1/48 Hasegawa CF-18 751 Airshow scheme

[ALF18]

I am new to Britmodeller, having been enticed to have a look around by Neu, who wanted me to see his build thread here.

Of course, upon seeing a Hornet Single Type Group Build, I absolutely had to join up and participate, so here goes.

To explain why it was imperative for me to participate, here is a short list of reasons:

-I enjoy GBs

-The Hornet is my all-time favourite aircraft (I flew them for 10 years in the Canadian Forces)

-I have a whole bunch of Hornet models I want to build

I looked at the time I had remaining to build something, and hesitated for quite a while before choosing the kit and subject. I even discussed it over beers with a fellow modeller in Canada while visiting Ottawa a few days ago (some 400 miles from my home). My first thought was to build one of the 3 Academy 1/32 scale monsters I have in my stash; after all, I have already built about 6 of them (5 for other pilots, and one for myself), and my average build time is about 6 weeks for that kit. But my friend Mike in Ottawa advised against it, after I said I also wanted to take my time and get it right (which rarely happens with me and my builds!).

I then told Mike (while having some great Mexican food at a downtown restaurant) that I did not happen to have a 1/48 Hornet kit in my stash, upon which he said "I have 4 of them - I'll put one in the mail for you when I get home." A few dollars changed hands, and I am now eagerly anticipating the arrival of the 75th anniversary CF-18 boxing of the well-known Hasegawa kit.

I also have a couple Legend productions SJU-5/6 seats (LF4033). I'll use one to replace the poor kit seat, but the rest of the cockpit is good enough for me in this scale.

So, which subject did I choose (for those who didn't read the title)?

It was an airshow scheme from 1994, in Bagotville Quebec, where I was stationed at the time. Here it is:

I like the scheme because it is simple, has a large stylised Canadian flag, because I happen to have two sets of the Leading Edge decals for it, and finally because I have actually flown this jet in this colour scheme. After the show season, it became a regular fleet aircraft with my squadron (425 Alouette), and I flew it more than once with a training configuration of external tanks, but retaining the pretty markings. Need I say that we used to fight over the chance to fly this one before it was repainted?

More pics when I receive the kit, and have made some progress on the seat.

ALF

[-Neu-]

Awesome! I wondered if you would get reeled in. I hope you post some great photos of the aircraft while you build.

[ALF18]

Awesome! I wondered if you would get reeled in. I hope you post some great photos of the aircraft while you build.

I wish I could... I only have one other of this aircraft in this scheme. You know, silly rules about security and needing permission to take photos - plus it was WAY before digital cameras abounded.

ALF

[-Neu-]

that sucks... No hero shot?

I actually think that is one of the better special schemes. I'm not a big fan of them in general, but this is one I like.

[ALF18]

I can't find a hero shot in 751, but this one was taken in 759 at around the same time as I flew the demo jet in the fancy scheme. My wingman took this as we headed to refuel from a tanker during an exercise in 1994 in Bagotville. I know it wasn't July (snow on the ground), but it could have been most other months!

Now to get some beauty sleep.

ALF

[wellzy]

Nice Alf welcome to the build

Les

[Sundown]

Hi Alf,

What a great looking scheme, not seen that one before. Would love to get a set of these decals but I'm guessing they're long OOP? Could you let me know the number of the decal sheet please?

Cheers,

Sean

[ALF18]

Hi Alf,

What a great looking scheme, not seen that one before. Would love to get a set of these decals but I'm guessing they're long OOP? Could you let me know the number of the decal sheet please?

Cheers,

Sean

Sean

This scheme was not that well known (i.e. not many pictures taken of it at the time), but it is very simple to model, and looks great. I happen to have two sets of decals for it. The sheet number is 7 (so in 1/48 it's LEM 48.7 or 48.07). If I don't manage to screw up any of the decals, I will have one sheet in this scale to sell or trade. They are OOP, but I managed to find one sheet at a Vancouver model shop; there may be others out there.

ALF

[Sundown]

I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished. Just re-watched the TV series Jetstream and It's moved the Canadian hornets nearer the top of the pile!

If you decide to let the other set of decals go....

[ALF18]

I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished. Just re-watched the TV series Jetstream and It's moved the Canadian hornets nearer the top of the pile!

If you decide to let the other set of decals go....

That series was well done. A few of those folks showed up at Bagotville after their course, and I ran the simulator for their training missions here (while I was still working at the CF-18 sims a couple years back). They took a bit of ribbing for being camera hogs, but it was all in good fun. You wouldn't believe how often I have had someone bring up that show.

I'll let you know for the decals. My goal is not to spoil the second set; I also have some other 1/48 Leading Edge standard sheets that I plan to use as back-ups in case I destroy some non-specific decals (i.e. formation lights, roundels, etc).

ALF

[ALF18]

I am still waiting for the kit to arrive, but there is hope - I got a notice in the mail that I will have a parcel available at a local postal outlet tomorrow at 13:00. Hopefully, that's it.

In the meantime, I have started on the resin seat. Here is the box of 2 seats, with one of them. Detail is pretty good.

The early CF-18s had the SJU-5/6 seat from Martin Baker. After the mods in late life (ECP 583), these seats were upgraded with a new type of harness (an interim change), then they were replaced by the SJU-17 NACES II seat.

The old seat that this aircraft had at the time, had a harness that was different from the USN or USMC aircraft. American pilots wore a harness on their torsos that clipped into the seat. We had no torso harness, and the seat contained the straps. That is what I have represented here. The parachute risers (seen on the headrest) were a brownish khaki colour, and they formed the shoulder straps. The lap belts were a blue/grey colour, and the whole thing went together with two thigh straps that came up behind the ejection handle. Here you can see the straps and silver fasteners, with the overall black seat dry-brushed to show the highlights. I have tried to show some of the light blue leg garters (not moulded into the seat) by painting the seat cushion an approximation of that colour where the cushion would lie under the thighs.

Under this huge magnification, it's obvious I need to do a few touchups on the black; in real life it looks pretty good (especially to my aging eyes!).

Note that the ejection handle is cast in a spot at the bottom front of the seat. I have chopped it off, and will glue it in place soon. The base needs to be painted black, and the handle itself (the loop) is an orange colour with black stripes. The resin casting had some residue in the centre of the loop. I did not clean it up, because Canadian seats have a cloth backing behind the ejection seat loop, to prevent a pilot from locking his fingers through the handle and causing the seat to "stick" to him when it is time to separate from it post-ejection. The backing makes it impossible to hold the loop too tightly, and it will pull out of your hands when the seat pushes you out in the automated ejection sequence. American seats have yellow loops with black stripes, and no backing (the way the majority of AM seats are moulded).

And now (while we wait for the kit) for some motivation. Here is what young ALF looked like in about 1990, as photographed by aviation historian Larry Millberry. I am listening as one of my squadron mates spins a yarn about how awesome he is... don't ask me if I believed him. Those with keen eyes will note that I am sporting a 433 Squadron patch; that was my first CF-18 unit. The aircraft I am modelling belonged to 425; I was instructing in the CF-18 simulator at the time in 1994, and flew with both squadrons whenever I could.

Here is the unit that 751 belonged to in 1994, 425 Alouette Squadron. The Alouettes flew bombers during WW II (Wellington, Halifax, then Lancasters at the very end of the war). Post-war, they were equipped with the CF-100 interceptor (after a few years of disbandment), then the CF-101 Voodoo, and finally the CF-18.

ALF

[ALF18]

More about the configuration, and the plan for this build. In peacetime in Bagotville, we flew mostly a 2-tank configuration. Here you can see some 425 Sqn Hornets on deployment in Gulfport, Mississippi, where we brought 6 aircraft to do some Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) with some USAF F-16s from Springfield Illinois - and no, not the Springfield that Homer Simpson lives in. This was taken in 1995, in December I believe. Why Gulfport? Because it was far warmer than Bagotville in December!

Note that we flew with two tanks, an empty centreline pylon, and on the left wing here you see an Air Combat Maneouvring Instrumentation (ACMI) pod, with the other wing holding a Captive Aerial Training Missile (CATM) AIM-9M. In Bagotville, we never flew with ACMI pods, but almost always with CATMs. If you squint, you can see the blue CATM body at the very bottom edge of the picture; that is the CATM on my right wingtip as I take the picture from atop my aircraft.

Here is a shot of one of my friends doing a walkaround in a HAS in Lahr, Germany, on a 433 Squadron CF-18. The CATM is visible on the near wingtip, and you can see some interesting fuel and grease stains on the external wing tanks. What is surprising to many, though, is that the overall paint scheme was quite clean looking at the time. Our CF-18s in Europe were very heavily stained from the air pollution; the ones that flew in Canada did not get anywhere near as grimy. I will be doing 751 in very clean paint, given that it had been repainted freshly before the airshow season, and was kept super clean for the summer.

Here is another example of the clean paint scheme from back then. This picture was taken in about 1990, flying from Greenwood Nova Scotia over part of Prince Edward Island, on the way back to Bagotville. See the very subtle grime coming back from the leading edge flap actuators; this is hydraulic fluid leaking that mixes with some dirt to lightly stain the tops of the wings. In later years, our Hornets were VERY dirty, with heavy grime all over them.

ALF

[ALF18]

Here is a configuration that I will be using - almost. Under the outer pylons are hanging VERs (Vertical Ejector Racks) on each side, with a single 19-tube CRV-7 rocket launcher on each. I love those rockets. They can be fired from about 9,000 feet slant range (almost 2 statute miles) with deadly accuracy. They travel at about Mach 3, and their 10-lb warheads will pierce a lot of armour. Fire a pod of 19, and they make an oval pattern a few hundred feet long; they would mess up an armoured vehicle column pretty nicely. The 19 rockets ripple fire at an interval of about 1/10 of a second. This guy is doing a walkaround in Bagotville, prior to an academic range mission at Valcartier (an Army base near Quebec City) Quebec, about 90 nm South of our base (a leisurely 15 minute trip each way).

The load I will use is 4 rocket pods: two on each VER on the outboard wing stations. Note also that the CATM, contrary to the one in Baden a few years before, now has had its front guidance fins removed to reduce vibration on the seeker head in flight. It is essentially a blue tube with a green seeker at the front. The CATM could be carried on either wingtip, only one at a time usually.

So that's my configuration: 2 tanks, empty centreline pylon, 4 rocket pods, and a wingtip CATM. I found the rocket pods in the Kinetic F-5A kit that I was fondling today, while waiting for my Hornet kit to arrive.

Here's a guy coming back from the range, having jetissonned his rocket pods, but retaining the VERs. You can just make out the CATM on the left wingtip.

For those who are interested, here is what the left DDI looks like with a 19-rocket pod mounted on each outboard station, engines running (to have AC electrical power available to power the displays), and the Stores Management System (SMS) format selected.

The rocket pods came up (default setting) as single shots; we selected SALVO to ripple fire them, and they are showing Unlocked (meaning the suspension hooks are unlocked on ground, a normal situation). Flying a modern fighter is very easy; operating the systems and understanding what the magic is telling you takes a lot of practice and a considerable number of brain cells (one is very task-saturated in training and/or combat).

I took this in the back seat of a dual when we went down to shoot some rockets (the only time I had time to take pictures prior to digital cameras being available, and the only time it was safe to take pics as well).

ALF

[Peter W]

Great back story to this build ALF. I've been trying to convince myself to go the extra mile and represent the different harness configuration on my build too, although at the moment it's 50-50 and I guess it will depend on my mood come the time to do it. I almost bought a sheet of these decals too but, for now, I have way more decals than Hornets so common sense prevailed.

Pete

[Barneydhc82]

ALF: You are one prolific modeller! I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished..after I get my eyeball overhaulled next week.

Nothing like a great colourful paint scheme

Barney

[ALF18]

ALF: You are one prolific modeller! I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished..after I get my eyeball overhaulled next week.

Nothing like a great colourful paint scheme

Barney

Thanks Barney - nice to see you here too.

Funny coincidence - that scheme of yours is one tail number away from the one represented on the Hasegawa box I just got in the mail today (718, the 75th anniversary of the RCAF scheme).

ALF

Edited July 10, 2013 by ALF18

[Barneydhc82]

ALF: You mean this one????

Barney

[ALF18]

That would be it. Are those the kit decals? Are they any good? I don't plan to use the kit decals, but if they are good, I might offer them up to anyone who wants them.

ALF

[Barneydhc82]

The decals are by Leading Edge and they were very good..no problems applying them at all. I still have the kit decals in the spares box.

Barney http://www.barneysairforce.com

[ALF18]

The kit arrived!

My good friend Mike, true to his word, popped it promptly in the mail last week, and I got it a couple days ago. Here is the kit:

It comes with the decals shown here, for the demo version of the RCAF's 75th anniversary. At a quick glance, the decals look OK, but on closer examination I find that the light blue has a bit of a greenish tinge that looks off. They will go into my spares box as well.

This kit is notorious for having a broken part on delivery. Thankfully, I got one that was NOT broken. Look at the right wingtip; I'm sure many people here on Britmodeller have received this kit with the right wingtip sprue missing (not just broken off, but actually missing from the sealed bag). The little part that sticks out forward of the wing, and inboard of the wingtip missile rail, is often broken off on this kit. The last 2 I have built had this problem, and I had to scratch-build replacement parts. Not this time.

This boxing comes with the usual PE fret of detail parts, plus a bonus of metal landing gear parts.

ALF

[ALF18]

It took me a couple days to get this one truly started. Not because I didn't care, and certainly not because I didn't appreciate how quickly Mike sent me the kit. It turns out I have had a few very busy days, including a quick overnight trip to Quebec City (a 2-hour drive South of here) to see Rush play in concert on the Plains of Abraham. It was a great show, by a trio of old pros that I first saw in Kingston Ontario in a small hockey arena while I attended the Royal Military College, way back in 1978. They played their music flawlessly, and although they claimed to be old now, it didn't show.

I find that doing the cockpit in this scale is tougher than in 1/32. I wanted to try something a bit different this time when it came to the little grey buttons around the DDIs (Digital Display Indicators).

First step - paint the major areas black. Note that there is absolutely no detail (raised or otherwise) where the buttons should go.

If you look at the display earlier in this thread, you can count 5 buttons per side (20 total) around the DDI. Trying to make 20 tiny dabs of light grey paint would be completely impossible for me. This build, I decided to gently scrape off some of the black paint with the tip on an Exacto blade, making a facsimile of buttons. I used a magnifying glass with a light, but found I had absolutely no depth perception while doing it. Here's what it looks like on the (incredibly dusty!) magnifying glass, out of focus...

When shot with a normal magnification, it looks relatively convincing. Note that there are not really 5 buttons per side; some have only 3, and some have 4, but the effect is fairly good. Have you ever REALLY looked at the hands of cartoon characters? Typically, they will have 3 (and not 4) fingers and a thumb... that's what I claim - artistic license!

I then took some Tamiya clear acrylic paint, and carefully filled in on top of the black backgrounds, to give the impression of a deep green display that is shut off.

Now, to watch some "telly" (TV for me) with SWMBO. More soon.

Thanks for dropping by!

ALF

[wellzy]

Looks very good to me Alf nice one

Les

[Peter W]

Pretty effective way of simulating the buttons Alf and I know what you mean about depth perception when using the magnifying glass. The amount of times that I completely miss the part I'm aiming paint at is amazing. Alas with age comes a decline in vision and these become essential for the small parts, so I'll struggle on.

Pete

[ALF18]

The cockpit is nearly done, with the exception of the seat and a few minor touch-ups (on the left in this pic).

I have built this kit several times, and I find myself a bit impatient to get on with things. The wings and upper fuselage go together quickly here.

For the CF-18, like all A/B model F/A-18s, the ECM blister location on the right of this picture should not be there.

Out of focus, but believe me, it's gone...

Here's something that's not in the instructions. The box might have Canadian art on it, but the instructions are for an "F-18A USN", and no mention is made of the CF-18 differences. The little round hole here needs to be cut out, to make room for the transparent cover of the ID (identification) light. It's hard to do a good job on a perfect circle, with my tools anyway.

The window has been installed. Luckily the transparent parts sprue always contains it.

ALF

[ALF18]

I rummaged around in the box, and examined all the sprues, looking in vain for a part that was supposed to represent the box for the lens of the ID light. On the real thing, the lens is contained in a little metal box, painted white, that is visible through the window from outside.

Innovation time. I don't have a hobby shop nearby, so I don't have easy access to plastic card stock. Looking over all the parts, I found one that might do the job - 2/3 of the kit seat. I chopped off the headrest, and glued the lens into place. The lens is the larger one of the kit's lens parts (the other lens is used for the landing/taxi light). I glued the lens in on a slight angle forward and up, relative to the window. On the real thing, this ID light is angled 70 degrees left of the nose, and 5 degrees above the longitudinal axis of the aircraft (waterline).

When one uses this light, it is usually in poor weather at night. A stern conversion is flown with the radar, ending up about 1 nm (6,000 feet) behind the bogey (unidentified aircraft), 5 degrees below it, in trail. Using the radar, one advances to 1,000 feet astern, then slowly edges out to the right side, maintaining 1,000 feet slant range and 5 degrees low, but moving to about 65 degrees off the bogey's tail (imagine a very loose echelon position). This is close to the left hand edge of the radar display, and is a bit hard to fly to (needs lots of practice to get it consistently right).

Once established at the right point, the pilot uses his left pinkie finger to flick the ID light switch forward (ON). The switch is on the left (outboard) side of the left-hand throttle. In cloud, or limited visibility, it will just make a bright column of light, but hopefully the cloud is thin enough (or we're not in cloud) to see the bogey. A small amount of jostling with stick and rudder, and the light can be aimed precisely at the target. When he is well illuminated, and NORAD gives permission, the fighter can then move in if required to see more detail, or be content with the amount that can be seen at 1,000 feet. The light is quite bright, and it is sufficient to read the tiny tail numbers below the Canadian flag on a CF-18 from that range on the blackest of moonless nights.

With the advent of Night Vision Goggles, this is less necessary, but the light can still be useful. Here is the light and its casing installed.

The side walls were then installed. It's hard to get the intake areas to be smooth and seamless, but generally things go together nicely here.

Here I have installed one of the little triangular plates that go under the boundary layer splitter (near side). This tiny spacer part has been eaten numerous times by the carpet monster on some of my other builds, but I'm getting better at this one. The technique I use now is to pick it up with tweezers, and dip one end into the glue splotch you can see on the plastic bag in the background. That end gets attached to the hole in the fuselage, and the little part sticks out at about this angle. When I install the splitter plate, I dab some more glue on the protruding end of the part, and seat the splitter in place. On the real thing, there are inlets for heat exchangers at the front of the triangular part. The big Academy kit actually has some of those well represented.

One thing I forgot to mention (but I didn't forget to do, thankfully!) was that I punched holes out for the 2 pylons per wing, the centreline pylon, and the little hole on the left lower forward fuselage for the boarding ladder attachment point.

I glued together the nose section, and had to select the part for the forward RWR (Radar Warning Receiver) antenna. The ALR-67 RWR installed on the original (pre-upgrade) CF-18s had 2 antennae on either side of the nose (little bulges on the sides just aft of the radome), and two on the vertical tails (the two lower bulges). The underside of the nose had what I call a "cow's udder" antenna, covering another part of the spectrum which I can't explain any further without getting into potentially classified information.

On Canadian airshow aircraft from this era, the RWR were removed, since we didn't have enough kits to equip the entire fleet at the time, and it was useless to have an RWR in a non-tactical aircraft reserved for airshows all summer. 751, after the show season, retained its fancy paint job, but was equipped with the RWR, the chaff/flare dispensers (ALE-39), jammers (ALQ-126B and ALQ-162 in a wing pylon sometimes), as well as the ID light.

For this reason, I chose the part on the right in this picture. If you wish to do an airshow jet from years back, choose the left-hand part, and chop off the little tit that sticks out.

It's taking shape now. Always looks strange without flaps and ailerons.

ALF