Under the Perista scheme, the Malaysian government purchased a mixture of 88 A-4C and A-4Ls from the United States. These aircraft were refurbished by Grumman Aerospace in the U.S and redesignated the A-4 PTM or Peculiar to Malaysia. A total of 40 odd aircraft made its way from the states to Malaysia in the eighties to fly with 6 and 9 squadrons of the RMAF. The main role was ground attack and support flight.

They replaced the CL-41G Tutors and flew with the RMAF for a good 10 years. In the nineties after a lot of bad press on the aircraft and spare problems, most of the PTMs were decommissioned where some of them were converted to Tanker configuration. By the late nineties all PTMs were withdrew from service and replaced by the Hawk 108 and 208s. Today they stand as gate guards in certain airbases as well as some other places.

M32 – 04, TA-4PTM by Naza

This kit depicts a TA-4PTM operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force in the mid eighties and early nineties.

The basic kit is the Monogram OA-4M Skyhawk. Conversion was done utilizing the conversion set produced by Red Roo Models. Decals came from VFA Productions.

Apart from the Red Roo conversion set, other modifications included:

1. replacing the original tailfin found in the OA-4M kit with a C type fin (taken from Hobbycraft A-4M kit)
2. replacing the cranked refueling probe found in the OA-4M kit with the straight probe (taken from Hasegawa A-4M kit)
3. addition of parabrake housing (taken from Hobbycraft A-4M kit)
4. scratchbuilding the various antennas as well as windshield wiper.

The Monogram kit came with raised panel line so rescribing was a must. The Red Roo conversion parts were then added on with minimal difficulty.

The aircraft was to be built in flight mode so the pilot figures from the Monogram kit was utilized. The display stand was custom made from plywood, clear plastic and polly putty.

I chose to paint the skyhawk in the original 3 tone SEA camo scheme. Colours used were gunze dark brown (310), dark green (309) and olive drab (303). Humbrol flat black was used for black wash.

After painting was done, I sprayed a layer of Humbrol gloss cote to ensure minimal silvering. This was followed by application of the decals. Another layer of gloss cote was then added to seal in the decals.

Weathering was then done using the airbrush stroke technique. A final cote of Humbroll Matt Cote and the TA-4PTM was complete!

M32-20, M32-25, M32-24 A-4PTM By Brian Param

The Skyhawks have always been an interesting subject to me. I have built many of them and must say that the Hasegawa offering is a super kit. Both were finished out of box one with the delivery scheme and the other was a refurbished offering in the two tone camo. Only addition to both builds was the True Details seats. Overall a pleasure build with minimum problems. Colors were Gunze for the Three tone and a model master for the two tone.

M32-24 was a rebuilt Hobbycraft offering with wheel up configuration. Decided to do so as I feel the Hobbycraft offering looks better with wheels up. Camo was achieved by paper masks scanned of the scale drawing and colors were gunze. Pilot came from the Monogram A-4E. Hope you like my scooters. Many more to get done RNZAF, RAN, Singaporean, etc.

M32-01, TA-4PTM By Thomas Ng

This is a 1/48 Seminar kit, it is really a substandard kit, I got it for around USD 4  in China, the only good point is the full recess line, unless you are looking for a cheap 2 seater scooter, otherwise forget about it.. This model is part of the ARC Scooter Group Build earlier, Some of the smaller parts taken from others kits like Hasegawa, Monogram and Hobbycraft to replace the poorly molded kit's parts most of these was generously donated to me my fellow ARCer John Bibay.

The colors chosed for this one is the 4 colors SEA scheme, the colors are from the Gunze range, Decals are a mixture from the Hobbycraft A-4 C kit and Kit’s decal, and the white serial no. are custom printed.

For weathering, a black pastal wash was applied to the recessed line and finally seal with a flat coat.

M32-10, A-4PTM By Aidy Abdullah

The kit is Hasegawa's beautiful 1/48 A-4L, with as many modification as I can add to make a more proper A-4PTM. Decals are a combination of bits from F4dable, Hasegawa, Fox One and various VFA sheets applied over Gunze paints. Seat is a resin item from True Details.

M32-24, A-4PTM By Mazlan Yusof

The KitThe kit is based on the Hasegawa offering of the A-4C, It is a gem of a kit with perfect recessed lines, good profile and etc. The cockpit is a bit sparse, so I managed to get a verlinden seat to replace the original. Thanks to my mate Aidy. Nose weight was needed on this model as well, but not a problem as the entire nose cone was filled up with melted solder.

Making the PTM

The A-4C kit by hasegawa is a good base for a PTM. It has most of the bits needed to make a PTM. The drag cute, the avionics hump and the spine antenna as well as the antenna on the nose wheel bay cover are all included in the kit. The kit was finished using the delivery scheme colours of a variation to the S.E camo scheme. I used gunze and model master acrylics on this build. Dark green(Gunze), Olive Drab (Model Master) Dark Tan (Gunze) and Flat White (Gunze) for the underside. Decals were from the VFA Malaysian scooters sheet. Aircraft was weathered with pen ink and watered down. Camo was applied following free hand and a mixture of paper masks in certain areas. Paint chipping was achieved with silver pen.

I have always liked the scooters as I have seen them close up and when flying. It looks very agile and graceful while it flies. I have another Hasegawa A-4L to take on the operational scheme which will be in the works soon.

Photos and text © by Naza, KT Goh, Aidy, Brian, Thomas, Mazlan