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F-18E. VFA-147 Argo Combat Cruise 2011 - CAG Plane. Hasegawa 1/48th.


Jfgred1

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Hello All.

 

As my introduction to the site, I have decided to use the work I am doing on the Hasegawa F-18E, 1/48th scale, to represent the VFA-147 Argonauts CAG Bird on their 2011 Combat Cruise.

 

The reason why I have chosen to represent this aircraft is because my son served in the US Navy for 4 years with that squadron, becoming eventually an Aircraft Crew Chief. During the 2011 deployment, the Commander Air Group asked for the names of all the squadron members, to be painted in the external section of the wings of the CAG Plane. As such, the names of the group commander CO Greg Newkirk and SO Ernie Spencer were painted on the intrados (bottom surface) of the foldable section of the left wing and on the extrados (top surface) of the foldable section of the right wing respectively, and below their names, the rest of the squadron team members were divided in two and painted. My son's name was under CO Greg Newkirk group:

 

IMG_0514

 

Third column, number 12. AMAN GARCIAFREITES E (should be Garcia Freites E.). Anyway, he is there...:smile:. One of the perks to be intrados list is that when the wings are folded, that section of the wing becomes kind of a billboard where the names can be read without having to do much of an effort ...:clap:.

 

For a long while, my only contribution to my hobby had been buying kits and more kits, as well as the tools that potentially could be used to make them.  Waiting for the precious moment when I would come back to the hobby, was also pondering which model to do, and lo and behold, comes Two Bobs into the scene and issues a decal set of the aforementioned CAG bird with everything on it, including the lists of names...

 

IMG_3450

 

IMG_3451

 

And yes, you can read the names with proper magnification...:smile:

 

Anyway, suffice to say that found enough reason, and after fiddling a bit with a model of Jonny Quest Dragonfly to dust off the bones (but that would be another story), started to work on this one.  I had been on and off for about a year on it, but since recently got into a new phase in life (read it "retirement"), the work on the model has increased its pace. The idea, is to try to finish it by December (including the carrier base and some figures) and give it to my son as a gift. 

 

As said, the model comes from the Hasegawa's 1/48th F-18E:

 

IMG_3452

 

And a bunch of aftermarket sets that I will be mentioning during the WIP as they are been used.

 

Anyway, that it is for now... getting acquainted with Flickr and the way to post things here has also its learning curve... especially, when the internet becomes "temperamental" like is been today... The good news is that for a while, the progress in the WIP posts hopefully will be kind of fast, since a lot of it will be posted retrospectively... 

 

In the meantime, have a good one and stay safe.

 

JF. 

Edited by Jfgred1
Clarification on the ranks and organization of the CO and SO.
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Hello Everybody.

 

Continuing with the topic, once opened the box of the Hasegawa kit, started to check what would I need to help me to get what I have in mind to do. As such, one of the first things that I thought was the configuration of the plane. From the get go, I wanted to put the model in a section of a carrier deck, with the folded wings (so the viewer could check the names), but as well not a naked plane. Wanted some "teeth" hanging from it, so checking with my son, he sent me these couple of pictures:

 

RPOK5159 - Copy

 

This nice one shows exactly the plane in flying configuration. If you look closely, you can more or less see the marks of the lists under the wing. What I like from it is that the plane mean business. 

 

50479394383_157eef88cb_b.jpg

 

And this one, is exactly what I (hopefully) get to do. The color of the LGB main body changes a bit, but that doesn't matter. 

 

So, you get the idea.

 

The approach was then to either use what came with the model as such or modify it, scratch if possible, or buy aftermarket sets. Having said this, I went and got a BigEd set for the F-18E. Once it arrived, I put hands to work.

 

Paints come from AeroMaster Acrylic (the Rubber Black for priming the seat), Hataka Orange line and Humbrol Enamels.

 

Started with the bang seat and office. Initially thought to get an aftermarket one, but decided to see what could I do with what came in the kit plus the Eduard set. As such:

 

PHOTO-2019-03-29-12-18-32

At the top, you can see a seat as they come in the kit, and at the bottom, one with some scratch and modifications.

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The back of the seat... Some Tamiya Masking tape, plastic rods, card and bits and UMM-USA Round Lead Wire

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The left side. Opened the ejection handle. 

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View from the top. At the left, the standard kit seat, at the right, the modified one.

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Primed

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With color and placards added to it.

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The back.

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The front with the belts, not yet weathered. Must say that had to trim out the seat belts for these to fit as you see. Otherwise, these would reach the floor of the cockpit.

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The office with the Eduard set on it. Only added the two big throttle knobs and maintained the weathering to a bit in the foot pedals and that's it.

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Instrument panel. The most purist would argue (rightly) that the screens should be either in black or very dark green, since the plane systems are off. But had no heart to re-paint them. :nah:

 

And then the final set will show the seat installed and weathered inside the cockpit...

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Another thing added was the coiled cable for the lighting system inside the cockpit. Can be seen at the left of the same.

PHOTO-2019-04-01-17-24-18

 

Didn't want to add any extra weathering on the instrument panels since the pictures in the references I checked, they showed these planes more in the clean side than in the dirty one, at least inside the planes. And been a CAG plane, well, you know how it works... As many of us say: "that is my story and I stand to it" or something along the lines...:think:

 

Well, that is it for today.

 

Thanks for watching, have a good one and stay safe.

 

JF.

 

PS: All pictures taken with my cell phone, so sorry for the quality of these. Hopefully, for the RFI (once I get to it) will be done with a proper camera. :think:

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18 hours ago, Mick Drover said:

That's some great detail work there JF. I reckon if you can make the seat in a jet look good, you're halfway there. 

 

Will you grubby up the paint on model aĺa end of cruise? 

 

Nice work so far. 

 

Mick

 

 

Thanks Mick. 😇

 

With regards to the amount of "grubbing", well, my sources tells me that this particular CAG plane was more or less kept in better shape than the rest of its peers. Yes, the marbling seen on the Navy/Marines planes is kind of "attractive" in its own way, but for this one, will have to retrain it. Having said this, I will use us modelers artistic license to do some "tonal variations" in order to cover some SNAFUs...:think::ner::rofl:.

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So, one of the key components of the built was to get the list of names on the folded section of the wings. Hasegawa molds the wings in a top and bottom section with the slats, flaps and flaperons separated. As such, if you want to make the model in a folded wings configuration, you will have to make the respective cut in the wing. Hasegawa provides the indentation where to do the cut, as well as mentioned in the instructions. 

 

NNVE5415

This is how the lower wing piece comes...

LWSR0933

 

And this is after the cut is done. 

 

For the upper wing part, the process is similar, with the caveat that one extra piece has to come loose. Will come back to this one later one. In the meantime, the other piece of detail to take care were the position lights. in this case, the plane has a position light in one of the fairings that cover the flaperon actuating mechanism.

OGRF8799

Here you can see the protrusion in the flaperon wing that is meant to represent the position light. Also at the top, the intended piece of clear sprue to be used to replace it.

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Here I am in the process of painting. Decided to use some pre-shading. The lights have been installed and masked. Also, did a bit of riveting. 

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The Missile Launchers Rails (LAU 127F/A) are painted in a lighter tone grey than the rest of the other two grays. The same gray is used for some of the internal sections of the plane instead of white. Also, checking on some pictures and sources of information, some of the color in the folding wing area is a darker gray. Anyway, you can see here the insignia decal in its place. also, you notice that I am working out in hollowing the tip navigation light.

PHOTO-2020-06-09-18-02-06

Here, you can see the navigation light hollowed. Then, I used Humbrol Clear Fix to fill it up and Enamel Clear red and Tamiya Acrylic Clear Blue to paint these over. Another thing that I did was to refine/thin a bit the shape of the Glow Formation Lights plates. 

NQDA0217

And here the decal of the names added. One thing that I wanted to reproduce was the overspray. For that, I cut pieces of the sticky part of a post-it note and then used Tamiya weathering black powder to try to simulate the overspray. This was a go/no-go part of the built and after seeing the results, felt inspired to keep on going.

IMG_3457

And this is the end result waiting to be installed in the model. In order to try to make disappear the carrier film was to gloss coat and sand with a 3200 grit cloth a couple of times. Then the final satin spray, which is no other than diluted (50/50) HATAKA Gloss Cote. For the lettering in the LAU 127, I used a set of Dry Transfer from Hobbydecal, and then sprayed a bit of the light gray to tone them down. For the panel line accent used Tamiya Panel Line Accent Dark Gray and Black. 

IMG_3458

And here a close up of the name list... You can read in the third column AMAN GARCIAFREITES E (number 12 in the third column)...:smile:

 

Thanks for watching, have a good one and stay safe.

 

JF.

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5 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Looks good! It’s always nice when someone builds one for a personal reason.

Thanks phildagreek. Yes, it adds an extra to the build. As well, adds another reason for not sending the kit flying against the wall when everything you do goes wrong...:swear:. I have had to walk out of this one several times to avoid crashing and burning it... but here we are, moving along.

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19 hours ago, SAT69 said:

Excellent work thus far. The cockpit looks like a work of art to me.

Thanks SAT69. Hope that when I take out the masking tape from the cockpit transparencies, some of it can still be seen. And definitively, the Eduard set helps a lot too.

 

17 hours ago, John B said:

Wow!   Nice tribute build!  You're scratchbuilding techniques are on par with many "masters" used by aftermarket companies. 

 

Thanks John B.  For me, to scratch here and there is part of the fun... 

14 hours ago, Marklo said:

Lovely work so far. Just out of curiosity what  is the red unit that you’ve built the interior on?

 

Thanks Marklo. The red thing is a DSPIAE Super Glue Applicator. http://www.dspiae.com/en/a/PRODUCTS/PRODUCTSB/43.html.

 

It is kind of a neat tool/accessory to have for when working with super glue. Sometimes I use the gel type and the liquid fast setting type at the same time, so I use what are called the glue platforms to hold a bit of each one of these and makes my job a lot easy. Also, with regards to the applicators, I used to use a cut end threading needle, but when these clog up and the supper glue dries, these end breaking when trying to clean the dry super glue. The tips of the applicators that come with the set, tend to bend rather than break when cleaning the dry glue between the fingers. Just bend these back in place and ready to keep using it. 

 

And no, don't have any link/shares/relation with the manufacturer...:nah:

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Hello All.

 

After a busy and sometimes frustrating weekend, here I am again. The frustration came when I was checking on the model, and found out that the black back paint started to crack....:swear::swear::swear::swear::swear:.... Anyway, almost trashed the model, but here we are... But I am getting ahead of myself, so for now, let's keep talking about what I did in a sour of "chronological" way.

 

The next thing I started to work on were the two external fuel tanks that would go with the configuration I want to represent. As such, the central tank has the orange nose with markings and the name of the squadron alongside the body (see the picture of the plane flying at the beginning of this tread). For it, the TwoBobs decals provide the name and nose decoration, but unfortunately, the nose decoration conforms to the Hasegawa tank very loosely (to put it mildly...:unamused:).  So, after mixing Gunze paints to get as close as possible to the orange color of the decal, I masked the tank, covered the shield with some Mr Masking Sol and proceeded to spray some orange to cover the cuts I had to do on the decal for it to conform as close as possible to the tank nose shape. But when removing the masking....

 

IMG_3511

 As you can see, the tape took away some of the flash. Also, looking at the picture, there was a slight difference in the shade of the orange. So, decided to bite the bullet and go the long way. Assembled another tank (the kit comes with four...:thumbsup:) and decided to paint the flash, and cut from the decal the shield and add it to the painted orange.

IMG_3126

The main shape of the flash got it from making a paper copy of the decal, then placing that paper copy on top of Tamiya masking tape, and then passing the shape to the tape. For the top section, to conform to the curve of the tank body, used the Tamiya white plastic tape. 

JLNR5254

Grey applied and masking tape removed.

YFLR5110

Transferring the shields to the tank... Did tweaked a bit the shade of the orange to make it closer to the decal one... And then, when I was singing victory, just realized that I was not careful enough to make sure to compensate for the issues with the decals when transferring the masks cut. As such, the flashes on one side of the tank were properly centered (taking as reference the access panels on it) but the other side were not. So, when looking at the tank from the front once installed in the plane, one side will be higher than the other. One of the many black clouds that I have been through with this build...:rain:... Anyway, the solution was to star all over again with another tank, strip and re-paint this tank or the first one, or to move the tank attaching points a bit to one side (together with the mounting tail structure at the back of the tank), in such way that when the tank is installed, the height of the name Argonauts at the sides of the tank will be even in both sides. For the purist, it not quite the right solution, because that means that the access panels would be a bit de-phased from what is the real plane, but what the heck, will trust that nobody will notice the difference...:whistle:

IMG_3147

 Plugged the mounting holes and removed the back structure...

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The new mounting holes and back structure re-located... Also, had to move a bit the refueling cap from position. Used an Eduard generic one.

 

IMG_3518

 

IMG_3517

 

IMG_3516

 

Again, maybe not 100%, but I think will be ok. Yet to weather the piece, which will do just before mounting it to the plane.

 

The next saga and troubles with the build were the Jet Intakes. Among the things I got during the planning phase, was a set of Rhino Modelworks Seameless Intakes. Big mistake... The thing is that the color demarcation in the real pain at the Jet Intakes is a PITA to reproduce. The gray color goes deeper than what I have seen in other planes inside the Jet Intake itself... 

IMG_3521 IMG_3520

Not only is quite inwards, but as well is canted towards the inside at the top... Really a pain to mask and paint without proper demarcations.

 

So, Hasegawa has cleverly designed the model in such way that the break between the duct and the intake is where the break between the grey and white would be. Really nice. But, then, if you follow that route, you have to get rid of the seams of the duct when you put it together, plus the seam where the duct joints the intake mouth. The solution offered by Rhino is a one piece duct-intake mouth molded in white resin...

IMG_3514 IMG_3515

With this, the issue of the seams get sorted out. But, and these were two big buts for me: 1- The resin intake didn't fit as nice as I wanted it to fit. Yes, very seldom is a drop fit, but the resin in my set had deformed and shrank a bit too. And 2- The piece has no demarcation whatsoever to indicate where the masking between the white and grey should be done, and I was not in the mood to make measurements and transfer these to the piece. Yes, this was a small grip that I could have live with it if it wasn't for the first one. As such, bit the bullet and went with the model pieces...

 

 

IMG_2643

 

IMG_2644

 

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After a moderated battle with the seams and injector marks (:fight::rant::deadhorse:), I was able to get rid of the seams, and was able to glue these together. Painted the ducts a "dirty" white. By the way, be careful when gluing the pieces together, so no glue goes inside the ducts...:whistle:... Anyway, here is the end result...

IMG_3484

The ducts are whiter than they look in the picture, but definitively they are not clean.

IMG_3487

 

Unfortunately, got to hear about the Phase Hangar set, which is only the duct (not duct and intake put together) before I had finished with this battle. Since then, I got a set that I am planning to use with the EF-18G in the plans...

 

Well, that's it for today... if the gods of modeling bless me with their good will, will be getting rid of the cracked back by tomorrow or next day. 

 

In the mean time, thanks for watching, have a good one and keep safe.

 

 

 

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Hello All.

 

In this one, I will show some of the modifications done to some pieces/parts of the kit to add a bit of more detail to it.

 

One of the things that also decided to change from the get go were the afterburner cans. As such I got an Aires set. As with most of the AM accessories and especially true for the Aires ones, some modifications (thinning, cutting, hacking, etc...) had to be done to the receiving pieces.

 

EQZZ4955

Here can be seen the amount of thinning that has to be done in the kit pieces. The bottom one has been thinned, and the top one yet to be. Another modification that had to be done is that was necessary to cut the cross beam that receives the pins of the tailerones to keep them in place, because the depth of the new burner cans. As such, the pins in the tailerones has to be cut too, leaving just barely enough of it to attach the pieces to the fuselage. The downside of this, is that they won't be able to be changed of position once installed. 

IMG_3528

Here is a picture of the real thing. Notice the particular triangular shape of the marks closer to the afterburner ring, and the white ceramic pieces at the inner petals.

IMG_3525

The pieces are ready waiting to be installed when the time comes.

 

The next was to take care of some detailing on the flaps. Since the wings will be folded, the external side face of the flaps will be seen. Therefore...

AIPC3868 TAVI5308

 in this last picture you can see the difference between just the flat face of the piece vs. the small detail added... 

 

Another thing that had to be added was the ventilation port and bit of structure that can be seen at the wing root in the fuselage when the flaps are down.

PHOTO-2020-06-06-14-31-44

 

Then, for the slats, there is a track of the wing root that also gets exposed when these are down...

IMG_2889 IMG_2888

 

Next were the bleed off ports at the sides of the jet intakes. These received the "gills" treatment...:rolleyes:

WOHQ8174 KWHZ4747

The sides were deepened and then the small vanes reproduced the best I could.

 

Next, the fuselage top bleed off ports...

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The one in the left is as it comes with the kit, and the one in the right has been thinned.

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Then, the inner vanes were also reproduced. Also, "deepened" the edges of the ECS  Ram Air Intake Covers (the two hexagonal shapes at the bottom of the picture).

 

Next came the ECS Ram Air Exhaust stacks... The kid come with the earlier version of it, but the plane been build has the five exhaust stack type... Used the Quickboost set for it.

MHYT6651

At the left, the newer exhausts installed, and at the right, the process started. Some filling was necessary...:whistle:...

HIQS4197

 

But they look nice at the end... If I may say so...:whistle:

IMG_3498

 

 

 

Then, reworked a bit the linkage of the canopy to allow it to be displayed open or closed at will...

IMG_2672

The two shiny spots at the sides are micro-magnets. A couple of these were installed at the base of the canopy too, camouflaged by the Eduard details. The purpose of these is to keep the canopy in the closed position when is displayed in the closed position. 

IMG_2673

A bigger magnet was also installed at the back to make sure the movable piece doesn't look raised when in the close position. To be honest, the "system" works so-so... It doesn't have the "closing force" I wanted, but it is part of the learning curve for the next one...

 

Next in the agenda, landing gears and wheels... Because the model will be set in a section of deck chained down, have to work out the chain anchors to enable to do this...

PHOTO-2019-04-16-20-36-48

The plastic molded anchor rings were removed and replaced by two made of copper wire, glued at an angle...

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Next thing, wiring it up....

During this process and when preparing/cleaning the landing gear light, the piece got alive, jumped and to date haven't find it yet...(:whistle:)... As such, I had to make a replacement out of white plastic rod...

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Installed a small piece of plastic to simulate the light bulb... The innards is painted with Molotov Chrome. 

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And that is how it looks today installed in the plane... Molotov Chrome for the shock absorber too...

 

The rear legs, also got their treatment...

 

IMG_2650 VBTH6519

Unfortunately (of fortunately...:hmmm:) didn't take pictures when installing the wiring or the rest of the details, but here is how they look today...

IMG_3531 IMG_3534

 

The wheels are a set from a Reskit set. What I liked most was that the rims came separated from the tires. I ended adding a small detail on the inner faces of the rear wheel rims...

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Small hydraulic line belonging to the break system...

 

Some more things were done, but that's it for now...

 

Still trying to fix the back issue in the plane spine. Received some colors from MCW Enamels and will try them. Their clear gloss cote does look clear and not yellowish like Humbrol Enamel:

 

IMG_3536

  

The Hataka Clear Gloss doesn't go as clear as I want to. Tried the ALCLAD II Gloss Cote and didn't have a good experience with it either. Then came the AK Gauzy, which airbrushed well, but doesn't take good wet sanding... And to give it the final polishing, if it becomes too thin in the process, instead of feathering, it starts to peel. As such, in my search for a good clear cote (Future Wax formula has changed and is not the same) that dries hard and can be sanded and polished and airbrushed well with minimum fuzz, encountered this MCW paints. Will give it a try and see. If this doesn't work, I am afraid that will have to start with the whole project again. Matter of fact, yesterday was so annoyed that bought an Eduard Overtrees of the Hasegawa F-18E... Knocking wood.

 

Thanks for watching, have a good one and keep safe.

 

 

 

 

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50 minutes ago, Jfgred1 said:

As such, in my search for a good clear cote (Future Wax formula has changed and is not the same) that dries hard and can be sanded and polished and airbrushed well with minimum fuzz, encountered this MCW paints. Will give it a try and see. If this doesn't work, I am afraid that will have to start with the whole project again. Matter of fact, yesterday was so annoyed that bought an Eduard Overtrees of the Hasegawa F-18E... Knocking wood.

 

Project looks great so far! Have you given Tamiya X-22 or Mr. Color GX100 a try? Thinned with Mr. Color Levelling thinner, either of them are pretty bombproof and can be wet sanded. I haven't heard anything good about the Alclad Klear Kote gloss, but many people swear by their acrylic Aqua Gloss. Not sure how well it holds up sanding though. 

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On 10/20/2020 at 1:42 PM, corsaircorp said:

Waow !!

I'll save this for the day I restart mine !!

Thanks for sharing !!

CC

Thanks again CC. One book that I would recommend for reference is the "Details # Scale Series Volume 9" about the F-18E, F-18F and a bit of the EA-18G. 

 

 

On 10/20/2020 at 2:07 PM, Shin said:

 

Project looks great so far! Have you given Tamiya X-22 or Mr. Color GX100 a try? Thinned with Mr. Color Levelling thinner, either of them are pretty bombproof and can be wet sanded. I haven't heard anything good about the Alclad Klear Kote gloss, but many people swear by their acrylic Aqua Gloss. Not sure how well it holds up sanding though. 

Thanks Shin. Appreciate it. With regards to the Tamiya, I haven't tried it because been acrylic, I am afraid it will behave the same as the other acrylic ones. With the Mr Color, a bit of the same fear. When I read about the ALCLAD Aqua Gloss, was going to go for it but again, the acrylic nature of the same deterred me from testing it. 

 

Between Monday and today, I had tested the MCW Clear Gloss, and so far so good. The cote airbrush nicely diluted 30/70, but I think I will go a bit higher in the mix to 50/50. After applied, I left it dry for close to 24 hours and today I proceeded to wet sand it and perfect. It feathered very nicely, as well as allowed it to be polished and get a really nice shine. What I liked the most, is that I was able to do the polishing because when building models that require gloss finishes, for me looks a lot less toy-like when polishing than depending only in the shine of the paint or vanish applied. For me, there is a difference between the two shines. 

 

Having said all of this, I think that to be able to have at hand a good gloss clear cote of acrylic nature would be good, so now, will think about the alternatives you mention and decide...:) 

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Hello all.

 

Getting close to the current status of the build. 

 

Another couple of details that required some "hollowing" were the AN/ALE-50/55 Towed Decoy Array Fairing and the APU Exhaust. 

 

IMG_3492

The one in the top is the AN/ALE-50/55 Fairing and at the bottom, the APU Exhaust. Later or will have to dirty it a bit. 

 

Next came the dealings with the arresting hook. Hasegawa provides a single piece of the hook, hook pole and hook fairing.

VTHG8811

Also, molded to it is the base of the Cable Guard Standoff, which is supposed to prevent the towed decoy cable from fouling in the arresting hook or tail. For this build, it would be removed. Now, going back to the whole piece, and comparing it to the real life planes, I would say that Hasegawa could have done a better job...:nono:...

 

IMG_3539

 

Following the picture, worked out a bit the pieces to get them "closer" to the picture above...

UVAV0349

First was to separate the Arresting Hook assembly from its attachment fairing...

IMG_3541

Then worked the fairing and and re-shaped it as close as I could to the real one. Since I was at it, also hollowed a bi the end of the hook fairing and made the "arrow" shape cover that is at the right of the picture.

IMG_3542

Then carved the base of the arresting hook pole to simulate the assembly that allows for some lateral movement, as well as perforated the hole where the pin that will hold the hook in place will be inserted. The idea is not to make the arresting hook a movable one, but to allow its installation and for it to look a separate piece. By the way, I used the decal provided by TwoBobs to represent the darker lines, and now that I see this picture, it looks awfully wrinkled, which is surprising, since at its normal size, it does looks smooth...:hmmm:... Guess need to go to the ophthalmologist sooner than later...:whistle::).

IMG_3543

Last but not least, also carved the hook end to make it look better... By the way, please notice that the decal of the lines does look smooth...:rolleyes:... Don't you agree??...:fight:...:rofl:

 

The next was to work out on the landing gear doors. In this one, decided to use the Eduard set and cut all the landing gear door hinges and replace them for the photo etched ones. Here I would comment that Eduard hinges are closer to the real deal than the molded ones by Hasegawa. But having said this, they should had provided a larger gluing area, specially in the side that attaches to the plane fuselage. If you see the pictures, these hinges are attached to the fuselage using riveted plates, which I think could had been represented properly in the set. And since we are at it, the instructions for the attachment of the front landing gear doors mechanism could be better. Anyway, as like in the Mandalorian Series, I have spoken...:rofl::rofl:.

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You may also notice the numerous mold gate dots that have to be dealt with too... A PITA... 

 

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For one of the front doors, Eduard offers a multi-layered option, which I marred all trying to make it. As such, I had to resort to cut the ventilation gaps in the Hasegawa piece, and then cut a piece of screen sized to the hollowed area and make the best I could... From the inside, it doesn't look bad... 

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From the outside, is not as good looking as I wanted to. Again, the close-up makes it look way worst than it is...:whistle:

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The other thing with the doors, is that in real life, some of the edges in the inside extend further than the edge of the door external side. They form kind of an internal overlap when these are closed. With a bit of Evergreen 0.13mm plastic card represented these...

VIBZ4768

Here the painted doors with the arrows pointing to the extensions done. One of the many black clouds during the construction of this model was that when doing these, I lost one of the landing gear doors and had to scratch build one with plastic card....:raincloud:. Lucky for me was one of the little ones at the bottom of the picture... 

 

The next, was to tackle the pilon that holds the ATFLIR...

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Hasegawa did a good job representing this piece of equipment, but left room for improvement. You can notice that there is a kind of rubber bordering the pilon where it touches the fuselage. This is in effect a rubber seal. The piece doesn't represent this very well, so out came the 0.13 mm plastic card sheet and tried to represent it in the model... Also, the Hasegawa instructions on how this piece goes into the model are kind of vague, so be careful on how to attach it before you start to sand and cut more than you should...:badmood::wall:.

IMG_3548 IMG_3547

 

The numbering was done with an Archer Dry Transfer set... Cut each one of the numbers/letters individually, attached it to a piece of transparent tape, and then rubbed these into the pilon...

 

Oh well... hopefully will have good news for the next update... I have been working on the weapons and the tail surfaces. These last, for the fourth time. And not forgetting about the back of the plane either.

 

Thanks for watching, have a good one and keep safe.

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8 hours ago, Jfgred1 said:

Thanks Shin. Appreciate it. With regards to the Tamiya, I haven't tried it because been acrylic, I am afraid it will behave the same as the other acrylic ones. With the Mr Color, a bit of the same fear. When I read about the ALCLAD Aqua Gloss, was going to go for it but again, the acrylic nature of the same deterred me from testing it. 

 

 glad the MCW is working well for you! Just a warning in the future if you do decide to try Mr. Color GX100 - it is a lacquer based clear, not acrylic. In case you're wondering why it's interacting unexpectedly with other things you may be applying to the model 😬

Edited by Shin
clarification
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello All.

 

Following with the project, today I will talk a bit about the plane load. 

 

Because I didn't want to show an empty plane, I asked my son about the typical loads, and he send me the picture used to determine the load.

 

RPOK5159 - Copy

In this one, we can see that in the left wing the station 1 is empty (wingtip missile rail). Then in the station 2 there is a GBU-12 LGB, then in the station 3 a GBU-38 JDAM, the station 4 is empty and then in the station 5 it is installed an AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR. In the station 6 (fuselage center) an auxiliary fuel tank with the special Argonauts Markings. The station 7 empty (don't see it but he told me...:nod:). In the station 8 another auxiliary fuel tank. The station 9 is empty, then station 10 is used for a AIM-120 AMRAAM (you can see the bottom fin inside the rear red circle in the picture). And last but not least, in station 11 a AIM-9X Sidewinder (don't see it but following my sources...:think:). The nice thing of this load is that it shows quite a variety and helps to break the potential monotony of the grey wings.

 

As such, for the fuel tanks, I used the Hasegawa provided ones (previously talked about my "adventures" preparing the central one). Then, for the sidewinder, decided to use the Hasegawa one but to improve it just a bit. As such, one of the most noticeable things were the nozzle vanes absent in the kit. 

 

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There is one fin each. as such, and with a bit of plasticard....

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Increased a bit the nozzle ID and glued the vanes..

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And this is the end product. Also, since the plane will be in parked configuration, as per reference material, there should be a nose sensor protector...

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So, starting with a 4mm plastic rod, made the hollowed end that will cover the sensor and with a 0.35mm and a bit of Infini 0.121mm Black Lycra Rigging material...

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The markings used were dry transfers from a Hobbydecal Set for AIM-9 Sidewinders. The red lettering in the tip of the back fins was simulated using a PIGMA Micron 005 red marker. 

For the AIM-120, also used the kid provided one, and for the lettering used the Two Bobs set for AIM-120Bs.

RCCI3022

For the ATFILR, again used the Hasegawa one. Tried to get my hands on a WolfPack set but couldn't find any. Using some reference pictures, opened the rear ventilation exhausts and re-engraved a bit the ball...

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Even though it looks like the landing gear is touching it, it is not. Having said this, definitively, there should be a wider gap between the ATFLIR and the wheels, but it was too late to do something about it. 

Then, for the GBU38-JDAM, I used an Eduard resin accessory. But, checking on the references and the picture above, there were things missing from the bomb.

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This is the bomb with the fins and nose attached and initial brown color base paint...

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And this is the bomb with the added stainless steel bands (Tamiya Tape) and the cabling cover that goes from the tip to the back of the bomb (plasticard), and the cover ends done with Tamiya tape too. 

For the GBU-12 LGB used the Eduard resin too. The thing here is that by the time that I was preparing it, a set with the protective coating used in the Navy was not available, so I tried to replicate it using some Gunze Mr Surfacer 500 and stapling it with a flat brush. The other modification was to add a small loop in the nose made of copper, where it will hang the Remove Before Flight warning flag...

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Small issue while painting the bomb... The Laser Sensor broke, so drill bit came out and with a small copper pin and super glue, the issue was sorted out...

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And this is how the hornet will be loaded...

For the weapon pylons I used the recent Phase Hangar Resin without the dog ears covers. Good set, especially for the detail that will be visible on the pylons without weapons on them.

 

Another focal point of the plane would be the vertical (kind of) control surfaces... The four things done to the fins were to: Refine the air intakes for the cooling of the electronics at the fin tips...

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The flattening of the AN/ALR-67 receiving antenna, which Hasegawa represented it wrongly as a round shaped one. The replacement of the solid plastic for a small transparent one representing the navigation light at the top of the right fin..

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The last thing was to sand off the shapes and representation of the navigations lights in the inside faces of the fins. It is wrongly represented by Hasegawa too.

With regards to the rudders, I cut the fixing tab that would had been used to attach it to the fins, drilled a couple of small holes and inserted a cooper pins at the ends of it and attached them in a deflected mode as per one of the pictures my son gave me...

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The fins were a sour point during the construction of the model (had to redo these 4 times, including decaling) due to the aforementioned issues with the gloss coat... Perhaps one of the reasons that this model has taken this long to be finished... 

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During one of the polishing sessions, the fin slipped from my ham-fisted fingers and as Murphy would dictate, the piece fall tip end first...(:angry::raincloud:) Had to fix with a piece of plasticard...

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Anyway, and this pretty much bring us where the model stands today...

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Getting there... from now on, will be "live" updates... Started to get some figures from Reedoak (beautiful and excellent ones), as well as to look for the carrier deck section where the plane will be chained to... 

 

As always, thanks for looking, have a good one and keep safe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello All.

 

After a rollercoaster week with the plane, here are the latest on it.

 

So started by adding the "fiddling bits" that end knocked off time and time again...:think:... like the boarding ladder, pitot tubes, antennas, etc... While working on the pitot tubes, as Murphy dictates, one of them got lost while trying to cut the notch that the real item has... 

IMG_3606

Here you can see a real picture of one of the pitots and the model one with the notch cut... after the experience doing the front cut, didn't have the disposition to try the rear one, and much less the one in the middle of the body...:lalala:.

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Here you can see the pitot that comes with the model (grey) and the one that I had to carve from plastic to replace the one that flighted away while trying to cut the notch.

 

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For the angle of attack I used the excellent Master metallic set. Heartily recommended...

 

The next, was to address the extra panels in the extrados of the wing that covers the retracting mechanism when the wings are folded... The panel is cut when the folding section of the wing is cut, but unfortunately, Hasegawa doesn't provide any of the hooks and attaching arms that the panel has in the real plane... As such, with a bit of help of plastic card and some hooks from an Eduard set...

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You can notice the hooks and part of the holding arms of these panels. 

 

IMG_3597 IMG_3598 IMG_3632 IMG_3656 IMG_3657 IMG_3658

 

Then, I did a check on the modification done to the cockpit dome to be able to open and close...

LEKR2598 OKET8340

Here, a picture showing the extra detail added in the inners of the rear of the cockpit dome...

PWIJ0604

 

Then, came the ladder chore... The first try, attached it too vertical. The second, too angled... Finally, managed to get a good picture of the proper angle and attached it accordingly. Unfortunately, with the issues going on and off with the item, forgot to take pictures of its assembly and attachment... :angry::wall::facepalm:... Elevons attached in dropped mode (seems to be a common pose of these planes when parked), antennas and here it is as it stands today...

 

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Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to sort out a small issue on the black area of the back of the plane and then with the help of the CEO, we will try to take some decent pictures to put in the RFI section.

 

And if that goes ok, I will call the phase 1 of this saga done, and proceed to start with the phase 2, which is to work out the section of carrier deck and accessories that goes with it to place the plane. The last phase, will be to put some figures (excellent ones from Reedoak) and put everything together inside a crystal cage... Time is getting short to have all of that ready for Boxing Day... (maybe by wise man day???...:think:)...

 

Last but not least for today, will like to leave you with a picture of the real deal where the names are and my attempt to simulate the same with the model (will no comment on the accuracy of the shape of the flap hinge in the model, which has been dully noted for any future build of another F-18E/G...:think:)...

 

The real deal...

IMG_0514

 

And here the model one...

IMG_3661

 

As always, thanks for looking, have a good one and keep safe.

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