CJP Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 On 5/7/2021 at 5:27 AM, Navy Bird said: You're right. I was listening to Foo Fighters at the time, and my ears and fingers got crossed up somewhere in my brain. I hate it when that happens. Cheers, Bill FOO FIGHTERS now that's a cool way to model 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paramedic Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 This is looking mighty fine! I have bought some Res/Kit too, recently, not used anything yet iirc.. But they sure look nice in ther bags! Interested to see how your wheels turen out (I have their Viggen-wheels) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 Windscreen added and blended into the fuselage. Commence painting - the underside is now white. Cheers, Bill 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 Intermediate Blue is on - but no photos until I'm finished! By the way, you'd think I would have learned by now. I picked up a set of resin exhausts for this build - from Aires, You know, the company that produced the wheel wells and intakes that I used only after laborious grinding and sanding. Guess what? The exhaust tubes are bigger in diameter than the holes in the back end of the fuselage, the engine face is too big to fit into the tube, the flame holder is too small to fit over the engine face, and the exhaust petals also look to be too big to fit into the tubes. None of this looks to be insurmountable, but... ...you just gotta love it. Keep smiling and say to yourself "the detail is worth it, the detail is worth it." Cheers, Bill PS. I wonder if anyone at Aires has ever used an Aires product? 4 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 Exhaust blanking plates... Colin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 We need to see some progress on your build Bill!!!! Upload some photos, come on! Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 On 5/9/2021 at 1:15 AM, Navy Bird said: Photoetch brackets only 4 molecules thick combined with not one but two combining glasses that you have to cut from film to fit. Yikes. Superhumanly neat Bill. What glue did you use for the combining glasses? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 6 hours ago, heloman1 said: Exhaust blanking plates... Now don't get all technical on me Colin... 1 hour ago, Shalako said: We need to see some progress on your build Bill!!!! Upload some photos, come on! Not yet! You'd see the mistakes and that wouldn't be good for my rep. 45 minutes ago, Fritag said: Superhumanly neat Bill. What glue did you use for the combining glasses? Believe it or don't, I used Elmer's Glue-All. Good old white school glue, stolen directly from my granddaughter's backpack. I used a toothpick to put tiny amounts on the edges of the combining plates. The glue dries very clear (although you can probably see it under high magnification). I also use this for the canopies and windscreens. Cheers, Bill 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 13 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: Not yet! You'd see the mistakes and that wouldn't be good for my rep. Cheers, Bill What a perfectionist !!!!! OK, I will wait but, just to let you know that my pop-corn and my beers stock, are running out soon so, you better hurry!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruudster Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 so... when will you try an Academy Legacy Hornet? (too soon to ask?) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 5 hours ago, Shalako said: I will wait but, just to let you know that my pop-corn and my beers stock, are running out soon so, you better hurry!!! "Please visit our concession stand - Eat and Spend Money!" Remember the old drive-in movie ads? 1 hour ago, ruudster said: so... when will you try an Academy Legacy Hornet? (too soon to ask?) Let me finish this one first! And, I have the Hasegawa F/A-18A, Hasegawa F/A-18F and the Revell F/A-18E in my stash, all with just as many aftermarket bits as this one. It may be quite a while before I get to an Academy Hornet... Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruudster Posted May 14, 2021 Share Posted May 14, 2021 The Academy Hornet is not without it's problems (MLG...) but the detail is great and the fit is much better than Hasy's too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted May 14, 2021 Share Posted May 14, 2021 56 minutes ago, ruudster said: The Academy Hornet is not without it's problems (MLG...) but the detail is great and the fit is much better than Hasy's too. I think I have read that the Hasegawa MLG is more accurate (the gear's angle, when looking at it from the front?) than the Academy and the Fujimi, but, I can't remember if it was in a forum or, in a magazine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 All three colours have now been applied to the Hornet. I just need to touch up a few places and some photos will follow. I think she looks rather smart in this scheme, certainly unlike any other Bug I've seen. Cheers, Bill PS. I think Bug should be the official name. Hornet sounds like an old car with three headlights. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 15, 2021 Author Share Posted May 15, 2021 On 12/05/2021 at 20:13, Navy Bird said: PS. I wonder if anyone at Aires has ever used an Aires product? Now this is funny - remember all the issues with the Aires F/A-18C Exhaust Nozzles (designed for Hasegawa): Tube diameter too large, engine face doesn't fit the tube, flame holder won't go on the engine face, etc. Well, I did a bit of Dremel tooling so the tubes would slide into the rear fuselage. They went in about half way and ran straight into the air brake bay. Ha! Now I know that Aires has NEVER actually tried to use this product. I guess I'll have to shorten the tubes (by half!) to see if I can make everything fit. What a cluster. I should start a blog so I can objectively review parts like this by actually using them, not just admiring them in their cute little package. Cheers, Bill 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sting67 Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 Will always be very useful to share such experiences with others, so they can think twice if to buy the set or not. This way you also somehow force (for example) Aires to update their sets if they want to continue selling them. Btw, why not trimming the excessive sprue of the air brake bay? If you display the air brake closed you can remove a lot of material there and the exhausts will fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 5 hours ago, Sting67 said: Btw, why not trimming the excessive sprue of the air brake bay? If you display the air brake closed you can remove a lot of material there and the exhausts will fit. That's a really good idea, but my Dremel tool won't reach in that far. Since the fuselage is together, going in through the exhaust opening is the only way to get at it. The air brake is already glued shut and the model painted. I'll just hack off half of the tube - no one will notice except you guys. Heck, the engine compressor face is too close to the intake opening, might as well balance it with the flame holder on the other end. ***** Sneak preview: Lots of work still to do The dark blue is 15042 which should lighten up a bit when the final flat coat goes on. I know that works the other way - putting gloss over 35042 always darkens it. The TwoBobs decal sheet lists the same Testors, Humbrol, and Xtracrylics paint numbers for both 35164 Intermediate Blue and 35042 Sea Blue. They also list Gunze H21 (Off-White, literally a light grey) for 17875 Insignia White. Ha! A few typos there fellas. Cheers, Bill 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 Stunning scheme Bill! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 10 hours ago, Cookenbacher said: Stunning scheme Bill! Agreed! Neat job! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenCJ Posted May 18, 2021 Share Posted May 18, 2021 Pretty to watch, an excellent build as always. Stephen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 19, 2021 Author Share Posted May 19, 2021 All shined up and ready for the Stickering Department: As typical these days, shininess was provided by Mr. Color GX UV Cut Gloss (#GX112). Thinned with Mr. Color Levelling Thinner, it dries very quickly and levels out nicely. Prior to starting the decal barrage (there aren't many to apply) I did a quick Black Future wash to bring out the detail in the gear bays and the landing gear struts and linkages. I also added the Res/Kit wheels and tyres. I think they look great. The first two stickies went on nicely: Next I added the intake warning triangle on the starboard side. (Gawd, I hate these super close-up photos.) It conformed to the compound curvature with just a bit of Micro Set. (FYI - The TwoBobs decals are printed by Microscale according to the package.) Next, I did the same on the port side. Hmm...something looks different. On this side, the lettering and danger arrow are white - they are "clear" on the other side. Knowing TwoBob's previous work and their attention to detail, I quickly checked my photos to see if the real aircraft was like this. Nice try, but nope. Letters are white on both side. Bob & Bob made a boo & boo. I think I will have to live with this, and quite frankly I'm not all that worried about it. Moving over to the markings on the vertical fin, and we have another problem. The white areas do not fit well on the Hasegawa fin. Here is the port decal on top of the fin from my F/A-18A Blue Angel kit: Hopefully you can see the edges of the lower white area and see that they go beyond the rudder in both directions (down and to the right in this photo). Which is good, as it means I can trim the decal to fit. however, it also means that these decals were probably designed for the Academy kit and there is a significant difference between Academy and Hasegawa with respect to the size of the vertical fin. Who's right? Probably neither. I'm not aware of any difference in the size of the vertical fin between A/B and C/D marks of the Hornet, just different bumps and lumps. Good thing I have these extra fins (another set came in the box for the kit I'm using). It will be much easier to trim the decal to match the fin when it's not attached to the fuselage. I shall continue to mush along... Cheers, Bill 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 This is the point in the programme where i go , "Oooooooooo." Why not white paint on the fins instead of decal? Concerned about it not matching the white squares on the wings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 19, 2021 Author Share Posted May 19, 2021 1 hour ago, David H said: Why not white paint on the fins instead of decal? Concerned about it not matching the white squares on the wings? Exactly. Plus, it's easier to trim the decal as opposed to masking the fin. And I'm lazy. Cheers, Bill PS. Of course, if I screw up the trimming, masking it shall be! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screech Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Stunning work Navy Bird! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 Stickering pretty much done. Some touch up here and there, some washes in the vents, add some antennae, and then a flat varnish. Not too far off now. Cheers, Bill PS. I suppose the stabilators need to go on at some point... 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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