PeterB Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Hi, I remember buying this from a discount warehouse in Armley on the outskirts of Leeds in about 1990. The boxing is a bit of an odd one - it is Number 810 which should either makes it the original 1985 release or the 1987 rebox - the pic seems identical on both, but this also has the circular "motif" printed on the top left corner saying it has extra decs for 3 units on the USS Midway as well as the standard set, and that version is not on Scalemates as far as I can see - there is also an extra sheet showing the new marking scheme. I suppose it must have been a limited run of some sort and was picked up as surplus or bankrupt stock as was the A-6E I picked up about the same time, probably for something around £5 each. Whenever it was actually made, it was after Hasegawa had produced their weapons sets so the armament is rather basic and will need adding to, though given the notoriously short range of this early version it will definitely need to include some fuel tanks! Pete 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Are the decals, original and 'extra', still serviceable after so long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 4, 2022 Author Share Posted January 4, 2022 (edited) Good point Bertie, They look OK but as with my F-8, 11 and 14 of the same vintage I will apply a coat of MS Liquid Decal Film after first copying them. Pete Edited January 4, 2022 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 That original box art is beautiful! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatol Pigwa Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Thumbs up for this one. While an older issue, the kit is still a great build. I'd suggest putting some Walleyes on it which is a rather unusual but has been actually documented as beinig successfully used during Desert Storm. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 7, 2022 Author Share Posted January 7, 2022 Good point Anatol, However I don't have the targeting pod and I suspect the Walleyes from my ancient Hasegawa weapons set are not the right version. Having said that, as USS Midway was involved in the first Gulf War and VF-151 were on board I might knock something up with bombs perhaps. Cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) I am in a bit of a quandary about the colour scheme for this plane. The kit is of an early F/A-18A and Hasegawa say it should be Light Compass Gray FS 36375 uppers over Light Gray FS 36795 unders, but the supplementary sheet for the planes for the USS Midway shows Dark Compass Gray FS 36320 uppers over Light Compass Gray unders which I believe was correct later on. However, I also believe that by that time a number of modifications had been made to the airframe, such as fences on the upper wing LERX's and maybe a change to the wing leading edge. I am still looking in to this but it highlights why I went off building aircraft currently in service about 30 years ago. WWII planes are frozen in terms of shape and paint, but with current planes, as fast as you build the kit then it aquires extra bumps and bulges and/or the colour changes! For example my original RAF Tornado GR1 and Jaguar started off with Light Aircraft Grey unders, whilst my later builds will have wrap around Grey/Green, and if I wanted to do the final version they would just be Grey. Getting back to Hornet, I may have to do a little structural work but I rather fancy a Gulf War version. However, I need to clear a few exsiting builds off my bench, and then we will see. Later- The oringinal kit markings are for aircraft designated F/A-18A-9-MC (Lot 5) and -11-MC (Lot 6) whilst the supplementary Midway ones are -18-MC and -19-MC Lot 8 if that makes any sense. The kit has the later, straight leading edge on the wing and no "notch" at the inboard end of the horizontal tail, and only one open "slot" on the LERX so most of the mods have been done. However pics show most if not all had the fence added on the LERX so I shall fabricate them. No doubt the various bulges such as ECM will need looking at, if I bother, and I probably don't have the later style of weapons, such as the Walleye II and Paveway III, though I do have a Hasegawa weapons set with later stuff such as JDAM etc which I will have to dig out. Pete Edited January 17, 2022 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 Well I have made a start, though it was not exactly fun! The pit is very basic - a tub with side consoles, a stick, IP and a seat that is annoyingly spit down the middle - why do manufacturers inflict those on us as the seam is a real sod to get rid of. For Hasegawa it has a lot of annoying flash so I wonder how old the mould was - as I said earlier it was released in 1985 and I believe I bought this in the early 1990's. I suspect this was a limited run re-boxing to include markings for planes off the USS Ranger during the Gulf War period. I bought it from a discount warehouse in Armley near Leeds called The Jolly Giant according to the label on the Hasegawa A-6E Intruder I also bought there perhaps a year later - marked down from £4.95 to £3.99 which was a good price - perhaps somebody like @Mr T from Leeds remembers the place and can tell me when it opened and maybe closed so I can work out how old the moulding might have been just as a matter of interest? Anyway I have now just about got the fuselage together which was not easy. I don't know if it is due to moulding problems but like my Fujimi Tomcat it involves simultaneously gluing a rather flimsy and flexible top and bottom together with two engine intake sections which are rather vague fits. Got there in the end and the joints are not too bad, though there are small gaps where the intakes do not quite line up with the rear section by the horizontal tail, so a touch of filler will be needed. The moulding is intended to allow a two seater so I have also glued in a couple of inserts to close off the space behind the seat. Next I will get the wings on. Cheers Pete 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) In terms of the basic airframe this is clearly a quick build - it will be the painting and weapons load that takes the most time I guess. Wings and tail on, filled and smoothed, and I have added my take on the fences added to the LERX in later builds, also backdated to the early batches. Probably not quite right but the best I can do. Next I will clean it up and prime it. Mention of the "LERX slots" puzzled me but now I can see that air is diverted from between the splitter plates at the intakes and the fuselage and forced up through the vent at the top of the LERX, presumably to provide some sort of aerodynamic benefit - originally there were three on /in each wing but only the rear one was retained and the fence added. Apparently it smoothed the airflow over the tail stopping it vibrating. Pete Edited January 22, 2022 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Looks like a really clean build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 The Jolly Giant, that's a name I have not heard in a long while. It was in a small retail park along with an MFI and a couple of other shops just off Wellington St. I am pretty sure it was open when I moved to Leeds in 1981. It closed around the turn of the century (I can remember going there when my children were very young) and the retail park stood empty for quite a while before it was redeveloped into offices or flats. For railway buffs it was on part of the site of the Wellington St Goods Yard and Parcel Depot. The Hasegawa F18 first appeared as the prototype in about 1980 and the moulds adapted to represent the production version, so is quite an old kit. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 Thanks, I assumed it would have closed by now. The thing that slightly puzzles me is just how I heard about it in the first place, as I was living in South Wales by then and going up to Bradford to visit my elderly mother several times a year. I went into Leeds a few times, but quite how I found that place is something of a mystery unless perhaps my mother mentioned it, though I doubt that - I know it was only 12 or so miles away but by that stage in her life it might as well have been on the Moon as far as she was concered as she did not travel much by then. I had assumed it was a new mould, but thinking about it you are probably right about it being a conversion of their original prototype moulding. Cheers Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 When I started it 24 hours ago I was expecting to get the cockpit done and maybe glued into the fuselage, but like the old Matchfix kits it just flew together. Primed and a little more work done, so after I rub down the nose a little to smooth it up, it will be ready for the main paint scheme I guess - Dark/Light Compass gray seems appropriate. I reduced the height of the fences a bit as they looked too tall in my previous pic. Pete 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 So, after sitting in my stash for at least 27 years, this has now reached the decal stage. It was a bit of a sod to get together but it is beginning to look quite good - at least to me. I imagine that later releases of the "Super Hornet" are more demanding - maybe I will build one some day. Pete 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 I was hoping to start putting decs on today, but on close inspection they are a bit "yellow" so they have gone in the window to bleach - might take a while, so I will press on with the tanks and other armament. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Looking very promising Peter, which paints are you using? I like that combo. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 1 hour ago, stevehnz said: Looking very promising Peter, which paints are you using? I like that combo. Steve. Xtracrylic light and dark Compass Gray Steve. The original instructions were for different colours, but the "USS Midway" supplement was the more recent scheme, so I have gone for that. Pete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Thanks Peter, they look good, better than I'm finding among my paints, we don't get the Xtractylix out here, least not that I'm aware of. I think I have a plan though. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 At least one advantage of acrylic paint is that they are not regarded as hazardous by our postal service so I expect they could be mailed to you, but I expect you can get several other makes which should be about the same. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 The deadline is drawing nearer and the decals are as bleached as I have time for, so I have made a start. The extra decs for the Midway squadrons are pretty good but the original ones are in a poor state so I have dosed them with MS Liquid Decal Film. The main problem is the long narrow ones such as the "slime lights" and a couple of them cracked but I have managed to patch them up. I am not sure how many of the "stencils" I will use as most of them will be too small to work with. We will see. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) Having put on all the decs I intend to use I have finished off the kit except for the ground attack weaponry. So, now I need to decide what to hang on the horizontal ejector racks on the outboard pylon, to put the "A" in F/A-18. So - a question - does anybody know whether by the time of the first Gulf War, Mk 20 CBU aka Rockeyes and LAU-10 rocket launchers on USN F/A-18A Hornets would have still been painted white, and if not what colour were they - grey, OD? Incidentally, for anybody else building this kit there seems to be an error on the instructions, which show the long middle door on the nose well being glued on to the Port side, but later show it on the Starboard which seems to be correct. Pete Edited March 16, 2022 by PeterB 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 In the end I answered my own question - Rockeyes used by the USN remained white it seems though I have seen some painted gray. Originally they had one yellow band but after the fires aboard the USS Forrestal in 1967 and the USS Enterprise in 1969 when munitions cooked off, steps were taken to reduce the effect of fire. I think that their were changes to the actual mix inside the bomb, but the most obvious difference was the application of a thick coating on the outside to try and slow down heating. This left them with a rough surface, but to make it clear which bombs had the coating an extra yellow band was added. Now I cannot be certain where the bands were as pictures seem to disagree, so my two near the nose may be wrong but so be it. So that is now fully tooled up and just needs a quick coat of varnish to finish it off. Pete 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Sorry, I would've been able to answer your question if I'd looked in earlier 😬 all looks very nice as you've finished it 👏👏👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 Nicely done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 That looks well smart Peter, it has come up nicely. 👍 Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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