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1/48 Hasegawa Topgun 30


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Hello Everyone

Just as I was starting my F-18 adversary, I learned that there was going to be an adversary GB starting next month so I decided to put the one on hold and pick up another tomcat. For whatever reason I am in an adversary mood, so I plan to do TOPGUN 30 with the blue splinter camo.

See here from FTD's, photopage.

30inflighttop.jpg

I will be using the Hasegawa "black knights history" kit and the beaver tails from the "sundowners" kit to make a block 90 A/C. Decals from fighttown of course!!! No other aftermarkets on this one, just some scratch building and TLC. This will be my second 1/48 Hasegawa kitty. The other can be seen in this build thread. Hopefully I can learn from my experiences from the last time.

Edited by graves_09
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Weekend Update. This weekend I wanted to get the ball rolling so I started with my least favorite part, the wheel wells. After i got them ready to paint, I decided what they hey, I might as well paint everything white at once, so I assembled the landing gear. This turned out to be a bigger pain in the neck then I wanted. It took me about 5 hours of scraping, sanding and filling to get rid of all the pin marks and molding flesh (hint hint Hasegawa, time to invest a few dollars and remake the mold for your cash cow) It wasn't until late sunday night I got to paint all the white parts (gear, gear wells, etc) WAY longer than I anticipated. Now hopefully the worst is behind me... knock on wood. I will get some pics as soon as I have some progress to show. Bye for now!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick up date, I have mostly been doing construction, so not much to show thus far. I did however want to share a idea I had about the flap hinges. Most people know that the hasegawa kittys are missing the hings for the flaps and it requires some scratch building. I found that if you cut the pieces from the slats (if they are going to be placed up) and glue them in the gaps for the flap hinges they fit pretty much perfectly. They will be too tall, but glue them anyway. After the glue dries, use a knife or sand them level with the wing. I show it in the pic below. I have not cut the pieces from the slats yet (i borrowed them from the other wing). 012-2.jpg

Note: this doesn't work if you are putting the flaps and slats down.

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  • 3 months later...

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this.

I have completed the cockpit and most of the construction. Right now I am working on filling and sanding. (My least favorite part)

Not much to show, but here are some cockpit pics.

twinsgame094.jpg

twinsgame095.jpg

twinsgame097.jpg

One of the nose gear bay

twinsgame098.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Here is an update. I have gotten most of the non-splinter painting done. The white nose, lt. gray fuselage, and gull gray sides have all been painted. This was the first time I have tried pre-shading a model. I used an airbrush and MM Euro Gray to do the panels lines on the undersides of the wings. I was having problems getting the right mixture to avoid getting spider lines. Then I thickened the paint too much and I was getting a sputtering like effect. I eventually got frustrated and did the rest of the pre-shading by hand. IMO the jury is still out on pre-shading. I like the artistic look it gives to the jets but i don't know if it looks all that realistic to me. All the pics I have seen of this jet, the panel lines aren't really highlighted with the exception of a few heavily used panels. Next up: paint the top light blue and then start masking the splinter scheme. It might be a race to the finish to get this one done before the deadline!!!

splintertomcatupdate006.jpg

splintertomcatupdate007.jpg

sort of hard to see the pre shading but i promise it is there! Like I said I wanted the effect to be fairly light as that is what I saw from my reference pics.

splintertomcatupdate009.jpg

splintertomcatupdate012.jpg

wing pylons with duel LAU-7's

splintertomcatupdate014.jpg

bottoms of wings painted Lt. Ghost Gray

splintertomcatupdate018.jpg

Shortened the 'Gawa hook. It was too long!

Thanks for looking! Hopefully I can get the baby blue painted on tonight and then get busy masking the splinter scheme!

Edited by graves_09
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Quick update. Masked the canopy and painted the light blue. I found the best match for FS35450 was Humbrol 47. I tryed mixing Testors Flanker blue with bright blue 6:1 and it was close, but not quite. The Humbrol seemed to match the decals best plus no mixing so I went with that. I didn't have time for pics but I will post some soon. I'll give it a day to dry before starting the best part...MASKING! Only two more colors to go!

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I am really looking forward to the splinter! Can't wait.

You want it, YOU GOT IT! ;)

I finished the Dk Ghost Gray splinter masking and painting. I started masking the horizontial stablizers so I didn't photograph them.

splintertomcatupdate011-1.jpg

splintertomcatupdate014-1.jpg

splintertomcatupdate015-1.jpg

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splintertomcatupdate019.jpg

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splintertomcatupdate009-1.jpg

And, my dog Sam sporting his own splinter scheme. :D

splintertomcatupdate008-1.jpg

Next up blue splinter!

Edited by graves_09
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Thanks to all for looking!

Quick update: Splinter painting is DONE. (well mostly done) I painted the blue last night but I had a problem with seepage under the mask in some spots so I have to go over with light blue again. I was using 3M blue painters tape. I tried to paint perpendicular to the tape as much as possible and do muitiple light coats but even that didn't work. anyone got any better ideas for the future? Overall it looks good, here are the pics as promised:

splintertomcat2001.jpg

splintertomcat2002.jpg

splintertomcat2003.jpg

splintertomcat2004.jpg

splintertomcat2005.jpg

splintertomcat2006.jpg

splintertomcat2007.jpg

splintertomcat2008.jpg

Edited by graves_09
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  • 2 weeks later...

I am 99% done with this one. Finished glossing and decaling last week. My wife was gone most of the weekend, so I was able to get the weathering done and final gloss coat. Most of the final assembly is done too. Just need to glue on a few more parts tonight and I should get this one squeeked out just before the dead line. Check back later tonight for pics...

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A few weeks ago I wasn't sure if I would get this one done, but here it is. I took a couple of quick pics last night before bed so here is a preview. I will take better pics tomorrow.

SplinterDone005.jpg

SplinterDone008.jpg

SplinterDone009.jpg

SplinterDone010.jpg

(Yes, that is Steven Colbert in the background :) )

SplinterDone011.jpg

SplinterDone012.jpg

SplinterDone013.jpg

SplinterDone015.jpg

My other recently finish adversary F/A-18A for the Flight Test, Evaluation, Adversary GB.

Hope you enjoy!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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