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Detailing a Fujimi F-18 1/72. Parts I, II, III & IV (Final)


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I was wrong. I thought this was the best F-18 I had ever seen when I saw the finished pics. But no, when I see these pics and see that you scratch built things that most modelers buy after market.... its the best MODEL I've ever seen. Just mind-blowing.

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:thumbsup: I couldn't believe what my eyes are seeing...

Fantastic miniature detailings..

Just curious since you didn't mention, does the canopy frame has a "moveable" hinge?

From picture, it looks moveable..

and that is marvelous.. :bandhead2:

Hello Klay,

I tried to make the hinge moveable but it didn´t work, so it´s snap-on but fixed.

Cheers.

Q

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Diego: what can I say? This is all incredible! That level of detail would be awesome on a 1/32 scale model...to imagine it on a 1/72 is simply mind-blowing!!!

What I'd like to know is how much time it did take you to build this Hornet? Looking at these great photos it looks all so easy, but I guess it must have taken some degree of elbow grease to achieve all that.

Anyway: I don't know if this is the best model ever as Micro said, but it surely is one of the models between which to select the best ever!

/Kristian

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Diego: what can I say? This is all incredible! That level of detail would be awesome on a 1/32 scale model...to imagine it on a 1/72 is simply mind-blowing!!!

What I'd like to know is how much time it did take you to build this Hornet? Looking at these great photos it looks all so easy, but I guess it must have taken some degree of elbow grease to achieve all that.

Anyway: I don't know if this is the best model ever as Micro said, but it surely is one of the models between which to select the best ever!

/Kristian

Hello Kristian,

I finished the model about two years after starting but I didn´t dedicate all that time exclusively to it, I made other faster models during that time. I would say that I spent about a year of actual work, almost half the time spent watching pictures of the real plane.

Thank for your words.

Q

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  • 2 months later...

PART III

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The landing gear:

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33-34: The landing gear details are made with both styrene pieces and stretched sprue sections. I made the structure details with styrene pieces, and then added wires and pipes with stretched sprue.

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35: A comparison between pre-detailed and detailed front landing gear. The front landing gear strut was painted separately to simplify both the masking and painting of the well.

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36-37: The interior of the front landing wheel well. In this case the first step is to add wall relief details with styrene stripes and other pieces. Next I added the pipes along the bottom of the well using insulated wire or stretched sprue. Finally I detailed the lateral and raised elements.

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38-39: The main landing gear. Again, the firs step is to build the well structure detail. Unlike the front strut, I decided to attach the landing gear struts before the painting phase. The reason was that the union between struts and wells is much more complicated here with many more elements. I detailed the struts before attaching them to the wells.

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40-42: Several views of the detailed main landing gear. With the landing struts in position the next step is to add the wires and pipes with black stretched sprue. This is a bit burdensome and boring but not difficult.

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43: The wheel well doors also need some detailing. Firstly I thinned the edges with a sharp blade and eliminated the round mould marks, and then I added the details with styrene pieces. On the left you can see the doors before detailing; and on the right the detailed ones.

Fixing the wings:

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44: I wanted to display the flaps and slats extended so I had to cut some pieces off the wings and bent others. In this picture you can see the pieces that must be cut from both wing halves. The cuts are made along the panel lines with a sharp blade. The two marked lines don´t need to be cut but only bent. To do that I engraved the marked lines on the lower surface of the wing halves with a scriber to thin the plastic. Now is easy to bend these two pieces.

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45: Comparison of the lower wing before and after fixing it. On the left you can see the lines that must be cut (green) and bent (black). On the right you can see the slats line bent and the flaps separated.

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46: Comparison between the upper wing before and after. With the two halves of the slats glued and the line bent there is a gap on the upper wing for the folding surface. I made this with a rod of slightly conical stretched sprue (red). The curved surface of the flaps is made with Tamiya epoxy putty and sanded to the right curvature.

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  • 1 month later...

PART IV, FINAL

The rear section: Airbrake and engine bays:

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47: The first thing I did was to relocate the engine´s cooling grilles a little rearward. After hollowing the plastic I made the grids with styrene stripes, then Fujimi´s grilles were eliminated with putty. The airbrake housing was detailed in the usual way; the thicker pipes were too curved so I used copper wire instead of stretched sprue.

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48: The two halves of the kit are not separated exactly on the access doors hinge line so I had to cut a section of the lower half of the kit and attach it to the upper one, then I eliminate the join with Tamiya putty. The next step was to make the firewall that separates the two engine housings with thick styrene sheet.

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49-50: The interior detail was built using the arsenal of styrene and stretched sprue. The pieces with panel lines and round rivets were marked before gluing them in place. The port side bay is less detailed because is where the engine will be located. The access doors are from the kit; before detailing the structure I first thinned the inner side with a curved blade, files and sandpaper.

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51: The General Electric F404 turbofan engine. First, the main shape was made with plastic pipes, and then I detailed the slightly raised elements and made a resin copy. Over the resin piece I built the complex elements mainly using styrene pieces although you can also see some elements from metallic wire. The exhaust nozzle is also made with pieces of styrene sheet.

Putting the things together:

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52-53: Ok, the main detailing phase is completed so is the time to assemble the model. Nothing exceptional to mention: styrene cement, some putty here and there, sandpaper...the usual. As you can see I removed the rudders to relocate them slightly moved. I also added the structural strengthening pieces from styrene sheet.

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54: The F-18 has slotted-flaps. This type of flap has a gap between the wing and the leading edge of the flap. In order to locate the flaps in the proper extended position, I used sections of copper wire to ensure a strong flaps-to-wing assembly.

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55-56: In these pictures you can see the correct position of the extended flaps and the slot between flaps and wing.

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57: The air intake interiors must be painted white before they are assembled. It is also advisable to paint the camo-coloured zone in front of the air intakes before attaching the deflector panels.

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58: This is the end of the detailing and assembly process. I have avoided the pictures of the cockpit painting in order to focus the article only in the detailing and assembly. The only zones painted at this moment are the cockpit, the cannon bay, the air intakes and the zone in front of them. In the picture you can see all the pieces that must be painted before assembling them.

I know that there may be some steps that I have not explained too well, so if anybody has any questions or observations please contact.

For me, adding some detail to a model is really gratifying. I hope this article will help other modellers to find it gratifying too.

Finally I would like to thank Ralph Riese again for his help in the translation and making this text comprehensible.

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  • 10 months later...

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