Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 I am going to add another Horent to the list, I am using the very average Idea knockoff of the Italeri kit (why do I do this to myself with plenty of Academy and Hasegawa kits to use!) Plenty of decal options Not sure of the squadron yet I started with the front end, I will throw a couple of Nucks in there so not much to detail. the back end was also assembled The fuselage will need some putty so it does The transparencies aren't very All the more for not doing much in the cockpit The fuel tanks were assembled and looked a bit on the thin side, so I compared them to a set of Hasegawa tanks and my suspicions were confirmed I also compared the Hasegawa tanks to some form an Italeri sprue and they looked OK time to let the putty set! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 Some minor corrections, the kit has the dogs tooth in the leading edge which was removed on production aircraft. The horizontal stabs on the preproduction jets also had a dogs tooth but this kit has the production stabs on it, so no mods required there. Removed Another mod was the launch bar on the nose gear. It was removed on RAAF Hornets only to be refitted (or a form of it) later in life due to nose shimmy problems. I only remembered that as when I was removing the gear leg off the sprue runner the launch bar broke off. So all I have to do is clean up the stub I also added did some sanding and added the intakes and intake weapons mount and finally the vertical stabs were installed 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Great to see another RAAF Hornet underway Ray, and a 2 seater at that, for some reason I'm drawn to the 2 seat versions of modern combat aircraft. I wasn't aware of this brand before, and to be honest I don't think I'll be searching for them based on what I've seen here. Not your work I hasten to add Ray as your work is very good and extremely fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 Cheers Craig, There is not much to this kit, so it is going together quickly. I am not worrying about a lot of missing details either. Idea is (was?) a Korean company that is renown for knocking off other manufacturers kits. They change the moulds just enough from the originals and are very basic and usually a poor fit. The only descent Idea kit I am aware of is the 1/72 DHC-4 Caribou which was not a copy, but a straight use of the original Hobbycraft moulds. Some of their copies include stuff from Italeri, Hasegawa and Fujimi. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Thanks for that Ray, I hadn't heard of them before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marevic1 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Nice work so far. You can never have too many RAAF hornets 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT7567 Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 On 9/24/2019 at 3:33 AM, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: The fuel tanks were assembled and looked a bit on the thin side, so I compared them to a set of Hasegawa tanks and my suspicions were confirmed I also compared the Hasegawa tanks to some form an Italeri sprue and they looked OK time to let the putty set! It looks like the external tanks you have from the Idea kit are the more elliptical prototype/early production style. To the best of my knowledge these were unique to the preliminary test birds and never used by any operational units - certainly not export customers, anyway. Not too many kits have this style tank so you might want to hold onto them if you ever want to build an early test bird (not sure how far off it may be but Caracal has announced plans to do an "early Hornets" decal set, similar to the F-15 set they recently released). You're probably already aware but another area to check prototype vs service design of your kit is the "slots" between the forward fuselage and the wing leading edge root extensions (LERX). On the early airframes this was a long gap, but for aerodynamic reasons the production design was altered so only a short slot remains, above the main engine intakes. Also in the LERX area, small trapezoidal fences were added to all A/B Hornets a few years into service. My understanding is these basically act as vortex generators to alter airflow that was otherwise creating stress cracks in the vertical tails. I believe Australia, Camada, and Spain all operated Hornets for some time before the fences were added, so you have to check references for a specific timeframe to confirm if they were installed yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 Cheers CT, Thanks for the info on the tanks, I was aware that they changed for production aircraft. I think the early Hasegawa kits has the elliptical tanks, these look to slim to be anything like Hornet tanks. The kit does have the LERX slots which I discovered when test fitting the forward fuselage to the rear, they will be fill with some card in due course. I am building this one before the LEX fences were installed, the RAAF began fitting them in 1989. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 A test fit shows the slots and after some gluing and painting of the cockpit, the forward fuselage is not glued on yet, Some plastic strip was used to fill the gaps leaving some of the rear slot open and with the forward fuselage glued after sanding down the excess plastic strip. I also found some instrument panel and console decals in the spares box to spruce up the cockpit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 Excellent progress Ray, good job on filling those gaps, a great improvement on the kit parts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 I was not sure how to handle the frosted clear parts, I had thought about sanding and polishing with micromesh which would have been a chore. Then I thought I might dip the bits in Future and this was the result. Futured twin canopy on the left, untouched single on the right. So I saved myself a lot of work. On with some more assembly, pylons and Hasegawa fuel tanks attached Gear doors were next, as per the kit and separated and then attached cockpit done, I used panel decals from the spares box, installed the seats and columns. The idea of putting a crew in did not work out. All the pilots I had were too bulky to fit into the front cockpit. and the canopy installed Finally I went looking for the tail hook and it needs some work, Hasegawa hook (top), supplied below. Time for a little more scratch building 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 And now primed in the lower grey colour, some filling to go on with it seems 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 That is a fantastic job on the canopy Ray, I'm surprised by how much of a difference dipping the canopy made and very pleased that it has saved you a lot of work. She really is looking very good now, amazing work from a very basic kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 Cheers Craig, I seem to get move fulfilment from these basic builds lately. I get to see results faster. I noticed that step in the winscreen/canpoy after taking the pictures. Not sure if I will do anything about it. Next step is to decide on a tail number and SQN markings, 2OCU, 3SQN (though we already have a 2SQN jet on the books) or 77SQN. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share Posted October 15, 2019 Upper grey is on, waiting for the paint to set before starting to mask up the filly bits. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 Some painting done, starting to get to the fiddly bits 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Very nice and smooth job on the paint Ray, should make a nice base for the decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 The wheels are on along with some pitot probes and scratch built blade antennas I also made a start on fixing up the hook I then removed the maskin in prep for some decalling and found this Fortunately I am using acrylics so out with a cotton bud and some alcohol and a quick rub and presto! Then I started to add the red canopy frame surrounds that adorned the RAAF twin seaters early in their life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 Thats the good thing about using acrylics Ray, our mistakes are relatively easily rectified, speaks the man who has had exactly the same thing happen to him. I really like the red canopy framing, it stands out a treat against the grey camouflage. Your arrestor hook is going to look light years ahead of the blob supplied in the kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 And decalling started, still have some paintwork to go on with but could not resist I still have to dig up some slime light decals and then realised the sheet I was using had not data markings, so into the stash to find a sheet. It is pretty old, hope it performs OK 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 You have been busy haven't you! Good job on the decals, yet more colour against grey and I like it. I hope your stencil sheet works okay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 I did not make the deadline but it is almost done, just a few touch ups to do and a final flat coat. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 She looks excellent Ray, a real shame you didn't make the gallery in time, especially considering the kit you had to work with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted November 14, 2019 Author Share Posted November 14, 2019 And finally finished 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 Looks great Ray Good to see it finished Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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