Pete Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 It's a Hornet! My third build for this GB will be a Malaysian F/A-18D. The TUDM (Malaysian Air Force) purchased 8 of these jets for the maritime strike/interdiction role in the mid 1990's, and has them stationed at Butterworth AFB. They are equal to the F/A-18D's of the USMC and can use a variety of armament like AGM-84, AGM-65, AIM-7, AIM-9, AIM-120 and various bombs, both conventional and GBU's. I will use the excellent new 1/72 Academy kit, and F-4dable decals from Malaysia. These decals are very nice, and the also come with some instructions how to build it up to TUDM specs with the Hasegawa kit, both 1/72 and 1/48. This should help me enough for the Academy kit too. Work started with the cockpit and the forward fuselage. Fit is surprisingly good, for such a multi piece affair. Basically you glue 2 fuselage halves, split vertically, to the nosegear bay, and the gun vents piece (2 are provided, early and late). On top of the nose gear piece, you glue the cockpit tub. With everything inplace, it's a rather solid construction that should fit into the upper fuselage with not much trouble. The Academy kit comes with bird slicer antennas fitted on the nose, but the TUDM birds didn't have these, so I cut/sanded these off. In the mean time I also started with the rear fuselage. Academy gives you a big upper fuselage piece, that goes from behind the radome all the way up to the engines. To this, you glue 2 pieces on the side from the intakes to just aft of the wings. Again, fit is very good: The only trouble I had, was with the underside of the LERX's. You're supposed to fit 2 pieces in them, and I screwed this up, a little. Now, do I fill the seams along these pieces? Or are there panellines there? Not sure, I'll check some refference pics for it That's it for now, I hope you like it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Very nice work so far Pete! Great looking pit! Cheers, HÃ¥kan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted March 27, 2010 Author Share Posted March 27, 2010 So, it turned out that I didn't assemble the front fuselage absolutely perfect, so it wouldn't fit on the rear fuselage without a big step between the parts. So I had no choice but to take the front assembly apart again, and glued the parts on the rear fuselage part by part instead. I started with the upper front fuselage, cockpit and lower front fuselage. To this, I glued the side panels of the front fuselage. Fit was now much better, not perfect, but at least the gaps and steps weren't as pronounced. After this, I continued with the wings and intakes. This went pretty straight forward with only small seams on the intakes. On the pic you can also see the dual chaff/flare buckets found on TUDM Hornets and the centreline pylon. Some stores are already assembled. Two fueltanks, two Harpoons from the Italeri F/A-18E, and a AIM-7. Don't know yet what I eventually will hang under it. And some overview shots: That's it for now, thanks for looking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Benner Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 look'n good, you know, it's not too late to make it a Canadian jet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted March 27, 2010 Author Share Posted March 27, 2010 Yes it is, cockpit is not like the B, but like the night attack D already. And I'm sure there are other differences too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 Looking great so far Pete! Cheers, HÃ¥kan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Thanks HÃ¥kan! So, it was time for preshading, just plain old flat black: Hopefully the grey tomorrow Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted March 31, 2010 Share Posted March 31, 2010 Nice progress! Love to see it painted! Cheers, HÃ¥kan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 1, 2010 Author Share Posted April 1, 2010 Paint is on! It needs a few touch ups here and there, but overall I think it's quite nice. I used Xtracolor Gunship Grey for it, that's why it's so glossy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arkhunter2002 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 You're missing your little lego guy :wacko: But looks good anyways, Pete! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azgaron Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Nice paint job Pete! Cheers, HÃ¥kan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 6, 2010 Author Share Posted April 6, 2010 I started decaling today: I use F-4dable decals from Malaysia for it, and I must say, they are great. Printed by Cartograf and perfect in register. For the slime lights, I used the kit ones, as they are sized for the recesses on the plastic. More next time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 So, decaling is finished, weathering is finished, and it's flatcoated now. On one of the stabilizers, the flatcoat reacted with some leftover acrylic retarder, and I touched that, so the paint came off a bit. Have to fix that. For the rest, I think it went pretty well. Time now for the landing gear, underwing stores etc. Hope you like it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qian Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Looks good! I really do like it a lot! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Nice! A good build of an often neglected subject. I look forward to the fully completed build. :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 Getting close to the finish: Only have to do the pylons, fueltanks, weapons and various antennas now. So, I might finish this baby tomorrow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Wow nice progress the nose is cone is amazing what is your technique for that?? Neo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 (edited) Thanks! If you mean the tan colored tip, it was just masking and airbrushing. The plastic had a very faint line on it where the demarcation should be. So I just sprayed the whole plane in gunship grey, and then masked the tip using thin strips of Tamiya tape, cutting each strip along the line before adding the next strip. After this, I sprayed the tip using a mix of Tamiya Buff and White. I wanted to use XF-55 Deck Tan, but I didn't have any, and the local shop was out too, so I mixed. HTH EDIT WOOHOO! I reached 1000 posts with this one, only took just over 5 years. Edited April 20, 2010 by Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 20, 2010 Author Share Posted April 20, 2010 It's finished! Overall, I give this kit a 9 out of 10. Fit is very good, except the nose, which needs some encouragement. F-4dable decals were great too. More pics in the completed builds thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bdt13 Posted April 25, 2010 Share Posted April 25, 2010 Pete- Very nice build! May I ask where you got the arm/disarm marking for the AIM-9 (the green/red decal on the side)? I've seen this as a decal in larger scales, but never in 1/72. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted April 25, 2010 Author Share Posted April 25, 2010 Pete-Very nice build! May I ask where you got the arm/disarm marking for the AIM-9 (the green/red decal on the side)? I've seen this as a decal in larger scales, but never in 1/72. Thanks! Ah, so that's what they're for, makes sense. Those decals came with the kit, it has very complete markings for all of the weapons. (AIM-7, AIM-9, GBU-12 and various targeting pods) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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