Stefan buysse Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi, This is my F/A-18E that I plan to build as BuNo 165537 "SD400", using Fightertown Decals. I haven't done much, but I've done something that irrevocably turns this F/A-18E into 165538. I have shaved off the pizza box. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jack-Swiss Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 This should be really interesting!!! can't wait to see more of it! Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderGrunt Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Cant wait for this one, gonna be bitching Stefan!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
speedlimit Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Yup this one would be very interesting to watch. Eric Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks, guys. I hope I won't disappoint you. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marlin Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 This looks cool Stefan Could you please tell me something more about the decals. I could sure use some of the "photo-markings" for my Red Delilahs. Good Luck with your build. Best Regards Bosse from Sweden Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Hi, Marlin. This is FTD sheet 48-018. I do not think there are many aircraft with more photo calibration marks than "SD400". I have not yet counted everything on the sheet and I'm not sure yet how many of which type I'll need for my 4 GBU-16's. But I should have some to spare for you. Do you know what type and size go on the Delilahs? I think there are 2 basic types: one is a square made up of 2 black triangles and 2 white triangles while the other is a black square with a white circle with a tiny black circle in the middle of that. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joe Hegedus Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 (edited) Hi,I've done something that irrevocably turns this F/A-18E into 165538. I Cool, except for one minor detail...SD400 (now SD100) is BuNo 165537 Edited February 20, 2009 by Joe Hegedus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hi, Joe. I'm quite happy to have someone from Paxtuxent River take an intrest in my build. :) The "8" was just a typing error, but I do sometimes feel like I'm the "Homer Simpson of plastic modeling". Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marlin Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hi, Marlin.This is FTD sheet 48-018. But I should have some to spare for you. Do you know what type and size go on the Delilahs? I think there are 2 basic types: one is a square made up of 2 black triangles and 2 white triangles while the other is a black square with a white circle with a tiny black circle in the middle of that. Cheers, Stefan. Thanks for the offer Stefan. I'll check what will look the best and get back to you. Best Regards Bosse from Sweden Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joe Hegedus Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hi, Joe.I'm quite happy to have someone from Paxtuxent River take an intrest in my build. :) The "8" was just a typing error, but I do sometimes feel like I'm the "Homer Simpson of plastic modeling". Cheers, Stefan. 400/100 was my primary project jet for about 8 years, so there's a personal connection there. The 4 GBU-16 load is one of my personal favorites; a chase photo of it was my framed going-away picture and hangs above the computer desk now. Joe Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 My favorite was the 10 x Mk 83's with BSU-85's, a CATM-120 and a C/L DT. It had wing tip camera pods but I can't remember what we if had anything on station 5. Joe, you remember that load? I'll be following along also. Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joe Hegedus Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 My favorite was the 10 x Mk 83's with BSU-85's, a CATM-120 and a C/L DT. It had wing tip camera pods but I can't remember what we if had anything on station 5. Joe, you remember that load? I'll be following along also. ;) Reddog Most likely Sta 5 had the AAS-46 TRFLIR camera pod (gray with an orange stripe around the mid body). Very rarely did 400/100 fly with anything other than the camera mounts on the wingtips (AIM-9X was about the only thing that comes to mind; all the previous AIM-9 work was done with one of the EMD jets, either E-5 or F-2). The cameras could come off for things like PMCFs, but the mounts would remain. I'm not sure if the 10 MK-83 was flown before the rudder stripes were added, while the jet still had the silly URL address painted along the trailing edge of the rudder, or after. I'm pretty sure it was before the renumbering and subsequent color tail markings were done though. I miss that job; it was a lot of fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 We did the 10 x Mk 83's when I was there so they bird was still 400 and before the tail was colored, can't remember if it had that stupid website crap on it or not. I remember the wingtip camera pods, what a pain they were installing them, I hated them. We didn't fly Winders on the wing tips, just the camera pods. And your right, it had that TRFLIR camera pod on station 5 come to think of it, that thing never came off. Stefan, Look forward to seeing your build. Reddog ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 My favorite was the 10 x Mk 83's with BSU-85's, Hi, That sounds like a great load-out too. Are BSU-85's something like Air Inflatable Retards? I gather that Shawn Hull's great BRU-57's are pretty close to CVER's. Anyway, I'm sticking with the 4x GBU-16 load-out. I want inert bombs on this one. I had been thinking about green guidance sections and fins with a smooth blue bomb body. But I'm not sure if blue bomb bodies are a Navy thing. Should I go for a light ghost grey bomb body with ablative coating and 2 blue bands? Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joe Hegedus Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hi,That sounds like a great load-out too. Are BSU-85's something like Air Inflatable Retards? I gather that Shawn Hull's great BRU-57's are pretty close to CVER's. Anyway, I'm sticking with the 4x GBU-16 load-out. I want inert bombs on this one. I had been thinking about green guidance sections and fins with a smooth blue bomb body. But I'm not sure if blue bomb bodies are a Navy thing. Should I go for a light ghost grey bomb body with ablative coating and 2 blue bands? Cheers, Stefan. That's exactly what the BSU-85 fin is. The Revell E in it's original issue had a pair of them, as did the F they did. There were also some done in resin several years ago by Dave Roof, I have no idea if he has any more still available. Go with the blue bomb bodies, those are what we normally had available for test work. Some were brand new, others were really beat up (the blue faded to almost white in places, blue worn off to expose rust-red primer underneath, general grime from being left outside in all kinds of weather. Even some of the GBU kits were a bit beat up, as when we used them for test drops we had them disables so they wouldn't guide, and there were times that the assembled weapons would sit outside in the weather for several weeks before they were used. But clean guidance units and fin kits seemed to be more common, most of the stuff we left outside was dumb bombs. Green was the most common color for the GBU kits, but gray was seen occasionally . For the 4 GBU-16 load, the bomb bodies were clean and new, there was one green tail fin on station 3, the other 3 tails were gray, all the guidance units were gray, the canards on all bombs were green and the adapter collar between the guidance units and bomb bodies on all 4 bombs were green. Fairly eclectic mix of colors on those bombs. Stations 2 and 10 (outboard wing stations) were just empty pylons. Joe Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hi, Thank you for the detailed guidance, Joe. I won't be boring you all too much with the "construction of an F/A-18E by an average modeler", I'll concentrate on the special features of 165537. I'll begin with the construction of the GBU-16's: some real test objects for us to look at. I do not think that Dave Roof still has those Mk-83's available: I saw them on this site a few years ago and they were already OOP. He may be getting back into resin products, though. He recently did some 1/32 Zuni pods and I can't imagine that the masters of those Mk-83 would have been lost. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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