1:72 Hasegawa F/A-18C Hornet VFA-122 USN Centennial

[James G]

10 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Oops, just saw this. The quick answer is I don't know, as I've never seen the Academy kit in the flesh. Just pictures. Maybe if you do some searching through the various forums you might find someone who has tried it. Or, you could post a request in Military Aircraft Modelling Discussion By Era/Modern forum asking if anyone has tried it.

 

Cheers,

Bill

No worries, thanks for your reply. I did have a quick look online, and I think that a fellow in Russia(?) managed it, but its difficult to tell from his post as I don't speak the language! Hopefully I will have success with my sets, I am prepared to thin a lot of resin! Cheers.

[Navy Bird]

56 minutes ago, James G said:

No worries, thanks for your reply. I did have a quick look online, and I think that a fellow in Russia(?) managed it, but its difficult to tell from his post as I don't speak the language! Hopefully I will have success with my sets, I am prepared to thin a lot of resin! Cheers.

 

Do you have a link for the fellow in Russia? I's like to see that post. On-line translators might be able to make some sense of it. Also, we have modellers from Russia on this forum that could help out.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[James G]

6 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Do you have a link for the fellow in Russia? I's like to see that post. On-line translators might be able to make some sense of it. Also, we have modellers from Russia on this forum that could help out.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Here you go: http://forums.airforce.ru/modelizm-aviaciya/3477-ne-postroit-li-nam-hornet-v-72-om-f-18c/

When I opened it on my phone previously it did not auto-translate, whereas it did on the computer. I get the gist of what he is saying anyway, which seems to be that it will fit with a lot of persuasion!

[Navy Bird]

On 22/04/2021 at 07:49, James G said:

Here you go: http://forums.airforce.ru/modelizm-aviaciya/3477-ne-postroit-li-nam-hornet-v-72-om-f-18c/

 

Thanks for that. It just might come in handy some day. Looking through my old Hasegawa F-18 Blue Angels kit, I discovered that it does not have a windscreen. I have some vague memory of destroying it somehow - a few misplaced drops of lacquer thinner perhaps - so I'll need a new one. I'm about to find out if the F-18 vacuform canopy from Rob Taurus that I just ordered (designed for the Academy kit) will fit on the Hasegawa kit. Of course it will, vacuform canopies are really easy to bend...

 

****

 

Finishing up the cockpit - I folded up the PE rudder pedals and added them to the instrument panel assembly, painted up the ejection seat and added the PE harnesses and let's-get-out-of-here handle, and completed the details of the cockpit sidewalls. Here is everything with my weekly allowance to show scale:

 

 

And a couple of other shots of the pit (seat is not attached yet, I'll save that for the end - makes it easier to mask when painting). I'll add the resin throttle and HUD later as well, since I don't want to break them off while masking or doing some other silly thing. The HUD will need to go on prior to the windscreen of course.

 

When it comes to cockpits, the Hornet is kind of boring. Maybe a 1:72 copy of Playboy on the seat?

 

 

 

 

I'm going to add a bit of filler and clean up the seams on the lower fuselage prior to mating it with the upper half. I think it will be easier to sand that way - those big LEX thingies won't be in the way of my fumble thumbs. I also need to hack off the stabilators before joining the fuselage halves. More grinding and sanding. I've ordered the resin replacements so I can pose them in something other than a neutral position. That will go part way towards making up for not lowering the flaps.   

 

Cheers,

Bill (who, although he hates painting white, thinks he should build a CF-105)

 

PS. Currently annoying family members with Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind

[giemme]

Cockpit and IP totally looking the part, Bill

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

I've been spending a lot of my time with little Dexter, who is about the calmest (daughter-speak: chill) baby I can remember. But now it's time to move this Centennial of Naval Aviation F/A-18 Hornet project forward.

 

First, I got out my spot and glazing red putty and made quick work of the world famous Hasegawa Quadraphonic Sink Holes, present on every copy of this kit ever produced:

 

 

Gotta take care of them as they are very visible if you don't. I was judging a contest once many years ago and one of the entries was an exquisitely painted copy of this kit. But the modeller did not fill these sink holes. If only he/she had...    

 

I next added the portion of the fuselage spine that covers where the deck behind the rear seat would be in an F/A-18D. This bit sat a little too high at its aft end, and was a bit too wide at its front end. But I have sanding sticks, and sandpaper so this was not a major concern. I think I remember it being this same way when I built that tiger-striped CF-188. Anyway, I'm happy with it now.

 

In addition to the nice little resin cockpit, Aires provide a much more accurate resin part for the turtle deck and "hell-hole" immediately behind the aft cockpit bulkhead. The difficulty here is that there are no easy ways to positively locate and secure the deck. Plus, I wanted to make it so that it could be added after the fuselage was painted, thereby making masking of the cockpit easier. I decided to add a small lip made of card stock to support the back end of the deck - this had to be constructed in such a way that the top of the deck is level with the canopy sill. This was accomplished with an extra slice between the lip and the fuselage to space it out a bit. The next photo shows the cockpit, the deck and the lip. The front of the deck is supported by the aft cockpit bulkhead.

 

 

The deck is important - it is the "keystone" so that the Roman arch won't collapse. Er, sorry, it's the piece upon which the spacing is determined so I know where to put the pit. Luckily, the pit won't fall out while you're doing all the adjustments necessary during test fitting. Here is where the cockpit ended up:

 

 

And the deck drops right on, almost like I planned it. Serendipity is a wonderful thing.   

 

 

The "hell-hole" is a cube containing a bunch of electronics (USN crew use this name to refer to what is visible through that gaping hole in the middle of the deck). Aires provide a very nice resin version of that and it glues to the underside of the deck. Often, perhaps most of the time, there is a fine mesh screen over the hell-hole so some knucklehead like me doesn't drop his spanner in and set off a fireworks display before July 4th. Aires provide this on the PE fret, but the mesh is so fine many of the openings did not etch all the way through. I think it would essentially look solid after painting, so I'm going to leave it off so you can see the electronics. As I mentioned earlier, the deck and electronics bay will be dropped in later. As will the instrument panel and coaming, which also drop right in, like this:

 

 

I next returned to cleaning up the seams for the fuselage bottom and intakes. A little bit of filler required, but no big deal. If I wasn't so fussy I probably would have just painted it. But I'm fussy (unless it's something I really don't want to do, then I make some excuse)...

 

 

I ended up adding another spreader near the intakes to ensure that the fuselage sidewalls lined up correctly. Wifey says there is a four-letter word for this that begins with "a" and ends with "n-a-l."

 

 

Lastly, I added the bits for the underside of the LEX. I remember these being a pain to fit properly the last time I built this kit, but this time I didn't have a problem. I discovered, however, two more sink holes on the underside of the LEX (the horror!). Out came my 1kg tube of putty and that's that. Let's see, that makes six sink holes on the LEX. Hex LEX?   

 

 

Before I can bundle everything up I need to hack off the horizontal stabilizers. I've ordered resin replacements from Quickboost (Aires in disguise). They should be here, well, sometime. In the same order are resin wheels and they need to come across the pond before arriving here at Manoir Oiseau de Marine. Probably another week or so. The wheels are from Res/Kit and look rather nice in the pictures, and they have the typical radial tread pattern seen on the Hornets. The Hasegawa tyres have no tread pattern at all and have a squared off cross-section.

 

I've also ordered the very fancy Eduard PE set for the FA.2. What could this mean❓⁉️

 

So out comes the razor saw and Dremel tool for those stabilizers. Ugh. If I don't lose a digit, I'll be back soon. If I do lose a digit, it will just be a little bit later.   

 

Cheers,

Bill, currently annoying wifey with Sun Structures by Temples.   

[Shalako]

10 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

The Hasegawa tyres have no tread pattern at all and have a squared off cross-section.

I get the point for the first detail but, for the second one? Come on Bill, you can fix this!!

 

Apart from this, I would like to ask your opinion about something. Would you pay $30 for the Hasegawa Hornet, no matter what the kit's decals might be (e.g., anniversary, special paint scheme, etc.)? The reason why I am asking you this is because recently, I saw on Ebay the Hasegawa Hornet (#00625) with the price tag that I mentioned and since you're building the kit, I am sure you must have an objective opinion on whether it worths that much or, not.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Edited April 26, 2021 by Shalako

[Navy Bird]

6 hours ago, Shalako said:

Would you pay $30 for the Hasegawa Hornet

 

Probably not. I've already got two, the Academy kits go for around $20 here in the US, and the Hasegawa kits are pretty common on vendor tables for a similar price. Besides, I need to save my money for all that resin aftermarket stuff.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. The Adversary scheme in Hasegawa 00625 is very cool. Looks like a Flanker. What should we call it? A Hornker?   

[heloman1]

Great work, ouch with the sink hole filling!!!

 

Colin

[Navy Bird]

51 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Great work, ouch with the sink hole filling!!!

 

Sink holes are my life. You should see the ones in my garden.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Shalako]

6 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

You should see the ones in my garden.

You're trying to build a mini gold course?????

Edited April 26, 2021 by Shalako

[heloman1]

On 4/26/2021 at 5:16 PM, Navy Bird said:

 

Sink holes are my life. You should see the ones in my garden.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Oh dear, I have moles!!!! Sink holes the cow pats of plastic kits!!!

Looked into the schemes for the Corsair. Nothing grabbed me. However, I'm into an H-34 Challenge Build. So I'll pass on it for now.

 

Colin

[Navy Bird]

6 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Oh dear, I have moles!!!! Sink holes the cow pats of plastic kits!!!

Looked into the schemes for the Corsair. Nothing grabbed me. However, I'm into an H-34 Challenge Build. So I'll pass on it for now.

 

At least you don't have those naked mole-rat things. They're creepy if you ask me. And speaking of asking me, I always liked the F4U Corsair scheme with the big arrow on the tail pointing upward. Which squadron was that?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

OK, so first you get one of those big industrial cutting lasers with the warning sign "Intense LASER Radiation Emitted From This Aperture - Do Not Look Into Beam With Remaining Eye" - no wait, that's not right. Just get a big honking razor saw and hack off the horizontal stabilizers (US spelling). Be careful not to cut too close to the fuselage so you don't scrape it all up.

 

 

You can see that I've left a bit of styrene stumps. The trick here is that the innermost edge of the stabilizer is moulded (UK spelling) as part of the sidewall. Can you see that? We need to leave that little bit there as we remove what's left of the stabilizer. I got out the Dremel (Austrian spelling) with that funky cylindrical sanding paper tool (about 80-100 grit!) and carefully ground the stumps until most was removed. Again, don't damage the sidewall if you can help it. Don't go too high on the RPMs or you'll be treated to that nefarious smell of melting styrene. Next came out the sanding sticks (fine grade, purloined from wifey's handbag) to bring everything in line with the sidewall, followed by 600 grit sandpaper to finish the job.

 

 

Lather, rinse, repeat. Oops, I meant saw, grind, sand. (And fill the next two sink holes that I found - on the underside of the tiny bit of wing flap Hasegawa moulded as part of the upper fuselage.)

 

The Quickboost resin replacements for the stabilizers have an attachment peg at the pivot point. The holes I have to drill to accept the peg will be located in that tiny bit of the innermost edge of the stabilizer that's left as part of the sidewall. Have I lost you yet? I've lost myself, that's for sure. Hey, that sounds like it could be a good idea for a novel.

 

I'll be back after the upper and lower fuselage parts are joined. I just got the DACO book on the legacy Hornets, so now I can see how I should paint the details in the hell-hole. Those books really are the ultimate walk-arounds. Worth every pfennig.

 

Toodles,

Bill

 

 

[heloman1]

15 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

 

At least you don't have those naked mole-rat things. They're creepy if you ask me. And speaking of asking me, I always liked the F4U Corsair scheme with the big arrow on the tail pointing upward. Which squadron was that?

 

Cheers,

Bill

Hi Bill we do have dune mole rats, the size of  a Jack Russel, they reside in the sand dunes behind us here in Sedgefield, Western Cape.

I know the unit you mean with the white arrow, I consulted my three volumes on US Navy schemes but drew a blank! The scheme I was think of duplicating was the o/a Sea Blue Gloss with Int. Orange fus, band.

[Navy Bird]

6 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Bill we do have dune mole rats, the size of  a Jack Russel, they reside in the sand dunes behind us here in Sedgefield, Western Cape.

I know the unit you mean with the white arrow, I consulted my three volumes on US Navy schemes but drew a blank! The scheme I was think of duplicating was the o/a Sea Blue Gloss with Int. Orange fus, band.

 

Yikes! Jack Russell was a big guy. Oh, you mean the dog. Ah, I get it - that's still a mighty big mole-rat though. Did you know that the Rev. John Russell created this particular "fox terrier" by cross-breeding with a dog named Trump. How come the resulting dogs aren't orange?

 

Glossy Sea Blue with an International Orange fuselage stripe sounds like a post-war USN Reserve unit aircraft. I recently built a Martin Mauler with that scheme:

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Fukuryu]

On 4/27/2021 at 7:53 PM, Navy Bird said:

 

At least you don't have those naked mole-rat things. They're creepy if you ask me. And speaking of asking me, I always liked the F4U Corsair scheme with the big arrow on the tail pointing upward. Which squadron was that?

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

Hello, Navy Bird. New guy here. I think you are referring to Air Group 84 aboard CV-17 Bunker Hill (the marking was for all aircraft on the carrier) so for Corsairs, that would be VF-84. IIRC, those markings were used from end of January, 1945 until May when CV-17 was disabled by a ferocious (and successful, given their record) kamikaze attack.

 

HTH.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Fukuryu
Removing duplicated signature.

[Fritag]

On 4/28/2021 at 12:23 AM, Navy Bird said:

I got out the Dremel (Austrian spelling) with that funky cylindrical sanding paper tool (about 80-100 grit!)

 

You set a dremel going in the same room as the model?  After all of the work you’ve done on it?  Respect (seeing as it turned out well).....

 

On 4/25/2021 at 10:45 PM, Navy Bird said:

I've ordered resin replacements from Quickboost (Aires in disguise). They should be here, well, sometime

 

Ha.  Forensic enquiry suggests that the case fails even the cunning new Bill test for an OOB build  (apology for confusing inter-thread comment). [that’s new test rather than new Bill  just to be clear].

[heloman1]

Very neat build on the Mauler Bill, not the most pleasing of designs. I'll stick with the Skyraider.

 

Colin

[Navy Bird]

23 hours ago, Fukuryu said:

Hello, Navy Bird. New guy here. I think you are referring to Air Group 84 aboard CV-17 Bunker Hill (the marking was for all aircraft on the carrier) so for Corsairs, that would be VF-84. IIRC, those markings were used from end of January, 1945 until May when CV-17 was disabled by a ferocious (and successful, given their record) kamikaze attack.

 

Thanks! I'll look for a decal sheet with that scheme for whenever I get around to building a Corsair. Which should be soon, I think.

 

18 hours ago, Fritag said:

You set a dremel going in the same room as the model?  After all of the work you’ve done on it?  Respect (seeing as it turned out well).....

 

Ha.  Forensic enquiry suggests that the case fails even the cunning new Bill test for an OOB build  (apology for confusing inter-thread comment). [that’s new test rather than new Bill  just to be clear].

 

Point 1: The Dremel isn't THAT big. Besides, that's how I hacked out the big holes for the resin gear bays. That would have taken forever with 600 grit wrapped around a Popsicle stick.     

 

Point 2: Busted! You got me - but in all fairness I ordered the stabilizers after I made the snarky comment over in your thread. Man, you have to be careful with everything you say to a lawyer.    

 

17 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Very neat build on the Mauler Bill, not the most pleasing of designs. I'll stick with the Skyraider.

 

Thanks. That's why I supplemented my sarcasm with "if only life were as simple as a nickname." I don't think the Mauler could have achieved what the Skyraider did. It certainly didn't last in active service very long.

 

*****

 

Hey, guess what? I closed up the fuselage. Now I just need to add the wings, tail, landing gear, radome, spray some paint...you know, finish the thing.    

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Fukuryu]

8 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Thanks! I'll look for a decal sheet with that scheme for whenever I get around to building a Corsair. Which should be soon, I think.

 

 

Glad to be of help to such an illustrious 1/72 modeller; I've been following your builds for a long time now and most are reference material to me. 

I suppose you have enough Corsairs in your stash, and if you have Tamiya's -1D, you are in luck since it already comes with markings for VF-84:

Pretty handsome with the temporary yellow marking for attacks on Japanese mainland, I think. 

But if you don't have it, don't worry... Techmod to the rescue:

Sorry for the thread hijack! Back to your stellar build of the F-18, an aircraft I would have never considered... until now. That retro scheme makes it kinda right, at least for me. 

[heloman1]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:11 AM, Fukuryu said:

 

Glad to be of help to such an illustrious 1/72 modeller; I've been following your builds for a long time now and most are reference material to me. 

I suppose you have enough Corsairs in your stash, and if you have Tamiya's -1D, you are in luck since it already comes with markings for VF-84:

Pretty handsome with the temporary yellow marking for attacks on Japanese mainland, I think. 

But if you don't have it, don't worry... Techmod to the rescue:

Sorry for the thread hijack! Back to your stellar build of the F-18, an aircraft I would have never considered... until now. That retro scheme makes it kinda right, at least for me. 

Thanks for posting the Corsair scheme, that would have looked quite tasty on an A-7.

 

Colin

[Navy Bird]

On 29/04/2021 at 20:11, Fukuryu said:

Glad to be of help to such an illustrious 1/72 modeller; I've been following your builds for a long time now and most are reference material to me.

I suppose you have enough Corsairs in your stash, and if you have Tamiya's -1D, you are in luck since it already comes with markings for VF-84:

 

I only have the Tamiya Birdcage Corsair. That doesn't preclude me from buying a -1D of course.   

 

Don't worry about thread hi-jacks. They are what makes my threads interesting! And just so everyone knows, wifey calls me a lot of things, but illustrious isn't one of them.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[David H]

1 hour ago, Navy Bird said:

 

I only have the Tamiya Birdcage Corsair. That doesn't preclude me from buying a -1D of course.   

 

Don't worry about thread hi-jacks. They are what makes my threads interesting! And just so everyone knows, wifey calls me a lot of things, but illustrious isn't one of them.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

Just a suggestion, but if you haven't bought one yet, grab the F4U-1A instead of the -1D. It includes both types of propeller, Both types of drop tank, as well as both the Brewster centerline bomb rack and the later -1D inboard wing pylons. I think you still get both styles of canopy and the rockets too.

 

Just my thoughts.

[Fukuryu]

David is right: the -1A is the best business since you get everything the other kits have (except the birdcage canopy and specific decals) plus the centerline rack, bomb and tank. But it costs a few dollars more, and doesn't have the VF-84 decals. Decisions, decisions...