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1/32 Academy F/A-18C


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So here is the start of my build. So far im very impressed with this kit. This is also my first 1/32 scale kit so any tips or hints are greatly appreciated. As usual i started with the cockpit then moved on to the landing gear and wheel wells. My next step is to wash the gear and wells using a powder pastel mixture. Ill post as soon as im done

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Edited by Lancing_Prowler
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Great start! I wanted so bad to make my Chippy Ho a great model, I bought everything for it. I had no idea what I was getting into. You seem to be doin right out of the box. It is simple, not as expensive as the route I took, and it seems to have some beautiful results.

Your plane looks great, and you aint gonna spend all the money,(almost a whole nuther Hornet kit price), the way I should have done my first one!!

Great job so far! Looking forward to seeing some more!

-Jim

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Thanks. The only thing i wanted to buy for this kit was the mask. But i cant find anywhere that has one. And i actually got this model for super cheap. I bought it off craigslist, It came with 12 other models that included, two 1/48 B-17s, 1/48 B-29, Hasegawa 1/48 F-4E, 747-400, two 777-200s, italeri's 72nd scale B-52, 1/48 hasegawa f-15 and somw other ones all for 100 dollars. it was the deal of a life time haha. My woman was quite surprised to say the least when she got home hahahahahaha.

Edited by Lancing_Prowler
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I know you've already done your landing gear, but if you can, you might want to look at buying the G-force all metal replacements. Even though the kit gear has a metal core, they still sag fairly soon after completion and your F-18 ends up sitting on the Sparrow Fins.

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Im pretty much building this straight up out of the box. Its the "Operation Iraqi Freedom' edition and the kit comes with options for 5 different aircraft. 3 from VFA-105 "Gunslingers", 1 from VMFA-232 "Red Devels" and 1 from VMFA-27 "Royal Maces". Ive decided to go with VFA-105 CO Bird just case i like the decal that says "Warheads on Foreheads" and the nose art says "Give em' Hell" And im also looking into the brass landing gear. Thanks for the tip on that by the way!

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So here is my latest progress, not much really. I built the forward landing gear bay, given a wash to the landing gear and wheel bays, painted the exaust nozzles, and put the engines together. Im not painting these since you will never seem once its closed up. The forward fuselage is only held together by rubber bands for now. Test fit, test fit, test fit!

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So i just got done doing the intakes. This was my first time trying the latex paint method and it came out with beautiful results. I just dipped them in the can and are drying as we speak. I cant believe how well it makes the seam disapear. It has a perfect smooth glossy finish to it. I will have pics up as soon as they dry all the way

Edited by Lancing_Prowler
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Great job so far. FYI, that big piston-like contraption at the rear of the front gear well should be electric blue on each end. Very easy to do now if you weren't going to do it already.

Chuck

I realized that after i put it togtether, haha. It should be no problem gettin in there.

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Here is the intakes, perfectly seamless! So happy with the results of dipping them in latex paint. Had to do it twice to get rid of the seam.

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This is at the point where i have to stop building and clean up my desk. Its driving me nuts how messy it is, especially since its huge. I also just put shelves up for my completed builds. The best part is the more i build, i can just buy more shelves and add them to the rack. This should be good for a few years haha

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Edited by Lancing_Prowler
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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Yes i did add those to the intakes. Its been a while since i was on here, but here is my latest progress. Its coming along rather slow, its really hard to do anything with a two year in the house haha.

I had some small gaps on this side so i filled with Mr. Surfacer 500 and removed excess with alcohol and q-tip.

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Here is the biggest issue i have run into so far. The intakes are very far off and im thinking the only solution is to sand off the inside of the intakes until the line up. They hardly fit at all and this will require some heavy sanding. Any tips on this is appriciated

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I poured a ton of super glue on those intakes. It's definitely the worst part about the kit. I don't have any suggestions because I had to super glue, sand, reapply, sand again etc etc for a long time.

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