rated on the good old 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the best. Since I have not actually built the Hobbycraft kit yet, I will not rate those items dealing with assembly.

There you have it. The Hasegawa kit loses out in only the ordnance category. The Hasegawa kit is superb and well worth the money. For the serious modeler looking to build up a contest-quality A-4, this is the one to buy. The kit decals are even vastly superior to the usual thick ones Hasegawa has given us in the past! Grab an ordnance set, the kit, and have a blast building up a near perfect model.

Alas, while the Hobbycraft A-4s are much better than the past offerings from this company, the kit designers still cut way too many corners. The blocked off intakes and molded-shut speedbrakes are a real downer. Wheel well, slat, and flap detail are mediocre at best. The clear parts are STILL not bagged seperately, and there is no sign of the HUD or gunsight anywhere. This kit would make a good shelf-sitter for the casual modeler. The choice wide of markings and ordnance add interest too. At the cheap price, buy a whole bunch, but just don’t expect to win at too many contests with this one.

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