Bigasshammm Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Pulled this out and started it slightly. Will be out of box with a resin seat added. Although I did build up the kit seat and its really not far off the resin one. Ill probably paint both and which ever looks best ill use. Also paired some tamiya fine white primer on the nose gear well parts. Box innards and seat Paint Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I'll be watching this one. That's a fun kit to build - I've done up 5 or 6 in CF-18 decals. Will be curious to see how you do the camo job, especially making it look like an in-service jet. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Ha that's the biggest problem I'm terrible at painting and weathering modern jets. She'll probably end up being sparkling clean when it's all done. Ill be using the colorful markings and not the low vis ones included. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Bad night at work so I abandoned the wife and retreated to the cave. Did some detail painting on the nose gear well. Going strictly by the instructions, looks decent so far. Need to do a few more things then a wash and it'll be buttoned up. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the airbrush on and do some cockpit work. Thank you Canada Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 What colour are the inside walls in your forward gear well? One part looks white, but the other two look beige - is it a trick of the light? Good job on the detail painting - you must have done it before having too much Blue. One night many moons ago I ordered a "Blue" at a Chines restaurant in Toronto. The waiter said, in thickly accented English "you want a brew?" I responded "no, not just any beer - a Labatt's Blue!" The rest of the table erupted in laughter, as he very serious said "yeah - it's what I said." Good choice of beer - my favourite kind. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 (edited) Must be the light in my new cave. I have to share space with the cats now. All pieces were painted with two coats of white and then detail painted. They have a wash on them now that I will clean off later then hit with flat and they'll be ready to go together. Painted the base grey on the cockpit parts. Stated to detail paint the side consoles. May be able to some of that done tonight also. Does the nose gear actually have to be installed before the forward fuselage goes together per the instructions? I don't want to mess with it yet if I don't have to. Labatt is the beer of choice for everyday drinking. My favorite beer is probably Sapporo though. Plus some local breweries have some good stuff. Edited January 24, 2013 by Bigasshammm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Must be the light in my new cave. I have to share space with the cats now. All pieces were painted with two coats of white and then detail painted. They have a wash on them now that I will clean off later then hit with flat and they'll be ready to go together. Painted the base grey on the cockpit parts. Stated to detail paint the side consoles. May be able to some of that done tonight also. Does the nose gear actually have to be installed before the forward fuselage goes together per the instructions? I don't want to mess with it yet if I don't have to. Labatt is the beer of choice for everyday drinking. My favorite beer is probably Sapporo though. Plus some local breweries have some good stuff. Good news on the nose gear. You can safely wait until the very end - I did this on one build. I'll look for the build thread and send you a link - it's on another site that I shouldn't name here... but you may find some good hints (i.e. learn from my mistakes) by going through it. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Here's the thread for my other build. On page 1, near the bottom, I show how the nose gear will twist into place after the fuselage is glued together. Read the notes as well - I explained that the "drag brace" must not be glued in place for this to work. As per the instructions, leave it able to tilt and you'll be fine. Later in the build I installed the gear, and it worked beautifully. I had managed to damage the nose gear on another build I did previously; that's why I wanted to see if it would work out when installed later on. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 I don't see a linky! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 I don't see a linky! Trying again: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=23323&hl=alf18 If it didn't work (I see it in the draft pane), it might be "the man" keeping us from linking to a competing forum. You can find it at large scale planes, forums, doing a search on my username (same as on this forum). It's well down the list, but the title is easy to find. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 Looks awesome. The pressure is truly on with you a former pilot watching. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Looks awesome. The pressure is truly on with you a former pilot watching. I know you'll rise to the challenge. My flying days are long past, and my eyes aren't what they used to be... Looking forward to seeing your build. I haven't taken the time to look at many US versions. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 Had no time last night but made some progress today. Not sure how good the pics are I haven't seen them big yet only on my phone. Wheel well parts after wash and prior to assembly. Yes they're all the same color just odd shadow effect. And after assembly... Cockpit in progress. Bang seat in progress. Air brushed black then brush painted everything else. I went with helo drab for the seat cushions/covers. It looked closer to what I've seen from pics online of the seat. The seats almost done then ill add some future in spots to apply the few decals. Then maybe a light wash. Then dull cote. IP next. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Cockpit and seat almost done. Have to put the clear panels on the displays. Then mount everything. Also need to work on sidewalks then the forward fuse will be easy to be buttoned up. Sure it's unrealistic to have the displays on but they look good. Question for Alf. When the wing tips are folded what are the flaps like? Are they down or are they retracted on the folded part. I know the large flaps are down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Cockpit and seat almost done. Have to put the clear panels on the displays. Then mount everything. Also need to work on sidewalks then the forward fuse will be easy to be buttoned up. Sure it's unrealistic to have the displays on but they look good. Question for Alf. When the wing tips are folded what are the flaps like? Are they down or are they retracted on the folded part. I know the large flaps are down. When you unlock the wings (there is a handle that you pull out to unlock the wings, then twist to fold them), the leading edge flaps (LEF) and trailing edge flaps (TEF) outboard of the wing fold go to the zero position and stay there. The flaps inboard will stay in whatever position they were in before the fold was actuated. So you must have the leading edge and trailing edge flaps outboard at zero; your choice what you do with the inboard LEF and TEF. Drooped down would be the most likely position. Your seat is looking good. The ejection handle, though, might have black stripes on it - perhaps you could check some refs? I'm unsure because Canada had different ejection handles than the US (ours were more of a dirty yellow, almost orange, with a filled-in back cloth portion closing up the loop). I have pics of a NACES II seat in a F/A-18E with black/yellow stripes on the ejection handle, but I don't have any handy refs for an F/A-18C. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Black stripes were added with a sharp felt pen I have. No worries it just hadn't been done at the time I took these. Cockpit is done and forward fuselage has been closed up. Not real happy with the fit took a lot of pressure to keep the seams tight while gluing and there will be some fill and sanding needed. Pics later. Will start on intakes and engines but I think I may get intake plugs. I don't want the hassle. Or I'll just live with seams down the intakes. Who's going to look inside anyway? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I have a set of seamless intakes for one of my big Hornet kits - came with it when I bought it on EBay - but no, I would never bother to replace the kit intakes otherwise. Anyone who peers into the intakes looking for seams is looking for a reason to be unhappy anyway! 99.99% of the folks who look at your model won't notice, or won't care. My philosophy as well! There are some parts of the kit that require some care to close up, and the forward fuselage was one. The other area is the leading edge extensions (LEX) joins to the fuselage. I used a two-step process, glueing the forward parts until they were set, then glueing the rest in place. This kit isn't perfect, but for its size it goes together surprisingly well. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Pit pics Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Been working but not much to show. Intakes and engines are in. Rear fuse is closed up. Wings were cut for the raised wingtips. Wings then added to rear fuse. I painted the rear wells and highlighted the rear fuselage seam that I'm working on making disappear. Other than that work continues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 You're getting to the fun part, where it starts to look like an airplane. I see the beginnings of the wing fold work - can't wait to see how it turns out. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scapilot Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Looks like the Hornet bubba's are taking claim in this GB!! :) Just starting out on my A+, but it's coming along nicely so far. Should be finished with the seats tomorrow. Nice call on the Helo Drab for the cushions. I almost did the very same thing on mine, but instead I did a bit of hybrid mixing with washes to offset stark colors. I'm happy with the results I suppose, and it's looking good so far. Like you, I'm doing the majority of the painting for detailing by hand. I love the fact that there's so much room for artistic license on the bigger scales. The downfall is that I've spent two days on two ejection seats. lol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 This thing is big. Kitty approves Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 (edited) Intakes are on. So at the fit of everything has been pretty darn good. Only slight issue was the piece that blends the forward and aft fuselages was slightly later than the forward fuse so there was a slight step. Some sanding eradicated the problem though. Intaks also have a slight step but that will be easily sanded away also. I have the upper fuselage fingers ready to go on as soon as I get the intakes sanded. I may try to shape my own intake and exhaust plugs. Not happy with how these look and it always adds a splash of color anyway. We'll see. For those in the know. Does this thing need nose weight? I'm assuming no because I don't see a call out anywhere but may have missed it. Edited February 8, 2013 by Bigasshammm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr B Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Looking good on the progress like the wells...they look class rgds mr b Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Absolutely no problem with weight and balance on this kit - it sits firmly on its nose with no extra weight required. The first time I built one, I had the problem with the step on the intake to fuselage seam. What I did the next time was glue the intake lip to the sides first, then mate the sides to the rest of the kit afterward. It avoided the step problem on the sides. By doing that, though, I ended up with a small step underneath - but I'd much rather have one there where nobody will see it. It saved on sanding the sides. You're making good progress - keep it up! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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