F/A-18F Super Hornet - 1/72

[Thom216]

Alright, my first time building a jet in like forever! Or at least, not one that was not sci fi...🤔

 

Anyway, this is a build for a coworker's uncle, due for Christmas. I was looking for the Revell F-model super bug, but those were either prohibitively expensive or not available. Another option was the Hasegawa kit, but that lacks cockpit detail, made up for with decals, and very short intake trunking. The Academy kit falls between the two in my estimation, and from the pics I've seen turns into a very fine looking model of the subject.

 

Here are some obligatory box art and pics. The box art is really attractive!

 

Sprue shots, I like the wings and body already being together. One less long join to worry about.

 

 

As for external detail, I'm no expert, but this looks mice and refined. I'm going to have to light on the paint! It should look good with a light wash too.

 

 

Here's the cockpit with its nice detailing. There are some decals for it, but mostly it'll be up to some careful painting to pick things out.

 

 

Here's one of the seats. I have some PE coming for it, including belts to dress it up some.

 

 

Don't know how well they can be seen. but there is some nice rivet detail along the rim of the canopy. It does have a seam down the middle to be sanded away, but that shouldn't take too long.

I'm going to keep it wrapped until it's needed, at which point it will be secured in the down and locked position.

 

 

Bottoms of the wings here and the elevators. The elevators will need a little work, seeing as they are intended to sit neutral, and I'm going to want to droop them at the back.

 

 

Then we have the belly and the gear bays. The bays themselves look nice. They could use a little more wire and piping detail, but otherwise nice.

Except for the mounting holes for the gear doors. Those are ugly. I'll see what I can do about them.

 

 

Then we come to the multi-colored parts. There are two sets of fins, a pair in gray for a common squadron mount and ones in black for the more colorful of the livery. I'll be using the black, more because the detail is a little sharper on them than on the gray ones. Also the intake trunking and gear and main gear bays.

 

 

Next is the ordnance, which could be better. If I was building for myself I'd probably source from another kit, especially with those blocky pegs. I may cut those off and fill the mounting holes and just pin the lot.

 

 

Last up are the decals. Not the stickers. Won't be using no stinking stickers! As to the much preferred decals, they look nice! I can't wait to get those on!

 

 

Well, that's all the parts. Depending on how this one goes, I may buy another one for myself...

 

All that's left is to start, and despite where the instructions say to, I'm beginning with the flaps!

 

 

Those and the slats are going to be cut away and dropped, and I figure it is easier to get the major surgery out of the way first before tossing it all back together again.

 

And that's it for now. I'll continue cutting away the plastic tomorrow and probably in the evening, and hopefully get those separated in short order.

 

Until then, model on!

 

Thom

 

https://imgur.com/a/yxeDAfC

 

Edited November 21, 2019 by Thom216

[billn53]

Beware the decals (and I don’t mean the stickers). The ones in Academy’s F-4J I built were practically useless. Thick and wouldn’t conform to curves. I don’t have direct knowledge of the kit you’re building, but both it and the F-4J have multi-color parts and the decal + sticker option, so I assume the decals are similar (low) quality. 

[Thom216]

Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep on the look-out for trouble from them. If so, I have a few after market decals sets for the Jolly Rogers from which to pilfer from.😁

[Thom216]

Been a bit but here an update. In the previous pic I had the pin deepening the pane line I needed to cut through. Once that was firmly established I moved onto the exacto blade and steady cut away at the flaps until they popped off!

 

 

I also had to cut away some flap material for the underside of the wing that was on a separate part.

 

Academy did me no favors there, but once dry I'll eliminate the seam line to create one part.

 

With those drying, I moved onto the slats, suing a combo of pin/blade and Tamiya PE saw.

 

Started at the shoulder join and then along the seam line down to just short of the wing tip, ending at the missile rail.

 

And as she sits now, all parts parted and awaiting clean up and reattachment in their drooped arrangements!

I'm sure I'll have to add some styrene to the tops of the flaps leading edge, but that should prove no biggie.

 

Now I can finally get to some construction! 😁

 

Model on!

 

Thom

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good so far, will you be going with the VFA-103 markings then ? 

[Thom216]

31 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looking good so far, will you be going with the VFA-103 markings then ? 

Yes, staying with the kits. My coworker didn't specify a squadron, and I really like them Bones!

I think a lot of that has to do with Skull Squadron from Macross (or Robotech when I watched it as a kid!) That and seeing the old Tomcats with the skull and crossbones,

Edited October 29, 2019 by Thom216

[Thom216]

A little update this morning.

 

Last night I glued the two pieces of the flaps together, the leading edge cut from the underside parts B-12 and -13 to the parts cut from A-1. The join was then coated with CA and sanded smooth.

 

And then I started profiling the segments of the upper flap area. The long, thin section that runs two/thirds the length of the wing just before the main flaps.

 

Still have the other side to do as well as fill in the leading edges of the main flaps.

 

Model on!

 

Thom

 

 

 

[Thom216]

Not too much done today. I started to add some styrene to the main flaps. Cutting them away from the wings opened up a big gap on their upper leading edge which will now be seen with them lowered. I glued some plastic matching the edges, with a little extra sticking up. Once done adding plastic I'll lay some CA over the join and sand that smooth.

 

Top

 

Bottom.

 

And after they had been cut to size another piece each was added for the upward bend closer to the fuselage.

 

 

Those will be trimmed and then all sanded to a smooth finish and profiled to help with a neater, tighter look when this is all glued back to the wing.

 

The same was also done to the flaps on the outer folding wing sections. Once cut away from the wing they came up a bit short in depth. Those will be trimmed up, another section added to the opposite side and then sanded flush.

 

 

And that's it for now. Keep on modelling!

 

Thom

 

 

[billn53]

Watching your flap work carefully, for future reference. Looking good so far. 

[Thom216]

51 minutes ago, billn53 said:

Watching your flap work carefully, for future reference. Looking good so far. 

Thank you! I've got a lot of pics from the net to show how they should look drooped, but I'm still waiting for someone more in 'the know' to tell me I've done something off...😅

[Thom216]

Alright, except for pinning, I think the flaps are finished. Styrene added, join filled with CA and shaped and thinned. (May get a little more thinning...)

 

Inner flap,

 

Outer flap,

 

In their respective positions,

 

Next up is shaping the airfoil covers, seen above taped to the wing. Their overall shape is good, but they will be thinned up a little more, and there is a gap at the front that'll need to be addressed, as seen below.

 

Naturally that will be handled by adding material and sanding it to shape. I want to get as tight a fit as possible there.

 

Thanks for clicking, and hopefully more updates tomorrow afternoon. Model on!

 

Thom

Edited November 2, 2019 by Thom216

[opus999]

Wow!  Looking great!  I love the work on the flaps.  I'm watching this with interest because I've got my eye on Academy's F-18C that I want to use some Hasegawa decals on (VMFA-232 Red Devils).  I used the Hasegawa kit for my CF-188 build, and frankly, I don't really want to build another Hasagawa F-18. 

 

I realize this is a super bug, but I figure the quality and "build-ability" should be similar.

[Thom216]

Yikes!!

Edited November 3, 2019 by Thom216

[Thom216]

20 hours ago, opus999 said:

Wow!  Looking great!  I love the work on the flaps.  I'm watching this with interest because I've got my eye on Academy's F-18C that I want to use some Hasegawa decals on (VMFA-232 Red Devils).  I used the Hasegawa kit for my CF-188 build, and frankly, I don't really want to build another Hasagawa F-18. 

 

I realize this is a super bug, but I figure the quality and "build-ability" should be similar.

There is a resin flaps/slat option for the Hasegawa bugs. Don't know if they are super or not, but it replaces the entire wing assembly. I had thought about possibly using that on the next Academy SuperB, or even just the flaps as they are already formed there. For myself I wouldn't mind spending the money! With this kit though I'm right at the budget threshold.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Thom216

[Thom216]

And now time for an airfoil update! "That Gap Has Got to Go!!"

 

First up, scrap styrene! Some thin slivers were cut to size and offered up to the leading edge of the airfoil where it tucks into the corner. I made sure to cover the entire frontal arc seeing as the airfoil is going to be lowered at the back and thus rotating the front upward.

 

 

That then was sanded on the leading edge so that it sits flush against the trailing edge. Once that looked good, CA was added to the top side to raise the material to meet once again with the outer 'skin' of the fuselage, and that then was sanded as well.

 

A test fit in place shows a much improved join once again with the wing!

 

 

Now to do that with the other side!

 

Model on!

 

Thom

[Hook]

Nice flap tutorial!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Thom216]

On 11/3/2019 at 4:49 AM, Hook said:

Nice flap tutorial!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Thank you! Truly, just making this up as I go along!😁

 

Another update on the flaps. A milestone was reached today. But first...

 

I took the hand drill and drilled some holes for the mounting pins. Figured the best place was with the most plastic, which just happens to be the flap actuator housings.

 

 

Then I took some trusty pins, bent them at 40 degrees and cut them with the dremel cutting wheel.

 

 

And then a test to wing...

 

 

Now, I admit,. I was at first 'uh oh,' thinking there as way to much gappage going on.

 

Then I added the airfoils...

 

 

And was very relieved! The airfoils are dong there thing, which is to cover the turbulent space from the airflow, which in this instance is also concealing that gap! Whew!

 

Next up was to do the same to the port flap and its airfoil.

 

 

I'll need to take some material off of the front edge of the port flap, as that is keeping the airfoil from seating as fully as the starboard side, but a little sanding should fix that. I'll also need to take some material off the inner edges of the flaps, as they are now a little too close to the fuselage. I'll be sanding those down a bit and maybe adding a sliver of plastic to the outer edge. Figure that will be easier than removing the pins and redrilling!

 

The outer wing flaps will not be pinned, as the plastic is quite thin and I don't trust myself to not break through it, but I think there'll be enough gluing surface to keep them solid. Now I have to close up that gap in the fuse, finish angling the slats, and finally move onto the cockpit! The PE for the seats finally arrived today, so just in time!

 

Until the next update, model on!

 

Thom

Edited November 4, 2019 by Thom216

[Thom216]

A little work on the slats. To get their drooped angle all I had to do was reprofile their rear edge, angling so they will sit leading edge down.

 

 

Can't tell much from these pics, so here they are side by side. The one on the left has not been reprofiled, whereas you can see the lean now on the right one..

 

 

And both of those are done now! I'll wait until just before paint before I glue them and the slats on. They all need a slight more fiddling, but are more then done enough to move onto the cockpit gear bays!

 

Model on!

 

Thom.

Edited November 5, 2019 by Thom216

[Thom216]

So, moving on from flaps and slats, I'm back to following the kit instructions which have me at the main gear bays.

 

 

It's not bad 'as is' if you just want to throw it together, but I wanted to busy this one up a bit. Don't expect exact adherence to reality as I am going for just a general 'busy' look.

Some electrical wire from old ear buds, lead wire and scrap plastic helped in that.

 

 

With that set aside, I moved to the gear openings with their square/obnoxious locating holes. I hit them with a sanding file just to knock them down so they aren't so apparent should someone look underneath. About half are done in this pic with the rest finished soon after.

 

 

Then of course while I had that piece in hand, I checked out the intake lip, and found it a bit messy...😒

 

 

So I hit that with a sanding stick as well and smoothed it out.

 

 

Also took a look at the nose gear bay to see if I could add anything to that. Unfortunately everything is so tight in there, I'm afraid of fowling up the gear leg when it goes in, or getting too deep into tearing things apart, so I'll probably leave that as is.

 

 

And while I had that piece out, I just happened to test the fit with the nose cone and found the sides were too narrow. I made a sprue-spreader to open it a bit, and when tested again had a much better join. No step needed no filler or sanding!

 

 

And last for tonight, the intake trunking was glued together.

 

 

Still need to the fans to be painted and added, and the inner trunking masked to keep it white when the painting time comes along.

 

But progress being made! I was hoping to get off the flaps/slats today and i can say that was a job accomplished!

 

Onto more tomorrow! Model on!

 

Thom

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Thom216

[billn53]

Superb work on the flaps, I’m terribly impressed! Can’t wait to see your next trick. 

[opus999]

Wow!  I'm impressed with the flap work as well!

[Thom216]

Thank you for the good words, Gentlemen!

 

It'll be easier to do them the next time for my own plane!

 

A little update this morning, with the gear bays and gear. The main bays are now done and just needing some paint. I went back into them and added some bars going across and a little misc PE. Also redid the pistons between the mounting holes for the gear legs. In the kit they were just raised lines, so I used some styrene rod to make the cylinders/pistons.

 

 

Onto the main gear legs next, unaltered below.

 

 

And with the addition of some rod. Not finished yet. Next I'll paint the oleos, mask and get back to adding some 'springs' on the rear arms.

 

 

And the nose gear leg. First thing was to drill out the landing light. That'll be colored with Molotow silver and filled with clear until a 'lens' is made.

 

 

And then using some rod, stretched spru and 22 gauge guitar string for the 'spring' on the back, near where the clip is.

 

 

Obviously still lots more to do, but steady progress being made.

 

Model on!

 

Thom

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Thom216

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Thom216 said:

 

 First thing was to drill out the landing light. That'll be colored with Molotow silver and filled with clear until a 'lens' is made.

 

 

UV activated acrylic gel is perfect for creating lenses, and much faster than building up layers of clear paint. 

 

- Bill

[Andrés S.]

Nice job !!

 

Andrés.

[Christer A]

That work on the flaps was excellent Thom!

Keep it up!