1/32 Academy F-18D to CF-18B kicked up a notch.

[JMan]

Thanks Guys!

I worked a bit on the missile pods last night and I added some photoetch brass to the ladder. The front needle-nose on the ACMI pod was particularly hard to cut, because it was actually made from a stainless steel hypodermic needle! For all the wonderful details on the Zactoman AIM-9 missile I'm making into a Canadian version of the CATM-9 pod, I have to eliminate some of them like the "T" handle to arm the missile and those little circular windows near the front. Oh well, at least the rest of the pod will be way more detailed than the kit missile would be.

That silvered "No-Step" decal turned out to be a real bear, so I had to sand it down and remove it with Microsol, so I now have a bit more painting to do. No big deal, but a PITA nonetheless. As you know, one bad decal can screw up the whole model, and this one is on top and right in your face.

When I get all that stuff sorted out, it's down to final assembly and some pastel work, especially on those areas that get extra dirty like flap/rudder hinges, tires and maintenance doors. I'm also going to try some subtle rust weathering on selected areas in a way I've never tried before, that I think could look very effective and realistic- or a complete bust. Wish me luck- and Merry Christmas!

Hey Chuck you wanna get me a Christmas gift? How about all of your modelling skills? HEHE, just kidding, you are a frickin master. I have learned alot about different techniques and yes alot of it comes from you. Thats the best Christmas gift I could ask for, now I can make my models look even better than they did before, thanks again for doing all of these walkthroughs on your builds they are awesome!

Merry Christmas to you as well Chuck!

[Scooby]

Hey Chuck,

I can't even express how much in awe I am of you in regards to this build. I look forward to seeing this in Calgary this year.

[Marcel111]

Chuck: Merry Christmas!

Nice to see your build come together, very inspiring work on the Cubic and CATM stores. Wheel wells and gear look fantastic.

Marcel

[chuck540z3]

That's just amazing work. I'm totally floored by the small details you've added. I personally think the ACMI pod is perfect for the CUBIC version, and wouldn't change a thing.

Jake

Thanks for stopping by Jake. I have some pics of the pods used by our CF-18's that show quite a few differences to what is used in the US. Nothing major, but I think you'll find my changes will be worth the trouble.

Hey Chuck,

I can't even express how much in awe I am of you in regards to this build. I look forward to seeing this in Calgary this year.

Geez, very kind words coming from a guy who actually worked on these babies. I'm pretty sure this build will be in Nanton in June, so maybe you can see it then.

And thanks to everyone else for your encouragement! Now for some more reference pics.

Before I attach the wing pylons and tanks to the wings, I thought I'd check out those launchers that hug the sides of the fuselage that often have AIM-7 Sparrow missiles hanging there. A close-up of 188910 shows nothing on the port side....

But the starboard side does on the far right (same aircraft, same day).....

Thanks to input from Jari (Finn), those launchers are called LAU-116 launchers and they may or may not be present. Also, those "C"-shaped launcher feet are either holding the Sparrow missile or free-wheeling when nothing is there, so they aren't always 90 degrees to the side of the aircraft. I took a better pic up close of this F-18C at Nellis. Note the rear launcher has a couple of extra bumps on it compared to the front one, and there's a red disk of some kind in the middle. Those launcher feet spin easily (I tried), so I imagine they just lay flat to the sides of the aircraft when it's in flight.....

Soooo, here's my attempt to replicate same. The kit parts do indeed have different shaped launcher feet, so be careful which one you glue where....

Next up is gear doors. I used the Eduard photoetch hinges on all the doors and made some control arms out of 0.03" rod, because the length of the kit parts were too short for most of the hinges in order to get the gear door angles correct. For example, the outside rear doors on each side should be almost vertical, but the kit parts force them inward too far. The front large door, however, does angle inwards a few degrees....

The bottom of the fuel tanks have a red valve of some kind (thanks again Jari), but getting a decent pic of one is almost impossible, so I just made one up using a couple of small photoetch discs that would have gone on the landing gear if I had used the kit parts. I hope this is close.....

Now things are all coming together nicely on the bottom.....

Edited December 27, 2010 by chuck540z3

[chuck540z3]

The "Fat Pylon" from below on Station 8 .....

and from above......

The other side. Note the fixed "No-step" decal just left of the navigation light, with some more weathering....

I mentioned earlier that I wasn't happy with the look of the burner nozzles. They should be mottled, dull and even beat-up looking, like these. Note the large gap between the nozzle petals and the fuselage, so a snug fit isn't always what you want....

Using salt as a mask (of course!), I tried to replicate same. Looks like I need another coat of Dullcoat to kill the shine......

The salt weathering on the horizontal stabilizer is very effective here, mostly because I completely re-decaled the "No Walk" decal here too and repainted everything....

In between the nozzles there should be a strap-like piece of metal, so I added one, which helped to hide the seam.....

Thanks for checking in. If I don't get a chance to post any earlier, Happy New Year!

Edited December 27, 2010 by chuck540z3

[RescueDiver]

BLOODY HELL.........I don't know what else to say.

AMAZING!!

Brent

[JMan]

WOW, amazing work! This is sharp!

[Spit1A]

Hi,

Amazing work you've done!

Just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed following this build! I'm building a CF-18 of my own and your build has been one of my primary references.

I'll definitely be downloading this topic once it's done.

Keep up the great work!

Edited December 27, 2010 by Spit1A

[GRAIL007]

Hi Chuck, great build! It is nice to see someone put a lot of time into documenting thier build.

One thing i noticed though when I was comparing a 1/48 Hasegawa Cf-18 and a HobbyBoss F/A-18, is that the HB kit has the oval plates for the AN/ALQ-65 radar warning recievers. The Academy kit you are using has the same cover plates on the spine behind the cockpit, those aren't on any Canadian hornets as far as I can tell. It should be one smooth piece.

Thanks for the great build!

cheers

Mark

[Eastern]

That's really great stuff, Chuck! All look so crisp and neatly, great paint work and exceptional weathering.

Nothing against but... May I ask you if you intend to do something with the tires so that wouldn't have looked so fresh? If I were you I would rub them with 1000 grit abrasive paper and then covered them with natural road dust using paint brush (adding some natural rust powder works good too). :D

Cheers and happy modeling!

And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Alexander.

[rom]

Hi!

the rendering looks sooo real!

Surely another anthology build from you!

bye

[GreyGhost]

Wow ...

Gregg

[chuck540z3]

Hi Chuck, great build! It is nice to see someone put a lot of time into documenting their build.

One thing i noticed though when I was comparing a 1/48 Hasegawa Cf-18 and a HobbyBoss F/A-18, is that the HB kit has the oval plates for the AN/ALQ-65 radar warning recievers. The Academy kit you are using has the same cover plates on the spine behind the cockpit, those aren't on any Canadian hornets as far as I can tell. It should be one smooth piece.

Thanks for the great build!

cheers

Mark

EDIT:

Dang! I just checked some reference pics and of course you're right. I should have known when I deleted those radar blisters that there might be changes required where they go. I even re-scribed them and the rivet detail! I found the same situation on the front starboard side gear door where another blister is deleted. There's a panel there that I should have deleted as well. Oh well! I just looked at the offending parts and I can make the required changes without too much trouble- I hope! I'll make sure I note those changes in my write-up at the end- and thanks for the tip before I was totally finished.

That's really great stuff, Chuck! All look so crisp and neatly, great paint work and exceptional weathering.

Nothing against but... May I ask you if you intend to do something with the tires so that wouldn't have looked so fresh? If I were you I would rub them with 1000 grit abrasive paper and then covered them with natural road dust using paint brush (adding some natural rust powder works good too). :)

Cheers and happy modeling!

And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Alexander.

Now this I can fix easily and to tell you the truth, I was going to anyway. The tires don't look nearly as shiny in normal lighting (nor the rest of the build), but under the glare of my lighting to get pics, they do tend to look like they're brand new and unrealistic. Thanks for the tip Alexander- and the kind words.

Thanks to everyone else for stopping by and your words of encouragement

Edited December 27, 2010 by chuck540z3

[chuck540z3]

Well, call me _nal, but how can I make all these tiny edits and leave those two huge oval panels on the top, as indicated by Mark above? I have a good pic of the top of 188910 below. Note no oval panels right behind the canopy. What was I not thinking?....

188910 has just gone back into the hangar for maintenance. The good news is that I can mask off a single panel, so that after sanding and re-painting, the likely color difference to the rest of the model isn't a deal killer. This is mostly because single panels are often newly painted and stick out as "new" looking anyway. As a matter of fact, I have a pic of 910 with the panel 2 back of this one freshly painted, so if it sticks out too much as different, I'll re-paint that panel too, just to make it look more natural. The bad news is that I'll lose some of that nice blotchy salt weathering. Maybe I can do it again. We'll see.

Since I'm going in for major surgery anyway, I may as well fix that front door (J20) that has the small antenna on it, instead of the big blister of an F-18C. Here's a pic of the door on an F-18C I took at Nellis this year....

This is what a CF-18 door looks like.....

So all those rivets and panel lines have to go....

Thanks again Mark for pointing out the goofs before it was too late!

[JohnS]

Well, call me _nal ...

You're _nal!

j/k. Glad I'm not the only one. Looking good Chuck.

[Shawn M]

Wow, I admire your dedication to accuracy. I woulda called it good.

[JMan]

Wow, I admire your dedication to accuracy. I woulda called it good.

I agree with you but you know thats what sets Chuck apart from 99% of us modelers. He is one dedicated SOB when it comes to accuracy, but its awesome that there are builders out there like him that make the rest of us want to be better and not feel that we are being anal about something. Thanks again Chuck, its been a pleasure watching you build this Hornet!

[Ken Middleton]

Chuck, you could have told people the ovals were the covers to the beer coolers

[chuck540z3]

You're _nal!

j/k. Glad I'm not the only one. Looking good Chuck.

"Sick, Crazy, Weird, etc., etc." I get them all, especially from my wife when I'm ignoring her and riveting some tiny piece of plastic. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed- I got that from "loftycomfort") needs a little attention right now or I'm in big trouble, so that'll be it for a few days guys! That putty needs time to cure anyway-......although I could work on missile pods.......and then there is the final canopy fit and, and, and....... ;)

[Charlie Cheetah]

Wow, I keep noticing things I missed on my build... I'll need to build another now.

[GRAIL007]

Well, call me _nal, but how can I make all these tiny edits and leave those two huge oval panels on the top, as indicated by Mark above? I have a good pic of the top of 188910 below. Note no oval panels right behind the canopy. What was I not thinking?....

Thanks again Mark for pointing out the goofs before it was too late!

Hey Chuck, no problem I was thinking you simply over-looked those panels. Knowing you were correcting all the small deviations to make a more accurate 910, I thought you might want to correct those before it was too late! I know the fix will look awesome.

cheers!

Mark

[Scooby]

Hey Chuck,

I spotted one error, the APU service location between the gear doors should have a cover on it. I am not sure why only Canadian Hornets have that cover but it is a pain in the arse to take off to take SOAP samples. Especially in the winter months on the flightline between flights.

[chuck540z3]

Hey Chuck,

I spotted one error, the APU service location between the gear doors should have a cover on it. I am not sure why only Canadian Hornets have that cover but it is a pain in the arse to take off to take SOAP samples. Especially in the winter months on the flightline between flights.

Thanks Scooby. Is that the big square box at the rear between the gear doors? I've got a bunch of pics of CF-18's in flight and you can definitely still see in there, so the cover (if I have the right part) would have to be mesh?

[chuck540z3]

Just when you think you're on the home stretch, there's always something you missed- or got wrong. I fixed that panel just aft of the canopy to remove the oval panels that don't exist on F-18A/B's. I think it looks pretty good, considering I had to fill in the panels with putty, sand them down to the plastic, repaint, re-putty, re-sand, repaint, re-weather and finally a touch more salt weathering and dull coat- all with a fully assembled and painted model. This step was tough, but I think I got a look that doesn't appear re-painted at the end, which of course it was.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Thanks to Jari (Finn), he told me that those red discs in the middle of the LAU-116 launchers were actually brown, not red, and the launcher feet were painted fuselage color, not bare metal. Checking more reference pics, of course he's right, sooooo......

I found a better disc that looks very much like the real deal, so it was all worth it.

Also, "Scooby" indicated that the panel between the rear gear should have some sort of cover on it. Trying to find a decent pic of this area was tough, but thanks to Jari (again) and a few pics of my own, I've determined that on CF-18's they are usually mesh and they can come in all sorts of configurations. Some have an cross pattern on them, some are just wire mesh, but some also look a lot like this. It isn't perfect, but it'll do, and you can still see the "stuff" behind the grill, so I highlighted some it by dry-brushing silver, although you can't see much from these pics......

Thanks guys for all the tips before it was too late- and you're continued interest. Now where are those wingtip pods?

Edited January 2, 2011 by chuck540z3

[MarkC]

Chuck ! I have just spent a really enjoyable day reading through tis thread ! A really first class build and blog. I really seeing such skilled model making and with great explanations.

thanks

Mark