3 Hornets- Updated 11/26/08

[oortiz10]

Hey everyone,

Here’s my first update for the ARC McAir GB. Funny thing happened on the way to the GB…

After my last project, I was feeling a pretty confident. My builds came out better than expected and I thought I’d jump right in to something new. At first I thought about trying my hand at Revellogram’s 1/48 P-61, however, after taking a straw poll on some boards, I heard a lot of grief about the Widow’s fit issue. I did some research and read that the kit’s starting to show its age. So, I figured I’d try something different. I saw the posting for the McAir build and thought I’d try my hand at some Hornets. After all, I had a few Two Bobs sheets for VFC-12 and a few 1/48 Hornets to try ‘em on. I looked in the boxes and noticed the low parts count. Since I wasn’t going to build the birds with any ordnance, I presumed the builds would go pretty fast. So I decided to go ahead and join the build. And to think I was trying to avoid the Black Widow because of some fit issues. HA!

I had two of Revellogram’s old “A-18 Strike Fighter,†and one Testors F/A-18, which could be either built as a single or double bucket model. I chose to build the Testors kit as a two-seater. My plan was to build all three OOB with the Two Bobs decals. So, I got crackin’ on the two-seater first.

I started with the nose section.

My plan was to build the bulk of the airframe without installing the cockpit. Since the canopy rails were separate from the rest of the nose section, I thought I could take my time with the office then drop in it later.

A problem I immediate ran into was that the plastic in the Testors kit is SUPER soft. I’d have to install the cockpit, then glue on the canopy rails if I wanted the canopy to sit right later.

So that plan went right out the window. I ended up building up the bulk of the ‘pit, without the seats, glued it into place, then installed the rails. That way the cockpit assembly added some rigidity to the nose section which in turn allowed me to install the canopy rails with the appropriate width so that installation of the canopy itself later would go forward without any issues…at least that was my wishful thinking.

While the nose assembly was drying, I turned my attention to the upper fuse and the LEXs. The lower section of the LEXs were separate pieces that needed to have their seams filled and sanded.

While that was sitting aside and drying, I figured I’d get started on the Revellogram Hornets. As usual, I started with the ‘pit. I did some basic painting of the tubs and installed them in prep for closing up the fuses. I didn’t work on the seats or panels. I’d leave those for later.

If you’ve ever built Revellogram’s offering, you know that it’s clamshell design leaves a lot to be desired in regards to its seams. *sigh* Wasn’t I trying to avoid a kit with fit problems? Here I am wrestling with three? Anyway, I closed up the fuses and started with what seemed like the never ending process of fill-sand-check-repeat. On all three kits! The Testors kit had its fuse halves mated together and its nose section added, the Revellogram kits had their fuselage halves closed up. I quickly realized that the Revellogram’s seam locations and raised detail was going to give me fits.

So began the tedious joint work. It got to the point where I had to stop all work and step away from the modeling table…for an entire month. It was getting too boring and frustrating. I needed a break.

Then…the earthquake hit. So I checked in on my workshop to make sure everything was cool. Everything looked cool, but I didn’t wanna sit down and start mashing plastic again. Not just yet.

Edited November 27, 2008 by oortiz10

[oortiz10]

So I was surfing the McAir GB pages and saw ThunderGrunt was wrestling with the seams on his A-18. Feeling relieved that I wasn’t the only being tortured by this kit, I decided to sit back down and forge ahead with the project.

This past week I was finally able to get the seams to a point that I was happy with. But before I could get there, I had a small problem to deal with. The earthquake actually knocked one of the Revellogram kits off my table. When it hit the ground, it knocked the cockpit tub loose. Now I had a closed up fuse, with the seams practically finished, with a cockpit rattling around inside. UGH! I didn’t wanna break the kit open to get to the tub, so I came up with an idea. While the tub was loose within the cockpit area, I drilled two small holes in the tub floor so that I could grab it with some tweezers.

While holding the part, I was able to run some CA along its bonding surface, then “lift†the part into place. A quick bead of accelerator got the part to stick where I needed it. Once the seat’s in place, the holes won’t even be visible. *Phew!*

Once the fuse seams on all three kits were to my liking, I decided to move forward.

I tried my hand at restoring the subtle and soft engraved panel lines on the Testors kit. I’ve never done any rescribing before, and although they’re not perfect, some primer, camo, and decals will hide my shoddy effort well enough.

From there it was time to start with the Testors’ wings. I thought the worst of the seams were behind me…I was wrong.

Anyway, here’s where I’m at now.

I decided to call it a night (in order to maintain my sanity), and I’ll continue with the epic as soon as my will returns…or I have time. Whichever comes first.

Feel free to drop some comments.

Cheers,

-Omar (Yes, a real Omar!)

[Jack-Swiss]

That's an interesting story of how you come up with these babies ortiz!!!!!

I'm enjoying looking at this thread and cant wait to see more progress!!!

Cheers

[Aarzee]

Looking great !!!

[Aggressor Supporter]

Good work so far.

[oortiz10]

WHOA! I haven’t updated this build since AUGUST? Holy cow!

Well, I'm ready to continue. This post isn’t photo heavy, but it does give a quick description of where I’m at. I dointend to finish all three jets by the deadline. So, whaddaya think? Should I rename my thread “Project Phoenix?â€

A lot has happened in the last two months, unfortunately, little of it has been modeling. While I was away from the build, trying to regain the courage to continue wrestling with these kits and their fit issues, life got in the way. The family had to slay a dragon, kill a giant, fix a wagon, wage a war, feed the world, and stamp out sin, but we’re a resilient bunch and things are getting back to normal. Which means…

…I got back to building!

Actually, if by “building†I mean fill-sand-check-rinse-and-repeat.

My original plan was to build three Omar jets. Two one-seaters and one two-seater. I was going to use the Two Bobs sheets for the blue, grey, and brown camo schemes. However, I haven’t been totally happy with my builds, and seeing as the brown and blue sheets are OOP, I didn’t want to “waste†them on these kits. So, I picked up an extra grey Omars sheet and decided to do two grey Omars and a VMFA-251 Hornet off a sheet from my decal stash. I’ll save the original three camo schemes for later. (Maybe one of these days I’ll break down and buy some ‘gawa or HB Hornets. *shudder*)

Here are a couple of shots showing that I actually am making some (read: little) progress. All three jets have their major construction completed.

One Two Seater:

Two One Seaters:

These three kits have been fighting me all the way. Just when I think I’m making progress, something comes up. The Testors kit had some serious warpage. No matter what I used (hot water, blow dryer, hammer; blowtorch) I just couldn’t straighten it out. It got to the point where it was as straight as I could get it, and I just had to live with it. All three have seam issues. Trying to glue one part down? SNAP! A seam splits. Windscreen pulls off during masking? Well, the clear parts are Futured so using CA won’t cause fogging, right? Wrong. *sigh* Loose cockpit tubs? Only after the fuse has been closed up. Where’s that Testors tail pipe? CRUNCH! Oh, there it is.

With the progress (and quality) of these builds, it sort of became a “VX†build. It’s…VX-00! (Double O? Double Nuts?) Even though I’m building two VFC-12 and one VMFA-251 birds, I’m using them to sharpen a few skills.

Two of the kits I have are the old Monogram A-18 Strike Fighter. The other kit is the Testors F/A-18A/B. Neither boxing comes with the LEX fences, so with the help of some measurements from ThunderGrunt (thanks TG), I was able to try my hand at my first ever scratchbuilt parts. I haven’t taken pictures of the fences yet. I’m waiting until I have the painting done before I assemble ‘em. No sense I’m snapping ‘em off and having to reinstall ‘em.

Since my first scratch attempts came out so well (at least I thought so), I decided I’d try to build a few things for my VFC birds. Some seeker head covers for my CATM-9s and a couple of TACTS pods.

The TACTS pods were made from the Testors kits Sidewinders. They were very basic with no molded on detail besides their fins. So, all I did was slice off the fins and reshape the nose. I put the missile body in my Dremel, and using a slow speed and some sandpaper, “sharpened†the tip of the missile. Then, after trimming and sanding the end flat, I drilled a hole to accept a small piece from a push pin. Lastly, some Tamiya tape gave it some texture. It’s neither perfect nor accurate, but it completes the illusion and that’s good enough for me. Small holes drilled into the pods and rails accepted a small pin to hold everything together.

The seeker head covers were shaped in a similar fashion. I took a piece of sprue, and using some sandpaper and my Dremel, I shaped the plastic. Then I used my razor saw and cut a slit down the center. Some over-sized card was slipped and glued into the slit, and finally trimmed and sanded to shape. The last part was drilling a small hole for the “cord†and a slight depression for the missile. The tip of the missile will be cut off so that when CAed into the depression, it’ll look as though the cover was actually slipped over the tip of seeker.

The A-18 boxings came with pods molded onto the fuse pylons. Since I originally wanted to build Omar Hornets, I needed empty pylons. I got the parts info from some helpful forum member (whose name escapes me know, but you know who you are…thanks!) and put in a request to Monogram. A couple of days later, the empty fuse racks from the Blue Angels release showed up. WOOHOO! Not having any forethought, I didn’t think to ask for two sets. (One for the Monogram kit and the other for the Testors kit.) The Testors kit had its fuse racks molded empty, but with what looked to be adapters. So, even though they were “empty,†they didn’t look empty. Oh well, I made due and used ‘em without attaching their pods. For the -251 Hornet, since I was building a loaded jet, I used the pylons with the molded pods out of the box.

During initial construction, I started to get bored with the incessant fill-sand cycle. Not just of the major assemblies, but of the sub-assemblies as well. I decided I’d start painting to break up the routine. The majority of the parts have been primed and the two Omars have actually begun to receive their grey camo. (More pics as I progress.)

Anyway, it feels good to get back to mashing plastic. Don’t hesitate to drop your two cents into the comment bucket!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

-O(mar)

[speedlimit]

Keep it up. U inspire me to make my revellgram F/A-18 into adversary birds.

Eric

[oortiz10]

I started the painting process by priming all the three aircraft with MM Camouflage Grey(?) FS-36622 left over from my Thud build. At this point I noticed that the seams around the Monogram’s radomes looked terrible. Also, some of the other seams weren’t as clean as I would have liked. After all the splitting and cracking, and my attempts at repairs, I decided to leave them as they were. It was bad enough that the forward fuselage of my Monogram kits were practically sanded square and the rear fuse hardly had any raised detail left. Besides, after getting “Sanders Elbow,†the last thing I wanted to do was re-re-re-re-address the seams. (Maybe some creative painting and strategically placed decals would hide the flaws?) After that, I went over the panel lines with MM Aircraft Int Black.

Looking at some pix of the Omars, I realized that VFC-12 maintained their Hornets pretty well. Also, I figured that I may be better off using this excellent tutorial on how to weather the TPS scheme on the VMFA-251 jet than rather the popular panel line shading technique. (Maybe I shouldn’t have done the panel line shading? Oh well, hindsight’s 20/20.) Hopefully I can still make the shading work. Funny because usually I’m not a huge fan of pre-shaded panel lines, but I figured I’d give it a try this time. After all, I used this build as a learning experience. After the panel lines were done, I started with the camo on the Omars.

I began by lightly drawing rough demarcation lines with a pencil. The pencil lines helped figure where and how the camo was going to go. It helped that it was easy to erase around the nose area when the camo got a bit confusing. Then I used the lighter grey to rough in the area.

Silly Putty masked for the darker grey.

Before:

Masked:

After:

As I started painting, I figured I’d use the experience as an exercise in practicing different painting techniques. Like I said, the Omars are pretty well maintained, but I decided I’d go ahead and try spraying a beaten paint scheme. Aside from poor coverage in some places (on purpose), I post shaded a few panels here and there. After the decals go on, I’ll use a very thin mix of the base color to “weather†the decals.

Here are a few shots of the camo in the days fading light.

Finally, I’ll masked for the final colors using normal masking tape.

The two Monogram kits have their stabilators molded as an assembly connected by a fragile rod. Before you close up the fuse you’re supposed to install the stabilators, and their connector is designed to allow the control surfaces to move together. Well, the connector on one pair was broken in the box, so instead of repairing it and installing the assembly before I closed up the fuselage, I left them off. I cut the stabilators free from their connectors and decided to reconnect them later using some 1/16 rod. Leaving ‘em off would facilitate painting, then using the SS rod would add some structural integrity and still allow them to move as a unit.

Here’s a pic of Monogram’s stabilators test-fitted on the rod and the TESTORS jet with its stabilators dry-fitted in the background. (It may not be obvious, but I’m sure you eagle eyed modelers caught it. On the right Monogram stabilator, I painted the camo scheme “backwards.†Cue Homer: D’OH!)

That’s it for tonight gang. I still have to finish the camo and do some touch up. Once the two Omars jets are painted, I’ll start on the -251 jet.

Thanks for looking! Feel free to drop your comments below.

Cheers,

-Omar (not a fighting one)

[oortiz10]

So, it continues…

Each Monogram kit only came with one drop tank for the centerline with the pylon molded on, but the Testors came with two wing tanks molded separate from their pylons. I chose to use the Monogram tanks on the VFC birds (the Testors and one Monogram), and the Testors tanks on the VMFA-251 one (Monogram). Why use a Monogram tank on a Testors kit and Testors tanks on a Monogram? For the sake of consistency. Since the Monogram centerlines had their pylons molded on, it’d be easy to simply install the tanks on the Omar jets. That would give both Omars the same sized tanks. I found that the Testors tanks and wing pylons were undersized when compared to the Monogram parts. Because of that, I decided to chuck the Testors pylons altogether and use the Monogram wing pylons (since the VMFA-251 was a Monogram kit) with the Testors tanks. The Testors tanks were designed to be used with wing pylons, so no centerline pylon was included. What I had to do was remove the centerline pylon from an extra Monogram tank I had, and graph the Testors tanks to the Monogram pylons. I just drilled some holes and used some paperclip to “pin†the assembly together. Since I wanted to build my -251 jet with an asymmetrical load with one centerline tank and one wing tank, this allowed the two tanks to be the same size on one jet, and the same size on the two Omar jets.

Here they are with some decals:

One thing I learned while decaling the tanks is that straight Solvaset doesn’t like Future…or Future doesn’t like Solvaset. The Solvaset ate through the Future, much the way Windex (ammonia based window cleaner) does. It ate straight through to the paint. Luckily, a cotton bud with some Windex evened everything out, and then another coat of Future fixed everything right up. The tanks look a little glossy above because they haven’t gotten their flat coat yet.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t wanna “waste†the Two Bobs camo schemes so the third Hornet’s a loaded VMFA-251 Hornet in OIF markings. These markings were from Two Bobs 48-072, but the loadout’s entirely made up. I used MAW Decals’ ordnance diagram as a reference to verify that all the weapons are cleared for the Hornet, I just don’t know if the weapons were ever used in my combination during OIF (or ever for that matter). I just thought it looked cool.

The weapons will be to Mk. 82s, two LAU-10 rocket pods, and a GBU. The rockets and GBU are from ‘gawa’s weapons sets while the Mk. 82s are from the Testors kit. I’ll have to fudge the ‘gawa rocket pods a bit to fit the Testors VER. I’ve also had to mangle the VERs and the ‘gawa GBU to fit Monogram’s pylons. One thing I noticed was the rear fins on the ‘gawa GBU were different than the fins I’ve seen in pics. They seem to have a taller profile.

Versus…

(Taken from The Ordnance Shop)

All I did was trim down the rear fins.

I didn’t want to scratch entirely new fins, so out came the sanding stick. My GBU’s from ‘gawa’s Weapons Set B while it seems that the D set has the correct profile. Maybe the B set includes the “old†fins? Who knows. I made do with what I had. Since the rear of the bombs tucked under the wing, I figured few people would even notice.

Here’s what the Mk. 82s look like:

All the yellow stripes are painted onto the bombs. The ordnance assemblies and drop tanks were stuck together with paper clip pins.

The rocket pods are still under construction. We’ll see how they turn out.

While the “live†ordnance assemblies for the -251 jet were drying, I turned my attention to the inert missiles and TACTS pods of the Omars jets.

The TACTS pods and CATM-9 were painted with custom “close enough†colors and MM Burnt Metal for the forward parts of the assemblies.

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the CATM-9s also got a light watercolor wash. The seeker head covers haven’t been painted yet, but as soon as they are I’ll post some shots.

Cont…

[oortiz10]

…Cont…

I’ve also started painting the -251 jet’s TPS paint scheme. During stints away from the -251 jet, I completed touch-ups on the Omar’s camo. There are still a few odd-n-ends to do in the paint shop, but it’s getting there.

Here’s what the B model looks like.

To break up the monotony of building the same three jets at once, I let my A.D.D. take over and I’d start on a different construction step. Aside from the drop tanks, I also started some other decaling. I was excited to see how the Two Bobs marking looked on the Omar’s camo. I was impressed with the way the small detail decals responded on the tanks, so I thought I’d start to mark up the two seat F/A-18B.

Here are the fins for both Omars:

Besides the Omar’s tails, I also decaled the -251’s tails.

Here are a few shots of the other progress:

In a previous post I whined about the Testors Hornet’s warpage. Here’s a head-on shot so you can see for yourself.

I think Two Bobs’ decals are pretty sweet. I’ve never used ‘em before but they work great! Beyond that, they look great too! Well, you can see for yourself from the photos above.

Anyway, I need to step away from the project for a couple of days, but I’m hoping to post some more progress soon. There’s more to come!

Feel free to drop your comments/criticism below.

Thanks for looking!

-O

PS: Aside from the three Hornets, I also found time to build myself a light box for the photos. Please bear with me as I learn how to use it. Cheers!

[Rampage55]

Beautiful paint work!!! very nice indeed.

Mark

[Najk]

I just love the paintjob on the Omar's bird! Awesome!

[oortiz10]

OK everyone,

I know I’m coming up on the deadline, but the good news is…I GOT ONE FINISHED!

One of the last things that were holding me up was some rocket tubes. I pulled a set out of Hasegawa’s weapons set, but once built up and painted they looked terrible. Plus, while checking out some pix I noticed that the tubes the Hornet hauls don’t have that “collar†that’s molded on the Hase parts. Luckily for me the weapons set had two pairs. So, I built the other pair and was much happier with the second set.

I was using this pic from MAW Decals for inspiration:

(Thanks Creighton!)

Anyway, here’s how mine turned out.

I started by painting the tubes white, then misting on thin coats of MM Interior Black and Dark Tan until I got the desired effect. I’m pretty happy with ‘em…

Everything else was pretty much ready to go together. For the most part, all the other subassemblies were done and waiting patiently. Once the rockets were done, it was time to assemble. I figured the worst was behind me, but it seems that these builds are haunted. For every step I took forward, I took two back. (More on that later.)

Anyway, this bird’s the first of a group of three. I still have two Omars that are about 80% complete. THEY WILL BE DONE BY THE DEADLINE!

Here are a few detail shots:

There are a few more pix in the Rollout thread.

Feel free to drop you two cents. Remember to keep your eyes peeled. There are two more in the pipe!

Cheers,

-O

[Rampage55]

Outstanding work!!! Those LAU tubes look fantastic

I'm working on my LAU's at the moment and those photos you posted were helpful, Thanks.

Mark