ALF18

Thanks, Shawn! I really need to move to the new house - too bad it won't be until next spring. My modelling space is way too small for such a big kit, especially when I'm trying to separate wet areas from dry ones for depositing decals on the bench, to a dry place to cut the sheet. I know, I know... first world problems! Cue the Monty Python "When I grew up, we couldn't even afford the shoe box to live in..." The decalling is coming along nicely. I'm using a hybrid of the two sheets from earlier, plus some numbers I found on an old Leading Edge sheet. That's how I s

Sway Braces is indeed the correct term, not just used by modellers. Unlike 'slime lights' and 'bug' (for Hornet), which are modeller terms, real military folk use sway brace. So-called 'slime lights' are called 'formation lights' by pilots and techs, and I've never heard anyone call a Hornet a 'bug' anywhere outside a modelling forum. What exactly do you need a picture of? Being decidedly 'unsexy', it's hard to find good pictures of them. Here's one of sway braces on an F-16 luggage carrier, and of a CF-18 pylon, also holding a luggage pod in place. ALF

The tip tanks are now installed, plus the horizontal stabilator and the centre canopy section. Time for decals! There are of course little fiddly bits to add, but I tend to break those off as I apply decals, so they will wait until the end. The decal sheets, from Cartograf, are quite extensive. There are lots of stencils, and various national markings. The Canadian markings are from the Air Division in Europe, in fact from a particular era. Note the tiny maple leaves (yes, outside of Toronto we use the proper plural, not the one from that hockey team that is a perennial disap

Thanks for posting these pics. I had read about the spring, but never seen how it was incorporated. I guess the Blues don't need ECM. 🙂 I had to learn an entirely new way of flying formation in the Hornet. Every other aircraft I flew, I loaded up the stick with forward trim, making it much easier to react to being bumped up (by simply relaxing a bit of the backpressure I was holding all the time). With the Hornet's autotrim flight controls, any downward nose loading would be fairly quickly removed, so I found I always had to be ready to push forward when floating high. Easy, and clever mo

Good call on removing the plates on the inboard sides of the vertical stabs. They were only retrofited to As and Bs as a result of fatigue cracking, and the C/D production line had beefed up the structure internally. When I first flew Hornets, we didn't have any LEX fences, and it was only in about 1989/90 that they were added, to address the fatigue problem at the source of the stress. Pulling more than 25 AOA before LEX fences were installed, it was scary to look back in the mirrors at the tails. They whipped back and forth like crazy. After the fences were installed, the amplitude of oscill

Interesting choice to display the radar. I should try that at one point. ALF

Careful what you chop off for RWR. Essentially, the C has extra bulges, PLUS all the bulges present on the As. In this USN photo, I have identified some of them on the C. The antennae on the lower nose at 1 are on the A model. On the C, those are present, plus the ones at 2, 3, and 4. The tail on the C has 3 sets of bulges, plus the fuel vent. ALF

Very slow progress. Real life is taking over some of my modelling time, but positive things are happening (like ironing out the final details for our house design, and preparing for a trip to Vancouver Island and Vancouver next week). The hardest things to foil were the tip tanks, because of their curvature. In fact, the leading edge of the tanks was almost impossible to apply foil to. Here is one tip tank dry-fit in place. If you look closely at the forward edge of the tank, you'll see that I've painted it with aluminum-coloured paint. This is actually not that far off

That WAS true, and as you infer, of course anyone will work to sell the product he represents. In fact, we had two Canadian pilots representing competing products. Billie for LM, and Ricardo Traven for Boeing's Super Hornet. I read carefully everything each of them said, and I am happy to say that both of them told the absolute truth. When I examined exactly what Ricardo said, he extolled the virtues of the Super Hornet, but he was unable to say that it was a game-changer or world-beater, because it's not. He never said that it was better than the F-35 either, just that it was a 'viable altern

Does anyone have any news on Tanmodel? They announced work on a 1/32 scale F-5A/B series ages ago. When I go to their site, I can't see any products, let alone updates on the F-5s. Anyone know what's happening with this company? ALF

Got all the foil in place on the bottom, and installed the ventral fin and arrestor hook. The undersides of the wings need a little touching up, and the outsides of the tires need paint. The wings aren't even glued in place. The attachment points are really tight, and hold them nicely. I painted the red on the horizontal stab, but need to add the little cap piece to the rear part of the upper tail. Working on the front windscreen. I shaved off the IR bump on the front, but of course that left me with a little hole. Grrr. Filled it with putty (showing bottom

I can pile on to what Scooby said about Billie Flynn and Julie Payette. I don't know Payette well, but I did interact with her briefly at the Mirabel airshow in 1996, the year I retired from the military. Chris Hadfield, and old friend, was at the show, and I was with my 3-year-old son with the 'unwashed masses' of the public. I spotted Julie Payette in a golf cart, being driven somewhere, but was blocked by a bunch of people shuffling slowly along her route. I politely asked her (in French, her first language) if she could please take my business card to Chris, and ask him to call me - p

It will be my refuge - and I will be allowed to mould it to my liking. Upstairs, in SWMBO's domain, I have zero input. You need to join an alliance - one that reacts firmly to encroachment. Next thing you know, there will be mood lighting, 24-hour chick flicks... shudder! SHACK! ALF

Beer fridge - yes. I need space. currently, working with this: I want room for instructions, spreading out sprues, and for foil. Now, I find myself with zero space, and it really causes problems. Great ideas, folks! I like the paint arrangement. Something like a Lazy Susan with racks around the outside sounds good. ALF

Any time! Not sure if you know, but those are special covers used during ground run-ups with groundcrew. They keep the FOD from being ingested with high engine RPMs. Looks to me like they're checking for leaks, since the left-hand engine door is hanging down. You must be busy at work - normally you're done by now! ALF

I want to be able to see the TV from my computer desk, so I'm thinking of putting that desk near the electrical panel, along the back (top) wall of the house. I may also decide to put the TV along the side wall, where the real estate agent is standing in the top photo. ALF

Hi all. We just signed a contract to have a new house built, and SWMBO has authorized me to fully inhabit the basement, making it into my man cave. I have free reign to fit in the following essential elements: -Model-making bench -Airbrush station with store-bought spray booth -Computer workstation desk -Shelving to display models -65'' TV stand and TV (sitting on floor) -I LOVE ME wall, with various pictures from the good old days -Drawers or small shelves to hold paint, glue, and other tools -Computer gaming chair, and model-making chair, both with whe

I'll be following this one. Looks like 3 fun schemes. ALF

Fun schemes, Shawn. I have a few reference pics for the 2007 bird if you like. Some were taken by my friend Richard Girouard. I built this scheme in 1/32 for Billy (the demo pilot that year). The Leading Edge decals fit beautifully. ALF

That is incredible! I can't believe it's 1/72 scale. ALF

I love that cockpit. Looks very realistic. Good job on the seams - that kit is a bear to fit in places. ALF

Thanks, Gregg! Ski, I'm sure you swore at the moving map a few times (the old one). One of my buddies died when he smacked into an island off the West Coast of BC. His moving map had skipped over about half the scale. He thought he was over open ocean, and hit a mountain on the shore. On the other hand, it helped me find the target more than once in Germany, when I got attacked en route to the target and only a quick glance down got me headed in the right direction after I dealt with the threat. I was curious about Quinta stuff. First thing I did was open up a Kinetic 1/48

Anytime. That's what ARC is all about! Let me know if you have any questions about anything Hornet-related. ALF

After some searching, I finally found a good picture of the old-style HI turned on. I took this picture parked at a weapon arming point in Bagotville, Quebec. You can see the Saguenay river along the left side, with the base in the centre of the display. Another big difference is the ejection seat. Older Hornets had the SJU-9 seat, and after upgrades they have the SJU-17 seat. Both are available in resin in 1/48. The SJU-9 looks rounder, while the 17 is more angular. Side consoles? Almost identical. All A/B/C/D models are very similar, with grey cockpits but black

Kurt, I can answer any questions you have about Hornet cockpits, from A thru to D, and even E/F somewhat. I flew CF-18s for 10 years (86 to 96), and worked on the implementation and in-service use of new simulators for Canada's Hornets in the late 2000s. Firstly, it depends a bit on which era of F/A-18A you want to represent. Early on, the cockpits were like this one (with my daughter, in our original CF-18 simulator). This cockpit is a faithful representation of the real thing, using real aircraft hardware for the most part. When ours were delivered, they were equivalent to U