nimrod54 Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 This mini-diorama is my first entry for this GB and I thought what better title than the one on the box. Yes I know it shows a lack of imagination, but - having celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago - life is too short and getting shorter. Here are the photos of the box and its packed contents. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr The aircraft parts, but no crew figures are included so I will have to rummage through my N gauge figures for something suitable. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr And here are the main deck parts, vehicles and crew along with decals, canopy and a small etch fret. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr With involvement in several group builds, it is going to be a busy few months and there will be some inevitable prioritisation so I thank you in advance for your patience. I hope that this is going to be fun. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Seems crazy that you get deck crew but no fly boys. Will be following with interest dude. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Welcome aboard John, she's and nice looking model, but I agree it does seem strange that you don't get figures to go with her! The first diorama, great to see, I do hope there are more. Good luck with the build and hunt for figure, I look forward to seeing her in the gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 4 hours ago, nimrod54 said: The aircraft parts, but no crew figures are included so I will have to rummage through my N gauge figures for something suitable. Hi John, That's a nice choice for the GB. I have some figures which will go with your diorama, send me a pm with your details and I'll get them off to you. I owe you for the LRMTS for my Tornado kit. Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 That's very kind of you Mike, I'll get a PM off to you shortly. Thanks a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 These are 1:144 scale and should go with your flight deck scene. I'll put them in the post on Monday. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 An excellent choice John Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Having watched quite a few videos of Hornet carrier launches it soon became obvious that some serious work to the wings would be required. The videos showed that any flying control surface that could be angled was, and to that end I set about removing the flaps, ailerons and leading edge slats from the wings and rudders from the tails. Just as a reminder, this is what I started with, by John L, on Flickr and here is what I have after modifying the parts. by John L, on Flickr I still have to round off the leading edges of all these surfaces, I can then push on with the rest of the aircraft assembly. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Looks like a Hornet jigsaw. Hope you have fed the carpet monster recently, as some of those bits look perfect snack size morsels 🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Well done for tackling the flaps etc., John. I guess it's an issue that many of us should be facing up to (but aren't ). Cliff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 (edited) Your Hornet dissection will certainly improve the look of the finished model. Cheers, Peter Edited March 25, 2018 by Basilisk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 wow nice work John, it actually looks quite nice like that.....if you get what i mean, but nice work in that scale. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 25, 2018 Author Share Posted March 25, 2018 Managed a bit more work today. I assembled the intakes and lower fuselage parts and added some Liquid Gravity into the nose. I then made a start on repositioning some of the parts that I removed yesterday. I wanted to keep the gaps at the edges looking to scale and my solution was to file a v-groove in the deflected part and undercut the back edge of the attachment point. Using the rudder as an example, the undercuts were on the inner faces of the tailplanes and this allowed me to keep a tight join along the outer face. I've completed the leading edge slats and rudders using this method so far, it is a bit of a basic approach, but works OK at this scale. I will fix the flaps and ailerons in position once after final assembly and clean up of the lower and upper fuselage sections. The final job for today was to prime the cockpit and engine parts ready for painting prior to their assembly in the lower fuselage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Are the wings in one single piece with top and bottom ? If so reproducing the flaps is going to be a complicated affair... the flaps on the Super Hornet have different chord on top and bottom and on the top there's a cover that itself pivots down a few degrees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Yes Giorgio, the top and bottom surfaces are moulded as a single piece. I made the cut along the hinge points underneath, I have decided to use poetic licence when it comes to modelling the upper surface shrouds and keep things in that area simple, the parts are small enough in this scale without me over complicating them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Makes sense John, afterall a 1/144 F-18 is a small thing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Looking good dude. I’m pleased to see the required gluey finger print has made an appearance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted March 28, 2018 Author Share Posted March 28, 2018 6 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said: I’m pleased to see the required gluey finger print has made an appearance Well, at least I am managing to miss the canopies now. Won't be much done today. I am off to the hospital shortly for my regular eight-week boost, so the joints will be functioning better after that. I'll be able to increase my speed to this level then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted April 2, 2018 Author Share Posted April 2, 2018 Here's another mini update. Because there is no aircrew included in this boxing I set about remodelling a couple of Noch 'N' gauge seated railway passengers using some canopy glue to shape the helmets. I primed them using some satin black and they have been painted using a variety of Humbrol and Citadel colours. These were then added to the cockpit assembly, with the rear figure having to lose his legs to get him to fit, before the whole assembly was fixed into the lower half of the fuselage. I then joined the upper and lower fuselage/wing halves, but because of a slight distortion in the upper half I started the gluing process from the rear and gradually worked my way towards the front. There is a small amount of filling and clean up to do, and I think that the figures should look fine when they are under the canopy. Here are a few photos of this stage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 those guys look great!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted April 2, 2018 Author Share Posted April 2, 2018 1 hour ago, trickyrich said: those guys look great!! Thanks Rich, they look alright as 1/144 crew - but pretty ropey when you enlarge them in a photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Is that the front panel or windscreen in front of the pilot? If it is the IP, how do the pilots see where they are going? Those aircrew figures look great, what figures did you use for them? Could be a WiP on its own, how to make seated aircrew. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Loving those “crew” dude, the 144 glasses are working well. 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted April 3, 2018 Author Share Posted April 3, 2018 3 hours ago, bootneck said: Is that the front panel or windscreen in from of the pilot? If it is the IP, how does the pilot see where they are going? Those aircrew figures look great, what figures did you use for them? Could be a WiP on its own, how to make seated aircrew. Mike Yes Mike that is the IP coaming, there is something not quite right with kit in this area because the instrument panel is sat deep inside this. Comparing it against the Revell 18-D 'Wild Weasel' version the coaming is also shorter in length and lower in height. I will take some photos for the next update, but it's obvious that I will have to do some work to reduce the height and at least give the pilot a fighting chance of seeing where he is heading. Of course it could be the scale of the 'N' gauge figures that I have used perhaps Captain Shorthouse needs a booster cushion. For the figures I have used some seated railway passengers from this set of Noch figures. And the two candidates are in the centre of these two photos After a bit of reshaping to remove any paraphernalia not applicable to aircrew, I filled areas on the front of the figures with Citadel's Liquid Green Stuff to disguise their clothing - trying to making it look more like a flying suit. I then applied a couple of small drops of Deluxe Materials Glue 'n' Glaze to the heads to shape the helmets, Microscale Kristal Klear could also be used for this. Once everything had dried they were primed with black paint, I used a satin finish because I had that to hand and they were then painted with a mix of Humbrol enamels and Citadel acrylics. Finally I applied a gloss finish to the helmet and visor One disadvantage of using railway figures is that you are limited to the number of prospective candidates suitable for pilots, so you may feel that this is an expensive way to go - but I guess that once you had made one then resin copies could be made. However, being passengers, there are numerous opportunities for use in 1/144 airliner builds. 3 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said: Loving those “crew” dude, the 144 glasses are working well. 😂 Cheers bud, and just to show that they are not as ropey as I first thought, I have given them a quick brush off and then re-photographed. by John L, on Flickr I still have to do something about that damn coaming though. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 I have the same kit but, not having built it yet, hadn't noticed that front area until now. Your box-art image in the first post shows a good representation of how that should look. I'll do some whittling on mine before I assemble it. Thanks for posting these photo's, not just for the excellent progress you are makings, but also for it raising the interest in the coaming. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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