Pappy Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 (edited) G'day people, Plceholder for build No.2! Pappy Edited January 3, 2022 by Pappy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 Pack Shot I am a coiled spring! Pappy 7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 4 hours ago, Pappy said: Pack Shot I am a coiled spring! Pappy Stand back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 A nice looking kit Pappy, should be a good build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 (edited) 11 hours ago, modelling minion said: A nice looking kit Pappy, should be a good build. I hope that the Hasegawa and Academy are both good builds. I have built the Has kit several times now but not the Acad, it should be interesting to see how they stack up against each other They are similar in price.. The Acad kit is better detailed overall but the assembly is more of a jigsaw whilst the Has kit has terrible undercarriage but a simpler assembly by comparison, cheers, Pappy Edited January 4, 2022 by Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 That's a colourful one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 5, 2022 Author Share Posted January 5, 2022 10 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said: That's a colourful one! Such a shame it isn't the scheme mine will be wearing...... Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatol Pigwa Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) Nice! Which scheme will it be? Australian, Marines, Finnish, Canadian? Tell us all about it. edit: Reading the Title sometimes helps Still which scheme? the Australians have shown some nice color schemes through the years. Edited January 6, 2022 by Anatol Pigwa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 8 hours ago, Anatol Pigwa said: Nice! Which scheme will it be? Australian, Marines, Finnish, Canadian? Tell us all about it. edit: Reading the Title sometimes helps Still which scheme? the Australians have shown some nice color schemes through the years. G'day Anatol, As per the title, it will be an RAAF F/A-18A, it will be line bird, low viz, grey , tooled up and well used. As for the identity, you will just have to wait and see.! RAAF Hornets were routinely tranferred between squadrons and the majority of the time the unit markings were not re-applied so it was not unusual for example to see a jet with 75SQN markings being operated by 3SQN., cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) G'day people, We are off an racing. I have made a start prepping the fuselage parts by removing some additional ECM bumps which were not fitted to RAAF Hornets. The kit is boxed as an F/A-18A+ (which looks like and F/A-18C to me) and although my machine will represent a late i.e. post HUG machine, these additional ECM antennas were never installed to RAAF legacy Hornets As this jet will be on the deck with the lid open, it is worth adding some extra details Some paint and PE and I ended up with this cheers, Pappy Edited January 8, 2022 by Pappy 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 Boy, you don't muck around Pappy. Nice start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 57 minutes ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: Boy, you don't muck around Pappy. Nice start! G'day Ray! I'm not here to fornicate with arachnids Pappy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 Great start Pappy, the cockpit looks really good and thanks for pointing out what we need to do to turn a Hornet kit into an accurate RAAF bird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 It's amazing how detailed those a/m cockpits are even in 1/72. Looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 On 1/8/2022 at 7:15 PM, modelling minion said: Great start Pappy, the cockpit looks really good and thanks for pointing out what we need to do to turn a Hornet kit into an accurate RAAF bird. No worries Craig. Given that the jet was in service with the RAAF for over 20 years , the airframes underwent significant modifications and upgrades with some significant changes visible so making an accurate RAAF Hornet will depend on the airframe and time period (like most things) but any q's just ask. 20 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said: It's amazing how detailed those a/m cockpits are even in 1/72. Looks good. Yeah they make me look better than I am. The kit supplied detail is also very good and I very nearly didn't use the PE. G'day people, Legs day today! I spent some time cleaning up the undercarriage. The RAAF legacy Hornet nose gear was a saga in itself. For those that don't know: When the RAAF acquired the Hornet, some bright engineering type decided that since the RAAF would not be flinging the thing off a boat the catapult launch bar was not going to be used (it wasn't) and that it was not needed (it was) and this would save weight and maintenance expense so the RAAF requested that these be removed from its aircraft. McD (Now Boeing) stated that the jet was designed to operated with the launch bar and that removing it would entail more engineering and $$$$$. The RAAF paid up the spondoolies and almost immediately the pilots reported a terrible shimmy coming from the nose gear. It was also reported that there was accelerated corrosion and cracking in the mounts. Solution no. 1 was to add a counterweight which did reduce the shimmy but did not completely eliminate it. The RAAF also decided to use two lights on the nose gear (for landing and taxi) instead of the dual element bulb. The final solution to the shimmy was to replace the counterweight with a dummy launch bar almost exactly the same size and weight as the original launch bar, so almost a full circle. The problem now as that the RAAF two lamp arrangement fouled the dummy bar when the nose gear retracted so the original single lamp/twin element design was adopted. Phew! Aaaaanayywaaay, the kit supplies the original launch bar config. My jet will be a late config jet with the dummy bar. To represent this I just needed to lop off the cross piece and square up the tip, it took me less than 30sec all told Before After I also worked on the NLGs home The MLG also got some love The NWW additions look good but I think it would have been easier to break out the lead wire for the u/c leg plumbing, it looks a little flat, hopefully it will look better under some paint, cheers, Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Really nice work on the detailing of the undercarriage and the bays Pappy, makes a big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 59 minutes ago, Pappy said: When the RAAF acquired the Hornet,.... That's an interesting story, Pappy. And I always thought that kind of thing was a RAF speciality. The gossip about the first RAF Chinooks said they wouldn't fly level because we insisted on cramming tons of extra electronics onto the equipment rack that also held the gyro for the autopilot, bending it just a little... And the Spey engined F-4s? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 22 hours ago, modelling minion said: Really nice work on the detailing of the undercarriage and the bays Pappy, makes a big difference. Thanks very much Craig, I managed to get some paint on the legs 22 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said: That's an interesting story, Pappy. And I always thought that kind of thing was a RAF speciality. The gossip about the first RAF Chinooks said they wouldn't fly level because we insisted on cramming tons of extra electronics onto the equipment rack that also held the gyro for the autopilot, bending it just a little... And the Spey engined F-4s? Sadly no, something special happens when guvmint contracts and 'projects' are involved, still the RAAF has fared better than the RAN which can't seem to pick the correct chopper, although I think that opting for the UH-60R was the correct choice (evolution not revolution) and I am waiting to see how the nuke subs turn out, but I digress.... G'day people, I decided to reward myself today by splashing some paint about. I decided against using a resin seat and used the seat provided albeit with a good amount of PE enhancement and some additions of my own, I like how it came up The undercarriage units also tarted up Still a myriad of u/c doors to go yet. Finally, made a start on the stores, here is where I got up to Still more to come to add yet... The fuselage is coming together well, only a few problem areas need some filler. The intakes were a bit of fun to fit, but at least they provide some trunking, the poor old Has kit just gets a couple of blanking plates! I adjusted for the best fit but still needed to blend/sand them to shape a bit I will have all my high lift devices down so opted for a resin replacement wing set, it fit like a glove with minimal fuss cheers, Pappy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 I had to check which scale you were working there. You are enhancing your 72 and overtaking the details of my 48. Brand new 48 at that. Not for me this time though, I’m not an etch and resin aficionado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 She's really coming on very nicely indeed Pappy. Your seat looks better than my resin 1/48 one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 On 1/10/2022 at 7:24 PM, Bertie Psmith said: I had to check which scale you were working there. You are enhancing your 72 and overtaking the details of my 48. Brand new 48 at that. Not for me this time though, I’m not an etch and resin aficionado. G'day Bertie, Thanks very much. The seat work required removal of the seat sides to be replaced with PE, it felt like microsurgery and a resin seat would have been much easier but where's the fun in that? On 1/10/2022 at 8:20 PM, modelling minion said: She's really coming on very nicely indeed Pappy. Your seat looks better than my resin 1/48 one! I got mad skillz bruz G'day people, The PE set provides an overlay for the sill area. I wasn't going to use it then I wavered so I sanded off the extant detail and dded the PE overlay The rest of the airframe is just about done as well Things were going too well of course and that is when I managed to catch the wingtip and drop the kit. The only real damage was to the right wingtip launcher which was snapped in half I will clean that up and see if it can be salvaged, otherwise I may just hack off the original kit part from the unused kit wings cheers, Pappy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Oh dear- glad it (almost) escaped damage. What's the boxed in and "shaded" rectangle at the wing root- looks like an area you thought you had to cut away, or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Wow Pappy, she's really come together very quickly and very nicely. The PE behind the cockpit will look very nice when painted. A real shame about the accident and the damage to the missile rail but at least it is only in that area and as you can say you can always use the original kit part. 1 hour ago, Pappy said: I got mad skillz bruz You most certainly have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Amazing build unfolding Pappy. Re the NLG launch bar story, if we really wanted to lose weight we could have bought/launched the Northrop F-18L… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 9 hours ago, Pappy said: Things were going too well of course and that is when I managed to catch the wingtip and drop the kit. Hands up all those who've made that particular move. (Preferably not at a model show with someone else's model) For me, ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ ✋ at least. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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