Serkan Sen Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Hi friends, Here is another rehabilitation build of an old and broken model... Several years ago I got two built and incomplete Hornets from eBay to use them as donors. But they were forgotten in basement for a long time until last month I have found them again during clean out action. As I was planning to build one of the VMFA(AW)-224 F/A-18D with the attractive tiger strips since long time, I have decided to restore the twin seater one as BuNo:164878. In parallel I am building a F-15C with black tiger strips which is very close to RFI. As usual I will print my own decals. The main challenge with this Hornet will be printing decals in grey. I have some ideas to do this. We will see... Serkan 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 Here is the old kit (or the remaining parts from it) to be restored: The first step is to strip the old paint off. Serkan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 To remove at least 10 years old paint I used oven cleaner spray foam. I have placed the tiny parts in a container as a layer and applied single coat of spray foam. Between each foam coat I have placed another layer of remaining parts and a final pass to cover all the parts with foam. Similarly the fuselage was placed in a nylon bag and the spray was applied on all surfaces. I let the foam to soften/remove the paint layers for 6 hours. Serkan 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) 6 hours later using an old toothbrush I have wiped off the oven cleaner and paint rest and rinsed. The oven cleaner removed the old paint amazingly even after its first application. Only at few areas some paint spots remained. Spraying a second light coat of oven cleaner only to those areas will remove the remaining paint spots. The beutiness of this method is that the oven cleaner is very aggressive to enamel paint but it doesn't give any harm to clear parts. However the dark and gloss colours are much more resistant to oven cleaner. Serkan Edited August 30, 2019 by Serkan Sen 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 The 3 view drawings as well as the decal artwork took a bit time especially due to lack of enough reference pictures. Here are the initial drawings with my best guesstimate 🙂 Next step is to prepare initial decals for testing. Serkan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 Now the test decal is ready: As usual I have used Regupac RCS 2 masking paper to test the decals: Next step is to place decals and make necessary corrections of undersized camouflage patterns mainly due to 2D/3D mapping. Serkan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benson Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Looking forward to seeing this one built! Always like a 🐯 , but a two seat F-18!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) Here is the old model all the paints removed: Ok, lets start to place markings After couple of hours the task was finally completed: Several pictures from various views: To be continued 🙂 Serkan Edited September 4, 2019 by Serkan Sen 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 Here are the side and top views: Next step is to correct/extend the camo patterns mainly on wing strakes (LERX). Serkan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornet Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 On 30/08/2019 at 20:10, Serkan Sen said: The beutiness of this method is that the oven cleaner is very aggressive to enamel paint but it doesn't give any harm to clear parts. This is exactly what I was looking for... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornet Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 On 30/08/2019 at 00:06, Serkan Sen said: As I was planning to build one of the VMFA(AW)-224 F/A-18D with the attractive tiger strips since long time, I have decided to restore the twin seater one as BuNo:164878. Very attractive scheme. I will follow with great interest. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Super job, amazing transformation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Hornet said: This is exactly what I was looking for... I have tried different methods in the past but to me oven cleaner is the best and cleanest one. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 43 minutes ago, Parabat said: Super job, amazing transformation. Thanks, The most challenging part will be printing the decals in gray... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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