Scale Aviation Modeller International — November 2017

Etendard IV M/P

Kitty Hawk 1/48 Etendard IV M/P by Thomas Tirtaine

MANUFACTURER: KITTY HAWK

SCALE: 1/48

TYPE: INJECTION-MOULDED PLASTIC AND

PHOTO-ETCH BRASS.

STATUS: NEW VERSION.

PARTS: 200+ GREY PLASTIC, 29 CLEAR, 14

BRASS.

DECAL OPTIONS: 5

F

ollowing the release of the

Super Etendard in 2016,

Kitty Hawk has added new

parts, and is now offering the

older generation Etendard in the

fighter or reconnaissance version,

respectively named 4M and 4P.

That’s why you read “2 in 1” on

the box. This may confuse some

who may think that they will find

two kits inside, so be warned –

there is only one set of plastic!

THE KIT

The box contains four sprues in

grey plastic, one sprue with clear

parts, and a photo-etch sheet. A

booklet of 21 pages guides you

through the assembly process,

followed by the four-side views

of the five marking options.

As the sprues are shared for

both the Etendard 4M or 4P, and

the Super Etendard, several parts

will be unemployed. The weapons

are gathered on one sprue and

many options are offered to load

the aircraft, but more of that later.

THE BUILD

The construction begins,

unsurprisingly, with the cockpit.

The seat requires 12 parts and

gives a well-detailed result. Stages

Two to Six guide you through

the building of the forward part

of the aircraft, including the

cockpit and the nose wheel bay.

The cockpit is full of details,

but the choices for the instrument

panel are a bit tricky. Part A46

corresponds to the 4P version,

whereas part A47 plus A16 match

the Super Etendard version. Some

surgery is needed to combine

the top of part A46 with the

base portion of part A47 to

replicate the 4M instrument

panel. The decals illustrate all

the tiny dials very well, but need

fine cutting to match the shape

of the side and front panels.

Stage 4 covers the assembly of

the nose cone for the 4P version,

and Stage 5 for the 4M version.

Take care to check with the four-

side view to insure the correct

parts are used. I chose to build

the 4M version with the in-

flight refuelling probe deployed.

I also added a 20g nose weight

inside the nose to prevent any

chance of tail sitting; this is not

mentioned in the instructions.

Kitty Hawk provides all of the

probes and antennas that can be

found on the real aircraft, as well

as the sometimes-carried under-

fuselage reconnaissance pod.

Appearing in Stages 22 and 26,

parts C59 and C60 will give you

another moment of perplexity.

Checking carefully the sprues, I did

not succeed in finding any parts

that look like those appearing in

the diagram. But as they appear

to be only short rods, there is

no difficulty in gluing on small

lengths of stretched sprue instead.

The editor supplied the review

sample with a Scale Aircraft

Conversion set of white metal legs

(48323). They fit perfectly inside

the wheel bays and, thanks to

their robustness and real metal

appearance, they are a great

improvement on the plastic parts.

COLOURS AND MARKINGS

The five schemes include three in

blue-grey camouflage and two in

overall blue; the latter are decorated

with various amounts of art. I

chose to replicate the aircraft on

the box lid, which commemorates

the Retirement Escadrille 59S, with

a French ribbon on a blue base. The

chart advises to mix two shades

of blue to obtain the right shade.

Checking pictures on the Internet,

it appears that the real colour of

the aircraft is a deep blue. Mr.

Hobby H328 Blue Angels looked

like a good match to my eyes.

A big advantage to using a

colour out of the bottle compared

to a mixed colour is that it is

easier for me to make any further

touch-ups to the paint scheme.

For the undersides I used Mr.

Hobby H316 US Navy White.

Lastly, I applied aqua gloss from

the Alclad range, and I was

ready to add the markings.

The decals are really easy to

use. Both the tiny stencils and the

wide ribbon perform well without

the use of any decal softener. I

used Aqua Gloss to protect the

decals before adding a little

weathering. I used Mig’s Black

Wash to darken the recessed panel

lines, and replicated fuel and oil

stains under the fuselage using

Mig’s AMIG1409 Fuel Stain Wash.

Finally, it was time to add all

the remaining sub-assemblies: the

undercarriage with the relevant

doors, the small antennas, and

the clear parts that replicate the

landing and navigation lights.

The only downside to this kit

is that, despite including a lot of

other under-wing stores, the fuel

tanks normally seen on the IV are

not supplied. But I’m sure that one

or several aftermarket suppliers

will fill the gap, or you could steal

them from an old Airfix/Heller kit.

CONCLUSION

Did I enjoy building this

model? Definitively a yes!

Kitty Hawk have made efforts

to replicate the Etendard

4 with a good level of

detail, then added some

interesting choices of

markings to produce a

good representation of the

type. The result is superior

to all previous examples

of the Etendard IV.

I would like to thank

both Kitty Hawk Models and

Scale Aircraft Conversion

for the review samples

I used in my build.

KIT REVIEWS

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