jacobp51

Thank you very much, Darren! Good to know I can build the kit almost straight out of the box. Do you happen have any good top-down references you can share of the anti-glare profile around the canopy? The sheet reference does not show it for some reason. probably easy enough to extrapolate, but I always like good references to work from. Your products are superb. I'll look for the upgrades when they're ready.

Hope you guys don't mind answering another one - the collective expertise here is inspiring! How about the VF-33 bird on this Furball sheet? I'm guessing by 1992 something was modified on the airframe beyond what's in the Tamiya box.

If the look you're after is the stuff used in this picture - that is just what we call "barrier paper" and it is used for long term storage/preservation. This stuff is taped to the exterior of the canopy and any other openings on the airframe that don't have specific red gear (intakes, engine exhaust, etc). Some "heavy duty" aluminum foil (usually sold next to BBQ/Grilling supplies at most stores) will easily reproduce this look in scale. You could even finish off the look by placing thin strips of black electrical tape around the edges. Jake

Not sure if this will help or not, but I am recalling my first model build: I was 7 or 8 years old. My dad brought home a 1/72 scale A-7 (no idea what brand), a tube of plastic cement, a razor blade, and some wax paper. First, he showed me to put the instructions under the wax paper so I didn't get glue on them (or the desk I was working on). Then he showed me how to carefully cut the pieces off the sprue with the razor blade, always cutting down towards the table and away from myself (and fingers), all the while drilling the point home about how much it would hurt if I cut myself.

Good save Mark! Since I spent a long time away from the hobby, I found myself making all kinds of errors on my Hornet build. We spend so much time trying to get everything "just right" and then, *BAM* - you spill a bottle of thinner all over the work bench!! Oh man, as if building these plastic kits wasn't tedious enough, correcting building mistakes and fixing blunders is all a part of the ride. Looks like you handled the A-10 mishap very well! I can't wait to see this build get closer to the finish line! I am so close to finishing my Hornet; it's actually pretty ridiculous that I haven

Are you about to take a ride into the Danger Zone?

I checked the other renders posted on FB. Hopefully they fix the verticals. There are no formation lights on the inboard side of the v-stabs, and the rudder actuator access doors are only present on the left surface of the tails (not both sides as the render shows). I guess sanding and filling could fix this, but why not get it right from the start? Other than that, I didn't see any other major visual flaws. I like the "bird slicers" being molded on. Fabricating/installing those little things is a challenge. Much easier to just remove them if they aren't present on your subject, or if y

Mark - your results are well worth effort. Spectacular detailing with the fasteners and PE!! I can't wait to see this model all finished! Jake

Very generous of you, Sir! I will let you know what happens. They don't get back until later this year, so I'll have some time to chew on the idea.

Mark - courage isn't what drove me.. more like necessity! I really didn't want to do what I did. But when I pulled the masking tape off and saw that huge unpainted band forward of the coaming, I winced knowing what I would have to do to correct it. When are we going to see an update on your build(s)?! Yup, terrified is putting it mildly. Breaking the bond through the filled joint was heart breaking! I used a fresh #2 Exacto blade. Inserted into the joint, and gently twisted to pry the thing off. Every time it moved, I shuddered thinking I cracked or gouged the clear plastic. THANKFUL

Baby steps, but it's still forward progress! I spent a great deal of time on the windscreen problem. It really pained me to remove the glass since I had a good seam after final paint, but I had to. I couldn't just leave that huge unpainted area the way it was. The removal did afford me easier access to polish out my paint mask bleed through, so it wasn't totally a bust. I still haven't reattached it. Here's the ugly status: In between sanding, buffing, and polishing, I attached a number of bits to the model. Landing gear, ordnance, most of the antennas/sensors, pitot tubes, V-Stab st

Mark - thanks as always for the encouragement. I am working to get this baby done soon! But, I just hit another "out-of-practice" delay on this model. Let's just say I had to remove the windscreen (again) because I didn't properly paint the glare shield region under the windscreen glass. I also had some bleed through on my canopy mask. Looks like I will be doing some cleaning and polishing this week. I'll be posting my latest lament later with some pictures. Thank you so much!! I appreciate the comments. Having been away from the hobby for a while, I am still nervous about some of

Quite possibly one of the most beautiful plastic models I have ever seen. Immaculate. You should be very proud Jorge!! Cheers! Jake

Long week at work... I was hoping I'd be a little further along on this build, but at least I got to do a little bit of work to my Hornet here and there. I mainly worked on weathering the bottom of the jet. Again, I'm not really going for a "end-of-deployment-I-need-a-bath" look, but a generally "well-maintained-but-flown-every-day" appearance. Keeping that in mind, I simply added some random streaks of heavily thinned flat black for this pass. Just dab, wipe in direction of airflow, repeat- over and over. Looks more natural to slowly build up layers than just hit one spot once with a heav

SQJUNE works. Brings the cost of this kit down to $47.99; $57.94 after shipping... not bad at all! I couldn't help myself. Ordered one.

Mark - MAG-11 isn't a specific aircraft. It is a group. MAG - Marine Aircraft Group. MAG-11 is part of the 3rd MAW (Marine Aircraft Wing) based at MCAS Miramar (where I work). The jet I am modeling is from VMFA-232, which is one squadron within MAG-11. MAG-11 also has VMFA-314 (Black Knights), VMFA-323 (Death Rattlers, aka "Snakes"), VMFA(AW)-225 (Vikings), and VMFAT-101 (Sharp Shooters, a training squadron). MAG-11 also consists of other squadrons (non F/A-18) and support squadrons. Here is a little more info if you're interested: 3rd MAW | MAG-11 Make a little more sense?

Thanks so much!! It means a lot after seeing the quality of your work!! I definitely feel there is room to improve this build. Taking time off from the hobby like I did has its challenges, especially when I jumped head first into the old Hasegawa Hornet. Overall, I am pleased with how this Hornet is coming along. These MAG-11 jets are special to me, so I am eager to get this one done and start the next one! Thanks for following my work here.

Hi Mark! Thanks for the comments! I know what stage of the build you're in. The modeling black hole of reworking the whole airframe to your standards... it took me over a month to work my way through that phase. And since you're doing a full re-scribe, I imagine it will take you a little more time than usual. Couple that with the distraction of your excellent A-10 build - you're a busy man! I can't wait to see your progress once you have a suitable update!

Thanks for the feedback! I am currently working on the bottom of the model. I'll definitely get some dirt and stains on the engine bay doors for sure.

Another milestone to report... I applied a dirty wash to the whole aircraft. I am always nervous about doing this to my model because I am new to the process. But, the results are controllable and it always works out in the end. The jet I am modeling is relatively clean (for a USMC bird), so I didn't want to get too heavy on the weathering. I think I met my goal, maybe even just a tad on the "too dirty" side. But, some post-shading can knock that down a little bit if it really bothers me. Overall, I am happy with the appearance so far. The ugly: The result: Almost time to start at

Nailed it. Very nice looking build!

A work of art... simply beautiful craftsmanship.

Thanks for checking in Colin! The WP nose section fit was just about as good as you can hope for. Very, very light surface corrections were required at the mating surfaces. It was almost a 100% straightforward drop-in replacement. That being said, unless you really want an easy way to display the IFR probe extended, or want a quicker solution to add the antennas on the nose for upgraded aircraft subjects (molded into the WP part), there is really no huge differences in quality compared to the kit parts. In addition to the nose section, the WP kit comes with 4 pylons, dual chaff buckets wi

Thanks as always for the kind words, Mark. I had to stay home today, so I thought I would sneak in a few decals. Really starts coming to life at this stage...

Time for a new update! I finally got the model painted. Went with MM Acrylic Dark/Light Ghost Gray. Easy to shoot and clean up. And the colors look great right out of the bottle! I didn't run into much trouble on the paint. Pretty straight-forward scheme to paint. Here is the model "mocked-up" with the Verticals, Stabs, and even an engine test fit. I just painted on the "anti-glare" section forward of the windscreen in this photo. Also pictured are a bunch of the sub assemblies in various stages of completion: Here is a preview of the burner cans and nozzles. Still in-work. The loo