F/A-18E VFA-31

[spejic]

I don't like the look of F/A-18E's (the F looks more balanced) and I really hate colorful CAG schemes, but the kit is new and shiny and the 75th anniversary VFA-31 scheme is a big exception to my usual tastes so I bought the kit as soon as I saw it.

Here are the parts. Very nice detail. From the bits that I've done so far, the fit is light years beyond the Dragon kit. This also has the latest Super Hornet details. But there are two problems: there are sink marks in the upper surface of the wing, and the seam on the bottom of the wing cuts across the control surfaces diagonally. I'm going to have to wait until the fuselage halves are glued before cutting them and installing them in dropped configuration.

The instructions would have you install the engine intake fan just behind the intake, similar to the Hasegawa 1/72 F-15 that I think most of you are familiar with. It didn't look good, so I'm going to install full intake trunks. First, you need to drill out the intake hole and sand away a great deal of plastic. I then put in card to mark the path of the intake and then I created the bottom half with Tamiya putty. I formed the round shape by using the handle of a paintbrush dipped in water.

When this dries, I will do the top half. I have also installed the cockpit, but I will wait until everything is together before detailing it - there are large gaps between it and the sidewalls that need to be fixed first.

Edited August 23, 2011 by spejic

[spejic]

I put in the top part of the intake trunk. It looks a little rough here, but that's because the back edge of the putty is uneven - the interior is a perfect circle. I will cut it smooth when it cures.

Now I have to figure out how to paint it. I don't really know how at the moment. Some people pour paint into their intake trunks, but the interior diameter here is only 3mm - pouring will only clog it up.

[GreyGhost]

Nicely done trunking ...

Gregg

[ChippyWho]

Fine work Sir -I'll be following this with interest as I'm starting the same kit but will use MYK Design decals for Royal Maces 2009 Summer Cruise. I doubt I can do much about the intakes with my limted skills, so will wuss out and fudge up some covers.

Also, I'll use a seat from the Dragon kits (it looks a better shape) and add some detail to the landing gear bays...

[spejic]

I added more epoxy to the top of the intake trunks to support them because they were just thin forms before. I put in lots of putty inside to help smooth them and spent lots of time with a circular jewel file. It's hard because you can't really see inside, and it isn't easy to put putty in divots when you can't tell how deep they are in. I got it to a certain finish, and now I'm trying to drip in Tamiya white to both paint and smooth the inside. I use a pipette to drop in paint and tap it until the paint coats the whole interior and drips all over my workplace. The thick paint of course fills in the whole tiny little duct, so I blow it out with a empty airbrush. It looks good, but I will probably need more applications to get a real smooth surface.

The horizontal tail surfaces are one designed to be one piece, but I don't plan on installing them until later. So I built a track for the pegs of the tail - when I install them, they will have lots of plastic to support them instead of just the bit on the surface.

[ChippyWho]

!

[HOLMES]

Good work so far..NEAT indeed.

[Kingoalie]

Nice start. I like ChippyWho's idea of making intake covers, but your work will produce some very nice results.

[spejic]

I'm done with the deep part of the intake. I did three layers of paint and polished it by running a handle of a paintbrush through the hole. I then epoxyed in the intake fans in the right place. It's hard to take a picture of it - this is the best of 40 tries.

Now I can glue together the main constructs.

There were sink holes on the top of the wings and on 4 places on the bottom fuselage piece (on either side of the front gear well (you can see the gray spot in the picture) and on the sides right at the engine exhaust). That's quite a lot for a new 1/144 model. But I took care of them.

Like the 1/72 and 1/48 Revell Super Hornets, this kit has a rounded spine instead of the correct flattened appearance. I sanded down the hump from the antenna to the canopy hinge to give it that kind of shape. I don't think I need to add anything to the sides of the spine, but I will consider it. I also hollowed out the exhausts on either side of the spine (which Dragon does for you).

I'm also starting to detail the seat using a resin 1/72 seat I have as a template. The Dragon seats are pretty much correct out of the box. The Revell seat is the right overall shape, but the sidewalls are way too big and the headrest is clunky. It only requires cutting and sanding to get it right, however.

Edited August 30, 2011 by spejic

[spejic]

Painting the mouth of the intake is one of the hardest things on a Super Hornet. The nice thing about the Revell kit is that the intake has superb fit and it comes in parts that make painting the right pattern easy. I stuffed the intakes with a latex sponge during airbrushing, and when I tried to take it out it had fused to the paint inside the intakes. Took a lot of sanding to take out all the bits. I guess the really thick paint in the intakes still hadn't fully cured even after 3 days because I never have that problem with regularly painted structures. In a few days I'll put in the intra-intake decals and then assemble the fuselage sides.

I painted the gear bays with a base coat of acrylic white and then Tamiya white primer on top because it is Backwards Day here. I also took apart the flaps and slats for repositioning later. I don't think I will do anything with the rudder because of the complexity of the tail markings. The nose was stuffed with tungsten weight and Tamiya epoxy.

[spejic]

Things are a little slow because I decided to assembly line all F-18's in my stash in one go since I was doing this one. That's two 1/144 Dragon F/A-18F's (which had the fuselages glued before I started on this) and two Revell 1/144 F/A-18D's (which were untouched). They are now up to the same level as this F/A-18E.

And the E now has the sides glued in and major sanding and filling done all over. You might notice the decals in the intake in the picture - the effect is subtle, like in the real thing. What isn't subtle are the fit problems. The worst are on either side of the cockpit, which has a large step between the upper and lower parts. It also has a step on the bottom of the intakes, and the distance between the cockpit tub and the sides was so great I used 2-part epoxy to fill the gap instead of regular filler. I also used the Tamiya epoxy to fill a gap inside the intake - it's close enough to white that I didn't bother painting it. The fit is still not as bad as the Dragon kits, but it's close. There must be something about the Hornet shape that gives model companies fits. I've worn out a sanding stick and two X-Acto blades on these.

I'm also starting on the cockpit details. I've done lots of work on the seat, and will be painting it soon. I am usually happy with a decal on the instrument panel in 1/144 models, but the E has such prominent displays that I will be building that as well. The detail behind the seat is fine, but I will add a little mesh and the arm to hold the canopy up.

[Ken Middleton]

nice work - you guys that do 144th well really have my admiration

[spejic]

Thanks for the comment.

I put in the tails and pylons and tailhook. The tails fit well and are easy to get to the right angle. The pylons have the correct toe out. I also installed the slats in the drooped location. It was a little hard to fit because the slats are thin and flimsy and hard to sand to shape. I think the flaps have to wait until after painting.

I did the seat except for the seat belts and the ejection handle. I tried making the handle, but it's just too small to carve out of plastic. I'll figure something out.

I also changed the panel lines at the rear. The way the sides fit to the fuselage makes neat panel line-type seams, but I found out those are not accurate as panel lines. I filled those in, and carved in some new correct ones, particularly the ones that indicate the engine access doors.

[spejic]

I've been working on the cockpit details. I added squares of plastic card to the instrument panel to emulate the raised and angled display panels. I painted the edges of them black after I painted the whole panel the correct gray. I then cut apart the kit decal into 7 parts and put each part on the correct area. It's still glossy from the Future - I'll finish it later.

I also added details in the area behind the seat. I created the construct that holds the bar that holds the canopy up. I also added mesh (I used cut up nylon tea bags). The details provided by Revell here were a good basis for superdetailing - I just had to add two more lines with some .010 diameter plastic rod which was a perfect match. I drybrushed it just a bit to bring out the mesh detail. I used my last bit of Tamiya NATO Black to paint this, so it looks a little chunky at this magnification, but it seems fine in real life.

[ChippyWho]

Exquisitely fine detail work, Sir. I also find it perplexing how something that looks really sharp, even under a magnifying lens, suddenly turns into a pile of crudely-chopped balsa wood painted with a mop as soon as the camera is aimed at it! It is said the camera never lies, but it sure has fun with the truth sometimes...had to get mugshots for driving licence renewal yesterday, so I'm now even more convinced of this :o !

[bdt13]

Spejic-

This is very nice work! Can't wait to see more. Your 1/144 looks better than my 1/72 stuff!

[spejic]

I added the protector for the flaps. I used the panel lines on the model as a guide to creating them - I think they are a little short. The Revell wings are also a bit over-thick, so it might look a little off when I put the flaps in. I'll have to do that soon to find out if I need to make new protectors. I also added the little fins beside the wingtip launchers. Unfortunately, I didn't check to see if the actual aircraft is using the new, more streamlined shape and it is. I'll add the new part to the existing fin, just like the real thing.

I also scrathbuilt the structure that goes in the canopy. I need it to be glued in without showing the bare white plastic. I tried mixing Testors tube glue with black paint, but that didn't stick. I'll try some epoxy mixed with black. I know that works, but it's messy.

I painted the whole thing in MM acrylic Light Ghost. The paint seems to have a little dust or something in it. After I scratch off the bits and fix a few minor errors I'll paint the whole thing again with a new jar.

You can see the new shape to the spine after my sanding.

[spejic]

I dry-fitted my flaps, and the old flap covers just weren't good enough. When viewed from behind they have be even with the bottom of of the wing to make the gap with the flaps right. I ripped them out and made new bigger ones. I still have to blend the join and see if I can sharpen the edge to make it look thinner. I rounded the back edge of the flaps and filled the panel lines on it. I still have to install the hinge parts underneath them and paint them.

I filled in a few rough places and seams. The paint revealed a kind of dip on each side of the nose in front of the canopy - I filled that in. I finished updating the little tabs on the wingtip launchers. I'll paint it tonight.

This thing is a crazy amount of work. Half of it are the control surfaces, half of it was the intakes, and the other half are all the sink marks and little fit problems. And I'm still worried I will totally screw it up in the decal stage. I've never used such big decals before.

[spejic]

The last coat of paint looks really good. Finally done with filling and sanding. I'll do the dark ghost topside tonight.

I finished the ejection seat. The Revell Super Hornet seat cleans up nice.

[spejic]

I did the dark ghost paint. The difference from the light ghost underside is very subtle, but that is the way it is on the actual aircraft so that is fine. I'd show you, but the aircraft is currently taped into a plastic bag with the tails sticking out so I can paint them. I already did the black insides. There are two decal options provided for the colorful outside - you could paint the red and black trim yourself or paint the whole thing black and put in the large red decals. I think I will do the paint. I don't trust the decal to conform to the details.

In pictures this aircraft usually didn't have weapons. One armed version had two Sidewinder X on the outside and two Sparrow missiles. I like that because it is a little unusual, and because I've forgotten to install the targeting pod fairing before painting and I can't do an air-to-ground setup now. But Sparrows means I need LAU-115C/A adapters, and I don't think anyone makes them in 1/144. So I built some:

I needed the quarter so the camera had something to focus on.

[bdt13]

Wow! You should cast those LAU-115s, I'd buy some!

[spejic]

I painted the tail. I scanned the decals, printed them out at the same size, put tape on the back of the printed sheet, cut out the right shapes for the mask, and then took the tape off the paper and put it on the model. The results were very impressive, with perfect lines. I was very, very careful in masking the rest of the airplane to prevent overspray. As usual, it was super ineffective. But after sanding away the red and repainting it's all fixed now.

I shaped the kit antennas to the correct angle and added one the kit didn't have. The pitot tubes were created by bending a bit of 0.010 plastic rod and then smashing one end flat with smooth pliers. I also filled in the little divots in the Sidewinder rails (which are designed to fit the stripe lines on the kit missiles).

Wow! You should cast those LAU-115s, I'd buy some!

They're not too hard to make. If you ever need them, I can describe how I did it and show my templates.

[ChippyWho]

Yea, I could build launchers like that in 144 -if I was six inches tall. Very nice work indeed!

[spejic]

I've installed the flaps, horizontal stabilizers, and LAU-115 adapters. The outside pylons for the Revell F-18 have the attachment pins a bit too close together compared to the real thing (and the Dragon kit), so the adapters have their anti-sway bumps in the wrong place compared to it, but it's ok unless you look really close.

The flaps were tricky and took a lot of work and are pretty fragile. They are not perfect perfect, but they ended up in the right location, and if you look at them from the rear or front you can see the correct gap. I'm not looking forward to doing this for my other F-18 kits.

The main landing gear didn't seat correctly, and I removed them. I think they need to be glued in before you paint anything because the pin and hole isn't there for gluing, just for alignment. The glue positions are in other places, and because of the fulcrum created by the gear angle, it needs to be a seriously strong connection. I think I will need to stick them in using some epoxy putty.

[ChippyWho]

This is looking seriously good!

(You would wet yourself laughing if you saw the mess I have made separating the flaps/slats on my effort...I feel a clinical negligence suit coming my way!)