Jump to content

Kinetic 1/48 F/A-18A ex US Navy adversary in Spanish service.


Recommended Posts

Happy modelling!
Don't worry about starting early. Better that way and finish the kit, than start "on time" and then fall a couple of days short by the deadline.
The scheme is quite striking and I am glad to see that there will be a pattern camo in the  GB as well.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

Happy modelling!
Don't worry about starting early. Better that way and finish the kit, than start "on time" and then fall a couple of days short by the deadline.
The scheme is quite striking and I am glad to see that there will be a pattern camo in the  GB as well.

Thanks, with a lot of GB's overlapping that I want to take part in my only choice was to make an early start on this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Thanks, with a lot of GB's overlapping that I want to take part in my only choice was to make an early start on this one.

Will I meet you in the F-15 GB? Or the Century series? I have a HobbyBoss WW Thud, which would let me try a SEA paintjob - but I also ordered a GWH F-15C MSIP II, which I reeeeaaallllly want to build…. 🤔

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Sam said:

Will I meet you in the F-15 GB? Or the Century series? I have a HobbyBoss WW Thud, which would let me try a SEA paintjob - but I also ordered a GWH F-15C MSIP II, which I reeeeaaallllly want to build…. 🤔

I am planning on joining the F-15 GB (possibly with an aggressor) and am co-hosting the century series GB so will definitely be in that one although I haven't yet decided on which subject to build.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen some talk about getting the nose to align well.  Just yesterday I read a description of the sequence to help make this happen well.  Can I find it again?  Well, I'll be sure to let you know if I do...  (without kit in hand I found it a little hard to follow, but it did sound useful)

 

bob

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, gingerbob said:

I've seen some talk about getting the nose to align well.  Just yesterday I read a description of the sequence to help make this happen well.  Can I find it again?  Well, I'll be sure to let you know if I do...  (without kit in hand I found it a little hard to follow, but it did sound useful)

 

bob

Thanks Bob, I've got the cockpit and wheel wells glued in place so I am all set for getting the fuselage halves together, wish me luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

It's coming together well. The Hornet is a complicated shape and I find it fascinating how kit designers differ in their decisions on how to break it down into pieces.

Cheers Bertie, I was quite surprised with how Kinetic have gone about it especially at the nose section as the piece on the nose of the upper fuselage section is an odd shape and upper to lower fuselage joints rarely work well in my experience and always need filler, this one is no exception.

1 hour ago, gingerbob said:

Sorry, I hadn't remembered your "state of play" when I posted about nose attachment.  I hope things fit well from top to bottom!

No problem Bob, its getting there but is not the best of fit in places. Having just built an ICM Mig-25 I have to say that they deal with what could be more complicated shape and breakdown of parts far better and with superb engineering and with joints along panel lines which meant that I hardly used any filler at all, Kinetic fall far short in this respect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

I was quite surprised with how Kinetic have gone about it

 

I'm baffled by the Meng method. It's like a puzzle box at the moment. I can't tell just by looking whether things are wings, tails or bits of fuselage!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I recall correctly, the Kinetic is very similar to the Academy legacy Hornet in basic layout. The main difference seems to be how they split the lower forward nose sides, with Kinetic using a 2 piece combo lower nose/radome, while Academy has the lower nose sides attached to the forward sides and breaks at the radome.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Adam Maas said:

If I recall correctly, the Kinetic is very similar to the Academy legacy Hornet in basic layout. The main difference seems to be how they split the lower forward nose sides, with Kinetic using a 2 piece combo lower nose/radome, while Academy has the lower nose sides attached to the forward sides and breaks at the radome.

Kinetic's nose is actually built up from a total of 6 pieces including the refueling probe area and the front of the nose gear well, this is then fitted to the lower fuselage with the upper fuselage added later, which also has a section of the nose on it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well after a fair bit of fettling and struggling I ended up with the best result that I could achieve, which is not to say that I am happy with it as I am not, but here it is in all it's gap filled glory before I break out the filler.

Lets start with the stbd side of the nose which is the worst;

spacer.png

 

What a mess.

The port side however is a much better fit;

spacer.png

 

During the inevitable sanding session that will follow the filling I shall remove the "bird slicers" as they aren't fitted to the aircraft I am building.

 

The gaps and fit under the leading edge extensions aren't anything to write home about either;

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

And the seam at the rear of the fuselage;

spacer.png

 

Not the worst gaps I have ever had to deal with but not what you expect from a modern tooled kit, oh well time to get filling/sanding/filling/sanding. 

 

Thats it for now so thanks for looking and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Not to mention the spurious airbrake which, with those monstrous hinges, looks like it's supposed to be moveable. Crazy🤪

Yeah, I had forgotten about that! The majority of the actual airbrake is a very good fit but the arms where it is attached to the fuselage are a pretty poor fit, more filler required!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Yeah, I had forgotten about that! The majority of the actual airbrake is a very good fit but the arms where it is attached to the fuselage are a pretty poor fit, more filler required!

 

I really don't know where to place Kinetic in my league of model manufacturers. The one I tried defeated me absolutely (Hawkeye) but some say they are really good. Maybe they are improving really fast and this is just an early and flawed attempt?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Maybe they are improving really fast and this is just an early and flawed attempt?

I wish that were so but I don't think so. This is a relatively new kit only being around 5 years old. I have built a couple of other Kinetic kits and have to say that the experience was very similar, I got a decent result but really didn't enjoy the build and surely thats the whole point of the hobby isn't it? And yes the instructions were terrible with those builds too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They seem to be rapidly improving with each kit. I've got their 1/72 F-16C Block 52+, which is lousy and the F-5A which isn't much better. The Hornet looks wildly better than those much earlier kits. I've heard the F-104 is actually rather good in terms of fit.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Adam Maas said:

They seem to be rapidly improving with each kit. I've got their 1/72 F-16C Block 52+, which is lousy and the F-5A which isn't much better. The Hornet looks wildly better than those much earlier kits. I've heard the F-104 is actually rather good in terms of fit.

It is an improvement on their earlier kits but not enough to make me want to build another Hornet from them. I have heard good things about the F-104's (I have 2 in the stash! 😬) but I also heard good things about this kit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, modelling minion said:

During the inevitable sanding session that will follow the filling I shall remove the "bird slicers" as they aren't fitted to the aircraft I am building.

Haha, and I have to painfully add them in PE to my Hasegawa kit 🥳😂

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, modelling minion said:

How about I slice these off as cleanly as I can and post them to you.😁

Only if you come over to install them 😎

I‘ll find some beer in the cellar don‘t worry.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...