1:72 Hasegawa Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet

[Navy Bird]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

...am I still mad it replaced the Phantom?

 

I thought the Banshee replaced the Phantom. I am so confused old.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

Well, this is not the way I wanted to do it, but I suppose it will work. But let me tell you - nah, you already know. Getting the widths and angles reasonably correct was a colossal PITA.

 

 

Anyway, I probably should have painted the bloody stripes on to begin with. I'd be finished with this build by now! Now I suppose I can add the decals. Please God don't make me paint those on too.    🙏

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. None of the Galaxy Model masks were harmed in the process.

[arfa1983]

Might have been troublesome but it looks really good 

[Terry1954]

Now THAT, looks superb! Very smart indeed.

 

Masking can certainly be a PITA, but also results like this prove that masking can be your friend!

 

Terry

[giemme]

Those stripes look definitely ace, Bill! Well worth the hassle!  

 

Ciao 

[Navy Bird]

It looks like I missed the deadline. I blame it all on Microscale (via TwoBobs) for producing a lousy decal sheet. In any event I will continue with the build - hopefully it's OK to continue posting here.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

Stickers!

 

 

 

The only decals used from the Galaxy Models set were the skull and two stars on the tail, as well as the OEF mission markings on the nose. The modex number, squadron number, and carrier name are from TwoBobs (after they were coated with clear lacquer). They consist of two decals each - one for yellow and one for black. Ridiculous. The registration on the sheet is good enough that this isn't required. And it was a pain to align them.

 

The slime light decals are from the Hasegawa kit as they are a more realistic shade of slime than those of TwoBobs which are bright yellow. Hasegawa also provided the stencils and the walkway. Light grey stencils on a medium grey fuselage may be visible in real life but require a magnifying glass to see on the model. But they're there. Trust me. I also used Hasegawa for the grey markings inside the intake - what do those represent?

 

I still have to sticker up the underside, but that shouldn't take too long. I also need to paint the stabilizers and the drop tank, windscreen, canopy, etc. But she's nearing the finish line. I think there is a targeting pod too, and maybe some pylons. I have only one photo that show this aircraft without any pylons - the other pix have pylons, but they are mostly empty.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

10 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

They consist of two decals each - one for yellow and one for black.

 

Animals.

[giemme]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

Animals.

Indeed! Still, you managed them brilliantly (as usual)   I heard there's a Voodoo in sight?  

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

7 hours ago, giemme said:

Indeed! Still, you managed them brilliantly (as usual)   I heard there's a Voodoo in sight?

 

Sure, why not? I'm on a bit of a "Spook" run having completed the Phantom and now working on the Demon. (Don't know how the Hornet snuck in.) In the stash I have the Voodoo, several more Phantoms, a Banshee, and the original Phantom. I'm still mad at McDonnell Marketing for naming the F-15 Eagle instead of something Spooky. I blame it on Douglas.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Wings unlevel]

15 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I'm still mad at McDonnell Marketing for naming the F-15 Eagle instead of something Spooky.

It’s because they couldn’t spell Poltergeist…

[Navy Bird]

Hey, ten days later and there's an update! Not much of one, but an update is an update, eh? First, I did some work on the back end of the engine, the exhaust tubes, and the afterburner petals.

 

 

I was going to glue the petals onto the tubes, but soon realised that I had no good way of making them concentric which would be required to get a good alignment of the petals to the fuselage upon insertion. You may recall that I had to do some serious sanding to make the holes big enough for the exhaust tubes, and they are a "slip fit." If I didn't get the petals concentric to the tubes, they wouldn't align with the fuselage. Simple! Just glue in the tubes on their own and make sure they don't protrude beyond the end of the fuselage. It's had to get a good photo looking into that black hole, but at least it's better than the view that the kit would have provided.

 

 

Next, I painted the red, white, and blue stripes onto the centreline drop tank. These stripes are not as wide as those on the forward fuselage, so I scaled them as best as I could from photos. Masking was, as usual, a royal pain as the tank is a compound curvature. At the end of the day I was happy.

 

 

 

The skull decal has yet to be applied to the tank. It looks like the skull on the tail, but it is just a line drawing and has no filled-in white areas. You may notice that the gear doors are also on. The red edges to the doors were applied with a Sharpie, and sealed with MRP Gloss.

 

I can't recall if I mentioned it but I also removed the seam running down the top of the canopy, polished it up and dunked all the clear parts in Future. The Eduard PE set has quite a bit of goodies for the windscreen and canopy, as well as a nice HUD. The Aires PE set also has similar bits for the clear parts, and I have yet to decide whose to use. I will compare both to my photos, as of course both PE sets are different.

 

And I see that I've left off the port wingtip slime light decals, Naughty, naughty.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

6 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

but an update is an update, eh?

Agreed  

 

Ingenious solution for the exhaust tubes  

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

Closer to the goal - here's hoping I don't hit the post with an errant kick.    ⚽

 

I added the horizontal stabilizers, various antennae and sensors (pitot?) and decided it was time for an overall flat varnish. This was my first use of Mr. Color GX114 "Super Smooth Clear Flat" mixed with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. I followed that up with a very light misting of just the leveling thinner. I can't say the end result looks a whole heck of a lot different than the "normal" Mr. Color GX flat clear, but it is indeed quite flat and most important of all - it dried incredibly fast and it doesn't have that tell-tale Mr. Color smell. I've read that this is because the Super Smooth clears do not use toluene as an ingredient. I'll take their word for it.

 

 

You can see the skull on the fuel tank. Here is a better look at that, as well as the HUD which has two combining glasses (which was, shall we say, too much fun to construct).

 

 

 

And you can also see the seats are in. I'm working now on finishing up the mirrors and grab handles for the canopy as well as its crossbar support. I elected to use the Eduard photoetch for these goodies, including the canopy latches. The Aires cockpit set have the latter as resin pieces that mount along the bottom of the canopy but I didn't like how they fit.

 

Lastly, the burner cans were plunked on. Interestingly, either the burners or the adjacent fuselage sections are not round, as I wasn't able to get a perfect alignment. But it's close enough I think.

 

 

I still need to add the navigation lights, etc. I may add inert (blue) Sidewinders to the wingtips as I have a nice photo with them, which also has no wing pylons. I like that as the clean lines of the jet are much more apparent. Besides, the way that the wing pylons toe out makes me think I screwed something up.

 

So, yeah, it kind looks like a Super Bug!   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Alan P]

That looks incredibly sharp Bill, precision modelling 👍

[giemme]

7 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

as well as the HUD which has two combining glasses (which was, shall we say, too much fun to construct).

But it looks so good!  

 

7 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

So, yeah, it kind looks like a Super Bug!   

Definitely! Most excellent job, Bill   

 

Ciao

[Navy Bird]

6 hours ago, Alan P said:

That looks incredibly sharp Bill, precision modelling 👍

 

Thanks Alan. I really liked your big 1:32 Super Bug - great contrast between the weathered flat grey and the shiny black CAG markings. Posing it with the gear and hook down is brilliant. Just a super job.     👍

 

Thank goodness we still have fancy paint jobs on the CAG jets to break up all that boring low-viz grey (gray as the USN would say).

 

6 hours ago, giemme said:

But it looks so good!  

Definitely! Most excellent job, Bill  

 

Thanks Giorgio. Of all the modern jets. the Hornet is certainly one of my favourites. I think it's the combination of the bug-like stance/appearance of the landing gear with the canted vertical tails. It's just cool.

 

The HUD wasn't too bad to do. It's not easy to see in the photos, but I used a decal of a yellow circle to replicate the projection lens. The two combining glasses came from the film that Eduard supplies - I like to cut them out so that the black outline is still visible since that makes them more, uh, visible on the model.  

 

*****

 

I think I just need to add the rear view mirrors for the GIBS, the arresting hook and the Sidewinders. I tried using the decal for the arresting hook stripes, but the grey of the stripes was virtually indistinguishable from the grey of the hook. I opted to hand paint the stripes - don't look too close when you see them.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Navy Bird]

The greenhouse is on, including the hand holds, rear view mirrors, latches, main canopy cross brace, etc. Lots of teeny tiny photoetch - enough to drive a man to drink. But since this man already drinks, it didn't take too much fiddling. Another Doom Bar to celebrate!    

 

Here are a couple of photos.

 

 

This one shows the cross brace:

 

 

She looks good with the windows attached. I've just painted the AIM-9X missiles FS36375, getting them ready for some decal stripes and their new home on the wingtips. I'm starting to think that maybe a pair of AIM-120s on underwing pylons might be a good complement. This next photo has a bunch of pointy things under the wings, but I don't know if I need to go that far.

 

 

And there is that overall blue Sidewinder - that scheme actually exists so Hasegawa isn't completely wrong. I've read that it is a "captive training missile." I've also read that what looks like a red stripe are actually red and green "safe/arm indicator" stickers. Not a stripe as Hasegawa shows. Note also that this is aircraft 101, so it must be the Vice/Deputy/Assistant CAG or whatever he/she is called. What else? Oh, yeah, I painted the rest of the formation lights.

 

I'm thinking about making some FOD covers for the intakes. The kit did not have full intake trunking, and if you peer inside you are confronted with a solid wall about an inch in. Pretty lame of Hasegawa if you ask me. They can do better.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[John Laidlaw]

On 4/27/2022 at 6:03 PM, Navy Bird said:

Besides, the way that the wing pylons toe out makes me think I screwed something up.

Nope, that's correct - there's a 4° toe-out on the real thing. IIRC, it was a fix for situations where an uncommanded and sudden roll could occur.

[Procopius]

On 4/27/2022 at 6:03 PM, Navy Bird said:

Besides, the way that the wing pylons toe out makes me think I screwed something up.

 

Knowing you, my suspicion is your tongue is firmly in your cheek here, but as Brother John notes above, it's one of the many things that make the Super Hornet Super Ridiculous.

[John Laidlaw]

32 minutes ago, Procopius said:

it's one of the many things that make the Super Hornet Super Ridiculous.

Nail on head .

[Navy Bird]

17 hours ago, Procopius said:

Knowing you, my suspicion is your tongue is firmly in your cheek here

 

You are correct. I'm aware that the pylons toe out, but every time I see a built up model it just looks weird. Also, the outer wing pylon not only toes out, it also leans - the bottom of the pylon is farther outboard than the top of the pylon. That would also drive me nuts! I like orthogonal alignments. Ninety degrees is a good thing.

 

Even so, the main landing gear on the Hornet family makes the aircraft cool. That's why I also like the MiG-23/27 family. Spidery gear legs - that's why it's called a Super Bug, right?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

That canopy is mighty impressive by itself, Bill - looking ace in place!    

Ciao

[Terry1954]

She's looking great Bill and I agree a mixed loadout of AIM-9X and AIM-120's would look pretty cool.

 

Terry

[Navy Bird]

15 hours ago, giemme said:

That canopy is mighty impressive by itself, Bill - looking ace in place!  

 

Thanks! It's even better when you see that Hasegawa got the "omega" cross section reasonably correct - hence the seam I had to sand and polish away.

 

13 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

She's looking great Bill and I agree a mixed loadout of AIM-9X and AIM-120's would look pretty cool.

 

Hasegawa made a small mistake - I think. The launch rail they include for use with the AIM-120 missiles on the outboard wing pylon is for the AIM-7. I'm pretty sure the one for the AIM-120 is longer. The photos sure look that way.

 

I suppose I could put the AIM-120 on the fuselage station(s). It seems common to have the FLIR pod on the port side and an AMRAAM on the starboard side. Or I could just say the heck with it. Let me think about that.

 

Cheers,

Bill