Thadeus

If You're into WW2 stuff I've heard a lot of good things about IL2 series. I enjoy Strike Fighters 2. It's really nice to get to fly an F-4B, F-8E or a F-105. How many sims got that? The big plus is the fact You can add a lot of mods - new airplanes, terrains, weapons, and such. Only Single Player though. Thetradeoff is that there are a lot of simplifications. No clickable cockpit (feature I loved in Jane's F/A-18), basicly no manual radar operation. There are some mods on combatace.com to make it into WW2 game though. So most of the drawbacks would be gone. I guess no radar, no problem ;)

Thanks buddy! Thanks for hosting it. It was a pleasure! Thanks!

Thanks buddy! I guess walkway decals always look like... You know... decals. This was the worst part of this CAM decals set for me. In the end, under a flat coat with all the weathering this wrinkling doesn't show. But frankly, I should've masked them off and paint them by brush with some thick paint so they'd have some texture. Would help with weathering.

Here's my 1/72 Hasegawa F/A-18D from VMFA(aw)-224 Bengals from around 2009. I've used Hasegawa decals from the Marine Corps Combo boxing. Main colors are Pactra for the grays and Model Master for the black. I've replaced the kit windscreen with Vacuformed one from Rob Taurus designed for Academy, replaced the kit aft IP coaming with a widened piece from Hasegawa Super Hornet, seats are also from Hasegawa Super Hornet, nozzles are from Academy Hornet - fit like a glove, just needed to remove part of the speedbrake well. Everything else is from the box. Oh, and I've built some intakes using thin plastic card. Thanks for hosting this great Group Build!

Finally the day has come that I managed to take some pics of my build. So here they are: I've experimented with my phone camera and different background. If it wasn't for all the black on the model... Here's a comparison shot of one of my previous built Hornets. Notice the nose tip, nose angle and windscreen difference? Yeah... Should've shot that pic with white background... All that hard work on the intake payed off with this picture. Great thanks for stopping by, hope You like my Hornet :) Cheers!

So I guess I'm not going to make it this time. I'm 99% done with my second build, but there are some things I just can't let go. There's no way I'm rushing this build. Pretty much all that's left to do is to assemble the canopy, install the position lights (I've run out of clear red paint... duh...), paint the radome tip some cream (actually light gull gray with a tiny drop of radome tan), install the wingfold and add flaps. I will have to remove pitot tubes cause they sit at a strange angle, and remove tall uhf antennae - they're just too tall. All in all about a day worth of work for me. What am I gonna do about the ordnance? apparently I'm not the only one that has no idea ;) I've had a blast and I'm absolutelly going to complete this beast. Just not in the deadline. Most definetly not my last 1/48 model. Thanks for stopping by!

I guess that real life just keeps getting in the way, eh? I don't know about You but I kind of wish that some real problems could be solved with putty and some sanding. For what it's worth, I've had a blast. Thanks for hosting this GB.

I'd go with Academy as no. 1 with Hasegawa close second. Both kits have their pros and cons. Biggest cons for Academy would be the main landing gear shape and I suspect that nose landing gear is a bit too far forward. Hasegawa otoh doesn't have the best nose profile (blunt nose and nose to windscreen transition) and can be tricky in assembly. Nothing that a bit of work can't solve (and a replacement Academy windscreen). For me Fujimi has too fat nose and lower front fuselage. Shame really cause it's the only one with full intakes. I owned a Minicraft (or was it Hobbycraft?) Hornet and would rate it as worse than Italeri, which is generally bad (other than some very nice main landing gear).

Awesome work! I'm super glad You got it done. Very nice scheme, awesome execution.

Very nice work!

Awesome build, she's a stunner. Makes You forget all the weak ponits of Revell kit. Great work!

Very nice project, very nice!

Somehow I can't shake the feeling, that by the time You'll be done with it, it will shoot miniature ALCM's ;)

Great thanks for the reply and a photo, I've never noticed anything like that on any picture. Very interesting :) Some very nice work You're doing here. Can't wait for more! BTW, what schemes are You going for?

Some great work going on in here. It's always a pleasure to see another of Your Flankers in the making.