Hoops Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I took a break from my AV-8B+ in 1/72 a month and a half or so ago while waiting for some reference images. I was hoping to get them at an airshow a week ago, but the Harriers were only there on Saturday. Guess which day I went? Sunday of course... So in the mean time I did this F/A-18D. Its the old Hasegawa kit, with very minor improvements. I cut and combined two of the kit drop tanks to get the correct length. I built up the tip of the nose radome a bit to get a little bit better profile. I also cut off the antennas under the intake and added the GPS antenna on top of the spine. Steel Beach intake covers were added to cover up the absolutely awful kit items. Other than that, out of the box! Here are the photos: I'll bet you were expecting some sort of cool camouflage scheme weren't you? Well the decals were combined from a ton of different sources. I counted it up and it was something like 7 different sheets. That and the NSAWC and "10" on the tail were custom printed as part of a much larger sheet. First time I've ever used any custom printed decals, and I was really happy with how they performed. The walkways were masked and painted, as all the decal ones I had didn't have the correct light grey color. I used some Tamiya smoke to do the streaking, first time ever using it. I don't think I thinned it enough It was spitting a bit, so I had to soften it a bit by misting some more grey around it. I just used rubbing alcohol to thin it, do I need to get the fancy Tamiya Acrylic thinner? I also used the Promodellers wash for the first time on this kit as well. For my personal taste it's great for panel lines, but I don't like it very much for the landing gear and wells. I wound up doing those again with my normal sludge wash and was much more pleased with the results. Dirty footprints on the walkways were done with pastels and a blending stump. I realize that this one is probably a little dirtier than it should be, but I wanted to practice some new techniques. here is a picture of the real thing: Click Me, Airliners.net Photo! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoops Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 And here is my other ongoing project, a quartet of GBU-38s in 1/72. Two of them are going to be hung underneath a Super Hornet, the other two underneath a F-16. As a result I needed to make sure that I represented the differences between the Navy and Air Force versions. They need some more work, but here is a picture: It doesn't show up very well in this image, but the Navy ones have the ablative coating represented on the back two. There is also a row of "screws" where the the tail unit attaches to the all the bombs that's hard to see. The Air Force bombs in the fore have my attempt at the DSU-33 Proximity fuse. I need to do some more clean up on the front portions. Next up is adding the box where the cables plug in, the GPS antennas on the back, and the fins. I'll be glad when these are done, they've about driven me nuts... Hoops Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Whoa And this is 1/72?? ;) Those should look killer under with a coat of paint on them ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
foxtwo Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 never see a so clean build at that scale ! Pat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
regevmo Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Those GBU's are looking awsome :lol: Regev. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jack-Swiss Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 All i see is a very great work!!!!! Lovely job! Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aarzee Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Very nice ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoops Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Aarzee, Jack-Swiss, regevmo, foxtwo and AnthonyWan thanks for the kind words all. I did some work on the GBUs today, added the datalink connection on the back, and did some work to clean up some errors on the front of the Navy versions. The smaller holes in the very front of the collar were a little rough and uneven, and after a little work tomorrow those should be fixed. The datalink connectors correctly represent the difference between the AF and the Navy versions, worry not! No pictures today though, I finished after all the good photo taking light was gone... Until tomorrow, -Jared Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Looking forward to seeing those GBU-38s done up. Are they scratch built or are aftermarket? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rjwood_uk Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Looking very good so far mate. Keep it up :) Richard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoops Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Raptor Supporter, the GBUs are almost scratchbuilt. I started with the Mk. 82 from the Hasegawa weapons set, other than that it's sheet styrene and stretched sprue. rjwook_uk, thanks for the encouragement! A little bit more work, the forward sections have all been cleaned up, and the datalink ports added to the top of the tail. The port is longer and goes forward over the bomb case on the Navy GBUs just like the real thing. I also added the GPS antennas, but I'm not sure about them, I think they might be a little too small in diameter. What do you guys think? It wouldn't be too hard to pop them off, I would just have to turn the correctly sized rod to get things right. I'm also started work on a BRU-57 today as well. The VER from the Hasegawa Superhornet as the basis, but it will get a whole lot of work done to it. Thanks again! -Hoops Quote Link to post Share on other sites
doctorpepper Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 anyone would like to have these GBU-38s as aftermarket? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Josh1971 Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 anyone would like to have these GBU-38s as aftermarket? Modern Hobbies just released theirs, along with their BRU-57s and Sniper pods in 1/72 as of Monday. But how can having more of them on the market be a bad thing? jb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Raptor Supporter, the GBUs are almost scratchbuilt. I started with the Mk. 82 from the Hasegawa weapons set, other than that it's sheet styrene Quote Link to post Share on other sites
silent-eagle Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 anyone would like to have these GBU-38s as aftermarket? I'd get like 20 or so if u make them. :wacko: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 (edited) Your stuff looks great! Here's a shot of NSAWC's F/A-18B back in 98 when it was gray - -brian Edited June 19, 2008 by Brian P: Fightertown Decals Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoops Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 It's been a little while since I've updated my progress on the bombs, life had gotten in the way, and I haven't been able to do as much modeling as I would like in the last couple of weeks. Here is a picture of the completed GBU-38s, and the BRU-57 as it stands right now: I wound up starting over on another BRU-57 after I made a couple of mistakes, so this is the new one. Hard to see in this picture because the white is washed out, but the center bar has a row of rivets down the each side. The cutouts are being prepared to accept my representation of the BRU-46 pylons, but that's for another days work. I hope that you guys enjoy! Cheers, -Hoops Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 <...> I hope that you guys enjoy! Very much so! Those GBUs look spectacular! Looking the way they do they'd be a damn fine job in any scale, but in 1/72 that's just awesome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 I'll bet you were expecting some sort of cool camouflage scheme weren't you? I'm quite happy to see #2... it's in my logbook. The only camouflage 2-seat Hornet we've got is 02, and I'm pretty sure it's possessed. 10 is relatively well-behaved Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 Yes, those GBU-38s looks great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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