nimrod54 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 This is my entry, I am looking forward to starting and to watching progress on other builds. It looks like there will be some interesting schemes. I am going to use this kit with these resin replacements - Cockpit, Wings and Wheel Bays. and I plan to use these decals by Leading Edge and not those in the kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Great looking scheme! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Nice scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Nice, If I have time I will be doing a second build. A CF jet with D Day anniversary markings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Great scheme look forward to your build Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 Great looking scheme! Dave Nice scheme Nice, If I have time I will be doing a second build. A CF jet with D Day anniversary markings Great scheme look forward to your build Les Cheers to all, I have had the Leading Edge decals for a while now and then I picked up a kit with the same scheme, but some of the decals in there seem a little bright. I just hope that I can get a good match for the Dark Blue colour and that I mix enough if that is the way I have to go. Ray S Hope that you do get enough time to model your CF D-Day option. Is it the 50th anniversary scheme with invasion stripes and checker-board rudders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Ray S Hope that you do get enough time to model your CF D-Day option. Is it the 50th anniversary scheme with invasion stripes and checker-board rudders? Hey John, certainly is. The Leading Edge sheet is very comprehensive and does one of two different aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 OK off we go then, I don't think that I have put this much resin into a kit before. I made a start on the lower fuselage by removing the undercarriage bays. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this but decided in the end to chain drill and then join the dots as it were ........ ........ and after some clean up this is where I am up to. However, this wasn't without it's problems, a bit of over zealous work with a mini drill led to me blowing through the fuselage side in a couple of places. I also noticed that the Aries nosebay replacement is a little shorter than the kit bay. So bit more work on the fit of the nosebay and then on with the upper fuselage changes to accomodate the cockpit. I hope that is a bit easier to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Neu- Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Nice work cutting out the various parts... I think as a general comment, the 1/72 Hornet kits are about the worst ever for landing bay details... there isn't a good one in the bunch. Nice, If I have time I will be doing a second build. A CF jet with D Day anniversary markings I know the pilot of that particular aircraft... It would be cool to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Nice work cutting out the various parts... I think as a general comment, the 1/72 Hornet kits are about the worst ever for landing bay details... there isn't a good one in the bunch. Cheers bud, just hope that I can get everything lined up properly when I add the bays. I think that I may have to do a bit more lower half assembly before I put them in then temporarily add the u/c legs to check it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Nice clean work John will be a good build to watch Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Cheers Les. Should be back on with this tomorrow, I've had to indulge my other passion over last couple of days - setting up a new tropical tank for my first Aquascape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 So , the work on the undercarriage bays continues apace. I realised today that I would also have to modify the intake area to allow the main undercarriage bays to fit. I removed the bulk of the material with a mini drill and a small mill then I had to clean up the rest with a scalpel and some files. The photos below show one side before modification and the other side before the final clean up. I also made a start on some of the cockpit parts. I first removed the coaming then added the kit spine extension and the area behind the seat from the resin set. Then it was on with a dry fit of the cockpit and seat. Hope to get primer and paint on some of the resin tomorrow and then I can carry on with a final fit and close the fuselage halves up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Coming on nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Coming on very nice good work on the pit Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Coming on nicely. Coming on very nice good work on the pit Les Cheers guys, not done a lot today mangaged to get some white gloss on the undercarriage bays, primed all the cockpit parts and I hope to get some paint on those bits tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Just a small update. I've spent the last couple of days fitting the resin undercarriage bays. I am going to have an issue with the nose u/c leg because of the depth of the replacement bay, as a result the leg sits deeper and the lights are well up inside the bay. I will need to mod it later although the main legs are not too bad, any ideas/suggestions about how to tackle this would be welcome. Main Undercarriage Bays Nosewheel Bay Next steps will be to fill the gaps around the resin, touch up the paint and paint some of the details in the bays. Then I want to add the searchlight to the hole that I drilled earlier in the build and try to repair the damage to the side-wall, which can be seen at the back of the photo below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Managed to do a bit more work on the lower fuselage this morning, I plugged the holes for the centre-line tank with some stretched sprue. The photos of this aircraft show it as not fitted. I also made a start on repairing the damage to the side........... ...... and added a box to house the searchlight, then used a Little Cars lens for the light. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Hi John She`s coming on good like the added searchlight Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Nice progress John! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Hi John She`s coming on good like the added searchlight Les Nice progress John! Cheers guys, just been tinkering about with the cockpit since the last update and today I cut the resin wings from their casting blocks. Boy are they out of shape, so plenty of hot water and some gentle persuasion is the order of the day. I will post some more photos of progress soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 Spent time doing a few bits and pieces before I have to complete the fuselage join. I have added some plastic strips to hide the join between resin cockpit tub and the kit part, this will become part of the canopy rail. and another test fit of the cockpit tub Then on with the removal of more kit plastic to accommodate the resin wings. It requires more work to fill in the gaps and I will have to add the detail which is seen in the photos of F-18's to this area. I also cut the wings from their casting blocks but they are going to need a bath in some hot water to straighten them out. Then it was on with some work to deflect the rudders. Every-time I think that I am almost ready to complete the fuselage join I find that I want to do something else to help with things later in the build, c'est la vie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALF18 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Very nice attention to detail. At first glance, I was convinced this was in 1/48 scale - but then I realized the wheel wells weren't right for that kit. I'm impressed with the way in which you've made the details look fantastic in this tiny scale. Be careful with those old Leading Edge decals. Are you planning to coat them with Liquid Decal Film before use? LEM products of that era were notorious for shattering, and as they age their propensity to self-destruct increases. I recently did a build of a 2003 demo CF-18 with 10 year-old LEM decals, and even with the liquid decal film some of them shattered. ALF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Very nice attention to detail. At first glance, I was convinced this was in 1/48 scale - but then I realized the wheel wells weren't right for that kit. I'm impressed with the way in which you've made the details look fantastic in this tiny scale. Be careful with those old Leading Edge decals. Are you planning to coat them with Liquid Decal Film before use? LEM products of that era were notorious for shattering, and as they age their propensity to self-destruct increases. I recently did a build of a 2003 demo CF-18 with 10 year-old LEM decals, and even with the liquid decal film some of them shattered. ALF Thanks for the comments and heads-up on the decal issues ALF, I will take your advice and give them a coat of something, hopefully this will keep them together and I always have the kit decals to fall back on. The slime lights in that set are what I can only describe as canary yellow so I would need to replace those Mini Update. After further checks of photos I have discovered that the searchlight on this particular aircraft probably had the window covered, but I like the look of the uncovered window and light fitted and have seen that configuration on some of the later display schemes, so I think that I am going to live with my error. I have been painting some of the details on the Aires IP, cockpit and aft avionics bay as well as doing some work on the seat. I need to do a bit more rubbing down of the two inserts on the underside of the LERX, and then I will have to re-scribe some of panel lines. I just think that it is easier to tackle these areas before joining the fuselage halves. Next job on the list is to tackle the intake areas, I did think of using NEU's method for this but I may see if I can't do something different to reduce the see through effect. I'll post some photos of what I come up with soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted July 5, 2013 Author Share Posted July 5, 2013 Progress is rather slow at the moment. I hope that I can get myself into gear speed things up, need to finish within the next month or so because the son and heir plus spouse is visiting in August so don't know how much I will get done then. Anyway here are some photos of the completed cockpit, rear avionics bay and also the bang-seat with its first coats of paint. this needs detailing and dry brushing. My solution to the intake problem was to add some thin plasticard and paint the area black to try and reduce the see through effect. I will see what they look like when I give them a coat of white, if I am not happy I can always add some intake covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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