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VFC-12 "Blue" F/A-18A Hornet in 1/72


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My first entry in the GB will be this:

IMG_4238_zpsef4f62a3.jpg

Even though the decal-set provides a couple of shots of the blue Hornet, I´d like o ask if anyone could point me to some more pictures of the real thing. For example I don´t have a clue how many wing pylons are used on this bird....

HAJO

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...and a pretty obvious question (at least in my eyes): How come that I have decals for aircraft BuNo. 162435, while a Hornet with that exact number crashed in 1985??

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=69584

Is the scheme that old? Or did they assigned the number to a new airframe later?

HAJO

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This has to be a mistake everything I have looked at says that it is on display at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. The listed BuNo for that aircraft may be off by a number. say instead of them trying to represent 162435 they meant to represent 164235 instead. Could be a number of mistakes here because each aircraft has a BuNo that will not match another from a different era, period, or service branch. Each aircraft has its own serial number and the BuNo is it.

Not sure who has messed up here but something is definitely wrong. I have searched high and low on google and not found anything of help. Maybee someone in here can chime in and make better sense of this.

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This seems to be a complete list though I'm not sure because it is Wikipedia but its a list of F-18s and BuNo #'s and what eventually happened to them. I have no idea if this is correct buy maybe it will point you in the right direction.

http://fa-18.wikia.com/wiki/FA-18_BUNOs_Wiki

Edited by Devilleader501
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Well, I knew that the front section of the Academy kit is complicated, but these parts are REALLY fiddly... Argh!

IMG_4239_zpsbd5aa48d.jpg

Well, hopefully in the end it will look ok...

Since I´m building the Academy kit of a "C", can someone with more knowledge than me tell me what I have to change to make it an "A"? I think I have to sand off a couple of ESM-antennas at the front, anything more I need to take care off?

HAJO

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I have the -A baxing which contains both -C and -A parts, I will make pictures of both tonight when i get home so you know the differences.

Don't worry, the kit is fiddly to assemble because you need to hold three parts at once in the nose section when you glue them together but the fit is excellent, almost no filler required :)

Arnaud

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Yep, it went quite well, although I will need a little sanding to get it smooth.

Here are the front parts before joining the mainbody:

IMG_4241_zpsb72984ce.jpg

And after joining:

IMG_4244_zps86ec0e14.jpg

Looking forward to see what I have to change to make my "C" an "A"!

HAJO

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While I was attaching the elevators I noticed the nice and crispy panel-line marking edge between main wing and the flaps... And I thought by myself: You could easily deploy the flaps by just cutting along that line with a sharp knife...

So I did it and created my first aircraft with deployed flaps! It only took my about 25 years of modeling to do so! ;)

IMG_4250_zpsc7c59ed3.jpg

I used the cleats to hold the flaps in the down position until the glue dried.

IMG_4251_zps67469b80.jpg

Next step was the gear, everything went into place really well without any trouble, so far a true masterpiece of Academy!

IMG_4252_zpsa0ddd1cb.jpg

Any news about differences between the "C" and the "A"?

HAJO

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There you go, sorry the week was a bit hectic!

These are shots of the extra srpue which contains -A specific parts. Together with the instructions posted by Ruud this should have you covered :)

11884109083_ef95dc2bf8_b.jpg

11884269794_2ef955a3c6_b.jpg

11884275764_6b242419de_b.jpg

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11884709516_b3938ae34b_b.jpg

Cheers,

Arnaud

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And the rest has been more or less completely completed...:

IMG_4255_zpsa2d9f461.jpg

Will start painting today, already started mixing the paints. For the brighter blue I used 50% of Revells acrylic lightblue no. 49 and 50% white no. 5. The darker blue is 50% lightblue (gloss) 50, 40% lightblue no. 49 and 10& white 5. The percentage numbers are rule by thumb...

HAJO

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A view into the cockpit, the decals for the displays make a very nice impression:

IMG_4257_zps14045d6d.jpg

Then I started painting the brighter blue. Painting with the brush was a PITA, since the color didn´t covered so well. It is also hard to capture the correct color on the pictures. As you can see, it´s a bit off compared to the drawings, but spot on on the reference pictures that are provided by TwoBobs.

IMG_4259_zps428e8959.jpg

Some bigger pictures of the original bird may have been helpful... ;)

IMG_4260_zps0f926fdf.jpg

HAJO

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This is the status of yesterday afternoon.

IMG_4264_zps65778a8c.jpg

Looks like photographing this Hornet will be a constant PITA with artificial light, because it does look much better from the colors in real.

The pilot is already seated, I used on of the fabulous Revell-set.

In the meantime I also did the grey parts that help this Hornet to look like a Flanker, also added the center-line tank and the tires. The tires are the reason why I can´t show an actual picture, since I want to leave them dry and the Hornet lays on its back until they finished.

HAJO

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Painting has been done, and this is the result:

IMG_4269_zps58d67eda.jpg

If you compare it with the instructions from TwoBobs, the grey on my Hornet is a bit brighter than described. I oriented myself with some pictures I found of this particular Hornet. I also think it makes more sense, as the darker grey would still show up against the sky, limiting the "Flanker-effect".

IMG_4267_zpse872918b.jpg

Still have no idea how to photograph the model so that the colors in the picture look like those I see when I look at the model...

Then I have a question: I´m preparing the ACMI-pod, using Hasegawas Weapons Set. As you can see here, the pod is quite a bit longer than the usual AIM-9, is that correct???

IMG_4270_zps295251c1.jpg

On my other builds I used the ACMI-pod that came with the old Italeri Weapon-Set which must be nearly 20 years old - those were shorter!

HAJO

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