1/72 Academy w/ USMC Markings - FINISHED.

[holtaa]

Count me in!  The Hornet is my favorite 4thGen airframe, but I don't have one on my shelf.  This will be my first foray into the Group Build experience, so it should be fun, but a little stressful....  I measure my progress on projects in geologic time, so I will have to OOB to have a slim hope of completing it on time.  I have about a dozen Hornets in the stash and will be doing an OOB 72nd Academy A or C.  Markings options will be one of the USMC versions - probably the Black Knights digital camo.  It might be a little cliché, but I want one in my collection.

 

Looking forward to participating,

Arrin

Edited April 5, 2022 by holtaa

[modelling minion]

Nice choice, I look forward to seeing how you do the digital camo scheme.

[Bertie McBoatface]

21 minutes ago, holtaa said:

a slim hope of completing it on time

 

You'll be carried away with the enthusiasm of the group and build a dozen, just you wait!

[Anatol Pigwa]

Hello Arin and welcome to the world of GBs!

 

The Black Knights digital camo would be a great addition to this GB and not cliche at all - the Marines and digital camos are currently seriously underrepresentented in the GB.  

[holtaa]

Thanks for all the encouraging comments.  I am looking forward to this group build experience.

 

As with all of my builds, this one starts with my favorite part of modelling - RESEARCH!   

 

The basic airframe info:

BuNo 165188 is an F/A-18C-48-MC, Lot 18.  It was the 1,323rd Hornet and the 413th “C” version built.  It was delivered to the Marines and began service with VMFA-314 “Black Knights”.  As a Late F/A-18C, it has a few peculiar characteristics, digital fuel display in the bottom left corner of the instrument panel, center MFD with upper corners "angled" and it was fitted with an SJU-17 NACES ejection seat.  The ECM suite included the dual AN/ALE-47 chaff/flare buckets (two under each intake) and no AN/APX-111 IFF (5 blade antenna on the upper nose).  It did not have a GPS dome on the spine behind the canopy but did have the antenna on the starboard forward nose gear door.

 

I have also been gathering as much info as I can on the digital camo and I have made a few rather interesting discoveries:

 

First - almost all the builds with this camo scheme are “representations” of the actual paint scheme and not fully accurate.  I completely understand – it is a bit of a nightmare – I will do my best to match the actual scheme but will also have to make concessions, primarily because of a lack of detailed photographs.  Also suspect are the few digital renderings / artworks of this plane.

 

Second – there are widely varying accounts of the actual paint colors used by the paint shed staff.  The photos I have seem to indicate that the basis of the scheme is the standard TPS scheme of Light Ghost Grey FS 36375 and Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320.  The digital components were then overpainted in at least 3 additional shades of grey that are a little difficult to nail down.  Some references indicate 36081 & 35237 – which I think is very likely. Others refer to mixes of 36081 with increasing ratios of white – I think this is probably unlikely and will stick to known FS colors for my build.   I have yet to fully identify the last color and will likely pick an FS shade that matches the range in the photos.  All of this is complicated by the widely varying quality of the photos, ambient photo lighting and the fact that on most weathered TPS aircraft, it is very difficult, for me anyway, to see the separation of the greys and they seem to be all one shade of very light grey.  The usual overpainted / touch-up / corrosion prevention spots seen on aircraft deployed on carriers are completely missing in this camo scheme.

 

Third - while there was only one airframe painted in this scheme, I found at least 5 and possibly 7 versions of it.  I used the following identifying items to inventory the versions (assuming all the digital colors remained the same):

1)       Modex number

2)       Name & callsign below the port canopy rail

3)       Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail

4)       Name and hometown on port nose gear door

5)       Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door.

 

Here are the versions I have identified so far:

 

Version #1 – Reference Photo Date: 2004

Modex number – “200”

Name & callsign below the port canopy rail = Col Earl Wederbrook, "The Fighting Pearl"

Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail = Maj Gen K J Stalder, "Shadow"

Name and hometown on port nose gear door = Sgt R.E Booth, Tuscon, AZ

Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door = Sgt M S Bassham, Willis,Tx

 

Version #2 – Reference Photo Date: February 2005

Name & callsign below the port canopy rail = Col Earl Wederbrook, "The Fighting Pearl"

Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail = Maj Gen K J Stalder, "Shadow"

Name and hometown on port nose gear door = Sgt R.E Booth, Tuscon, AZ

Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door = Sgt M S Bassham, Willis,Tx

 

Version #3 – Reference Photo Date: July 2005

Modex number – “00”

Name & callsign below the port canopy rail = Col J L Stalnaker, "Balls"

Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail = Maj Gen S T Helland, (no call sign)

Name and hometown on port nose gear door = (none)

Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door = (none)

 

Version #4 – Reference Photo Date: August 2006

Modex number – “00”

Name & callsign below the port canopy rail = Col J L Stalnaker, "Balls"

Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail = Maj Gen S T Helland, (no call sign)

Name and hometown on port nose gear door = SSGT Hess L.M., Tuscon, AZ

Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door = SGT Lewis, M.L. , Moorpark, CA? - photo quality too poor to read

 

Version #5 – Reference Photo Date: March 2008

Modex number – “00”

Name & callsign below the port canopy rail = Maj Gen T.G. Robling, "Guts"

Name & callsign below the starboard canopy rail = Col E.K. XXXXXXXXXX (unknown last name – photo quality too poor to read

Name and hometown on port nose gear door = SSGT Hess L.M., Tuscon, AZ

Name and hometown on starboard nose gear door = (unknown name – photo quality too poor to read), San Francisco, CA

 

To further complicate the list of versions, I found two photos of versions # 3 & #4 that seem to indicate that the “W” on the vertical stabilizer is painted in a different shade of grey than the “V”.  The photos are of the aircraft just after takeoff in a climbing starboard bank.  It is interesting that the angle of bank of the aircraft is very similar so it could be a glare or reflection off of the paint, but the quality of the lighting is very different, which I think would make this less likely….  Very interesting indeed.

 

Conclusion – When I had the idea to join this group build with this digital camo I had no idea it would be so complicated just to get a good set of reference photos let alone the fact that there would be so many versions of the scheme.  I think the discovery of what you don't know is why I like the research part of modeling the most - it's almost like searching for buried treasure, and just like Forrest Gump says - “My mom always said life was like a box of modeling research. You never know what you're gonna get.” 

 

I will be focusing my build on version #3, simply because I have the most comprehensive photographic references of this version. I am not at all put off by the many custom decals needed for all the other versions with all the names as I can make these with my ALPS printer.  I am planning to make paint masks for the modex, squadron and tail code markings so they will be in the correct 36081 color.  I am getting excited to get to the painting stage! 

 

Now that the versions are reasonably sorted, I have some very good references for the actual camo layout and have drawn paint masks for about half of the airframe.  I will share that process in the next post.  I have also started construction of the Academy kit, so the next post will have some actual modeling!

Thanks for reading all of my ramblings...

Edited January 17, 2022 by holtaa
Removed all photos

[gingerbob]

1 hour ago, holtaa said:

I will respect all requests to take down any photos that I post if requested.

 

Great presentation, unfortunately you should be made aware of this policy:

 

 

Edit: Here's a bit more of discussion on the subject.  What I remember, which isn't necessarily the correct policy, is that you should post a link back to their page for the photo, rather than a HOTlink that displays here.  But consult the mods if there is any question in your mind.  (Note that the link box as displayed here looks the same, but they are two different postings.)

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by gingerbob

[Greg B]

Cheers Bob. As he correctly put it, linking to the images on the site is fine, posting them directly on here is not. 

[holtaa]

Thanks for the help.  All photos have been removed.

[Wings unlevel]

I googled the bureau number and this is a great looking jet. As a humble (and pretty inexperienced) out-of-the-box builder I’m really looking forward to seeing how you do the decals and masks.

 

Oh and your pilot sounds like one tough dude, based on his callsign!

[gingerbob]

I'm sorry, I didn't intend to sabotage your presentation, my intention was to give you a chance to "fix" the problem before the mods gutted it.  What I didn't think about was that linking the threads alerted Greg.  Hopefully you at least now understand the reason that such action was taken. 

 

Incidentally, I composed an apology as soon as I saw what had happened, and when I hit "submit reply" it went <poof> and disappeared.  I didn't do it all over again because I had a feeling the first one would then show up, though as it turns out it apparently didn't.

 

bob

[holtaa]

On 1/18/2022 at 3:25 AM, gingerbob said:

I'm sorry, I didn't intend to sabotage your presentation, my intention was to give you a chance to "fix" the problem before the mods gutted it.  What I didn't think about was that linking the threads alerted Greg.  Hopefully you at least now understand the reason that such action was taken. 

 

Incidentally, I composed an apology as soon as I saw what had happened, and when I hit "submit reply" it went <poof> and disappeared.  I didn't do it all over again because I had a feeling the first one would then show up, though as it turns out it apparently didn't.

 

bob

Bob,

 

No worries - I don't think you sabotaged anything.  It was just too time consuming to go through the decade+ of collected images I have scrounged from all over the web and find the source webpages to add the links.  I found most of them & will update the post soon.

 

Thanks for your help.

Edited January 29, 2022 by holtaa

[holtaa]

I’ve started drawing the masks for the digital camo pattern.  I found a flight sim skin that was reasonably accurate and have been using it as a base for the masks. The skin is available here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3301031/  The artwork is very good, but represents an earlier version than I am doing.  There are a few updates that need to happen on the horizontal stabs and wings.

 

#12-sim skin-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#13-sim skin-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

After about 6 hours of drawing I have good masks for the wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers.  The starboard wing still needs some work, but it is close.  I am working with 5 colors - the standard hornet camo and 3 shades of grey to make the Marpat.  The fuselage is next and should be ready in a couple of weeks.

 

#14 - Hornet Masks -01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The camo is intimidating at first, but I have worked into a groove and it seems to be going well.  I rather enjoy this part of the process.  I have a couple of other complex camos in my collection.

 

#15 - Egg Plane by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The egg plane was my only other attempt at this scheme.  It is completely made up to go along with the egg plane theme.  I made the mistake of starting with the lightest color first and git lazy with the masking and ended up with a scheme that was too dark.  I am OK with it as it is a parody of the real plane.

 

#16 - Complex Camo by holtaa, on Flickr,

 

The F-16N was a complicated masking effort, but nothing compared to the digital hornet. 

The F-35B rollout scheme was another complex effort.  The only decal on the entire model is the red warning sticker on the canopy.  I was fortunate to get an actual sample of the green primer to make a custom color match.  It was a fun build.

[holtaa]

I guess I should add a photo of the parts & references to be used.  I plan to use the Wolfpack dropped flaps and slats set, a Leading Edge mask set and some stars and bars from an old decal sheet.

 

#17 - Kit &amp; Parts by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#18 - References by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I have started actual construction – of course with the cockpit.  I immediately realized that my intention to do this OOB was going to have to change.  The kit's cockpit is pretty good, but it could be much better with just a few minor improvements, so I added some sidewall ribs and boxes with simple styrene strip. 

 

#19 - Cockpit-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#20 - Cockpit-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I also added a couple of small strip pieces to the back wall of the tub – a control box on the starboard and a radiator on the port.  They will both be mostly hidden by the ejection seat, but I put them in there anyway.

 

#21 - Cockpit-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I painted the tub grey with the panels in Nato Black.  I picked out the raised detail on the side panels in light grey and added a scratchbuilt throttle, control stick pivots, map light and G-suit tubes.

 

#22 - Cockpit-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#23 - Cockpit-06 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I then turned my attention to the instrument panel and took the usual approach, grey panel, black CFT’s and basic flight instruments.  I also picked them out with colors to match the photos in the Daco book.  I added a drop of Future to the instruments to replicate the glass.

 

#24 - Panel - 01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The kit seat is nice for injection, but it too needed a few improvements.  Using styrene rod, strip, stretched sprue and melted sprue putty, I added a few details on both sides, the back and top of the seat.  I also made ejection handles – the one on the right seat frame is a notch cut into the plastic frame and a small sliver of PE fret placed over the gap.  The pull ring in the front of the seat is painted wire.  I also replicated the hole in the front left of the seat cushion.

 

#25 - Seat-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#26 - Seat-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#27 - Seat-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#28 - Seat-07 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Once the seat was painted and decaled, into the tub it went and the bottom front of the fuselage was glued up. 

#29 - Cockpit-08 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#30 - Cockpit-09 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#31 - Cockpit-10 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#32 - Cockpit-11 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The kit’s forward fuselage is made up of a ton of pieces, I went slow and paid careful attention to the alignment of all the pieces and it built-up nicely.  One thig I did to help with the alignment came from reading a lot of builds of this kit – many of them indicated that they had a small gap at the point where the top of the fuselage joins the sides, just in front of the LERX.  I rectified this by using a scrap of sprue to “wedge” the sides apart a bit until they aligned better.

 

#33 - Cockpit-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I still have to add the HUD but will hold off on hat until just before putting the canopy on.

Speaking of the canopy, I decided to add the white cylinders on both sides of the canopy rails.  I also added scratch-built mirrors and handles.  They are a little oversize, but I wanted to be able to see them inside the closed canopy.  I guess we’ll see how they look.

 

#34 - Canopy-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#35 - Canopy-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

That’s all for today.  Thanks for following along.

Edited January 31, 2022 by holtaa

[arfa1983]

Wow some very nice improvements there.

 

This is gonna be one to watch! 

[Wings unlevel]

And that’s a wow from me too! This looks something special.

[holtaa]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:22 AM, arfa1983 said:

Wow some very nice improvements there.

 

This is gonna be one to watch! 

 

On 2/1/2022 at 7:40 PM, Wings unlevel said:

And that’s a wow from me too! This looks something special.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.  I am grateful you are following.

Edited February 6, 2022 by holtaa

[holtaa]

This week I have made a lot of progress.

I started with the landing gear. The biggest drawback to the Academy kit is the main landing gear legs – they are way too “flat” and ruin the stance of the kit.  The real landing gear legs have a noticeable downward cant to the trailing arm.  The kit’s legs do not have the cant and the trailing arm is completely horizontal. There are two really good photos of the real legs in NavyBird’s build here:

 

 

I referenced another build that found a good solution to the issue here:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/279584-back-to-academy/&tab=comments#comment-2659842

 

I started by cutting the oleo out of the leg and replaced it with a length of 0.065" dia aluminum tube 0.115" long.

 

#36 - Main Gear-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I cut about a quarter of the way through the bottom and top of the elbow joint to make the trailing link flex enough to make it fit.

 

#37 - Main Gear-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I then ran a little cement in the cuts in the elbow joint to “weld” it back together.  I think it makes a huge improvement in the stance – The unmodified kit leg is on the left (starboard) and the improved leg is on the right (port) in this photo.

 

#38 - Main Gear-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Here is a photo of the side with the kit leg in front and the modified in the back.

 

#39 - Main Gear-04 by holtaa, on Flickr
 

Here are the improved legs and a view from the front.

 

#40 - Main Gear-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#41 - Main Gear-06 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The improvements took about 10 minutes, so it is well worth doing.  The port leg oleo is a little misaligned, but close enough for now.  The kit’s legs are also missing the other trailing links, so I will be adding those soon too.

 

I then turned my attention to the fuselage.  I buttoned up the windscreen with CA and the temporarily attached the canopy with PVA and then attached the intakes.  I painted the inside of the intakes white, masked the inside with a strip of Tamiya vinyl tape and wet tissue. 

 

#42 - Fuselage-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The kit has no compressor faces – the intakes end in a flat bottom, so I found a photo of the inside of the intakes with the compressor face visible and after about 2 minutes with photoshop, I have a compressor face to print and glue in the intake near the end of the build…  I may not use it, we’ll have to see how it looks.

 

#43 - Hornet Engine Face by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I noticed that the speed brake well is a little too deep and that the brake can sit too low and not flush tithe rest of the fuselage surface, so I added a couple of styrene shims and sanded the bottom of the brake to level it out.

 

#44 - Fuselage-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#45 - Fuselage-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Turning to the wings, I compared the Wolfpack dropped flaps set to the kit’s wings and my copy did not have the shrinkage that is common with this set.  The flaps are warped and will need some sorting out, but the wings are pretty good, but they did however have a few problems.  The port wing seemed to fare the worst – the aft portion of the missile rail, the front corner of the slat and the inboard rear corner of the flap cover were all broken.  The piece of the missile rail was in the poly bag, but the little chips from the slat and flap cover were not, so I used CA and accelerator to repair the slat and flap and will re-attach the missile rail later.

 

#46 - Fuselage-04-ink by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The starboard wing was better, but the same part of the flap cover was also broken and repaired.  I got photos of the damage this time.

 

#47 - Fuselage-05-ink by holtaa, on Flickr

 

And the repair - it is hard to see, but you can just make out clear CA in the corner.

 

#48 - Fuselage-06-ink by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The wings extend into the fuselage but there is nothing inside to glue it to, so I added a few styrene strips as shims and was able to get a strong bond.  Here it is all ready for the vertical stabilizers.

 

#49 - Fuselage-07 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I start paint experiments soon!

 

 

 

 

[holtaa]

It has been a while since my last post - life has gotten in the way lately.  But I have made some good progress on the build.

I finished the basic assembly by cleaning up the wing to fuselage joint with about 4 coats of highly thinner Mr. Surfacer 500 - it was more like Mr. Surfacer 4000.

 

#50 - Fuselage-08 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

 I also separated the rudders and added a bit of styrene strip that I sanded down to just a thin edge to round over.  The blue ink indicates the inside faces of the rudders to be sure they get put back on the correct side.

 

#51 - Fuselage-09 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

To try to get the best alignment of the paint masks, I temporarily attached the gear bay doors and rudders with PVA.

As I finished drawing the paint masks I made a “road map” by coloring the paint colors with highlighters.

 

#52 - Paint-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The masks file was exported to my Silhouette cutting machine and everything was cut on a sheet of Oracal vinyl.

 

#53 - Paint-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#54 - Paint-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Now, it is finally ready to start painting.   

 

The Divination of Paint Colors

 

My research turned up a number of spurious assumptions about the paint colors used.  About the only consistent color recommendation was the that the darkest color was FS 36081.  It seems to me that the real airframe would have had the standard scheme of FS 36375 undersides and FS 36320 upper surface before it rolled into the paint shop to get the digital additions.  So, I decided to take the same approach and use those colors as the 2 lightest colors.  That left me with 2 colors in between 36320 and 36081 to figure out.  After going through a lot of options with different greys by different manufacturers on a scrap piece of styrene, I decided the final colors I would use are:

Lightest to Darkest

FS 36375 – Ammo by Mig

FS 36375 – Gunze

FS 35237 – Ammo by Mig

FS 35237 – AK Interactive

FS 36081 - AK Interactive

 

I found it interesting that there was so much variation of what was supposed to be the same color of grey between the different hobby paint manufacturers.  I did a test of my choices on the bottom of one of the stabilators and decided it looked good.  My cellphone camera doesn't really do the test justice - the darkest color looks black in the photo, but in reality it is a very nice shade of dark grey.

 

#55 - Paint-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#56 - Paint-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#57 - Paint-06 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I started the actual painting by priming with Mr. Surfacer 1200 and then began the color coats with the darkest color first. 

 

#58 - Paint-07 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

After a day to cure, I applied the first set of masks and then added then next color.  The Oracal vinyl is a translucent dark smoke color, so it looks black on the dark grey in the photo.

 

#59 - Paint-08 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

#60 - Paint-09 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I forgot to take photos of the other colors going on, but after about a week and a half and 3 more colors, it was time to pull off the masks and see how messy it would be.  It took about an hour to remove all the masks and reveal a patchwork Hornet.

 

Here what she looks like without all the masks….

 

#61 - Paint-10 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

[arfa1983]

 

That is excellent! A little weathering is really going to  make that scheme pop even  more!

[holtaa]

Now that the painting is over, it is time to start the decals.  I have a lot of hornet decals in my stash, but all the VMFA-314 decals I have are just a little too light.  During my research, I found a post that indicated that the markings are the same color as the darkest color in the camo – FS 36081.  In many of the photos, many of the markings appeared to be different colors.  Despite the evidence, I figured that the post was correct about the darkest color, but printing my own decals in black would be so much easier. I went to all the trouble to draw masks for all the markings, but the aircrew names are just too small at 1/72 scale.  Then I found this photo –

 

#62 - Tail by holtaa, on Flickr

 

There is a very clear difference between the MARINES and VW and the darkest color and this doesn’t seem to be a trick of the lighting.  This was all the justification I needed to use my ALPS and print black markings.  I was going to need to print the small USMC EGA’s peppered around the airframe anyway.

 

#64 - Decals-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I used an old sheet with US stars and bars in various colors and sizes, some airframe data from the Superscale sheet and some of the kit’s decal sheet.  Not shown in the photo is an old ProModeller sheet of just slime lights that are a very nice yellow-green – the lights on the kit’s decal sheet look a little too yellow to me.

 

#65 - Decals-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Here she is all decaled and ready for final varnish.

 

#66 - Decals-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

#67 - Decals-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

#68 - Decals-06 by holtaa, on Flickr

#69 - Decals-07 by holtaa, on Flickr

#70 - Decals-08 by holtaa, on Flickr

#71 - Decals-09 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

When I stripped off the canopy masking, there was a little overspray from the mask not adhering very well. So a little work was needed to clean it up and re-Future the repair. The last pieces to paint were the burner cans.  I painted the inside a light tan and then masked stripes and added a medium brown to mimic the discolored ceramic in the reference photos.

 

#72 - Final Assembly-01 by holtaa, on Flickr

#73 - Final Assembly-02 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Here is a photo of all the bits to add and the colors used in all the painting steps.

 

#74 - Final Assembly-03 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The plane was a display piece at a lot of airshows and was kept very clean.  I decided to keep the weathering very minimal too.  Here it is before the final assembly…

 

#75 - Final Assembly-04 by holtaa, on Flickr

#76 - Final Assembly-05 by holtaa, on Flickr

#77 - Final Assembly-06 by holtaa, on Flickr

#78 - Final Assembly-07 by holtaa, on Flickr

#79 - Final Assembly-08 by holtaa, on Flickr

#80 - Final Assembly-09 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

I wasn’t sure I would finish in time for the group build deadline, but I wrapped it up on Sunday afternoon.  I think this is the fastest build I have ever done – just a few days under 3 months – here it is all finished.

 

#82 - Final Assembly-11 by holtaa, on Flickr

#83 - Final Assembly-12 by holtaa, on Flickr

#84 - Final Assembly-13 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

Here is the requested top down photo…

 

VMFA-314 Digital Hornet-13 by holtaa, on Flickr

 

The final RFI is here:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235108571-172-vmfa-314-digital-hornet/

 

Thanks for the opportunity to finally add a Hornet to my display case!

 

 

 

 

[arfa1983]

That is awesome and it looks like 1/48

[holtaa]

22 hours ago, arfa1983 said:

That is awesome and it looks like 1/48

Thanks for the compliment and sticking around to the end!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Impressive … Most Impressive (he says in his best Darth Vader). 

[John Masters]

That's truly amazing!  Your technical skills are of the highest order!

[Wings unlevel]

Incredible build.